Freedom wasn’t quite the luxury she had imagined. In fact it was far from it. The current carried them for a while, then they crash landed in a fancy rosebush, which Ruby immediately burned to ashes. “I never liked rose bushes, they’re just thorns with petals,” Ruby said matter of factly. Coral glanced up at the sky. It must have been later than she realized, because the sky was completely black with tiny pinpricks of light for stars. Now that they were in no immediate danger, Coral realized how tired she was. Suddenly she realized Maggie was saying something. “. . . if Jamie was here, I would force him to grant my wish for a mansion right now. Also some popcorn.” “Wait...” Coral sat up straight, recognizing her friend’s name. “Jamie? As in Jamie Bailey?” “Yeah . . . his name is Jamie Bailey. You know him?” Maggie said, puzzled. “YES!! We’re like BEST friends AND next door neighbors” Coral said. “Well, that’s weirdly great!” Ruby exclaimed. “Can you get us to him, Coral?” “I can’t go that close to home!” Coral said; panicking. “What's wrong with going close to home?” Xavier asked, clearly confused. “Because my mom knows about my power, and so does my evil sister Veronica!!!” Coral practically yelled. “Oooh! You have an evil sister?” Maggie asked. “Well, yes, sort of, but . . . that’s not important! You said you would make Jamie grant your wish?” Coral asked. “Well, yeah. He does have wish-granting power . . . you didn’t know?” Ruby asked. A million thoughts were ping-ponging their way around Coral’s little head. Jamie has a power too? How come he never told me! Suddenly she realized with a twinge of guilt that she had never told Jamie about her power either. I guess I can’t blame him for not telling me . . . “Coral?” Maggie’s voice cut into her thoughts. She sounded concerned. “I - yeah, I’m fine,” Coral said. “I just . . . wait, how do you know Jamie?” “He’s my cousin,” Maggie replied. “Power runs through families, after all.” It does? That brought up all sorts of new questions. “So can he grant, like, any wish ever?” Maggie shrugged. “I dunno. I think he told me once that there are some limitations but . . . I wasn’t really paying attention.” “Um, guys?” said Xavier. “This is all well and good but shouldn’t we get farther away from the scene? They could easily track us.” Coral looked behind them at the trail of mud, skid marks, and knocked over trees leading to the chunk of wall. “Yeah, you’re right. We should get moving.” Coral agreed. “But I’m soooooo tired!” Maggie protested. “Would you rather be tired or captured for the rest of your life?” Xavier snapped. Coral guessed he was more worried about being recaptured than he let on. “Okay, okay . . .” Maggie moaned, but she walked on after them anyways. They ventured deeper and deeper and deeper into the forest. Finally, when Coral thought her feet were going to fall off, they arrived at a nice little clearing. The ground looked a little scorched, so Coral guessed that Ruby had been here recently. “Maggie, a nice stone hut please,” Ruby commanded. “Ugh! Fine!” Maggie grumbled, but did as she was told. She lifted up her hands and large stone bricks flew out of the forest on all sides, coming together to form a structure. Within minutes, they had a pretty large stone hut. “Coral, Xavier, you help me with defenses,” Ruby told them. “Ummm . . . what do you want me to do?” Coral asked. Ruby smiled wickedly. “Come with me.” ************************************************************************** “How about you make some water cannons that shoot super strong, hot blasts of water whenever enemies are near!” Ruby suggested excitedly. They were standing in the woods at the edge of the clearing. “Uhhh . . . how?” Coral asked. Ruby shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I don’t have water power.” Coral opened her mouth to tell her that was not how water power worked, but Ruby continued before she got a chance. “Well that’s settled then. And Xavier you can make . . . wait for it . . . lightning laser beams!” “Um, what?” Xavier said clearly thinking the same thing as Coral. “Oh, it’ll be awesome! You can make them all around the edge of the clearing and then they’ll be like ZAP to anyone who comes near! Oh, but you’ll have to make it so they only slice enemies. Well, you’ll figure it out. Anyway -” “STOP,” Xavier interrupted. “I don’t know about Coral, but I can’t make ‘lightning laser beams that only slice enemies’,” “And I can’t make water cannons,” Coral chimed in. “Sorry, Ruby, but no can do.” “Hey guys, what’s going on over here? ” Maggie asked as she poked her head out from behind a tree. “I finished making the hut.”
“Meh,” Ruby said. “Coral and Xavier apparently can’t make water cannons or lightning laser beams.” “Well, can you do that kind of stuff with your powers?” Coral asked. “No,” Ruby admitted. “But I was kinda hoping you’d be able to.” “Sorry,” Coral replied. “But I haven’t really had any training whatsoever.” “Seriously?” Maggie said, surprised. “But then how did you do the whole waterfall thing?” “I honestly don’t know.” Coral replied. “I just thought about saving us and-” “Anyway,” Ruby interrupted, “what can you guys do for defenses?” “I dunno,” said Coral. “Maybe a canal of water or something?” “Boring!” Ruby said. “I guess I’ll just make some fire pits. You guys should get to bed; it’s pretty late.” Inside the stone hut, the group of friends lay with their eyes to the stars - Maggie left the ceiling open, to which Ruby was dubious - “What if it rains?” Coral assured her it was a very clear night, and anyways, they’d been through worse than a little sprinkle. Coral stared up at the stars. It was hard to believe that just a day ago, she’d been living at home with her parents, or at least with Mom until Dad got back from his business trip. Back then her biggest worry had been the rain she’d caused - which admittedly was a pretty big worry . . . The rain! She’d never had a chance to stop it! Then something occurred to her. The ground on which they were sleeping was dry. Coral hadn’t actually seen the rain since right before she was captured a few hours ago. Are we out of its range, or . . . Coral tossed and turned, head spinning, for the rest of the night.
