Shannon O'Reilly was bullied and everything his older sister wasn't. When his sister Sarah gives him a chance to change things through a single wish things don't go as planned.     I Wish: Book 5 Chapter 1 Flight By Amethyst

“Umm… excuse me, are you Shannon O’Reilly?” a voice asked tremulously from behind me.

“Yes, that’s me,” I replied as I turned around, model smile firmly in place, and saw a girl standing there. She was about thirteen or fourteen with long black hair and deep brown eyes, and she looked a bit nervous as she clutched a copy of Teen Queen in her hands. She wasn’t really dressed for a Toronto winter, and neither were the pair of adults that I assumed were her parents standing and watching us from not too far away so I figured that she was waiting for a connecting flight.

“Omigod! This is so cool! I can’t believe I’m meeting you! Umm… do you think that you could…” she gushed before seeming to get nervous again and trailing off.

“Sign your magazine?” I finished for her with a more genuine smile. “Sure, who should I make it out to?”

“Ellie,” the girl supplied uncertainly as she offered me the magazine and a pen. “I mean, my name is Eleanor, but nobody ever really calls me that.”

“My cousin is called Ellie too, she lives with us and she’s like a little sister to me,” I told her warmly as I signed the cover of the magazine, "To my good friend Ellie, Shannon O’Reilly.”

“Thank you sooo much! I gotta get going, Mom and Dad are waiting for me.” With that, she was running off excitedly to the pair of adults who had been watching us and I gave a little wave before turning back to Beth.

“That was sweet of you, Babe, she looked so nervous,” my intended said as she leaned forward to kiss me tenderly.

“It was no big deal, I’m getting used to signing those things all the time and talking with strangers. It couldn’t have been easy for her to approach me like that, as nervous as she was, so why make it harder for her? If taking a minute to sign a magazine and talk to her made her happy, then it was worth it. We should go catch up to the others though,” I said, grabbing onto my pair of travel cases as we hurried to catch up with my sister and the rest of our crew.

It had been almost three weeks since our battle with Khinara and her minions, it was now less than a week until Christmas, and I was looking forward to our trip. We had been so busy since that battle with everything that was going on in our lives and I was starting to feel burned out. It would be nice to get away for a bit, even if it was sort of a working holiday.

School had been one of our biggest time commitments, especially with volleyball. Our team was one of the best in the region and we had placed second overall at a tournament last Saturday. Schoolwork also took up a lot of time and so did dodging the ‘press’. At least we could come and go without people with cameras following our every move and trying to get pictures of me now that school was out for Christmas since they wouldn’t come near the house with the threat of legal action.

Sarah and I had also been very busy with work, so Beth and Annie were kept busy as well. Between shooting materials for phase two of the ad campaign for Divine Cosmetics, doing public appearances, and shooting our first few commercials, most of our weekends had been booked solid. We also had some other unrelated modeling work that our agent Peter and Jen’s parents had approved.

Then there was our other, more clandestine work. There hadn’t been much Demon activity since our battle with Khinara but what there was had been disorganized and it almost felt like there was a power vacuum here among the Demons in Toronto and they were all jockeying for position. Maybe I had hurt Khinara worse than I thought.

That didn’t mean that we weren’t working though since I was refining my skills and learning new Celestial spells with Sarah and Ziralin and I both had apprentices to train. Both Lisa and Michelle were coming along well, but they both had a stubborn streak that seemed to help with that. I didn’t think that Lisa had the power for Celestial magick but she was proving very good at multi-tasking and I had taught her how to purify magick energy and basic shielding and attack spells in case she had to tangle with any Demons.

As for Michelle, she had been working hard learning physical combat from Ziralin and that was what would serve her best since most of her Familiar abilities seemed to be passive with the accelerated healing, enhanced physical attributes, and her ability to teleport to Lisa when needed. Ziralin had been hoping to have that last ability herself, but it seemed that it was something unique to Michelle. Like Ellie was always saying, ‘Magick has a will of its own,’ and apparently a sense of the dramatic and an odd sense of humor as well.

