Down With the Shine by Kate Karyus Quinn Page A

giant crack running the length of the screen or that the battery couldn’t make it through a whole day. I loved it. I was supposed to wipe the phone of Dyl’s photos and playlists and all that other stuff, but I never got around to it and then Dyl was dead and the phone became a sort of digital memorial to her.
    The phone buzzes in my hand and I glance down at the screen. Larry’s picture grins back up at me.
    Guilt hits me hard. I haven’t given Larry a single thought since last night when we had our little fight. Knowing him, he’s probably calling to make sure I’m not mad at him. Or . . . a worse possibility occurs to me. Has his life been royally screwed by a wish too?
    It takes me a minute to remember what his wish was for, and as soon as I recall it my shoulders sag with relief. He didn’t want his mom to be mad at him. Lame Larry and his lame wishes. If the idiot was standing in front of me right now, I’d hug him.
    I quickly pick up the phone call, a little surprised by how happy I am at the prospect of hearing Larry’s dopey normal voice.
    “Hey,” I say.
    In response, Larry whispers something so quietly that all I can make out is my name and the word help .
    A shiver of something—I guess you’d call it foreboding—goes through me. I shake it off. “Larry, use your big boy voice and talk louder.”
    “I can’t,” he whispers back in a slightly louder whisper. “I’m hiding.” With his volume raised, I can hear the tremble in his voice.
    “You grounded or something?” Please, let that be it.
    “I wish,” he squeaks back. “I’m at Michaela’s house. We all are.”
    I shove myself away from the table. My chair tips and hits the floor with a bang. “What are you still doing there?” I ask, trying to contain my panic.
    “No one can go past the end of the driveway. It’s like there’s a force field or something. And people are acting weird. Everyone’s gone crazy. I’m afraid, Lennie. I’m really afraid.”
    I wait for him to connect the craziness to the wishes and say it’s all my fault. But this is loyal-till-the-bitter-end Larry, so of course he doesn’t.
    “It’s okay, Larry,” I say, although I feel 99.9 percent certain that it’s not. “I’ll be there in a little bit. Other people can still come in, right?”
    “Yeah, I guess. I don’t know.”
    I press a fist to my churning stomach. “All right. I’m on my way. Do you need me to bring anything?”
    “Lennie, no. It’s too dangerous. You should stay away. I only called ’cause I wanted someone to talk to. I tried calling my mom, I thought she’d be worried, but she said I wasn’t a baby anymore and I should learn to take care of myself.” There is a snuffling sound on the other end of the phone and I suddenly realize that Larry is crying. “Lennie, my mom always said I’d be her little baby boy forever.”
    Oh, shit. Larry’s wish. Damn it all.
    I want to cry with him and beg his forgiveness. Instead, I take a deep breath and try to sound strong and certain when I tell him, “I’m gonna come get you, Larry. It’ll be okay. I promise, everything’s gonna be fine.”
    Another loud sniffle before Larry speaks again. “Thanks, Lennie, you’re a great friend. Just be careful, okay?”
    “Don’t worry about me,” I respond. “Sit tight and I’ll be there soon.”
    I press the end button before he can thank me again and make me feel a million times worse.
    Then I turn and come face-to-face with Smith.
    “What’s going on?” he demands in this hard “what the hell have you done now” sort of tone.
    Pissed off, I spit the words at him. “My friend is still at Michaela’s party and a bunch of other people are too. He says no one can leave and the place is a mess. I told him I’d come get him, ’cause it’s all screwed up and—” I stop before I can add “and it’s all my fault.”
    Although, it’s not like that’s some big secret. No one else was granting crazy wishes last night.
    “Holy