Prologue Unfulfilled Wish

"I wish... for attention." -Rel

"Are you freaking kidding me?!" REL REL stuttered, skidding through the mud, a shimmering fishing pole pulled behind her like a blade. "How am I supposed to get the mirror with that thing in the water?"

Relene was an imaginative thirteen-year-old— an awkward youth with tan skin, short, boy-cut black hair, and purple bangs. She wore a lavender tank top, which turned yellow around her stomach, and a wrinkled pair of shorts, all soaked and sopped with mud.

JAWROOT JAWROOT towered over the water's surface. It had glowing eyes, spikes rising from its back, and a mouth like a deep-sea anglerfish. Jawroot Jawroot carved the water, creating swells of white hair in crazed circles around a lost mirror.

LILY flicked her yellow eyes into the trees towards an approaching set of voices, "It's your guardians?" She stood a bit taller than Rel. She had long, flowing pink locks, bangs cut pristinely at her brow, and a brilliant cerulean dress with a skull pendant on her neck.

"Oh no, not now. I haven't got the mirror yet!" Rel splashed into the lake frantically.

"You best hurry, princess."

"I know, okay, okay!" Rel Rel dove into the water, running on top of the massive fish. "He's slippery!" She clutched Jawroot Jawroot's highest fin with one hand, grasping it tightly while clasping the fishing pole with the other, trying not to get thrown off. "Fly now, Rod of Lost Tears!"

Jawroot Jawroot thundered through the water as she cast, trying to shake the little girl from its head. Rel Rel was jerked about, to and fro, still holding the rod. "I got it!"

The hook snagged upon the lost mirror, picking it up from the mud.

"Reel it in, Mistress!" cried Lily from the shore.

"I'm trying to!" Rel's other hand was locked to Jawroot Jawroot's head fin.

"Let go!" came Lily's voice.

"Are you nuts?" cried Rel Rel.

"Relene? Relene!" came the voice of her parents.

"Oh goodness, there she is!" cried her MOTHER, to FATHER, from the other side of the lake, just beyond the giant oak that led into town. They saw Rel splashing in the shallows with an old beaten rod as she stomped over a terrified silverfish.

"You must do it now, Mistress!"

Father marched through the bushes, "Relene, here! Don't make me come over there!"

"Mistress!"

"I know!" Rel let go, trying not to lose hold of the rod. Bubbles! A creature surging upon her, its mouth wide, teeth, so many, many teeth!

She turned the reel, tugged up, hand spinning desperately. Jawroot Jawroot lunged! The rod bent, the line jerked violently, ringing like a ribbon of silver light, gathering into the rod's handle.

Rel pulled as Jawroot Jawroot leaped from the water. "I almost have it!"

"Rel, enough!" Father yanked her backward.

Rel tumbled onto the shore as Jawroot Jawroot thundered into an explosive wave, disappearing into the depths below.

The mirror was flung into the air, carried at the end of the fishing line, landing on the muddy shore. It squished to a sloppy stop, right at Mother's feet.

Rel, coated in mud, soaking wet, hair smeared across her cheeks, clothes ruffled and sticking to her body, trudged up to Mother and smiled. "Look, look, I found it! Aren't... aren't you proud of me?" She pulled the goggles onto her forehead.

Mother eyed the mirror, shaking her head at the messy little girl. "You're such a hassle, Mija. I don't have time for your games. I really don't."

"Tell me you're proud of me," said Rel Rel.

"Get on home," came Father's gruff voice. "Get on home. Now."

Mother thrust the hand mirror into Rel's hands. "Now."

Mother and Father exchanged glances, saying something Rel couldn't hear. They vanished into the trees.

She pulled the mirror to eye level, staring into the grimy, dingy reflection of herself.

Lily asked curiously, "What will you wish for, Mistress?"

