Read Online One Wish by Michelle Harrison - Free Book Online

mushy peas and stabbed at a chip on her plate. ‘I think he said his proper name was . . . Harry? Or was it Howard?’ Try as she might, she simply couldn’t recall what Ratty had told her when he’d first introduced himself.
    ‘Is this Ratty another one of your imaginary friends?’
    ‘I’m not making him up!’ Tanya exploded. She put her cutlery down and pressed her hands to her forehead. ‘I met him on the pier . . .’ She trailed off. ‘I think.’
    Her mother sighed. ‘You only met him this afternoon or so you say. It shouldn’t be that difficult to remember, if you were telling the truth.’
    ‘I’m not lying!’ Tanya snapped. She was beginning to feel worried now. What was the matter with her? Why was she having such trouble remembering the events of the day clearly? She remembered Ratty and what he looked like . . . and there had been a fairy, too, though obviously she couldn’t tell that part to her mother. That must be it , she thought angrily. The fairy had done something to her, muddled her memory somehow.
    ‘The problem with being a liar, Tanya, is that you have to have a good memory.’ Her mother was cross now. ‘It’s much harder to remember something that didn’t happen than something that did.’ Her voice was clipped and her cheeks and nose were starting to turn pink. ‘You’ve been out for hours, and all I’m getting is vague, wishy-washy explanations of where you’ve been and who you’ve been with.’ She eyed her daughter critically. ‘You’re covered in gnat bites, and don’t think I haven’t noticed the state of your dress. That was new on today and you’ve lost one of the buttons already.’
    Tanya lifted her hand to the collar of her dress. There had been three daisy-shaped buttons there this morning. Now there were only two and a hanging thread where the third had been. Strange , she thought. When had that happened?
    ‘I’m not lying,’ she repeated quietly. Not this time. Lying was something she’d grown very good at over the years. She’d had to be. Being honest got her nowhere and, besides, how else could she explain some of the things the fairies had done? They were simply too bizarre. ‘Really. I’m telling the truth. I can’t remember.’
    Her mother’s expression softened. ‘You do look a bit peaky. Perhaps you have a temperature; you’ve been in the sun all day.’ She held a hand to Tanya’s forehead. ‘You don’t feel too hot.’ She looked worried suddenly. ‘You didn’t take anything to eat or drink from anyone, did you?’
    Tanya shook her head. ‘No. I mean, I don’t think so.’ Again, there was a worrying gap in her memory. ‘I drank some apple juice in a café on the pier.’ Strange that she could remember the earlier part of the day, and later, when she’d returned to the cottage. She and her mother had taken an evening stroll past the pier into the town centre and returned with fish and chips. She remembered all that well enough. It was just around Ratty and that horrible fairy of his that things got sketchy. She got up from the table, trying to smile. ‘Don’t worry. I’ve probably had too much sun. I’ll be fine in the morning.’
    Her mother nodded, looking only a little reassured.
    Tanya went into the bedroom, closing the door behind her. That fairy of Ratty’s must be responsible for this. It was the only explanation. She pursed her lips as she took off her dress and pulled on her bathrobe. She’d give them both a piece of her mind if she saw them again.
    As she threw her dress over the back of the chair, something landed on the wooden floor with a light ping and rolled under the bed. She knelt down and picked up a rusty, brown nail. At the foot of the chair there were also two small packets of salt. They hadn’t been there a minute ago. Surely these things hadn’t fallen out of her pocket? Where had they come from? She shook her head in confusion and threw the items in the waste-paper basket, then headed to the