Three Wishes Read Free Page A

missing, and there had clearly been a spout at one time, giving it almost a genie-lamp feel, making me think of my abuela and her questions. What do you want most, Grillita?
    I cradled the lamp to my chest, memories of her so vivid, her voice in my head so loud, it was like I was with her again.
    What had I said? What had she said?
    Adventure … to know true love … to discover what it meant to have a real family.
    A blinding flash of light made me blink, and the ground seemed to shift. I reached for the nearest boulder, wondering if we were having an earthquake. My stomach twisted, and I felt a wave of nausea. Then my ears popped, and popped again, like when we were driving up and down from the mountains. But as I waited, there was nothing more.
    Well, that was weird. Seriously weird.
    I winced, holding my stomach as it settled, wondering what exactly was going on with my body. But then the heavy object in my hands distracted me again. What would a treasure like this be worth? Could it pay for my college? Maybe the guy at the pawn shop could tell me something…
    I rose and walked around the boulder, looking down to the main part of the beach, wondering when Glen, the old leather-skinned lifeguard, would show up for duty. He’d think this thing was cool.
    I sucked in a quick breath, blinking rapidly.
    There was no lifeguard tower.
    No runners on the beach, like there usually were by this time.
    The million-dollar houses that had lined the cliffs above the beach when I got here were gone—only waving grass greeted my eyes on the bluff above. I glanced out to sea, wondering if somehow, I had walked up the wrong beach, distracted by the golden object in my hands.
    I turned in a slow circle, eying the cliffs and the water. It was my beach for sure. It had to be. Except it didn’t look like my beach. The tide pools were gone. The beach was wider and strewn with washed-up logs. And halfway across the broad expanse was the broken, skeletal frame of a shipwreck.
    A shipwreck.
    I frowned, shook my head and turned around in another slow three-sixty. “Wh-what’s going on?” I muttered, now thinking I was hallucinating or something. Maybe I was just so tired…maybe this was some weird response to grief over my abuela…
    I studied the bluff and the rocks beside me. It was the same cove, the same beach. My cove. My cove. It had to be.
    But it wasn’t. It was different. Radically different. Raw and undeveloped and—
    A gunshot startled me— a gunshot? I flinched and peeked around the big volcanic boulder, down toward the long stretch of beach the surfers favored. Now what? Some sort of gang—
    My eyes widened in shock. In the distance, there was a man on horseback, charging in my direction, four men on horseback behind him—in pursuit?—galloping at the same pace, hooves tossing up clods of sand behind them. Another gunshot cracked through the air, the only other sound besides the wash of the waves.
    I could feel the rumble of the horses’ hooves beneath my own bare feet and saw the men approaching at a frightening pace.
    Everything was wrong. Terribly wrong.
    I sank back between the big rocks, desperately seeking some sort of shelter. I glanced up the dunes to the bluff above and knew there was no way I’d make it up there in time. And even if I did, there wasn’t a house to run to, a door to knock on…
    I peeked around the edge of the big boulder again, watching as the first guy galloped ever nearer. I took in his tailored, tightly buttoned jacket and his dark good looks before pulling back around the rock, attempting to hide. I crouched down, eyes wide, waiting for him to pass.
    The mare kicked up clods of sand that pelted the rock beside and above me. I thought the rider glanced under his arm at me, our eyes meeting for a second, but he never paused. He definitely wanted to get away from those who pursued him, which made my heart pound. What is happening? His saddle was clearly an antique, all gorgeous tooled