Rel sighed through her nose, tears masked by purple bangs, droplets of lake water on her cheeks. "I wish for... Attention." She waited for some lights. A spark? Maybe an explosion or some streamers of mist. Something to indicate her wish. Anything? However, she simply stared at the dirty reflection of the poor, green-eyed girl, purple hair mushed across her forehead.

Rel lowered the handheld mirror, wiping muck away from her chin. "Is something s'pposed to happen?" Lily had said the mirror would grant her wish. Any wish. And Rel had indeed made a wish.

"Perhaps it was not your one true wish?" said Lily, toes angled into the mud in such a way that it did not dirty her shoes.

"Sure, right, perhaps," she replied, squishing into the shore with a huff. "Yeah, what perhaps? I made a wish, didn't I?" Lily never mentioned any rules. "Okay, so what now?"

Lily lowered her voice. "I do not know, princess."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"As I said."

"You're a wonk nugget, you know that!" Rel screamed. "This, this. All this! I stomped a big ol' fish. I'm soaked. And now momma and poppa are steamed at me. And for what? A freaking waste!"

"I do not believe it was a waste, my dear," said Lily. "It's only a waste if you choose to waste it."

Rel Rel tore the goggles from her eyes, staring down at the doll. It happened that way, for some reason. The goggles allowed Rel to see into another world, allowed Lily to have voice and form. But right now? She didn't want to see or talk to Lily. She snatched the doll from the mud. Rel stomped home, stomped into the house, still dripping, expecting to wander right into a lecture. Mother and Father were surely ready to scold her as soon as she walked through the door.

She squelched onto the carpet, leaving puddles as she moved into the hallway. She heard them whispering. The lights in the house were off, so she followed the glow to their room. Door ajar, she peeked in, enough to see Father holding Mother.

She was crying.

When Father noticed Rel in the doorway, he made a slow, sad gesture with his hand, "Come here, Relene. Please." Father was a stocky man, round, with eyes that always looked angry, and a wild bush of brown hair and matching eyebrows. But now? His eyes were filled with sorrow, the puffs of his scraggly eyebrows hanging down the side of his crinkled forehead.

Rel crept in cautiously, biting her lip, "I... I didn't mean to make you cry and all that, momma."

"No, Mija," said Mother, voice quivering, "I never meant to make you cry. Ever." Mother was not very tall—slender, dark-eyed, with short curls of shimmering brown hair. A pinstriped business suit was buttoned to her petite form. She glanced at Father, shaking her head.

Rel Rel shimmied between them, bed squealing beneath her weight as she sat down.

"We have something to tell you," said Father.

Mother, usually aloof and level-headed, squeezed Relene's shoulder and said, "I'm... I'm not well, Mija. I haven't been for a very long time."

"What-what does that mean?" asked Rel.

Mother replied in a modest voice, "It means what it means, Mija."

"Are you sick?" asked Rel Rel insistently. "Not like you're dying, and all that. Are you?" She chuckled.

Mother and Father didn't reply.

Rel's smile faded. "Are you?!"

"Relene..."

"Mija..."

Rel pursed her lips. "How long?"

"We've known for quite some time," said Father.

"We just didn't want to worry you," said Mother.

"No... I mean, how long? If, you know... how long?"

Rel Rel took the Lily doll and the goggles in hand, sneakers squishing down the hallway. She stepped into her room, fingers quivering, taking long, shallow breaths. "Not long," said Rel, voice shaking. "Not long."

She lowered the doll and goggles into a cardboard box beside her bed, crumpling to her knees in the darkness. "No more nonsense," she whispered. "What can I do? I wish... I wish... I wish I wasn't so useless." Rel proceeded to pack more of her dolls, some old drawings, and toys into the box before folding the lid closed.

"Maybe she'll be okay. Yeah, that's the ticket! She's going to be fine. We're going to be fine, and all that. No worries. Right? Right. Maybe If I stay on my best behavior... stop being me. Maybe momma will heal. She'll get better. She will. I know it!"