Dara, Page, and the Secrets of the Multiverse

▷ 9.5

Dara set Page down on the grass. In her panic, she whisked them into some expansive grassland in another town. Maybe they weren't even in the same country anymore. Page squirmed against her grip, shoving Dara aside. "What the hell?" her charge cried. "Bring me back!"

"Not a chance." Dara stood her ground, crossing her arms. "You saw what he's like. It's still not enough to change your mind?"

Page whirled to Dara, her eyes blazing with anger. "Only because you caused it! I'm sure he's not like that all the time."

And elephants weren't mammals all of the time. They said youth was the prime of someone's life, but she never imagined humans could be this stupid during it. "I was not the one who wished someone would mess up his order." Dara flattened a hand on her chest. "If anything, you did this. I am merely doing my job, which is to grant wishes. You should have been more specific, more careful. More...mature."

"Oh, yeah?" Page threw her arms up in the air in an exasperated wave. "Then, I wish you were more useful than you claim to be. Bring me back!"

Dara leveled her gaze at Page. "I'm a contractor, not a bond slave," she said. Although, now that she thought about it, there might not even be any difference. "Part of my job is to teach my charge how to make valid choices. You create your own happiness, not me."

"Then, why are you here?" Page said. The phone in Dara's back pocket dinged, telling her enough about Page's emotional state. Oh, dear. Deescalate—always the best choice in these scenarios. "Why did you show yourself to me and grant my wishes if you knew better?"

"I told you—I'm a contractor," Dara said. "There are things you don't understand and will never understand, so just quit it and do as I say."

Page stomped her foot. An honest-to-goodness tantrum was on its way. "There you are again," she said. "If you are not a slave, then I am not a pushover. Have you ever bothered to ask what I want? Am I just someone you can order around?"

"Because to make you happy, I need you to choose to be happy," Dara replied. "You can't change parts of yourself to make people love you. You don't have to overlook the bad parts just to get the rosy prize you set your eyes on. I've seen countless relationships cause more unhappiness that way, and my job requires me to make sure wishes won't end up that way, especially for you."

Unfulfilled wishes and broken dreams could still be made anew and stronger. Broken lives were a little harder to fix. "You have to learn to let go," Dara finished. "You can wish to the stars all you want and have me fulfill them, but at the end of the day, what you want can't make you happy. You must find what you truly need."

Page scoffed. "Then, I wish for the stars to fall, because they can go fuck themselves," she said. "And if you're for real, you can make that happen."

Dara shook her head. "For the last time, I can't bend the laws of nature just to—"

Light flashed to life behind them, bathing Page's face with a strange, ethereal light. The girl's jaw hung open, not processing what was happening. It was like a thousand suns hurtled towards them, burning and blazing. A shooting star. Oh. This was the live meteor shower exhibit. Reading that pamphlet must have ingrained the place in Dara's mind.

Page wagged a finger towards the lump of rock surging towards them. "T-that thing, it's coming—"

Dara lunged and tackled Page by the arms, forcing her down. The rock slammed into the compact soil, sinking into the carpet of grass. Torrents of rock and dirt followed its wake, upturned by the sudden force. They tumbled down the hill, rolling away from the collision course. Dara tucked Page's head into her arms, using her powers to slow their momentum down.

When her world stopped spinning, she opened her eyes to find Page looking up at her. The absence of city lights made the twinkling stars in the sky shine in Page's eyes. Their bodies were squashed together, locked at the legs. Page's warmth seeped past Dara's formal business suit, reminding her what it was like to be alive. And they had just survived a fatal meteor shower. Together.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to push you around. I just...I just want you to be happy." Dara tried drawing her weight up, but with her legs locked with Page's it was damn near impossible. Not that she minded, really. "And I realized it now. In my obsession, perhaps I drove you away and hurt you as well. I never really listened, did I? That won't happen again. I—"

The world went back to spinning when Page drew up and pressed her lips against Dara's. What...

"How long does the contract last?" Page said against Dara's mouth.

Dara couldn't think straight, her mind stuck to the fact that her charge just kissed her. Freaking kissed her contractor. Where in the Company guidelines was this scenario? What the hell was she supposed to do? "Until you are happy," she replied in an equally low tone. "Page, I—"

"I wish for you to kiss me," Page said. "Again."

The gadget's beeping had quietened, much to Dara's relief. Then, the reason why clicked. "Wishes can't make people fall in love, just so you know," Dara said.

Page smiled. "I know," she said. "But no one has saved me from a falling star brought about my own wish before. You're bound to be memorable."

"Lucky for you, then," Dara said, bringing her face closer to Page and reclaiming her lips. She didn't need wishes to walk down this path. She just needed to love.