Anyway, with everything that we had going on, it would be nice for all of us to take a break over Christmas while Talisha finalized buying the new house and getting us moved in before the new year. Jen’s parents had managed to rent us a big place for the next two weeks in Banff National park so that we and our assistants and friends could get in a little rest and relaxation. They thought that a little skiing and being in the great outdoors would help us to recharge our batteries before we had to return for school and more work on the ad campaign. Michelle had even suggested someone who flew a chartered plane to get us there and back.

While we did intend on enjoying the vacation, we also had work to do. While we were there we would also be traveling to Nhekar, the Plane where the knowledge that Torphael had given Ziralin indicated that the final Sentinel, Jalael the Serene, could be found. None of those among us who had gotten Celestial marks had much knowledge of Nhekar though, much less where to find Jalael’s remains.

At least while searching for the other Sentinels we had some coordinates to add to the gate spells so we ended up somewhere close to the Sentinels’ locations but this time we had nothing to go by. We could appear anywhere on that Plane without specific coordinates so it seemed that we were going to have to search a whole world randomly and hope to find what we were looking for. Worse yet, we didn’t even have any recent information to help us.

Apparently, Nhekar was one of the far outer Planes that the Celestials weren’t very familiar with because it’s so far out of the way and it takes a lot of power to cast a gate there. The information that Ziralin had inherited from Torphael was limited at best and thousands of years out of date by our terms but to make that even worse, one day on our Plane is months on Nhekar so the information was likely actually hundreds of thousands of years out of date so far as Nhekar was concerned. We had no idea what we would be walking into but at least we would have months to a couple of years to search before we had to be back on our own Plane in two weeks’ time. Maybe we’d finish up early and could get some skiing in.

As I thought about the trip ahead and we hurried to catch up with the others I looked around carefully. I had the feeling that I was being watched and it wasn’t the first time in the past few weeks. I couldn’t sense any demonic aura or a Demon Brand though so it was probably either my imagination or one of those photographers following me around again. I tried to put it out of my mind as Beth and I joined the others at the gate that would take us to the runway where our plane awaited.

The plane was bigger and a bit fancier than I was expecting for a prop plane and could seat up to fourteen passengers with a decent amount of legroom and space in the cabin. I wasn’t much of a plane girl but Michelle mentioned that it was a Cessna Caravan as we were securing our luggage. Soon we had taken off and it was a short time later as I was just settling in for a relaxing flight when I heard a familiar voice calling out clearly from near the cockpit. “Hello, everyone. We have reached our cruising altitude so you may all unfasten your seatbelts and feel free to roam around the cabin. My name is Rebecca and if you need anything to make your flight more comfortable, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

My eyes went wide with surprise as I unfastened my seatbelt and stood up to look at the source of the voice, not sure if I could believe my ears. As soon as I was standing and we both got a good look at one another, Rebecca and I said in stereo, “What is she doing here?!”

Michelle was quick to get to her feet and place herself between us. “Okay, girls, just calm the fuck down. Rebecca is here because her mom is our pilot and she sometimes helps out on the flights. Shannon is here because she and her sister are your mom’s clients. And I needed a way to get you two somewhere where you can bury whatever hatchet is between you.”

Rebecca glared at Michelle in fury and snapped, “I thought you were my friend!” Then she turned around in a huff and stomped back toward the pilot’s compartment.

“I am… I… fuck,” Michelle stammered as she sank into her seat with a sigh.

I let out a sigh of my own and took the seat across from Michelle and Lisa. “I know what you were trying to do here, Michelle, but this was a bad idea. If she and her mom are our ride back and spending their vacation in the same place she was going to want to hang out with you. How were you planning to explain the fact that we might not be around for most of our ‘vacation’?”

