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 4 Chapter 2 Stuck In The Middle By Amethyst

Beth texted Sgt. Williams as we made our way to the food court and quietly talked amongst ourselves. “That Demon isn’t moving very fast, whatever it is,” I said quietly as we entered the food court. “It’s coming right toward the area of the mall though. We should warn your mom, Ellie.”

“I’m texting her now,” my Fae cousin replied as she rapidly tapped her fingers over the surface of her phone.

I used some of my stored magick energy and focused on finding out Lisa’s current location. Since she was fairly familiar to me and I had a general idea that she was following me through the mall the spell wouldn’t require enough power to attract any unwanted attention, or so I hoped. “Locate Lisa White,” I whispered under my breath. Then I frowned and sighed, “She’s still following us. She ducked in that Bed, Bath, and Beyond, but she just came out and is following about three store lengths behind us.”

“Sgt. Williams just finished dinner and she’s on her way here now to talk to security about looking at the footage. She’s hoping she can catch Lisa in the act and give her a warning too. We’ll just have to eat dinner and wait for her to contact us again,” Beth informed us as we made our way to a table and sat down. “What do you girls want? I’m buying.”

“Well, I hope that she can nab Lisa so we can slip away and deal with that Demon without being tailed. The last thing that we need is her finding out about our evening activities,” I said with a frown as I mentally followed Lisa with my tracking spell. She was moving across the food court and sat down at a table near the hallway to the restrooms. She was glaring at us now, not even caring if she stayed hidden. I really didn’t need this right now, my weekend had been going so well. I just finished a great gig, got some awesome clothes, and I was wearing a beautiful promise ring made by the love of my life, and Lisa had to ruin it all with the creepy stalker act. Couldn’t I go one day without her or some Demons showing up? “I dunno my love, whatever you think is fine with me, I guess,” I answered half-heartedly to Beth’s inquiry.

Beth put her arm around me and softly kissed my cheek. “Well, I’m guessing from Shannon’s response that she needs comfort food, so McDonald’s it is, it’ll be a nice treat to have a cheat day to celebrate our new relationship status. What about you Ellie?”

“McD’s is fine with me,” Elsaishe agreed. “I could really go for a chicken burger and a diet coke.”

“Okay girls, I’ll be back in a few,” Beth said before kissing me once again and heading off toward the McDonald’s.

Ellie tried to encourage me with a smile. “Cheer up Shannon. I mean, other than that crazy bitch, things are going pretty well for you. Don’t let her little bit of bad taint all that good stuff. I mean you’re freaking engaged and if her making that gorgeous ring doesn’t prove how much she loves you I don’t know what will. Besides, we all know that Lisa just wishes that she was in Beth’s place.”

I gave a half-hearted smile back as I texted Annie to let her and Sarah know about the Demon in the area. Maybe they could deal with it if we couldn’t scrape Lisa off our backsides in time. I wasn’t hopeful though since Sarah was supposed to be at a modeling gig of her own and hadn’t been expecting to finish up for at least another hour or so, and Annie would of course be with her. After a few minutes of uncomfortable silence, I got a response and let out a sigh. “It looks like Sarah is still in front of the camera, so we may need to deal with this ourselves.”

“That sucks, but I was half-expecting it,” Ellie replied. Casting a subtle sidelong glance in Lisa’s direction she muttered, “The bitch still has her eyes glued on you. I don’t know what’s worse, her bullshit or the Demons.”

“At least we can kill the Demons,” I grumbled back. “With Lisa, the only thing I can do is ignore her, make it look like she’s not bothering me, and hope that she goes away. It’s getting harder to do that though because it damn well does bother me and she’s not going away.”

“We could mess with her a bit,” the blonde Fae suggested.

I shook my head, though I was sorely tempted. “What and give her the ammunition she’s looking for? I’m not doing that. I don’t want to be one of those mean girls, even if she does deserve it, we’re better than that.”

“I wasn’t talking about being a bitch back to her, Shannon. I was thinking that if we just enjoy ourselves and be loud enough for our voices to carry while making a big deal about the promise ring and your pre-engagement to Beth that it might improve your mood and piss her off. It’s the best of both worlds. I mean it’s not like she’s seen the ring and Ziralin proposed privately, so why not give Beth a chance to propose publicly?” My cousin had a huge grin on her face and I couldn’t help but smile back.

“It’s a nice idea cuz, but Beth already gave me the most romantic moment that I’ll probably ever have in my life tonight. Anything more would feel kind of hollow by comparison and it would just be acting. Besides, I’m in the public eye enough already right now with all the billboards and magazine ads and such. Hell, there’s a billboard with me and Mason kissing here at the mall and people are starting to recognize me,” I said after a moment. I wouldn’t have minded our relationship being public, in fact, I wanted to show how proud that I was to be hers, but what worried me was how that might affect Beth.

