Page 113 of The Wishing Game
Christopher was amazed atthe sight of the sharks painted on the walls and the ocean, of course, right outside his window. Then, while Jack was teaching Christopher how to type on a manual typewriter and feed walnuts to Thurl Ravenscroft, Hugo motioned Lucy out into the hallway.
“What?” she whispered.
He looked left. He looked right. He had one hand behind his back, which Lucy found highly suspicious. “Don’t tell anyone I gave you this. Jack’s publisher would drag me through the streets by my ear.” Hugo brought his hand out from behind his back.
A book. Not just any book.
“A Wish for Clock Island,” he said. “Hope you like the cover.”
Tears sprang to her eyes as she studied Hugo’s artwork. A boy who looked just like Christopher was sitting up in a twin bed while a woman who looked just like her was reading him a bedtime story. Outside the window, the Man in the Moon peered over her shoulder as if trying to listen to the story.
Lucy didn’t know what to say, other than, “Hugo…”
“I read it,” he said. “It’s about Astrid, the girl from the very first book who comes back to Clock Island when she’s older.”
“Am I Astrid on the cover?”
“Of course you are. She and her son hear the Mastermind has gone missing, and they work together to find him.”
“Do they find him?”
He grinned. “Suppose you’ll have to read it to find out. And you should read it. It’s the dog’s bollocks.”
“Is that British for ‘it’s good’?”
“Now you’re learning.”
She couldn’t take her eyes off the cover. That was Christopher—big hazel eyes, dark hair gone all wild. And that was her—her brown hair, her profile, even one of her knitted scarves around her neck. “I wanted to be her when I was a kid, you know?”
“Now you are. If you don’t sue me for using your face without permission.”
She put her arms around him and kissed him so hard she almost dropped the book.
Christopher ran out into the hallway, calling her name. Lucy pulled away from Hugo and tucked the book into her bag.
“Mom! Mom! Mom! I fed a real raven!”
She would never get tired of hearing him call her Mom. Even when he said it a few hundred times in a row.
“I saw! Good job. Where to next?” Lucy asked Jack. “The wishing well? The lighthouse? The Storm Seller?”
“Oh, I have a much better idea.” Jack took Christopher by the hand and led him out of the house to the backyard.
Hugo took Lucy by the hand, and they followed.
“Stay right here,” Jack said to Christopher. They all stood behind the house while Jack walked off toward the City of Second Hand.
“What’s he doing?” Lucy whispered to Hugo.
“He’s been very busy while waiting for you two to finally show up. See?”
They heard a sound then, the turning of iron wheels, and the cry of a whistle. And then theClock Island Expresschugged into view, gleaming black and yellow with Jack in the driver’s seat.
“Lucy!” Jack called to her. “I finally finished laying down the track! Want a ride to Samhain Station, Christopher? I hear it’s Halloween every day there!”
Christopher was silent. His eyes were huge. Lucy knew what was coming next and got out her phone to record it for Angie.
He breathed in, filled his lungs, raised his hands, and screamed with purest joy.
And why not?Lucy thought. She did too. So did Hugo. So did Jack.
When you gotta scream, you gotta scream.
