Chapter One
A Wish
A young red haired girl sat on her bed. She was hunched over, leaning over a shabby looking book. The lamp that normally resided on her bedside table and gave off little light had been drawn onto the bed so that it was situated right above the book. She was reading eagerly her head moving slightly as she read each line of print. A strange look was upon her face that made it look like she was hungrily taking in every word. A bomb could have gone off and she wouldn’t have noticed. She was enthralled with whatever the book contained.
“Lily!” The muffled cry came from downstairs. There was a silence before there was a scuffling of footsteps and a thumping as if someone was coming up the steps.
“Lily!” The door to the girl’s bedroom banged open. In the doorway another young girl stood with pretty blonde hair and bright green eyes. She made her way over to the bed where the red head sat, still consumed in her reading.
“It’s time for bed.” There was a “click” as the light was turned off by the blonde haired girl.
“Violet.” The red haired girl moaned as she came out of her trance very suddenly since she could no longer read in the sudden darkness.
“Mom says it’s time for bed.” The girl that was called Violet said.
“Just one more page and then I’ll go to bed.” The Lily girl said switching the light back on.
“Fine you can tell Mom that yourself when she comes up here.” Violet said with a sigh. Violet smiled at her sister, and shaking her head, she clambered into the bed on the other side of the room. Pulling the covers over herself, Violet snuggled into the warmth of the blankets before drifting off to an almost instant sleep.
Five pages later Lily reluctantly drew her eyes away from the worn pages of the shabby book. She switched off the light and moved it back onto her table. Lily made sure Violet was asleep with a quick glance before slowly opening the window.
Glancing back she saw that Violet hadn’t heard the window and apparently no one else had either judging the silence that had descended upon the house. With cat like grace Lily climbed onto the windowsill and out onto the roof.
Carefully, Lily climbed up higher, toward the very top of the house where a flattened area surrounded by a white picket garden face was. Lily climbed over the top of the fence and found herself in the center and top of her house.
Supposedly this was a deck, more of a decoration then anything else. Lily though liked to think of as a deck though. A secret deck. There was a staircase to get to it from a closet in the basement that Lily had discovered when she was very young. But it almost seemed hidden and most of the stairs were falling and breaking. So Lily found the best way to get here was from her bedroom window.
Lily liked to think of this place as her secret place. Only she, Violet and Petunia knew about it. Petunia though was very afraid of heights and hated climbing up from the window. She was dreadfully scared of the staircase also. So she never came up here. Violet and Lily loved it up here.
Lily sat down and drew her knees up to her chest. Her brilliant green eyes looked out into the starry night sky and the dazzling full moon. A look of content fell upon her face as a soft night breeze surrounded her. It seemed like the stars were so close and that if she just reached up a hand she would be able to grab one of them and bring it down. But of course that wasn’t true just like everything else. But Lily loved to believe it was sometimes.
She sighed, her eyes never moving from the night sky. Her thoughts though raced back to the book that she had been reading. It was all about some fiction world. There were magic, foreign creatures, unforgettable characters, romance, adventure, humor, and fantasy. It was everything imaginable. Lily had wished time after time that she could just jump right into the book and live on in that fantasy world of theirs.
Everything had seemed so real and vivid. The world had been perfect. A dream world, a place to escape to, a world of mysteries and it had been so much more. Lily had found herself hanging onto every word not wanting the story to end ever. Lily wished that she could live in the fantasy world.
Lily wished time after time again that she lived in a different world from her own. She wished there were such thing as magic and unicorns, dragons, and powerful sorcerers, wizards and witches. She wished that there was a world like that, that she had been born into. She wished that one day she would find some secret underground tunnel or some sort of door that would lead her into the fantasy world that was hers.
Lily knew that this was impossible but somehow she never gave up this hope and never stopped wishing. For one thing stopped her from giving up completely.
There was this one strange day. A small smile creased upon her lips as she remembered the strangest day in her life. It was the day when the weirdest thing happened to her. The day that stopped her from losing all hope completely. . .
Lily had just left her friend Marabelles house. Waving goodbye to Marabelle one last time Lily turned and hurriedly began striding toward her house that wasn’t to far from Marabelles. Lily had always walked this way and was always walking home from her friend’s house at dusk but today it was rather dark. Too dark for my liking, Lily had thought nervously.
Lily glanced around nervously in the darkness that was setting down quickly. That was when Lily decided to do the stupidest thing she ever did. She decided to take a shortcut home.
In the daylight the shortcut never seemed scary at all. In fact Lily loved going that way. It was right through a busy section of town and Lily always felt excitement rage through her whenever she entered into that section of town. But Lily had always gone in the day and in the light. Never at night.
Lily found herself in a different scene then she was used too. The shops were all closed and the children and mothers and chattering people were all gone. In fact the neighborhood almost seemed empty except for the passing cars. It was eerie and empty. Everything seemed to take on an odd shadow. Eyes seemed to be watching her through the darkness. Footsteps seemed to be following her, though whenever she turned around there was no one there but an odd feeling that someone was indeed there.
Heart pounding, Lily began to feel scared. Voices were now calling her name in sharp shrills getting louder and louder by the second. Everywhere she looked there seemed to be eyes peeking out of the shadows. Footsteps came at her from every direction and she found herself getting dizzy with utmost fear.
She let out a scream and clamped her eyes shut before starting to run. But she tripped in fell. There she lay defeated waiting for her fears to get her.
Nothing happened.
Opening her eyes Lily had found herself on this very roof. She was perfectly fine as if nothing had ever happened to her. But Lily knew that it all been very real.
