Hidden Wishes Omnibus Read online

  “Well… ummm…” Lily looked aside and then sighed. “Fine. I normally get banished into the ring whenever I’m not needed.”

  “But being my GM, you’re always going to be needed,” I said, completing the thought that had wormed its way in. “So even if I make my other two wishes, you’ll still be free.”

  “Not free. Just out of the ring,” Lily said seriously, pointing to the ring I had slipped onto the middle finger of my left hand. “I’m still bound to not use my powers in any meaningful way.”

  I mulled the thought over for some time, Lily’s admission and the way she’d managed to get something out of this. I would have felt betrayed, but if I’d been trapped in a ring for fifty years, maybe I would have been as manipulative. In the end, it came down to trust… and the fact that she only stayed out for as long as I was alive.

  “Henry?” Lily said, and I looked up to see her sitting nervously, waiting for me to speak. I frowned at that, at why an indescribably ancient being with the power to change reality was nervous. What could she have experienced in that time to create that level of fear?

  “It’s fine,” I said finally. In either case, I had better things to focus on. “I can do magic now, right? How?”

  “Just think about it,” Lily said unhelpfully.

  Instead of chiding her, I fell silent and focused. At first, my thoughts were distracted and jumbled as I thought about thinking about magic, but eventually, they settled down. It was at that point I realized I didn’t need to think about it as an abstract concept; it was more like moving a muscle I hadn’t used in a while. All I had to do was want to use it.

  “Light!” I muttered to myself and found my hand shifting, making the arcane signs needed.

  Light Ball Cast

  42% Synchronicity

  The ball of light that flowed out of my palm was weak and cast a pale, fitful yellow light not even as strong as a sixty-watt bulb. On the other hand, it was mine.

  “What was that?” I stared at where the words had been in the corner of my vision, gone now.

  “The user interface I built in. It’ll give you information about your magic and how you’re doing,” Lily said, smirking.

  “And synchronicity?” Even as I asked, the answer was popping into mind.

  Still, Lily felt the need to answer me. “As you know, magic can be cast in many ways, just like a painting can be painted with different colors. The one you’ve learned is older, more direct. At its earliest stages, it requires a mental and physical component—”

  “The closer I synchronize both mental and physical actions, the more powerful the spell,” I said, finishing for her. “And at later stages, I won’t even need the physical actions.”

  “Correct.” Lily smiled at me even as I began to add to the single floating ball. Each time a new ball was conjured, the same message would appear, telling me of my progress. After my initial cast, most sat around the 60 percent region, bouncing higher and lower as I practiced.

  When nearly two dozen light balls had appeared, the first one finally flickered and died. As I reached toward the sky to cast the spell again, a blue bar appeared in the top of my vision, already mostly empty. “Is that my mana bar?”

  “Close enough,” Lily said before she put a hand on my arm. It was the first time we had actually touched, and I found her flesh smooth and surprisingly warm. Warm like a roll of bread freshly drawn from the oven, a comforting heat that traveled down my arm. “You should stop now. Mana, the arcane energy you wield, should never be fully depleted. The arcane powers you, your life force, and soul. Always make sure to leave a little behind.”

  Even as she finished, I realized my headache and the fire in my nerves had returned. In my excitement and focus, I had not noticed the growing pain. As I sat back onto the bed, Lily walked away and returned with some water for me to drink. I considered the implication of what she said and marveled at my first spell. As my head throbbed, I made a few attempts to bring my character sheet up. Status. Status screen. Character. In the end, I realized that like my magic, I just needed to actually want it with focus.

  Class: Mage

  Level 1 (4% Experience)

  Known Spells: Light Ball, Force Bolt, Warmth, Chill, Chime, Breeze

  It was strange, having the system and the knowledge in my mind. On one hand, these spells were hard-coded, distinct artifacts I could conjure with a thought. On the other hand, the knowledge imparted to me actually explained how they were all manifestations of a few alterations of the same formula. Light, Warmth, Chill, Chime, and Breeze were all about the alteration of energy, a conjuring and displacement of physical energy. It was like a punch—you could throw a jab, hook, uppercut, haymaker, and more, but in the end, they were mostly the same muscles used in different ways, broken up into distinct ideas for ease of use.

