Maeryc and the Wish-Granter's Code: Epilogue

     “Are you Slothing me over, man? He’ll probably give us the strap if we get a question wrong!” the Korbat bawled dramatically when Maeryc told him the news.

     After their first session with their new tutor, however, Maeryc and Spike found themselves pleasantly, blissfully, surprised. Jayson hadn’t even brought a ruler to beat them with! He didn’t so much as call them names when they got a question wrong! And over the course of the hour, Maeryc and Spike found the arcane art of subtraction becoming clearer and clearer to them than ever before.

     The next day on their math exercise, Spike got four questions correct, and Maeryc got six. The day after that, Spike got five — he had reached the halfway point! — and Maeryc got seven.

     “Keep going at this rate, and you’ll both be getting a hundred percent by the end of next week!”

     Neither boy knew how Jayson made this calculation, but it certainly sounded good to them!

     Matt was a bit confused as to why they would hire Jayson of all people as a tutor. He was surprised — and if he was being honest with himself, a little upset — to learn the Ogrin had never spoken an unkind word to them. When the school bell rang on Thursday afternoon, however, Matt realized something unusual. Could it be Jayson had gone the whole day without tormenting him?

     Matt was convinced there must have been some mistake. He must have just forgotten some terrible thing Jayson did to him in the morning, several hours ago, before math and science had smothered the memory! But for Jayson even to go several hours without abusing him was practically unheard of. Maybe Matt was simply becoming desensitized?

     By the time school let out Friday afternoon, Matt was sure of it. Jayson was off the offensive. He had even told him he liked the way he was wearing his hair that day! (Which was weird, because it was the same as always, but Matt would not look a gift Whinny in the mouth.)

     Whether it was the Cybunny incident, the threat of being expelled or having the whole school turned against him, or the way Maeryc made a point of thanking him in front of the class — yelling, “Thanks Jayson! Your tutoring worked!” across two rows of desks when his math grade improved — or a combination of everything, perhaps they would never know.

     Whatever the case, Jayson was clearly making a conscious effort to be nicer. On Saturday when Spike and Matt decided to go watch the Mystery Island Tigermouses face off against the Krawk Island Scurvy Dogs on the baseball diamond, it was Matt’s idea to invite Jayson to go with them.

     “Is that Jayson at my door?” Maeryc goggled in disbelief when the three stopped over at Maeryc’s house to pick him up. Spike ran to meet him as he came down the stairs (He never waited to be let into his best friend’s house).

     “Come on Maeryc, the Tigermouses play at noon! We wanna get good seats!”

     Ceila the Ona was perched prettily on Maeryc’s shoulder. By now she was an expert at balancing; she didn’t even need to hold onto his hair!

     “Is that your new Petpet?” asked Spike, stopping short just in time to avoid a potentially fatal collision with his friend. “She’s so cute!”

     All at once it occurred to Maeryc that he had been home for a week today, and yet his best friend had never met Ceila during all that time.

     “It’s okay, Maeryc,” Ceila whispered in a language only he could understand. This was the day he had finally promised to show her around Mystery Island. But Ceila knew it wasn’t every day the Tigermouses played the Scurvy Dogs...

     Maeryc looked at Ceila, then he looked at Spike. And then he surprised them both.

     “I’ll catch up with you guys later,” he said to his friends, who had now all piled into the hallway. “Everyone, I would like you to meet Ceila!” Ceila grinned from ear to ear as Spike, Jayson and Matt, one by one, stepped up to say hello!

     “She’s my new Petpet. And today I promised I’d show her around Mystery Island.”

     “Can’t you just do that later?” the habitually curt Jayson piped up. Everyone turned and looked at him.

     “Nope!” Maeryc replied readily. “I’ve kept her waiting long enough. You guys have a great time. If you’re still hanging out later on, I’ll join you guys then.”

     When Maeryc’s friends had said goodbye and gone away, Ceila slid gently off his shoulder and fluttered to the bannister, where she could be at eye-level with the baby Scorchio. “You didn’t have to do that,” were the star child’s earnest words.

     “Ceila, I’m so sorry!” Maeryc burst out suddenly. “For the past week I’ve been so caught up in this wish-granting stuff, I almost forgot the one who gave me the power in the first place.”

     “Maeryc,” the Ona tried to softly interpose.

     “And it’s not just that, of course! Power or no power, you’re still my Petpet, and you’re still my friend. I love you so much, Ceila, and I’m sorry if I made you think magic, or school, or my friends, or any of those things were more important than my time with you.”

     “Maeryc,” said Ceila in the same light, intervening tone. Though if one looked from the proper angle, one may have sworn they could see tears in her eyes.

     “Maeryc, you never even used your magic!” Ceila giggled. “Not once! Your power is my power, remember? When you grant a wish, I can feel it too. You helped save your friend’s grades and your own, and you may have tamed the biggest bully in school! All without magic!”

     Maeryc beamed. He guessed Ceila was right! “Well, it doesn’t take a miracle to learn subtraction.” The Scorchio winked.

     “Changing Jayson, that was a miracle,” Ceila responded.

     “Nah, Jayson just needed someone to help him find out who he is.”

     “Less bully, more math prodigy is a great start,” Ceila observed.

     A few minutes later Maeryc was granting his third wish without magic, as he sat Ceila on the handlebars of his bike and toured her all over Mystery Island. He took her to the Training School, the Island Market, and the great volcano Techo Mountain. He showed her all his favourite trees to climb, the best beach for surfing, and the most famous ice cream parlour on the island (at least as far as his classmates were concerned). At about three o’clock when the tropical sun was high in the sky, they ran into Maeryc’s friends coming back from the baseball diamond.

     “We’re going to Matt’s house!” Spike began to wave and holler with all his might as soon as Maeryc and Ceila were within earshot. “Come with us! His mom is gonna make us a picnic!”

     Before long they were all out in Matt’s backyard, on a blanket piled with sandwiches and Tchea Fruit.

     “I wish we had some doughnuts right now,” remarked Jayson, quite out of the blue. “I could really go for doughnuts. Does your mom have any, Matt?” (Jayson was learning not to bully; now his next step was to learn to be polite.)

     “I don’t think so. Sor—“ But as Matt was opening his mouth to apologize, Ceila felt a familiar tingle run down her spine.

     “Dr. Sloth’s Personal Bath Buddy!” Spike leapt from the blanket as if he realized he was sitting on a venomous Reptillior. “Where did these doughnuts come from?”

     “Ceila and I brought them!” Maeryc sang proudly.

     “Those were not there before!” Jayson confidently declared.

     “I just took them out of my backpack!”

     “Trying to hold out on us, buddy?”

     “Why didn’t you take them out before?”

     “Thanks for the doughnuts, Maeryc!”

     Ceila would later reprimand Maeryc for this ‘dangerous little stunt.’

     “That was stupid, Maeryc! Keep doing things like that, and your power won’t stay secret for long!”

     “Oh, come on Ceila!” Maeryc raised his hands in protest. “It was just a little wish!”

      “Little wishes can be the most dangerous of all!”

     Maybe someday Maeryc wouldn’t have to hide his power from the world. Maybe someday the world would understand that some wishes should be granted, while others shouldn’t. Maybe someday when he and Ceila were older and more experienced with this wish-granting stuff, they could write their own Wish-Granter’s Code and publish it in the Neopian Times for all to read!

     Until then, Maeryc and his Wishing Star would continue to work undercover, making dreams come true from the shadows, offering helping hands from the least expected quarters. And maybe sometimes, when necessary, they would even use magic!

      The End.