Wishes by Molly Cochran Page B

said, astonished. “When you were showing me what you thought I wanted a fairy to look like.”
    “Yeah. I told you, I’ve only got one trick. I can still shape-shift, as long as I turn into her .”
    “But why would you want to be anyone else , dear?” the queen asked, her eyes twinkling.
    I pushed Artie aside and walked forward. “I’m Katy Ainsworth, and I want you to take back the treasure I got when I found the fancy box in the woods.”
    The queen’s mouth formed a lovely O . “You do not wish to have all you desire?”
    “Not the way it works, no.”
    She smiled indulgently. “But ‘the way it works,’ as you say, is the way fortune always works. Love always begets unhappiness sooner or later. Fame brings false, self-seeking friends. Gifts to others usually result in guilt or ingratitude. At least you didn’t wish for money. That would have brought with it all the baggage of your other wishes, plus more.”
    “I think I know that now,” I said humbly. “At least I know that I already have everything I really need.”
    “That’s splendid, dear,” the queen said. “Unfortunately, it’s too late for you. Darling, I’m afraid your life as a human being is over.”
    “What? As a hu—my life ?”
    “Told you,” Artie muttered.
    “Gone like the puff of a dandelion,” the queen trilled dramatically. “Isn’t that right, Artemesia?”
    Artie hung her head.
    I poked her. “Don’t believe her,” I urged. I threw out five fingers and the wand popped out of the queen’s hand and onto the floor. Out of the corner of my eye I saw the guards swing their axes down in unison and take a step forward. “Shift, Arty!” I whispered as I reached for the wand. “We can fight her now! Shift!”
    “What? I told you, I can’t do that anymore!”
    “But you can turn into her ,” I rasped frantically. “That means you can turn into anything!”
    “No, she can’t,” the queen said, snatching her wand just as my fingers had almost reached it. She made a show of dusting it off. “But I can.” With a minute movement of the wand, she sent a river of light pouring over Artie, dazzling my eyes. When the light subsided, she looked just like the queen.
    “You see?” Artie said. “I’m no one. I can’t even look like me.”
    “Yes, you can!” I snapped. “ Believe, Artie. Not in her. In you. That’s all it takes. Now shift back to who you were.”
    “But—”
    “Just believe you can do it.”
    Artie looked as if she were on the verge of tears. “What makes you think that’s even possible?” she shouted.
    “Because that’s how magic works. First you have to believe! Then anything is possible.”
    “Not for her,” the queen said. The guards took another step forward. Thud. “She’s weak.” She batted her eyelashes. “Aren’t you, Artemesia dear?”
    “Axes,” I said, and all the guards’ axes, twenty or more, followed the line of my thoughts toward the queen, whose smile faded when the blades threatened to cut off her head.
    They stopped just short of her neck, then flipped around and came flying at Artie and me at supersonic speed.
    I knocked Artie to the floor, and the axes whooshed over our bodies and struck the far wall. “I said shift ,” I muttered, staring at her with my meanest witch eyes.
    She balled her hands into fists and closed her eyes. “And I said I can’t!”
    Thud.
    “Yes, you can ! You just—”
    “Don’t kill my friend,” Artie said, standing up abruptly. “Let her go. She can live with her wishes. And I’ll never disobey you again, I swear.”
    “No!” I whispered. “That’s not . . .” But it was no use.
    The queen only narrowed her eyes.
    “Please, Majesty,” Artie said. “You don’t need another fairy.”
    “Perhaps I will, dear. To replace you .”
    Thud. The guards marched another step closer.
    The queen put a finger to her cheek, as if she were pretending to think. “But you may be right. Perhaps I won’t need either of you. But I may