Wishful Thinking by Amanda Ashby Page A

package, then the bird, and finally at Malik.
    â€œKidding you? I don’t understand what you mean. Isn’t this what you wanted?” Malik looked confused.
    â€œYes, it’s what I wanted, but I didn’t realize it would be quite so fast. I mean, that’s just crazy,” she explained before she realized that the pink bird was not only still staring at her, but she was fairly sure it hadn’t even blinked either. Creepy, much? She suddenly remembered that Harvey had once told her about a horror movie involving killer birds, and she shifted uncomfortably in her seat.
    â€œEr, Malik, why is it looking at me like that?”
    â€œI think it’s waiting for a tip.”
    â€œA tip?” Sophie winced as she thought of her empty money box (thanks, cute belt to match jeans) and her equally empty bank account (thanks, potion and creepy pink pigeon delivery service). “As in money?”
    â€œI guess it could eat money at a push, but worms would probably be better.” Malik shrugged as he reached forward and ruffled the bird’s feathers. The pigeon quickly pecked at his hand, while still not breaking eye contact with Sophie.
    â€œOh.” Sophie nodded while trying to ignore the fact that her life was getting more surreal by the moment. She carefully put the parcel on the table and glanced around before catching sight of Harvey’s Cheetos. She paused and wrinkled her nose in confusion since Harvey never normally left any food behind. Then she dismissed it because the main thing was that she now had some food. She held up the bag to Malik. “Well, these aren’t worms, but perhaps they would be okay?”
    â€œI don’t know? What are they?” he asked, and Sophie looked at him in surprise. It was one thing not to know about the Internet, but to not know about Cheetos?
    â€œThey’re like a cheesy snack food,” she explained as she held out the packet to him. He took a couple, and she was just about to offer one to the bird when Malik whipped the bag out of her hand and turned to the pigeon and started to speak to it in some rapid-fire language that she’d never heard of before. And along with the talking, there was a lot of arm gesturing on Malik’s behalf.
    For a moment the bird spread its wings and started to flap them in Malik’s face, but instead of looking scared, Malik continued the conversation in an animated (and very loud) fashion before the bird finally disappeared from sight in a flutter, leaving behind a single pink feather.
    â€œWhat was that about?” Sophie blinked in alarm. “I hope I didn’t offend it by offering it a Cheeto?”
    â€œOffend it?” Malik snorted as he hugged the packet close to his chest. “Who cares if you offended it? It’s just a stupid bird, and besides, there was no way I was going to let you waste these perfect little twisty sticks of delicious orange goodness on that dirty creature. And so I told it.”
    â€œBut what about the tip? You said I needed to give it one,” Sophie reminded him as she watched Malik shovel Cheetos into his mouth. She didn’t even know ghosts could eat food, but right now that was the least of her worries.
    â€œDon’t worry, I gave it a good tip. I told it to never put a red shirt in with a white wash.” Malik gave a dismissive shrug. “Anyway, who cares about the bird? Tell me more about these divine morsels? Did humans really invent them? I think I’ve been underrating mankind.”
    â€œOkay, so perhaps when things are less crazy we can have a long discussion on the history of Cheetos, but right now I need to use this potion.” Sophie caught sight of the box that was still sitting on the corner of the desk. It didn’t take her long to open it up and lift out a small, bright red oval-shaped bottle that looked more like something Britney Spears would release as a perfume than something designed to change your