One Wish Away (9 page)

“Yes, he has.” I lie back on the bed and focus on breathing. Focus on the reality. The reality that seems the least logical.

Darren sighs, somewhere close to the vicinity of my head and I feel his warm breath on my cheek.

“So your dad can take a star from the sky and make
anything
happen?”

“Yes”

“That is the most insane thing I've ever heard.”

“Yes.”

The bed bounces slightly when Darren chuckles. “Actually, probably the most insane thing I've ever heard is you
agreeing
that all of our wishes can come true.”

A smile pulls at my lips as I listen to Darren laughing, amused at the fact I've agreed to a theory that is completely insane.

But it isn't a theory anymore. It isn't even a hypothesis. It's been tested and the results have come back.

It's a reality.

“Okay.” I feel the bed shift and glance over. The moonlight is bouncing off Darren's eyes as he's propped up on his side looking at me. He continues, “since you're convinced we can wish upon a star,” he glances out his window, at the twinkling of the night. “What would you wish for, Lyra?”

I balk at his question. “Wishing doesn't get you anything.”

As a kid, I asked a shooting star to make my classmates leave me alone, but no one seemed to be listening. No matter how hard I wished for Mom to stop yelling it never happened. And then after she left, there weren't enough stars in the universe to get her to come back.

Wishing is pointless.

I turn on my elbow and face Darren. “Besides, it's not up to me. They're having a meeting tomorrow to talk about the next one. I wonder—”

“That's not what I'm getting at,” Darren interrupts me. “Let's say nothing stood in your way from plucking a star out of the sky and having anything you wanted. What would you want?”

I turn onto my back and look at his ceiling, remembering the last time I was in this position on my own bed, the night after my classmates watched my interview.

Would I wish for everyone at school to leave me alone? It seems so trivial compared to all the other things needing attention. The big things Iris mentioned, like world peace and poverty.

But with one wish, where does one start?

“Lyra?”

“I'm thinking. I'm thinking. Give a girl a break, I've never thought about this before.”

“What? You've never thought about what you want? You've never thought, ‘gosh, life would be so much easier if only', fill in the blank?”

“Nope.” Maybe when I was seven, but since then I've realized logic is much safer.

“Okay.” He draws the word out.

“Alright then, Darren. What would
you
wish for?”

There's a long pause. A few sounds from the street, a dog, a car, a motorcycle, float through the open window. I'm about to tell him he obviously doesn't have any idea either, but then he sighs loudly.

“I think it would be pretty cool to never have to worry about money,” he says this to the ceiling, his voice quieter than before.

His dad has been working two jobs for as long as I can remember, his mom works one. They do everything they can to make ends meet. There have been a few times Darren's asked to sleepover because they weren't able to pay their electric bill.

“That's a good one,” I whisper.

“I think so.”

I can hear him breathing. Out of the corner of my eye I see his fingers drumming the comforter. He's too quiet. I need to change the subject

“What else would you wish for?”

Smooth, Lyra
. You can't even come up with one wish and you expect him to come up with two.

“Hunger would be a good one to get rid of.”

My heart freezes in my chest, trapping the breath in my throat.

I cross the space between Darren and me and rest my head on his shoulder, my arm over his stomach. My heart clutches when I feel a rumble from under his cotton tee. I should have brought food from my house. But I let my small worries about an insane father and aunt win out. Couldn't get out the door fast enough.

Darren's arm wraps around my back and rubs my side. We've never touched like this before, and I'm surprised at how comfortable and safe I feel.

“You could wish for your Mom to come back.”

“No,” I say without pause, and sit up.

“You don't wonder what it would be like if she—”

“No, I don't.” I slide off the bed and run my hands through my hair. I shouldn't get this mad. She shouldn't still affect me like this. It's been almost ten years since she left. And when she was around, it was worse.

“I'm sorry. I shouldn't have brought her up.”

