Photo by Annie Spratt

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.

Feeling completely alienated from their friends and from one another, Gina and Zack came home from their disastrous Back to School nights.

Zack shuffled up the stairs and sat in his room staring at the stacks of perfectly organized comic books. Well, at least they hadn’t collapsed.

There was a sudden knock. “Can’t…not dressed…in bed…”

The door opened. It was Gina.

“Spoo?”

That was the universal form of address in Oo, a language known only to Zack and Gina Dore; they’d spoken it as far back as they could remember. There were other Oo words, as well.

“Moo,” Zack answered.

Gina came over and sat down next to him. He didn’t budge. Then she put her arm around him. He didn’t respond, but he didn’t pull away either.

“I’m doo, spoo,” said his sister.

“Moo.”

“Birdy busted me. She said I play pretend as much as you do, only I call it ‘theatre’ and think that makes me sophisticated.”

Zack’s crooked grin appeared.

“And I don’t hate you. I only said that because I’m doo.”

“True,” Zack replied. After a long time, he said, “Me too.” And then he added, “Two spoo doos.”

They laughed. Hard. The wall between them began to crumble. And then Gina erupted: “I adopted a dragon! I fell on his egg, then I helped him break out, but he was freezing, so I put him on my lap, and I wasn’t allergic to him! His scales are soft, and, oh, Zack, he’s so adorable. He has this sweet growly little voice that… Anyway, I messed up big time when I sang to him.”

“Moo?”

“The Faerie Queen, Rhema, told me I connected my life to Puff’s when I did that, which is completely unfair—I mean, it’s not like I knew that! Then I met this kid named B’frona who was supposed to be dragonfaer, but when I sang to Puff I became dragonmeer instead. Everyone there thinks I’m this, like, superhero warrior, and, oh, spoo, they expected me to stay there and raise Puff and protect the town, and I really wanted to, but then…I left.”

“Crud!”

“Yeah, that pretty much says it!”

“I kissed a girl.”  

Gina’s eyebrows rose to meet her scalp.

“Actually she kissed me. Just a little, but, whoa! She’s a cloud shepherd and she kinda captured me, only after a while I didn’t mind. Oh, Jeener, I started turning into a sylph and forgot everything, even you! But then Aviar made me eat dirt and I changed back. And now I’ll never see her again!”

“That sucks, spoo!”

“Yeah.” Zack stared at the rag rug that had served as terrain for a thousand miniature adventures. “Why do I feel like I left home when I left Ismara?”

“I don’t know, but I do too, spoo.” They could never return, but at least now there would be someone to share their grief. “Just as well, I guess. I mean we’d probably die if we ever went back.”

“Yeah.”

So why did they want so badly to go back?

 φ

Thoughts: Is there someone who, despite snits and squabbles, you would be utterly alone without?

To read the next episode, click here.