Source: amazon.com
The Wishing Map is a full-length fantasy that is being posted episodically at this site. To read the previous episode, click here. To read the entire novel, begin here.
She’d been trapped by a vengeful pixie princess, stung by two huge black widows, rescued by her brother Zack and a bird the size of a house…and then everything had gone dark.
Gina was pretty sure she was hallucinating, which was weird because her head seemed clearer than before, but nothing her senses told her made sense. She was lying on her stomach across what seemed like a pile of freshly-starched bed sheets or—this didn’t make any sense—feathers. Giant feathers. As she raised her head, freezing wind blasted her face. “What?” The wind forced tiny yellow ice cubes from her eyes.
“What?” was pretty much all she’d said when they found her in the cave too, which was understandable considering that she’d been attacked by spiders the size of toasters and nearly tortured to death by a psychotic four-inch-tall princess!
“Don’t move around so much,” Zack hollered. She suddenly realized her brother was holding her down. She pushed her hands into whatever it was beneath her and clutched a couple of thick shafts.
“Not the silver feathers!” a huge voice roared out of the wind.
Then it all came back to her, and somehow Gina knew that she and Zack were on the back of that immense bird, and were flying! It was horrible and wonderful all at the same time. She was alive—her prayers had been answered—but was it only so that she and Zack might die in some other bizarre way? And what about her eyes; the spiders’ stingers had pierced them! She looked up at the night sky. Blurry, yes, but she could still see.
“Wherrre arrre weeee gooo-iiing?” Gina shouted.
“To the Sacred Circle,” Zack shouted back. “Aviar thinks we can get home from there.”
Their descent was nearly vertical. Gina looked up to see Zack beaming like a kid on a roller coaster. What a wonderful little dweeb. He’d made friends with a ginormous bird and searched the entire Ismaran world to find his sister! “Zack, how’d you do it?”
“What?”
“Never mind. You’re pretty amazing, you know that, Zachary Zinn!”
“What?”
They landed on a massive irontree limb. “Nothing.” Gina rose shakily, squinting at the forest floor below. Zack jumped up like a seasoned airman.
“Good. No one is present,” said Aviar. “You must go now—prophecies be damned! Melcarhassen is the Prime Regent and Ismara needs no other!” His huge head tilted downward and his great grey eyes narrowed. “But if you do return…” He examined Gina’s face, then turned to Zack and asked, “Can she be trusted?”
“Yes.”
“On your life? Yours for hers? Do you swear she will never betray the Prime Regent?”
“I swear,” Zack replied, the most solemn Gina had ever seen him. “My life for hers.” And that was when she realized…
Dweebs can be heroes too.
φ
Thoughts: Have you ever awakened after surgery or a near-death experience, and realized you were alive now only because of someone’s remarkable efforts to save you?
To read the next episode, click here.
Mitch Teemley 
Yes. When I was seventeen I found myself drowning in the waters near the Whitestone bridge. Someone pulled my unconscious body to the shore, and walked away as I came to and puked up salty seawater. My friends said afterward that they thought I was dead.
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Wow! Was it one of your friends who pulled you out?
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No, it was a complete stranger I never saw his face, only his back as he walked away.
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!
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Do you have an e-mail or a p.o.box that I could write to you?
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Sure, Cora. It’s teemley@fuse.net
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Thanks!
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Amen
Sounds like something D’Nanda (on my
blog) calls “The Simon Tao.”
Peace and such upon thee.
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Three teenage boys held me underwater at length in a children’s pool at a neighborhood park. I was eight-coughed until I vomited.
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How horrible, Nancy. We’re they arrested or at least disciplined?
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The three boys were part of what neighborhood kids referred to as the “Quinby” gang, which was the name of the park. I was there alone and once I could breathe again, I ran the half mile home. So, they got away with it.
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13th of Jan, when I was studying in college, during holidays I was traveling in the Bus with my parents. The driver was driving so fast that he overtook every vehicle. Suddenly, a road accident happened, and our Bus was in bushes. Every one in the bus was crying as if it was the last stage. I closed my eyes, that was the last breath. When I opened my eyes, nothing happened to anyone except the driver who was a little injured. I think, that God has always saved us from a major accident. Whenever I step outside, I always pray to God for a few minutes. That always gives me positive results. Maybe any God we pray. I hope everyone in the world especially my friends stay safe and happy and will be posting inspirational videos in my channel 🙏💐
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Always angels will be there protecting and guiding us, if you believe.
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