“No you shouldn't. I don't want her. I don't need her.”

“I just thought—”

“Stop.” I hold my hand up, not sure if he can see it in his moonlit room. “Just stop.”

I watch his silhouette rise to his knees. “You're always alone, Lyra. Maybe she's not the answer, but someone should be around. That's all I was trying to say.”

“Alone isn't so bad.” I look out the window at the stars and relish in the cool air and the soothing sounds of night. Then my eyes drop back to Darren.

I crawl back onto the bed and fold my legs behind me, my nose a few inches from his. The warmth from his body bleeds into me, protecting me from the chill in the air. I want to protect him like that. To make sure he's safe and cared for.

I walk my fingers over to his hand and run them along the back of it. He flips his hand over and I thread my fingers through his.

I don't need a wish. I have everything I could possibly need.

“How was your first day, Lyra?” A woman with a nametag that reads, Betty, asks after I sign in. She looks a lot like Bonnie, though Betty has a thinner frame and quieter disposition.

I meet her expectant expression and search for how to describe it. It seems there really are no words for the ability to alter the universe.

“Eye opening,” I respond and force my lips to turn up. She nods as if she understands, but the look on her face says she doesn't.

As Dad and I enter the universe, I whisper to him, “Do Bonnie and Betty know what goes on in here?”

“No. All the projects conducted are classified. They don't want to know. It would mean they'd have to sign the same form you did. They don't need that kind of pressure.”

His voice returns to normal as we enter a door next to the constellation Lyra.

“Here's your office. It's not much, but you've got a view of space and it's next to the room with the StarCatcher.” Dad rubs the back of his neck and smiles. “We used to call it the Lyra Room, because the constellation is just outside the door. But I'm not sure if that will work now that we have a real live Lyra working here.”

I smile at Dad from my computer. It's only a small cubicle, but it's mine. And one of the walls is a one-way mirror that looks out at the universe. I bite my lip as I wonder how many of the rooms have a view like this. Maybe I wasn't as sneaky as I thought on my first visit.

“Iris sits in the next cube. I have the office right there.” Dad points over his shoulder to a room with a glass wall and door. “And your aunt's office is next to mine.” At the mention of my aunt, she emerges from the door with
Director
written on the front, brushing her hair out of her face. She gives me a small smile but doesn't say anything, just leans on a desk and crosses her arms.

“Do you have a lab?” I ask, taking a seat in my chair and looking between my aunt and father.

“The Cricket Project used to have a lab when we first started. But after the machine was built and we were given the Lyra Room…” Dad hesitates.

“We can still call it that.” I assure him. “I'm actually very flattered.”

“Okay. Lyra Room it is in then.” He smiles, his crooked teeth sticking out, and gestures behind him. “Stephanie gave us the Lyra Room, and our lab is now used for projects still in progress.”

“What other projects are done here?” I can't believe I didn't ask this before, being a nosey scientist type and all. I know SEAD doesn't solely work on plucking stars from the sky to grant wishes.

“Honestly, I don't know as much about the other projects. Occasionally, your aunt asks me to consult, but Stephanie is the one who knows everything that goes on in this place.”

As I look between the two of them, I wonder whether there's any animosity or competition. Dad's smarter. Aunt Steph has the better title. But without both of them this place wouldn't run. The wry smile Dad's giving my aunt shows he would never want her job. And my Aunt could never
not
be in charge.

Dad leans against my desk and crosses his arms, looking over his shoulder at me. “The Cricket Project takes up most of my time so there's little left for anything else.” His gaze shifts to the cubicle wall across from mine.

“So what made you want to go into the ‘wish upon a star' area of study?”

“First it was just a theory.” His eyes sparkle with excitement. “But the more research I did, the more consultants I met with, the more I felt it could become a reality.” Dad's eyes close. “And the more secrets I had to keep from your mother.”

The light grin my aunt was wearing vanishes. There's no one Aunt Steph hates more than my mother.

