Three Evil Wishes (6 page)

Jesse and I watched as the cloud drifted up to the ceiling and then floated out the window.

Jesse and I stood alone in the room. Gene had vanished.

“Jesse?” I asked quietly. “Is there anything wrong with me? Am I really huge or something?”

Jesse studied me. “Nope,” he said. “How about me?”

“Same as ever,” I replied.

We smiled at each other and then started to laugh.

“Nothing went wrong!” Jesse cried. “I bet it worked!”

I slapped Jesse a high-five. “By tomorrow, the Burger brothers will be totally afraid of us! I can't wait to go to school in the morning!”

T
he next day Jesse and I were so excited, we ran all the way to school.

“I can't wait to see them whimper and cry when we walk by!” Jesse exclaimed as we ran up the steps of Shadyside Middle School.

We hurried straight to our lockers. The Burger brothers usually wait for us there. They like to tease us first thing in the morning.

One morning last fall, they stuffed Jesse into his gym locker. They locked him in—and left him there to suffocate on the aroma of sweaty gym socks.

Another time they pushed me into the cutest boy in school, Dave Reynolds, and told him I
was in love with him. I thought I was going to die!

But this morning they were nowhere in sight.

We waited at our lockers until right before the first bell.

As we headed to our classrooms, Jesse sighed. “The one morning I'm looking forward to seeing them—and they're late for school.”

“Weird,” I murmured.

Jesse chuckled. “Maybe they were too scared to get out of bed this morning.”

I laughed too, thinking of the Burger brothers cringing and quaking under their sheets.

“Well, we'll definitely see them at lunch,” I told Jesse. “Those big apes never miss a meal.”

At lunchtime I sat with my friends Kristen and Laura at our usual table by the windows. While they talked about our math test, I scanned the lunchroom.

Sometimes Mike and Roy sat with the twins, Cornelia and Gabrielle Phillips. But today the twins were sitting by themselves, staring at one of those cool 3-D posters you have to cross your eyes to see.

Where are Mike and Roy? I wondered. Those two
never
skip school. They hate missing the chance to tease Jesse and me all day.

I caught sight of Jesse on my way out of the lunchroom.

“Where do you think they are?” I asked, jogging over to him.

“Maybe they're sick or something,” Jesse offered.

As we walked out of the lunchroom, we spotted Roy and Mike's teacher leaving the teachers' lounge.

“Let's ask Ms. Hartman,” Jesse suggested. “She probably knows where they are.”

“Ms. Hartman, have you seen Mike and Roy today?” I called, trying not to sound too nervous.

“Funny you should ask,” Ms. Hartman answered. “I was just wondering where those two might be. They didn't show up this morning. And their mother hasn't called to say they're sick. It's not like them.”

A queasy feeling gripped my stomach. Something is wrong here, I thought. Very wrong.

“Well, if I hear anything about them, I'll let you know,” I told Ms. Hartman.

“Why, thank you, Hannah. It's very nice of you to be so concerned about them.” Ms. Hartman patted my shoulder.

Jesse and I said good-bye and hurried down the hall. “Gene messed up again,” I whispered. “I know it.”

“Maybe,” Jesse said. “Or maybe Mike and Roy are just absent. It's kind of nice being able to walk the halls and not worry about running into them.”

“True,” I agreed. “But they're never absent. Never! Do you think that Gene—”

I didn't get to finish my question. The bell rang. We both hurried to our classrooms.

*   *   *

I kept thinking about the Burger brothers all afternoon.

Gene was supposed to make them terrified of Jesse and me. Were Mike and Roy too terrified to come to school?

Finally the bell rang at the end of the day.

I caught up to Jesse and his friends out front. As we began to walk home together, I told Jesse how I couldn't stop thinking about Mike and Roy.

“Don't worry about them.” Jesse shrugged. “Do you think the Burger brothers would be worried about
us
if we were absent?”

“Probably not,” I mumbled.

When we stepped to the edge of the school parking lot, Jesse stopped short. He pointed to a white station wagon. “Hey, that's Mom. What's she doing here?”

Mom rolled down the window and started waving frantically.

“What's going on?” I asked her as we piled in. “You never pick us up.”

“Well, I was a little worried,” Mom said, biting her bottom lip.

“Worried?” I demanded.

“I thought you two might be upset. You know. About those two boys in your school. The Burger brothers.”

I gasped.

“What about them?” Jesse choked out. “What happened to them, Mom?”

“D
idn't you hear?” Mom asked. “Didn't they tell you in school? The Burger brothers—they disappeared last night!”

I stared at the back of Mom's head as we drove along in silence.

Disappeared.

The word bounced around in my brain over and over again.

Disappeared, disappeared, disappeared.

Jesse sat in the front seat with Mom. He didn't say a word the whole ride home.

