if i got three wishes, first i'd find out all about how wishes work

[self_composed]

Bella brings two blank notebooks to school the next day. Her old one is safely computerized and boxed up with its predecessors.

At lunch, she sits with Angela; Jessica and Eric and Lauren sit at the same table but mostly talk to each other, and Mike is nowhere to be seen.

Bella is just about on time to gym, thanks to an overnight icing that means she has to pick her way with extreme care across the slippery grass or the slick sidewalks. The second time she falls down, she gives up on attempting any dignity at all, and, cradling her thwacked elbow, scoots the rest of the way to the gym on her rear. This leaves her with damp jeans but no further injuries, and they were a little damp anyway from the falls.

She doesn't have time to do more than smile and wave at Alice on her way to get her mat and get out of the way of careening balls. She spends the class doing the subset of her safe activities that won't stress her elbow.

Comments

[self_composed]

"Yeah, I don't think that's a project for today," Bella says. "I will pull out my old Legos and walk around on them some and see how far I can get that way."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Your call," says Alice. It's not usually the kind of thing he would bother to say, because it's just so obvious, but in this case he feels like establishing it very clearly.

[self_composed]

Bella nods.

"If I go on a magic treasure hunt," she says, "and there's a hex in the stash... and if I gave it to you... what would you do with the fucked-up magic powers?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"...well, it kinda seems like my three wishes are star territory," he says. "Except the first one, I could get that if I just wished him off a cliff. So I'd probably just screw around with magic a lot and then give you the leftovers, because if I learn how to make magic wish coins out of my pain, there will be leftovers. I cannot think of enough superpowers to use up all the hexes I'd be making."

[self_composed]

"There is probably some nonlethal solution," Bella says. "For instance, squares and up can make stuff. Can probably make - gold, which could be sold, even if it can't make non-counterfeit dollars. Fuckton of money versus fuckton of money is a different fight than fuckton of money versus dependent."

[edgeofyourseat]

He shrugs.

"I'd kind of rather wish him off a cliff, but sure. I care that I get out way more than I care how."

[self_composed]

Bella looks at the cipher. There is a map drawn on the two-page spread, but the map seems to encompass the entire Pacific Northwest, and she's going to need to figure out what these blocks of symbols mean to determine where on the map the stash is. Sigh.

[edgeofyourseat]

"You wanna put your magic book away and go see if Hilary will let us in her kitchen?"

[self_composed]

"Yeah. I guess the rest of this is a project for later."

It occurs to Bella as she gets up and puts the book in her knapsack: "I can stop being so careful! It's a net benefit if I fall down the stairs, except in the unlikely event that it kills me instantly or causes enough brain damage to make me unable to do more magic - and merely not being careful going up the stairs is not scary."

[edgeofyourseat]

"Hey, awesome," Alice says cheerfully.

[self_composed]

Bella trots up the stairs.

Generally trotting is reserved for people who aren't her!

And yet she does not fall.

[edgeofyourseat]

Laughing, Alice trots after her.

[self_composed]

"Where will we find Hilary?" asks Bella.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Kitchen, I bet."

[self_composed]

Bella twirls once at the top of the stairs, thwacks her arm into the doorframe, and half-chokes-half-laughs as she displays and then pockets a square. "Kitchen it is!"

[edgeofyourseat]

Alice giggles. In fact, when they reach the kitchen, he is still giggling.

"Goddess of cake!" he says, sticking his head in. "Hi can we cook stuff?"

"Hi!" says the aforementioned goddess, turning around to cast an amused glance over both of them. "I don't know, can you?"

Unlike the lady of the house, Hilary does not wear gowns for casual occasions. She is wearing a dress, but it's a cheerful blue gingham thing that makes her look like she belongs in a household product ad from the 1950s. The pink nail polish, ruffly white apron, and subtle but exquisitely applied makeup only bolster this impression.

[self_composed]

"Hi, Hilary! It's good to finally meet you. I can cook, but not as well as you. May I raid your recipe file?" Bella asks brightly.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Sure. Bella, right?" Hilary beckons them both in with a sweep of her arm. "Charlie's favourite daughter. Doesn't like snails. Fond of my cake. Want to help me make one? No snails, I promise."

Alice leans against the counter and listens to all this with a big, big grin. He likes Hilary.

[self_composed]

"Has he got more daughters I'm handily defeating without even knowing it?" Bella asks archly. "I would love to participate in snail-free cake."

[edgeofyourseat]

"If he does," says Hilary, "he's keeping quiet about 'em. Laney, make yourself useful and get the book, there's a dear. I don't really keep a recipe file," she explains to Bella. "I have books, and then I... innovate. Feel free to take notes."

"Cake book?" asks Alice. "Or the other cake book?"

"Well, that depends," says Hilary. "How adventurous are we feeling today?"

[self_composed]

Bella produces her brand new blank notebook and pen. "I'm feeling very adventurous today," she says earnestly.

[edgeofyourseat]

"Other cake book it is," says a very cheerful Alice.

[self_composed]

"So one of these cake books comes to us from the sunken ruins of a ghost ship in the Bermuda Triangle, is that it?" Bella inquires. "And the other was obtained at the library fundraiser for fifty cents?"

[edgeofyourseat]

"Well, one of these cake books is called Piece of Cake," says Hilary, "and the other one... is that one."

Alice closes a cupboard, turns around, and holds up a small, glossy recipe book. The cover is a high-quality photograph of a black forest cake topped with whipped cream coloured to resemble flames, on a red background, under the title Devilish Desserts.

[self_composed]

"Oooh," sighs Bella. "I probably don't even have the equipment to make some of those at home, let alone the skill."