guys Saturday.â Catherine heads for the door.
âYou are forgetting your flour!â Dasha calls.
âShoot!â Catherine runs over, swoops up Meredith from her chair, and leaves. Dasha and I gather up our stuff and head for the door too.
As I walk past Leah, she picks up her dance bag, anda laminated card falls out and drifts to the floor. It has an ocean scene and a poem or something on it. I bend over to pick it up for her, but she swoops down in front of me and almost knocks me over when she grabs it.
âSorry,â I say.
âItâs okay,â she says quietly. She doesnât smile; she turns and lines up with the other Prizewinner kids. The music starts, and their feet move so fast I canât even count the clicks. If those hard shoes were ruby slippers, theyâd be racking up wishes like crazy.
Itâs dark by the time I get home, but dinnerâs not ready yet. I saw on the way home that Drew and Mrs. McNeill are still out fishing, so I pull my snow pants on over my leggings and tug on my boots.
âWhere do you think youâre going?â Dad asks when he looks up from the stove. âYouâre not going to miss my garlic-ginger stir-fry, are you?â
âI wonât be long. But Drew has his basketball tryouts tomorrow, so I want to wish him luck and maybe fish a little while before dinner, okay? The moonâs out, so thereâs plenty of light. And Iâll be back in half an hour.â
He looks at the clock on the microwave. âNo later, okay? Mom will be back from her book group then.â
âThanks!â I hurry out the door and down to the lake. Mrs. McNeill and Drew are fishing closer to shore tonight, not far from the spot where my fish lives.
âHowâs the fishing?â I ask when I reach them.
âMeh,â Mrs. McNeill says. âWeâve caught a few.â
âLittle things,â Drew says. âProbably donât even add up to a pound yet.â He pats the side of the bucket heâs sitting on, and my heart jumps into my throat.
What if they caught the wish fish and didnât hear it talk? What if it doesnât always ask to be let go? What if it only talks to me? Or to people who are alone? What if my fish is in the bucket right now, about to be hauled off to fish-fry land?
âCan I see?â I point to the bucket under Drewâs behind.
He looks up at me. âTheyâre just perch.â He doesnât get up.
âI know, but . . .â I canât explain that I want to check for emerald eyes and make sure none of them are offering wishes in exchange for freedom. âCan I see, please? One of the fish I caught the other day had a . . . a weird marking. It was small, so I let it go. Iâm wondering if you caught the same one.â
âWho cares?â
âFor goodnessâ sake, Drew, get your frozen rump off that bucket and let her see,â his nana says.
Drew gets up and pries the lid off the bucket. âHappy now?â
I peer into the moonlit bucket of water at three small fish. Theyâre all quiet, with regular beady black fish eyes. âYeah. Thanks. I donât think itâs the same fish.â
But a minute after I drop my line in the water, that fish is back on my hook. Iâm sitting closer to Drew and Mrs. McNeill this time, so as soon as it asks to be let go and makes the wish offer, I turn away from them. âLet Drew be amazing at tryouts and make the basketball team,â I whisper.
âWhat?â Drew says.
âNothing.â I drop the fish back into the lake and look at my watch. âI should actually go in for dinner. Good luck at tryouts tomorrow!â
âWe should call it a night too,â Mrs. McNeill tells Drew. âTomorrowâs a big day.â
Drew lets out a heaving sigh thatâs practically long enough to melt the whole lake. âIt doesnât matter what I do. Iâm
Robin Stevens
Patricia Veryan
Julie Buxbaum
MacKenzie McKade
Enid Blyton
MAGGIE SHAYNE
Edward Humes
Joe Rhatigan
Samantha Westlake
Lois Duncan