“I don’t see the problem cuz, Ziralin sees you for who you are, not some face on a billboard,” Elsaishe told me gently.

“I think that fame can be hard on relationships,” I explained. “I said that I have a girlfriend in that interview for Teen Queen and when that comes out I’ll be getting a lot more attention and people are going to wonder who that girlfriend is. Being a model’s very public lesbian girlfriend/fiancée would only put Beth under a microscope as well, and she’s got more to hide than I do. I’d rather not put her under that kind of pressure unless she’s okay with it and knows what she’s probably going to be in for. I’m okay with keeping things quiet.”

“Come on Shannon, it’s just an interview in a fashion magazine, but you’re not that big a name yet and it’s not like you’re going to be on the cover.” She was rolling her eyes and I caught them widening once I looked down at the table, my cheeks bright red as I shook my head. “OMG! You’re going to be on the cover of Teen Queen?!”

I sighed as her excited exclamation caused practically every teenage girl in the shouting distance to look our way, including Lisa, who was glaring daggers at me. There were even phones pointed in our direction now, and I was pretty sure that they were recording. “We got a message from Angela Zubreck earlier this week. The production manager and publisher loved the photos and the interview so much that I’ll be on the cover of the issue that comes out December first. We’re trying to keep it quiet right now, especially at school.”

Elsaishe slapped a hand over her mouth before offering in a whisper, “I’m sooo sorry… I just kinda freaked out a bit. I’ll try to keep it quiet at school. But really, this is why it even makes more sense for a public proposal before you’re getting all that attention. People are going to pry to find out who you’re dating if you’re famous and they will find out if it’s not already public knowledge. It’ll be better for both of you if you’re not trying to hide it, and people won’t think that Beth is some kind of gold digger if you show that you had a solid relationship before all the fame.”

“It doesn’t matter what other people think, we love one another, and everyone important in our lives knows that. Besides, I’m wearing her ring and I wouldn’t do that if I didn’t love her and know that she loves me back. I appreciate the sentiment cuz, but...” I told her as I attempted to rebuff her idea.

“Forgive me Shannon, but this is for your own good,” Ellie whispered so quietly that I could barely hear her, cutting me off as she grabbed my hand and made a big show of staring at the ring. That was when I noticed that phones were still filming us from her earlier exclamation, probably thinking that I was someone famous, or soon going to be. “O M G Shannon! She proposed?! And this ring! I mean, I work in the jewelry biz so I know how much this is worth! I wish that someone loved me that much! You’re wearing it, so you said yes right?!”

I was bright red by now and so was Beth who had chosen that moment to come back to the table with our tray of food. “I… of course I did. I love her, and it was the most romantic proposal ever. Geeze cuz, did you have to announce it to the whole mall? I told you that we’re trying to keep it quiet for now. My sister doesn’t even know yet.” At least I didn’t have to act flustered, I really was, and I resolved to get Ellie back later, probably with something cold and squishy in her bed. Or I could freeze her bra, while she’s wearing it. Then Ellie turned on Beth. “That’s a whole lotta love there, girlfriend. Congratulations! I’m so happy for both of you!”

Beth had no idea what was going on. I could sense the confusion from her mind as she stumbled over her words. “I…. umm… thanks, Ellie. Shannon’s worth it though, I’m totally in love with her.” Then she leaned over and kissed me, wrapping me up in her arms as our tongues danced and her caresses sent a warmth radiating through my body. If I was flushed before, now my cheeks, and other places, were like an inferno. I decided though that I didn’t care that we were being watched. It was Beth, I loved her, and we were both showing that love, not to those idiots with the phones but to one another.

Thankfully the phones started to disappear as we broke off the kiss though there was at least one still filming during the smattering of applause and few hateful looks that followed out little same-sex PDA. Beth whispered breathily into my ear, “Okay, why do I feel like I’m in a reality show?”

“Could be the applause,” I suggested in a return whisper before licking her earlobe. “Ellie thinks we need to make our relationship more public so you don’t look like a gold digger when I’m on the cover of a magazine instead of just in some of the ads. That cat is out of the bag too, and she accidentally announced it to half the food court, so she thought she would make the most of the attention from it, I guess. And I’m pretty sure she wanted to piss Lisa off too.”

“Well, she succeeded, because Lisa looks like she wants to rip your head off, or maybe mine. Probably both, actually. We really should eat. That Demon may be moving slow, but it’s getting closer every minute and it has a powerful aura. I just hope it doesn’t show up before Sgt. Williams gets here or we can shake Lisa.” Her hushed voice was tinged with concern and I could feel it in her mind as well.