  In time, with more building blocks, I could probably even make my own spells. However, I needed a lot more blocks before I could even think about that. The only real disparity in my spells was Force Bolt, my only offensive spell and also my most advanced. Even thinking about the various parts that made up the spell made my head hurt—figuratively. At a guess, I’d need more practice before I understood it. On the other hand, my rental was not the place to throw around destructive magic.

  In time, the silence brought on by my thoughts—punctuated only by the clicking of the laptop after Lily returned to the computer—was broken by my stomach rumbling.

  “I wasn’t going to say anything, but your kitchen’s empty,” Lily said from behind the computer screen. “We should order more takeout.”

  “Har. Not happening.” I shook my head and stood, the pain having receded as my mana bar filled. “We blew my budget for the week already. I’m going to have to sell some of the stuff from the auction if we want to eat. Maybe that book—”

  “Your spell book? I wouldn’t recommend that,” Lily said.

  I looked at where the book had been discarded, the book no longer mundane but glowing with a faint blue light. I picked it up and noticed the pages were filled with words and diagrams, all written in a tight cursive script that hadn’t been there before.

  “This... where did this come from?” I muttered.

  “It’s always been there. You just weren’t able to see it with your arcane sight inactive.”

  “I have arcane sight?”

  “Yes. The hidden world will be open to you now. Look at the briefcase.”

  Faded runes crisscrossed the briefcase, covering every inch of the leather. Strangely enough, I understood some of the runes now—unearned knowledge of individual parts of an alphabet—even if I did not understand the words themselves. I popped the briefcase open and stared at its contents, the wooden boxes that had been neatly replaced, the words that I now knew.

  “Were these spell components?” I pointed to the empty boxes, the ones whose contents I had thrown into the garbage.

  “Yes. You know, we could sell some of those for good money. The squid eggs themselves would be worth a lot to the right alchemist,” Lily said.

  “Won’t they have dried out?” I frowned and then stopped as knowledge of the runes flowed into my mind. “Preservation runes. But won’t I need them?”

  “Not at all. Those are for hedge mages. They need the components to jumpstart their spells. The magic you know bypasses that.”

  “Huh. Cool,” I said as I put the book and the rest of the boxes away. Well, I didn’t know any alchemists, so selling the spell components was pointless. Instead, I pushed the briefcase aside and proceeded to bundle a bunch of clothing together before I tossed it into a garbage bag. “Okay, time to go.”

  “Where are we going?” Lily said, suddenly looking excited.

  “Nora’s. Now, come on.”

  Chapter 3

  I squinted slightly as I walked into the sunlight, my eyes adjusting to the brightness. Midsummer, we had a ton of time before the sun set, but not so much before Nora’s was closed.
Beside me, Lily looked around with wide eyes as she took in the city. In the distance, skyscrapers reached for space, metal fingers stabbing into the bottom of the blue sky. Cars drove past, sharing space with bicycles and motorcycles, the constant rumble of the city assaulting our ears. As I moved to step forward, Lily grabbed my arm, holding me back as she continued to take in the changed world.

  “Sorry. Just a lot to take in,” Lily muttered, and I nodded.

  The same for me as well. I realized the world had changed a little since I had last come outside. A small apartment building glowed with arcane runes, and farther down the road, gargoyles that were once decorative moved as they looked at us. As a pedestrian strode pass me, my jaw dropped when I realized she was a lizardwoman, scales running along her face and along her wide body. Down the street, a humanoid dog creature scurried down the street followed by its larger, fur-covered handler. “What is all this?”

  “The hidden world,” Lily said. “Your sight is letting you see what was there before, hidden by glamours and spells.”