Mom peered at me through the rearview mirror. “I'm sorry if I scared you two. Everyone
is
very concerned. Promise me you'll be careful.”

“We promise,” I murmured.

“Yeah,” Jesse echoed. “We promise.”

We'd
better
be careful, I thought. Because of us, there's a crazy genie on the loose.

A genie who made two boys disappear!

Jesse and I went straight from the car to my studio in the garage. Once Mom was in the house, I slumped down in an old armchair in the corner.

“It's all our fault!” I wailed. “We made a wish—and Gene made them disappear!”

“But that isn't what we wished!” Jesse cried. “It's not really our fault!”

“Of course it is!” I moaned. I stood up and paced the floor, thinking.

“We have to get Gene back here,” I decided finally. “He has to tell us what he did.”

Jesse unfolded a beach chair and plopped down on it. “Why?” he asked. “The Burger brothers are finally out of our lives for good. I think it's great!”

“But, Jesse,” I argued, “what about
Mrs.
Burger? She's always so nice to us. I'll bet she's freaking out right now.”

“I suppose.” Jesse sighed. “All right. Let's get Gene back here. He still owes us a wish anyway.”

“No more wishes!” I begged. “Gene doesn't know what he's doing. He's too dangerous.”

“So we won't wish for anything dangerous,”
Jesse argued. “We'll wish for new bikes or something. That can't hurt us.”

“Gene will find
some
way to mess it up!” I cried. “He'll make the bikes bigger than our house! Or they'll have a mind of their own and take us where we don't want to go! We are not making
any
wishes. All we're going to do now is call for Gene. And make him bring back Mike and Roy—wherever they are.”

Jesse frowned. “Well, how do we call him? It's not like he has a phone.”

“Hmmmm.” I thought about it for a few moments. Then I had an idea.

I ran inside the house. Seconds later, I came back carrying the little portable TV Mom keeps in the kitchen. I set the TV on a box and plugged it in. I turned it on and cranked up the volume.

“Gene! Geeeeene!” I called. “Would you like to see how
this
TV works?”

We waited. Soon a wisp of purple smoke drifted into the garage from outside. A few seconds later Gene stood before us.

“You're here!” Jesse cried.

“Can I really take apart this TV?” Gene asked eagerly. “It's so small. I'm pretty sure I could put
this
one back together.”

“Not so fast,” I said, stepping between Gene and
the TV. “What did you do to the Burger brothers? They disappeared last night.”

“They did?” Gene's eyes bulged in surprise. “Hoo! They disappeared? But I wanted to make them small and weak—so they would be terrified of you.”

“You made them
disappear,”
I accused Gene sternly.

“Wow.” The genie shook his purple head. “I am
sooo
out of practice.” He sighed. “All those years in the bottle. You get a little rusty—you know? Oh, well . . . those are the breaks—huh?”

I struggled to keep calm. “Gene, please, you've got to do something about Mike and Roy. You have to find them.”

Gene narrowed his eyes at me. “You're not happy? You want them back?”

“Yes,” I replied. “It isn't right. You can't just make two kids disappear.”

“Whatever,” he muttered. He stood straight and closed his eyes. He reached his arms out to the open garage door and chanted something in another language.

Gene swayed his arms and hips from side to side as he chanted.

Nothing happened.

No Burgers anywhere.

Were they
really
gone forever?

Then I caught a flash of movement at the doorway.

Two baby bunnies hopped up the driveway. They stared at Jesse and me.

As I walked closer, their furry little bodies trembled with fear.

“Yo!” one of them whispered.

“Hey—yo!” the other bunny mouthed.

I gasped. No way.

It couldn't be!

“Jesse! I—I think it's Mike and Roy!” I stammered.

“Excuse me?” Jesse stepped up beside me, his eyes on the bunnies.

“Yo!” one of the bunnies whispered.

“Yo—hey!” the other coughed.

“Oh, wow—it's true!” Jesse cried. “It
is
Mike and Roy!”

Gene laughed. “See? My magic
did
work! I made them into timid little bunny rabbits! Now, every time they see you, they will be afraid of you! Hoo! I wish I could kiss myself! I am good. I am
good!”

Jesse dropped to his knees. He stared down at the trembling bunnies.
“Boooo!”
he screamed.

The bunnies froze in terror.

Jesse laughed. “Ha! See how that feels, you creeps?”

“Gene, you've got to turn them back!” I cried. “They can't stay like that!”

Gene's mouth dropped open in surprise. “Huh? I did what you wished.”

“No. It's no good!” I cried. “Turn them back. Turn them back—now!”

“Nope,” Gene replied coolly. “No way.”

“E
xcuse me?” I cried.

Gene shrugged. “Rules are rules. I cannot turn the bunnies back into boys unless you wish for it. You've got to use your third wish.”