Wish Upon a Star by Mindy Klasky Read Free Book Online Page B

wishes, and I didn’t owe him anything in return—I’d already done my part by releasing him from his lamp.
    What did I have to lose? It wasn’t like I had a bank account that he could empty. Or a full-time job that he could fire me from. And it wasn’t a genie who stole souls, right? That was the devil, I was pretty sure.
    The policeman handed me a pen when I reached the end of the monstrous document. Nervously, I licked my lips as he reached across me, flipping back to one of the early pages. “Initial there,” he said. “And there.” He moved forward a few pages. “And there.” Another few pages. “And there.”
    Maybe I shouldn’t be doing this.
    He tapped one broad index finger against the signature line on the last page. “And sign there, with today’s date.”
    What the hell. Wishes weren’t going to get me into any more trouble than I was already in. And if I was really going to follow through on Amy’s crazy Master Plan, it might be useful to have a wish or two up my sleeve. Not that I’d need magic to keep a stupid plant alive. Or a fish. Or a cat.
    Really.
    He nodded as I dotted the i ’s in Erin and Hollister and crossed the t in my last name. “Very well.” He gathered the pages together and tapped them into one neat stack. Before I could say anything, he turned his tattooed wrist, and the entire bundle disappeared.
    “Hey!” I exclaimed. “Don’t I get a copy?”
    Instead of retrieving the contract from wherever he had stashed it, he gazed at me with those chocolate eyes. “What’s your first wish, ma’am?”
    My first wish? Already? I swallowed, but my throat had gone bone-dry. I knew that sensation. I experienced it every time I auditioned. My heart started to beat harder, and I had to concentrate to take a deep breath. My fingers tingled just a little.
    Wishes. All the power of a genie at my disposal. All sorts of selfish indulgences sprang to mind, but I quickly set them aside. I couldn’t be self-centered when there were so many huge problems in the world. Global warming. Habitat destruction. Inner-city poverty.
    But then, I thought of Amy. Of Justin. Of both of them waiting for Derek to come home.
    “Peace,” I said. As soon as the word was out of my mouth, I felt a little silly. My wish sounded idealistic, naive. But, seriously, with a genie at my beck and call? How could I wish for anything less? “World peace,” I said. “I want to eradicate war everywhere.”
    Apparently, that wasn’t the right thing to say.
    Teel’s hands clenched into meaty fists. I could easily picture him bringing down some perp in a back alley. His breath snorted in the back of his throat. When he spoke, he shoved his words over pulverized glass. “That wish will take five hundred twenty-one years, forty-seven days, eleven hours and…forty-two minutes to fulfill.”
    I was shocked. “That long?”
    “What is it with you guys?” he exploded. “You all think we genies can grant Grand Wishes in a heartbeat! Cure disease! Feed the world! Ninety-eight out of a hundred want the hard stuff! And every one of you acts disappointed when I say it takes time to work miracles!”
    “Okay,” I said, anxious to calm him down.
    But he wasn’t done with his tirade. “Notify the wishers, they tell me. Explain delays for all wishes taking longer than twenty-four hours to fulfill. Get their understanding in writing.”
    “It’s all right,” I said.
    “We genies have feelings, too, you know! We worry about the world. We want to make everything nice and safe and beautiful around us.”
    “Hey!” I said, more sharply than I intended. I had to raise my voice, though; otherwise, he never would have heard me over his own grousing. “Forget about it! Forget about world peace.”
    He stopped complaining immediately. “Fine,” he said, the iron command suggested by his uniform back in his voice. I wondered if he’d just been playing me, trying to get me to give up on the notion of lions lying down with