2 – Three Wishes
Millie still felt disappointed the next morning. Why can’t I have a pet? she wondered. She couldn’t even have lessons from the palace tutor yet because she wasn’t “old enough”. It was probably better than moping around the palace all day. She could barely even meet her friends because they had younger siblings to take care of. Being six years old was horrible.
She made her way downstairs for breakfast.
Nothing seemed to have changed from dinner the day before even though Millie had brought up the talk of a pet. She wasn’t sure if it was because of the disappointment or her annoyance toward Alyson, but she couldn’t seem to eat much.
She noticed that her father glanced at her with concern, but he didn’t say anything else and soon headed off to his duties. Of course, everyone was always busy. Except her. Millie decided to go visit Shadow. Just because her family was stubborn, it didn’t mean she couldn’t go meet her.
Millie raced to the gardens. “Shadow? Where are you?”
A moment later, something nudged her foot.
Millie looked down, and saw Shadow. “There you are! It’s a bummer I can’t keep you.”
Shadow seemed to understand. She scampered across the flowerbeds toward a waterfall.
“Where are you going?”
Shadow zipped back and forth between Millie and the waterfall as if wanting her to follow.
Millie realized that Shadow was leading her somewhere and a while later, they stopped.
Shadow ran in circles around a patch of soil that appeared to be a bit newer than the others. Millie dug up a small hole around a finger’s length deep and found a golden key inside a box.
Millie picked up the key and looked at Shadow. “What am I supposed to do with this?”
She found out after spotting a keyhole on an iron door. Unlocking it, Millie wondered how Shadow found it. The door swung open to reveal a stone structure in the distance.
Millie slowly walked over to it and found a plaque riddled with dust and spiderwebs.
Centuries it has been since the tall cloaked wizard
Approached this well during a great blizzard
A total of three wishes the well shall grant
To anyone of royal blood who brings the plant.
But be careful, however, as the well is cursed,
And only on the third wish can things be reversed.
No harm in trying, Millie thought. But what was the plant?
After a moment’s consideration, she figured it out. “Aha!” Millie said. “The flower on the royal seal!”
Millie hurried to find flowering dogwoods, small white flowers on enormous trees. Fortunately, there were plenty of dogwoods in the garden and Millie found it quickly.
She placed the flowers on the ledge of the wishing well and said her first wish. “I wish for my family to let me keep Shadow.”
She wasn’t sure it would actually work, so she hurried to think of her next wish.
“I wish…” Millie began, “for my friends to come over more often.”
Millie stood in front of the well and waited for a sign, but nothing happened. She felt silly.
“How ridiculous,” she said. “To think that Mother would even let me keep Shadow.”
It seemed that the sun would set soon, so Millie walked back to the palace with Shadow at her heels. Everything had been a waste of time.
They soon arrived at the palace doors. It was time to say goodbye to Shadow for the day.
“Millie,” Queen Klaire said after opening the door. “Hurry in, it’s almost time for dinner.”
“Alright,” Millie said. She slowly walked in but noticed Shadow had followed her.
Millie looked at her mother, who hadn’t said anything yet. “You can’t come inside, Shadow, I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“What do you mean?” Queen Klaire asked, “Shadow’s the royal pet now.”
“But I thought you said no yesterday,” Millie said.
“Millie, are you feeling alright?” her mother said. “Come on, everyone’s waiting.”
“Okay…” Millie said hesitantly. What was going on?
It wasn’t until later that evening that Millie realized why everyone was acting so weird.
“Of course!” Millie exclaimed. “The wishing well, it worked!
Shadow purred as Millie held her up in excitement. “It really worked!”
A light knock tapped on her door. “Yes?” Millie said.
A maid opened her door. “Princess Millie, her highness wished me to inform you that Princess Holly and Princess Amy will arrive tomorrow in the afternoon for a sleepover.”
The second wish had worked too.
“Thank you!” Millie said as the maid left the room.
Millie could hardly stop herself from jumping up and down on her bed. Everything was perfect! Nothing could go wrong now.
Or so she had thought.
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