The Island of Wishes

“That’s not true,” Ruby said, rolling her eyes even if the boy in front of her couldn’t see. 

“It is,” Jim insisted, stretching himself taller for two steps before he had to duck under a limb, the grey draping moss skimming across his back. “Phil said so. Yesterday, after school was out.” 

“Phil is full of it. You know that.” Ruby ducked under the same moss, being sure to let it trail across her to receive its full blessing. She stretched her step long, picking her way across the over saturated ground, waving a buzz away from her ear. A chorus of frogs sang off to her left, the smell of stale water and decaying plants still light in the cool morning air. “Swamp fairies don’t grant wishes, Jim Toovy.” 

“They do on the island.”

Ruby rolled her eyes again, and this time Jim glanced over his shoulder in time to catch it. 

“If you don’t believe me, then why ‘r you comin’ along?” He stopped, turning halfway.

“Cause who else is going to drag your sorry butt home after the fairies curse it?” she snapped, stepping onto the same dry clump he stood on, her sunburnt nose only inches from his. 

He huffed, and moved off ahead again, his cheeks turning pink. 

Was he getting winded already? Ruby couldn’t tell from behind, but his steps sped up, so she brushed the though aside and they continued in silence for a time.

“What ‘r you gonna ask for?” Ruby asked quietly, following Jim’s steps across the log half submerged in brown water. 

He didn’t answer and Ruby felt a burn creep up the back of her neck. She shouldn’t have asked. Wishes were sacred, only to be spoken aloud in the moment they were cast and never voiced again. She knew that. She swiped extra hard at the buzz hovering around her head, itches growing across her neck and arms from previous bites, or sweat, or her irritated mind. 

Jim suddenly spun, and Ruby couldn’t stop in time to avoid the stumble into his chest. 

“Maybe I don’t gotta wish for it,” he said quickly, his freckled cheeks fairly glowing. “Not if I knew it would happen anyway.” 

“Wh… what?” Ruby knew she shouldn’t ask, especially not a second time, but withholding curiosity had never been her strong suit. 

Jim squared his shoulders. “For you to marry me someday.” 

Ruby stared at him, ignoring the buzz in both ears, the bead of sweat that slipped down the side of her face, feeling only his fingers catching hold of hers. She couldn’t help the smirk that tugged at her cheeks. 

“I ain’t promising nothin’, Jim Toovy, fairies or no.” She tightened her hold on his fingers. “But it’s stupid to waste a wish on somethin’ so likely to happen anyway.”