“You’re right, I don’t want to fight a powerful Demon in the middle of the mall if we can help it. Even if I used a spell to put everyone in the area to sleep, we’d still have to deal with security cameras and such. We’ll need to draw it away. I don’t think that it’s actually moving slow, or that it has any specific destination in mind. It’s more like it’s stopping every few blocks and moving in a straight southward line through the center of the city. I think it might be searching for something. Or someone. Maybe it’s looking for us, we have been kicking Demon ass recently. If it isn’t then we can probably get its attention anyway.” I reluctantly ended our embrace with one last kiss and we sat down to eat.

Beth, Ellie, and I ate our dinner and tried to have a normal teenage girl conversation while Lisa continued to watch us balefully. Beth enjoyed her Big Mac, Ellie her chicken burger and diet coke, and me my chicken nuggets while we shared a large fries between the three of us. We were finished eating and Beth and I were finishing the chocolate milkshake that she had gotten us to share with two straws when Sgt. Williams approached us in uniform. “Good evening girls.”

“Hi, Sgt. Williams, Lisa is just over there. She’s been watching us since before I texted you,” Beth offered with a nod of her head in the direction of Lisa’s table, where she was hurriedly gathering her things.

“I know,” the police officer replied with a nod. I liked her, she had taken this matter seriously from the start and Detective Hanson had said that we could count on her. So I could feel some of the stress from the whole situation melting away as she added, “I would have been here sooner but I’ve already looked at the security feeds and I’ve been watching her watching you for a few minutes now. I just came to let you know that you should be safe to go home now while I go talk with Miss White. I’ll call you later to discuss what happens from here.”

We barely had time to say our thankyous before she strode purposely in Lisa’s direction. Lisa took off like a shot and Sgt. Williams was off in pursuit, leaving us safe to go deal with whatever Demonic threat was out there. I breathed a sigh of relief as we gathered our things and walked briskly for the mall exit. We were heading in the same direction that Lisa had run off in, but I assumed that she had parked in the same lot as we had and Sgt. Williams could handle her. That Demon was getting too close for comfort though, if it wasn’t in the mall it was getting pretty damn close and its direction had changed. It had looked like it was going to bypass the mall completely, but it had just turned toward us and quickened its pace. The aura was very powerful and sickeningly familiar, I recognized it even before that sultry voice entered my mind as we neared the exit. “I can sense you witchling, you are very close.”

“Khinara,” I thought back at her with undisguised disgust. “What do you want?”

“I want a lot of things. For instance, I would love to know how you became so powerful. You would make a powerful ally, but you have already chosen your side, haven’t you? You work with Celestials and Faery filth. As soon as I heard how many Demons have been vanishing in this city I knew that I would find you here,” she purred in my mind.

“Congratulations, you’re so frickin’ clever,” I retorted. “So you came to kill me then? Good luck with that, you’re not the first of your kind to try.”

“It’s nothing personal, I assure you, but I can’t have you killing off my Demons. I have been ordered to establish a beachhead on this world and you and your friends are bad for business. Those were minor Demons that you defeated before, witchling. I am Khinara, one of the Demon King’s seven generals,” she offered casually, with a healthy dose of arrogance.

“How nice for you, but all of the other Demons we’ve killed thought they were pretty hot stuff too,” I pointed out with more confidence than I felt. I could tell from the feel of her aura though that she really was way beyond anything that we had ever encountered before among the Demons.

“We both know that they pale in comparison to you and me, little witchling,” she countered with something almost like respect. “So many people, do you really fear battling me so much that you hide among the masses?”

“It’s a coincidence, you caught us at a bad time. If you really want to die that badly then I’m sure that we can arrange a nice quiet spot to try to kill one another,” I goaded her, as we stepped outside and into the dimly lit parking lot. It had gotten dark outside while we had been in the mall, but I didn’t mind since darkness would make it easier to keep any magick and our identities a secret. I just wanted to get somewhere without a lot of people so we could change to our Demon-hunting personas and draw that Demoness away from the mall and innocent people who I couldn’t risk seeing magick.

“Not tonight little witchling, it’s no fun if it’s over so quickly. I know that this is the city that you reside in now, so we can make a game of it. Besides, I used a lot of magick energy searching for you and I find myself feeling famished. As luck would have it I can sense a veritable banquet of hate, anger, and lust nearby. Enjoy this reprieve witching, because I will find you and your friends and then you will die. Do try to make the game a little entertaining.” Then her voice was gone and, at the same time that I felt her spell being cast, all the lights in the parking lot went out just before Khinara’s aura vanished altogether.