Author's Note: I do not own El Goonish Shive or any of it's characters. El Goonish Shive is the creation of Daniel Shive, and is being used here for non-profit purposes only.
Chapter 1: Eight Wishes
"What is it?" The kid with the purple hair turned to look at Sarah. "Well?" she asked.
"I don't know exactly," he explained. Elliot recognized him from their school, but couldn't place a name to the face. It wasn't anybody he knew well.
"What do you mean, you don't know?" another boy asked. He had an earring in his right ear. Did Elliot know him? No, he couldn't remember ever seeing that person before.
"Tedd's dad got it from a government storage facility," another girl announced. Elliot was positive he had never seen her before. He would have remembered someone whose hair stuck out in front of their face like a pair of giant antennae. The name Tedd sounded familiar, though. Did she mean the purple-haired boy?
"Does the government usually go around handing out things it doesn't know anything about?" Elliot definitely recognized this person, since there was no chance that he could ever forget his twin sister Ellen. Elliot looked at the two remaining people in the room, recognizing both of them. One was Nanase, a girl from his martial arts classes. The other was Tiffany, a friend of Sarah's.
"It isn't that we don't know what it does," the purple haired kid told them. "We know that it has something to do with granting wishes."
The buzzing of the alarm woke Elliot from his dream. He wondered what had caused it, why his subconscious had chosen those seven people, some of whom he had never even met, to place in his vision. Still, it seemed more real than a dream, as though it was a suppressed memory. Especially since Elliot rarely remembered his dreams. His sister was much better at remembering her dreams, and was sometimes able to interpret them as messages from the inner mind. Maybe she would be able to figure out what it meant.
"Ellen, wake up." His twin stirred, but remained in her bed. "Ellen, you have to get up."
"Go back to bed, it's Sunday." She pulled the covers over her head.
"Ellen, today is Monday. We have to leave for school in ten minutes."
"What!?" If Elliot had been any closer, she would have broken his nose as she sat up. "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" Elliot decided not to comment. Instead, he left the room so that his sister could change and get ready. A few minutes later she joined him.
"You know, it would be a lot faster if we got ready at the same time," she pointed out. "You don't have to wait for me?"
"Can't you at least pretend to have a little modesty?" Not entirely accurate, since Ellen was only slightly less modest than the average teenage girl. Around her brother, however, she was more relaxed.
"If it bothers you, just don't look," she retorted, "but if you make us late some day, I'll be pretty angry."
Elliot slid into the seat next to Sarah. Despite Ellen's warning about the possibility of Elliot making them late, they still arrived about a half hour before school started. Elliot passed the time by sitting in the lunch room with Sarah and Tiffany, but Ellen had vanished almost immediately after Elliot had parked his car. Since she usually sat with the group, Elliot reasoned that she must have had a test or something to make up. The twins never kept secrets from each other, but if Ellen thought it wasn't important she wouldn't have mentioned it. He put the issue out of his mind until Tiffany pointed across the room.
"Is that Ellen?"
Sarah turned to look. "Yeah," she agreed, "It looks like she's talking to Tedd Verres." Elliot felt a chill go down his spine. Surely enough, when he turned to look, his sister was standing next to the purple-haired kid from his dream.
The bell rang, telling students to head to their first period classes. Justin and Melissa hurried toward their English classroom. On the way, they ran into Nanase Kitsune. Getting up, Justin picked up Nanase's dropped books.
"Here," he said, handing them to her.
"Thank you." She glanced up at the clock. "I'm late!" she exclaimed. "Sorry." She ran off to her next class.
"You'd better not be developing a crush on her," Melissa warned him as she came back to help pick up Justin's books.
"Are you forgetting who you're talking to?"
"No, I remember," she replied. "I just wanted to remind you that if you ever found yourself wanting a girlfriend, I'm here for you."
"That's not likely. Anyway, even if I were attracted to her, she wouldn't feel the same way about me."
"Oh, that's right." Melissa thought for a moment. "So, why are you always so polite to her?"
"I guess I like how she's so…" he searched for the right word "open, about being gay. Maybe I'm a little envious that she has parents who are so understanding."
"Then why don't you tell your parents?" She handed him his books. "You don't know for certain that they'll be angry."
"You don't know that they'll be accepting, either. I'd like to wait until they'll be more open to the idea, or at least until I can move away and avoid them for the rest of my life."
"They'll never get used to the idea if you don't let them know," Melissa told him. "I've kept your secret for two years, but sooner or later you're going to have to tell them."
School let out, and the four of them walked out to the parking lot.
"Are you doing anything this tonight?" Elliot asked Sarah.
"Yeah, Tiffany's parents are going to be out tonight, so I'm going over to keep her company. Sorry."
"It's okay. I'll see you tomorrow, then." Elliot and Ellen turned and walked to their car.
"Hey, Elliot?" Ellen asked.
"What is it?"
"Are you going to be using the car this Friday?"
"Yes, I am," He answered. "Did you need it for something?"
"I was going to go out with someone." Elliot turned to stare at her.
"Who?" he asked.
"Tedd," she replied with a smile. "What, are you jealous?"
"Jealous of what, that you're going out with someone who looks just as feminine as my girlfriend?"
"Don't be mean."
"He's the top of his class in cooking."
"His mom works late," she told him. She paused slightly, "That's right, you and Sarah are having your three-year anniversary on Friday, aren't you."
Elliot thought for a moment. "Don't worry, I'll ask Sarah if we can use her car."
"Vlad!" The voice came from deep within the shadows.
"Yes?"
"Have you located Hedge yet? He should have returned long ago."
"Not yet."
"Then leave, and I don't want to see you back here unless you're dragging him along behind you." Knowing the penalty for disobeying orders, Vlad went immediately to the roof and took flight. He couldn't know for sure, but he suspected that Damien couldn't have been half as cruel as his new master. He certainly wouldn't have ever guessed that he would spend the rest of his life as a slave to his violent, crazed little sister.