  “How do I turn it off?” I muttered, shaking my head. “I mean, how do I know what they’re trying to show me?”

  “Let your eyes unfocus a bit, look slightly away from them. Use your peripheral vision,” Lily coached, and I focused on the dog creature and his handler. I struggled for a few seconds before I learned the trick, unfocusing my eyes to see the glamour. For a second, I saw what they were showing the world—a child and his father—rather than what they were.

  “Huh,” I said. I turned to Lily, but the raven-haired jinn looked the same no matter how I squinted, unfocused my eyes, or looked away. I only stopped when I realized that passersby were giving me strange looks and starting to walk wide around us.

  “Don’t bother. You can’t break through my glamor yet, though you’ll get better with practice and higher levels,” Lily explained.

  I turned away from her then to practice further. Lily nudged me, and I turned away from the eight-foot-tall giant I had been staring at and started the thirty-minute walk to Nora’s, my bag slung over my shoulder.

  ***

  The walk to Nora’s took longer than normal, and I had to switch the bag in my hand a couple of times. Both Lily and I stared about us as we walked, the jinn asking questions about the modern world and I about the hidden. Smartphones, elves, earbuds, and alchemical potions—all were queried and explained. At the end of the walk, I wasn’t sure who was more awe-filled.

  I stood outside the used consignment shop and noticed a series of runic carvings along the door, glowing with the light blue that I’d come to recognize as an active enchantment, that curled around the simple sign saying “Nora’s.” I unfocused my eyes for a moment and saw the plain old store I had visited dozens of times. For a moment, I hesitated, but in the end, I stepped in. I needed the money.

  “El?” I called as I stepped in, the bell ringing as the door swung open.

  “Hey, Henry…” El’s voice trailed off as a person looked at me, her eyes wide.

  A second later, as Lily stepped into the store and passed the runes, the entire room glowed red. The shop woman’s eyes narrowed, focused on the raven-haired jinn.

  “Who are you?” I stared at the person who had El’s voice. Gone was the friendly five-foot, black-haired, and slightly dumpy shopkeeper, and instead, a slim, flame-red-haired beauty with long, pointed ears stood in her place. As I unfocused my eyes, I realized that this was El, as she truly was. “El…?”

  “You became a wizard,” El said, her tone disappointed. “Did you use her to do it? Did you make a deal with one of them?”

  “What are you?” I said, shaking my head and ignoring her questions.

  “Pixie. She’s a pixie,” Lily said, sauntering to the counter and leaning on it. The jinn let her gaze wander around the shop, eyeing the runic enchantments that lined the walls and the glowing glass cases that were always locked. “And this is not just a used clothing store.”

  “What do you want, demon?” El’s hand came out from under the counter, carrying a wand. Even inexperienced as I was, I could guess it wasn’t for turning pumpkins into coaches. Though she might try turning Lily into a rat.

  “Nothing. I’m just along for the ride,” Lily said, and El growled as she lifted the wand.

  “Not that kind of ride!” I hastily added and stepped forward. “And Lily’s no demon. She’s a jinn. And I didn’t make a deal. I made a wish.”

  “Toe-may-toe, toh-mah-toh,” El said. Still, the words I’d said seemed to calm El down slightly, her gaze straying to my hand, where the ring rested. “Wishes with a jinn never go well.”

  “El, all I’m looking for is to sell some clothes. I didn’t expect…” I waved my hands to encompass everything.

  “Henry, you’re a nice boy. So, here’s a piece of advice. If you’ve got a wish left, wish for things to go back to the way they were before,” El said.

  “Actually, that’s a horrible wish,” Lily cut in, shaking her head. “Altering time is impossible, so I’d have to take away your gifts without taking away all the knowledge you have.”

  El frowned as she stared at Lily while I dropped the clothing bag on the counter. I coughed and drew her attention back to me. “Look, El, I really need your help. Ms. Never-Ending Stomach here ate through all my food and blew my budget. She even found my three-year-old cans of Spam.”