Michelle sank guiltily into her seat. “Well, she and her mom are staying at a different place and I figured that if I couldn’t get you two talking she’d do her best to avoid you anyway. I just wanted her to stop hating on you for no good reason, if you just got together and talked it out I think…”

Whatever she had been about to say was cut off by a loud bang as the plane seemed to lurch and Rebecca screamed. “I really hope that was turbulence,” I heard Elsaishe say, though I was pretty sure she believed it about as little as I did. We had all felt that sickening feeling of a Demon gate being opened and a very familiar aura and were scrambling toward the cockpit.

Rebecca was sitting on the floor gaping in horror and screaming at the scene inside the cockpit. Her mother was slumped forward lifelessly in the pilot’s seat, there was blood and entrails everywhere, and standing there in the center of it all was Khinara half covered in blood and a translucent black figure with glowing red eyes. Just great, it was a Wraith.

Wraiths aren’t like regular ghosts and spirits, and yes, ghosts do exist. Wraiths are the disembodied spirits of Demons whose hatred for something or someone is strong enough to keep their souls from going to wherever Demons go when they die. Because they are incorporeal beings and can’t interact with the physical world they don’t give off a strong demonic aura and, unless they choose to show themselves, even a sensitive Witch like me would never know they were there unless we were specifically looking for one.

Now that it was visible, I could see the bindings on the Wraith. Khinara must have had that thing following me for a while, waiting for an opportunity, but Wraiths are usually laser-focused on the object of their hatred and getting vengeance so they wouldn’t serve another unless it would lead to it getting that vengeance. That meant that this Wraith had a beef with one of us. Then I recognized that almost undetectable demonic aura and muttered, “Of course it would be Aarianna.” It made sense since she blamed me for her being turned into a girl and then a Succubus, and probably held a grudge against Ziralin and me both for killing her.

~I see that you recognize my new pet, Shannon,~ Khinara said with a creepy smile, seeming to take great pleasure in using my name. ~The things that she wants to do to you and the silver-haired Fae.~

She wasn’t going to get the chance since I had been gathering and purifying magick energy since I sensed the gate and Khinara. I hit the Wraith with a purification spell and peppered Khinara with holy missiles. Aarianna was out of the game now but Khinara’s shield spell was still standing as I sensed her casting another gate spell.

There was something seriously wrong here, and not just the fact that the cabin of the plane was too cramped for a full-out magick battle or for Mason, Jennifer, Annie, Ziralin, and Sarah to effectively use their Celestial forms without their wings making it really crowded. We couldn’t even use physical spells or bullets unless we wanted to risk bringing the plane down, if we weren’t going down already. Khinara was also in the cockpit and with me and Rebecca effectively blocking the door at the moment, so only I had a line of sight to attack her anyway.

Sure, Khinara’s shield spell seemed less powerful than the one that she used in our last encounter and her missing arms hadn’t regenerated yet, but she had the advantage here so why gate away? Was she maybe bringing in reinforcements to finish us off? She did say that she wasn’t going to play games this time.

I was pounding her with another trio of spells when everything seemed to lurch. It was as I started to draw in magick energy for another round of spells that I figured out what was wrong. The feel of the energy was sickening and tainted, it felt different than any that I had ever gathered before. Khinara hadn’t brought reinforcements to the plane, she’d brought the plane to Heil.

“Shit,” I heard Sarah curse behind me as she probably realized the same thing that I had. She might not be able to draw on magick energy in her human form anymore but she could still sense both it and demonic auras. There were Demons everywhere; on the ground below us, in the air around the plane, and the plane was shaking from blows as the Demons outside tried to stoke our fears.

It was working and the only positive thing about this situation was that Khinara seemed severely weakened after using that spell, well for the brief instant before the second portal appeared and she made good her escape. She didn’t need to stick around, she had all the Demons in Heil to finish us off now. We needed to get out of there, fast.

