Wish by Janet MacLeod Page A

what it was.
    Keith held out his hand again. I held tight to Magic, ignored
Keith’s hand and stepped out of the car. As soon as my foot hit the ground,
Magic shrieked and leapt from my arms. An agonizing pain tore at my insides
threatening to rip my stomach through my bellybutton. I sank to my knees,
clutching my gut.
    “Sydney, are you okay? Sydney?”         Keith huddled over
me, his features swooshing all together. He bent down and his body blocked out
the sun. For a moment as his outline hovered above me he looked sinister, as if
he were going to attack me. I shrank back and closed my eyes.
          He touched my forehead. “Hey, you okay?” The sudden
contractions disappeared as fast as they’d come.
          I snuck a peek. He looked like Keith again.
    I frowned. “I am now. God. That hurt.” He helped me to sit up
and then plunked down on his butt beside me.
          “Is it, your er, uh… you know, your girl stuff, your
crampy things?”
          I wanted to laugh. I didn’t, but I wanted to. We were
hanging out at the edge of a forest. I wanted to go in there like I wanted to
dance solo in the boy’s locker room. Naked.
          “No. Not my crampy things. I think I have nervous
stomach. I’m stressing out.” I half laughed and cried and it came out of my
throat like a belly fart. “I wished the girl cramps thing away. Ha. How about
that for witch power?”
    Keith blushed and turned away from me, staring into the evil
shrubbery. “Maybe just a weird reaction to this place.” His voice changed. The
forest looked dark and ominous, thick with green leaves and sprawling branches. 
    “I never went in last time I was here,” he whispered.
    “Last time you were here?”
    He nodded. I began to suspect Keith was pretty good at hiding
things from me.
    “I had a feeling. Not as strong as this one. But I checked
this place out the night of your birthday. It was late when I got here. Dark.
So I didn’t go in.”
    I didn’t bother commenting on that. At least the boy still
had some good sense in him.
    “You think you could have a feeling about a place less icky?”
I finally asked.
          He glanced at me and raised a shoulder and let it drop.
    “Remember when you and Stevie wanted to watch that old horror
movie, The Blair Witch thing?” I asked.
          He frowned. “You mean The Blair Witch Project.”
          “Whatever. Do you remember how I left Stevie’s house
because even the thought of watching a scary movie about a forest was enough to
give me nightmares until I turn 60?”
          “That whole movie was just a hoax. You know that. A
movie that was supposed to scare people. Pretend.”
          “You’re right. And this is real life. But let’s think
for a moment, shall we. Hmm. Fact number one. I have witch powers. Not so
normal, right? Fact number two. A teenage boy has disappeared. Fact number
three. A teenage girl is hating on the witch. All the trappings of a good
horror movie, don’t you suppose. I mean, come on. It’s a scary looking forest,
dude. Don’t you know you’re not supposed to go traipsing into forests? That’s
how teenagers disappear. Never to be heard from again. The Sydney Witch
Project.”
          “Yeah, but you’re a teenager with powers.”
          Hmm. He did have a point there. My powers were real.
Not special effects for a movie. I reached up and touched my necklace. I lifted
my t-shirt to peer at the tattoo. It buzzed on my shoulder but the swirls moved
slower.
          I looked around. “Hey. Where’s Magic?”
          “Your cat?” Keith asked.
          We both looked toward the forest.
          “Magic,” I called.
    Nothing.
          “Here kitty, kitty,” I yelled, but the cat didn’t
respond.
    “He must have gone inside,” Keith said. “We’ll look for him.
Come on. Let’s go.”
          Keith got to his feet and pulled me up beside him.
          “I really,