  “How long have you been living with her?” El said, her head tilted to the side.

  “Ummm… a day and a half?” I sighed. “Come on, El, you know I don’t bring junk.”

  “Henry,” El sighed and waved at the clothes. “Have you ever looked at the prices I sell the clothes you bring me?”

  “Noooo.”

  “I barely make any money on the clothing I sell. The entire used clothing side is a sham, a front,” El said and waved a hand to the glass cases. “That’s where I make my money.”

  “Okay. That’s fine, but…” I pointed to the clothing. “Can’t you take it as usual?”

  “No. Because you’re in my world now,” El insisted, and I grunted, deflating.

  “Fine.” I started packing the bag again. Second Chance was a bus ride away and would probably only take a third of my inventory, but at least we’d have enough for dinner. “What do you sell anyway?”

  “Spell and runic components,” El said.

  I choked, staring at the diminutive pixie. As casually as I could, I added, “And do you buy those too?”

  El laughed, nodding her head. “Of course. But the careful sorting and care for spell components is a skill. Capturing the first breath of sunlight, containing the sap of a necrotic beetle, it’s not something you can just do.”

  Lily beside me just grinned, and I finished stuffing the clothes away.

  “Right. Right. Thank you, El. See you soon.”

  Outside the door, I turned to Lily, who chuckled quietly beside me. After a few yards, Lily asked, “Isn’t the basement the other way?”

  “Yes. But I’ve still got a bag of clothing to get rid of,” I replied, hefting it.

  “You do know that a single spell component is worth more than ten of those bags of used clothing?” Lily said.

  “How would you know?” I shot back. “You’ve been stuck in a ring.”

  “I was looking at the clothing,” Lily said. “And even at full price, a spell component is worth ten bags. At least.”

  “Whatever. I still have to get rid of this.” I hefted the bag. “Waste not, want not.”

  ***

  It was nearly late evening before we found ourselves back at El’s door. The titular Nora was, of course, not around, but El was still inside, finishing up for the day. I frowned—tempted to not knock—but decided to do so anyway. It had been a long, long day already, and I just wanted this done. Beside me, Lily was eating a shawarma, her foot tapping on the ground impatiently.

  “We really should be home,” Lily said. “You’re not really ready fo
r nighttime yet.”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I muttered and knocked again.

  El finally opened the door, glaring at the pair of us. “What do you want?”

  “I might have something you want,” I said.

  “Henry—”

  I shook my head. “Not clothes,” I replied immediately. I quickly glanced around, then reached into my jacket and pulled out one of the rune-covered boxes. “A spell component.”

  “Where did you—?” El clamped her mouth shut. “Fine. Come in.”

  A few minutes later, we were hunched over a table in the back of the shop, in a room I had never seen before. In the center of the table, the opened enchanted box dominated our conversation, El lifting and placing aside small green crystals with a tweezer, inspecting each piece as it came out.

  “Where did you get this?” El muttered, shaking her head. “I haven’t seen quality like this in years.”

  “So, you can give us a good price?” I said, almost bouncing with anticipation.

  “Definitely,” El said and then clamped her lips shut, a look of frustration flickering on her face. “Damn it, Henry. I’ve been buying clothing from you too much.”

  I chuckled and sat back while she carefully stored them away in a glass container of her own. Once she had finished, she weighed the container before turning back to me. “Would you sell the box too?”

  Out of the corner of my eyes, I saw Lily shake her head no, but I did not require her advice on that. I had no intention of selling the boxes and told El as much. The pixie ran a hand through her red hair before she pushed the pad forward, showing me her offer.

  “Whoa…” My jaw dropped a bit, staring at the price. Ten times what I had earned this was not. Obviously, Lily’s time in the ring had seen more changes than the jinn had expected.

  “I take it this is agreeable,” El said with a smirk, and I could only nod dumbly.