She never went that way in the night ever again.
That was the only thing that kept her from losing hope. She had no idea how it had happened but somehow she had found herself on the roof. It was almost like magic. It was the closest she could get to her fantasy world that somehow she knew was there waiting for her behind some hidden door.
She knew it was there. It had to be. But was she meant to be there too?
Lily lifted her head higher staring into the stars that were just above her head. She craned her neck further back trying to get a better view. Twisting and turning she lay down on her back so that she was able to have a clear view of the starry night sky and full moon that so loved to watch so much. Adjusting herself she placed her arms on her chest and watched the stars come alive and the moon shift higher and higher into the sky.
“Come on I know you’re out there.” Lily whispered in a soft voice. Her eyes flicked across the night sky glancing over every constellation. Lily was a mastermind when it came to the stars. She knew the names of most of the constellations and where they were and knew where to find the planets and hidden galaxies that were usually hidden from the eye. But it wasn’t a constellation, a planet, or a hidden galaxy that she was looking for.
“Come on please.” Her voice whispered softly. Her fingers began to nervously scratch at her arms as she waited patiently for what she so desperately thought she would be able to see. Her heart was bursting with excitement like it always did. But each time she came down off the roof and clambered back into the bedroom disappointed. It never showed.
“Not this time though.” Lily thought aloud. A look of determination came into her brilliant green eyes. She was not going down to her bed until she found it. She was not going down there until what she had been searching for the last four years showed up. It just had to be there tonight. It was going to show up tonight. She could feel it. She wasn’t going to let them pull the wool over her eyes this time. She was older and she was determined to get her wish.
Her brilliant green eyes were unknowingly reflecting a certain constellation as she furiously continued her search. It was the constellation of Leo. A lion or as Lily once told Violet, “You can see the animal or creature or whatever it is only if you squint and use your imagination. If you don’t it’s only a group of stars that form a strange shape.” The constellation was shimmering in the reflection in her stunning green eyes. It was burning red in the reflection though in reality nothing was happening to the constellation that was situated right above where she lay. This was weird also. Lily hadn’t noticed this before but the constellation of Leo was never above her house. It was not supposed to be there and it was oddly out of place drastically. But Lily noticed none of this, as the reflecting constellation burned brighter.
Suddenly she sat up jerking her head up rapidly. Had she just seen a flash of light? Her heart began to beat rapidly in her chest a triumphant unbelieving smile forming on her face. She had!
Soaring across the sky just above her was a twinkling sparkling ball of light. It streaked across leaving a gleaming trail of light and twinkling particles of dust as it went. It seemed to change colors and to Lily it was the most beautiful thing she had ever saw. It was better then she had ever imagined. Some people had said it wasn’t as good as it was in the pictures in the book. But they were all wrong. They must have seen something else. Not this, this was extraordinary.
“The Godric Shooting Star.” Lily whispered in a breathless voice. Still taken aback by its beauty. She hastily snapped herself out of the trance that she had been thrown into. She had to get down to business and fast. The star was streaking across the sky like lightening. It was getting away from view.
“I wish, I wish I was part of that world of magic. I wish I were there. I wish I wish that this dream and wish of mine comes true.” She had closed her eyes out of habit her hands pressed together in a praying motion. The star flickered and it was gone from view. Lily opened her eyes very slowly wondering what she would find when she did.
She found the same world as before but she saw it in a new light. Every knick and cranny could be a way into the magical world and out of this world. Every space could be that way, that escape, that dream that was going to come true. She knew, she knew that she had gotten her wish in before it had gone. She just knew it.
It was a shame that Violet wasn’t here. Violet would’ve wanted to see the Godric shooting star even if she couldn’t think of a wish in time. It had been beautiful it was worth the four year wait to see it for a second time. But this time, thought Lily as she swung herself over the fence and onto the roof softly, she had gotten her wish in. And this time, Lily thought as she crept slowly down the roof, it was going to come true.
Lily reached the window and slowly she climbed in and onto her bed. There was a soft snort from the sleeping Violet causing Lily to turn and look at her sleeping sister. She would have liked to see it, Lily thought guiltily. But then again, there’s a reason for everything.
Slowly and silently Lily closed the window so that only a small crack was still remaining to let in the night breeze. Then with one last glance out the window and at Violet she pulled the covers over her and fell asleep.
If only Lily had known.
Violet’s green eyes flicked open. She maneuvered herself so that she was looking out the window into the dark sky. She had made a wish that night and she had no idea why but it was if someone had been screaming in her head, “make a wish quick before its gone.” She had made a wish. The first wish that had came to her head she had made.
“I want to fall in a love to die for.” Violet had no idea why those words had come to mind. Sure she wanted romance more then anything and magic too. But why she had worded it that way she had absolutely no idea. She had had only a second to think about it and so those were the words that came out. And those were the words that were to stay.
Already Violet had an uneasy feeling as if she had messed up really horribly and failed a test or something. She only could wish and wonder what had been going on. A flash of beautiful light, that was all she could remember and those words, “make a wish before it’s gone.”
What Violet obviously hadn’t been thinking was that old saying, “be careful what you wish for.” And perhaps Lily had forgotten this also. But as Violet turned over and snuggled back down in the pillow to go back to sleep she had an awful feeling that that wish was going to come back to haunt her. And she still wasn’t sure why.
And so the two girls fell asleep unaware of the important part that those two wishes would play in their lives. Unaware that it would play a big role for the better or for the worse.
Chapter Two