The silence lasts for a while. I want to say something, he's obviously sifting through painful memories, but I can't seem to get the words out. And I don't really have anything nice to say about her. And I battled with her memory last night. I don't have the energy to fight with her again.

“When she left us… I…” He turns to face me. “I had no idea what I was doing.”

A tear escapes his eye, running along the small hills and valleys of age on his face. This is the first time he's
really
talked about her. Like without it being an accident. All the other times I've asked, I was told to wait for another time.

“How could she do that to
you
? I mean, I know things weren't perfect. There was a lot of yelling. She was hurt because of the secrets I kept. But I thought we were working through it.” At the last word he turns and looks at me.

Aunt Steph moves her gaze from Dad to me. She's tense, but her face shows pity. Love. With a slight tilt to her head, she gestures at my father, suggesting I say something. Anything.

“We've done fine, Dad.” I go to him and squeeze his shoulder. “We make a good team.” He pats my hand, and I take a step away.

Dad sighs loudly. “So, your mom left and I dove even deeper into my work. Eventually, it became this.” He gestures around the space.

“Did you want to wish her back?” I ask, my thoughts drifting to the conversation I had with Darren last night. My eyes meet his. Confusion swirls behind his thick glasses and then slowly melts away.

“No,” he whispers and brushes a few strawberry blonde strands from my face. “We don't need her.”

I smile and tap my father's hand. He's a genius, but every part of life aside from academia scares the crap out of him. It took a lot for him to get over her.

Aunt Steph waltzes out the door, visibly lighter due to Dad's admission. I'm about to tell him how proud I am, when our father-daughter moment is interrupted by Iris entering the office space.

“Dr. A? Oh, hey, Lyra.” Iris rests her hand on her hip, her long arm on the wall of my cubicle. I need to ask her later why she's the
only
one not in a white lab coat. Though the yellow dress she's wearing is stunning. “Everything a little more clear this morning?”

“That DVD is pretty convincing.”

Iris glances at me. “That was my idea. The binders with the former realities.”

“Yes it was.” My father acknowledges and gestures for me to follow. “What would we do without you, Iris?”

“Very little.” She turns and winks at me, her makeup perfect, the dark purple making her eyes pop against her dark skin.

“Where are we going?” I manage, after I've thoroughly admired Iris' sense of style, feeling frumpy in the flannel shirt I've got tucked under my lab coat.

“Time to discuss the next wish,” Iris says as she opens the door to the universe.

*

There are a lot of people around the conference table that I've never seen before. Two glance at their watches and then at the door. One of them, a cute, heavier set Asian guy raises his eyes and they find mine. He gives me a smile, a wave, and a little shoulder shrug. He's so animated I can't help but smile back. Eventually he breaks eye contact and looks back at the door.

Secretary Morgan is running late. The meeting should have started twenty minutes ago. Even, sure footsteps approach the door and it swings open.

Speak of the devil.

“Sorry I'm late.” Morgan throws down his briefcase and places both hands on the table. “We ready to do this?” His lips tug as his eyes make one pass around the room and everyone mumbles their agreement.

“All right, Dr. Altair, please debrief everyone on the successes and failures of wish number one.”

As Aunt Stephanie gets further into her brief she scoots to the edge of her chair, her eyes sparkling, engaging the room.

“The first trial was successful. Mr. Cobain's music is flourishing.” The voice she uses to convey this is so unlike my aunt. She's a giddy schoolgirl and I can't help but stifle my laughter. I've never seen her like this.

Aunt Steph clears her throat, composing herself. “The alternate reality turned out like we thought, except for the unforeseen circumstance that the world has noticed a star missing. We're still uncertain how our projections didn't predict this.” She glances at the smiley Chinese man who gives her a short nod. “I'm sure we will have an explanation shortly and we'll be diligent in updating the algorithms to include this information.” She shares a look with my father and then continues.