Lisa and I could draw on the magick energy here and only feel a bit nauseous, the abilities of our Familiars were mostly inherent magical abilities, and Ziralin and Ellie could use their Faery abilities but anyone who tried using Celestial abilities would be screwed when they had to start drawing in magick energy. Changing to their Celestial forms didn’t require using any, but their Celestial special abilities and even their ability to fly required drawing on magick energy once they used up what they had stored. Unless they took the time and concentration required to purify that energy first, this stuff would be like poison to them, as deadly as purified magick energy was to Demons.

Sarah took charge. “Everyone gather your things; we need to gate out of here! We are not ready to fight here yet!”

I was about to do as she said when I noticed that the ground seemed to be coming up fast. None of us knew how to fly a plane and Rebecca seemed to be in shock, not that I could blame her after what she just saw and with her mother’s entrails all over the cockpit. I knelt down in front of her and shook her, and when that didn’t work I slapped her. “Rebecca! We don’t have time for this right now! Can you keep this plane in the air for a few more minutes?!”

For a second all I got was an empty stare, but then she seemed to snap out of it and her brief glare quickly gave way to a slight nod. She was scared to death, but she knew more about this plane than any of us. As she raced to get to the co-pilot’s stick I ran to gather my purse and shoved it in my emergency backpack. The others already had their backpacks shouldered and Sarah was in her Celestial form casting the gate. The amount of power it was taking was straining her and she was only able to hold it open for a few seconds, enough time for Lisa and Michelle to make it through.

This was not unexpected. We had thought to do some scouting on Nhekar but had discovered that, for some reason, our gates didn’t want to stay open to that location for more than a few seconds. So we had prepared by drawing a gate for that Plane in permanent marker on an old bedsheet. We could use it as many times as we needed to just by feeding magick into the sigils. It would take less time to do that several times than to draw out and form an entirely new gate to a specific location on Earth for all of us.

That was why we had the emergency backpacks. Since we had no specific coordinates to work with on the gate, it was likely that we were going to be separated when we arrived a few at a time. Those packs contained everything that we might need to survive on our own for a while in a strange and potentially hostile Plane.

Sarah had only managed one more casting before she was too drained of magick energy to do another, sending Jennifer and Mason through. It looked like it was up to me now. I drew in as much magical energy as I could and formed the gate again twice more, sending through Sarah and Annie, followed by Ziralin and Ellie. I really didn’t want to be separated from my sister, Familiar, or my cousin, but I was a realist. I was needed to form the gates and Rebecca was needed to keep the plane in the air while I did that.

That left me and Rebecca to go last, a situation that I figured that neither of us was going to be too thrilled with once the shock wore off. “Rebecca! We’re bailing out!” I called out once I had gathered more magick energy and was ready to cast the gate.

“Parachutes are in the back!” our temporary pilot shouted as she ran into the main cabin, and I used that as my cue to shove almost all of the magick energy that I had into the gate. “What the?” Rebecca sputtered, staring at the glowing circle in the air. We didn’t have time for this so I shoved her through, hit the corner of the gate sheet with a quick fire spell so we couldn’t be followed, and dove in after her.

It was cold and dark on the other side. Two moons hung above us in the sky and I stood in a seemingly endless expanse of black sand dunes. I was going to need my Demon-hunting gear to stay comfortable in this weather and I would probably need to enchant Rebecca’s clothes for her. She was currently slumped down in the sand with a stunned and confused expression on her face and I figured that I should get to work before she came back to her senses and started either ignoring me or screaming at me.

Ziralin was very far away, I could feel the powerful pull of my connection with her and had to try to ignore that pull as I reached out with my magick sense, closed my eyes, and felt around me for magick energy to draw on. It was as I sensed nothing that I suddenly realized why a gate wouldn’t stay open to this Plane for very long and required so much power to cast. I fell to the sand beside Rebecca as I whispered in stunned disbelief, “There’s no magick.”