The Wishbreaker by Tyler Whitesides

Author:Tyler Whitesides
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2018-11-02T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 14

“Arrr! We’ll never get around ’em!” said Thackary. “Best if we sacrifice Ace and Ridge to the monsters so the rest of us can sail past.”

“That’s a horrible plan!” Ridge said. “There are too many of them, anyway. It wouldn’t even work.”

“Maybe not,” he replied. “But at least we’d be rid of ye.”

“Nobody’s getting sacrificed to the evil seaweed today!” My ears smoked as I shouted. “But we need to start digging!” I dropped to my knees again, hands clawing through the hot sand.

“Bawk!” said Ms. Gomez, joining me.

“The seaweed’s moving in on us,” Vale said. “This would be a great time for a Wishmaker to make a wish!”

She was right. My first thought was to wish for the dagger to resurface, but that was probably too direct. We needed some kind of protection to buy us time. I glanced at Ridge, who had also started digging. He was using his hands to pack the wet sand as he dug it up, forming it into a tidy mound. That gave me the perfect idea!

“Ridge,” I said. “I wish there was a giant sandcastle surrounding us while we dig for the dagger!”

“If you want a sandcastle,” he said, “then anytime someone greets you, you’ll be forced to take a knee and say, ‘I am at your service, my liege.’”

“Liege?” I said. “What does that even mean?”

“It’s just something servants said to their lords in the Middle Ages,” answered Ridge.

“But what if I don’t want to be a servant to the person that greets me?” I said. “What if we meet Chasm again and I have to pledge myself to him?”

“Oh, you don’t actually have to serve them,” said Ridge. “You just have to say the phrase. It won’t mean anything.”

“Do I have to say it the way you said it?”

“How did I say it?” Ridge asked.

“It was pretty melodramatic,” I said.

“You can say it however you want, Ace.”

The seaweed monsters were closing in on both sides. If I debated the consequence any longer, my sandcastle might become useless. One more quick question.

“How long will this last?”

“For a year,” he said.

Okay. It would probably be worth the awkward greetings if the sandcastle gave us enough time to find the buried dagger.

“Bazang!” I said.

At once, a spectacular castle was constructed around us. It must have taken up a good fifty yards of the beach, with walls that rose well over thirty feet high, forcing back the approaching seaweed monsters. We seemed to be in some kind of central courtyard. The blue sky could be seen overhead, but the damp sand walls instantly cast a comfortable shadow across the spot where we’d been digging.

There were a few enclosed rooms around the courtyard, complete with sand doors and everything! I could see flights of stairs leading up to walkways at the top of the wall where medieval lookouts would be able to see anyone approaching the castle.

Pleased with my wish, I returned to helping a clucking Ms. Gomez dig for the dagger. The others joined in, pulling sand away as we delved deeper in the spot where I had seen the old blade.

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