Please take a moment to enjoy an excerpt from Three Wishes by Lisa Manifold
After too much ice cream and probably too much Lifetime, I gave up and went to bed. I felt fat and weepy. Not a successful dispelling of whatever this was. Lying in bed, staring at the ceiling, my mind went back to my torturous game of what if. Tonight, for some unknown reason, I wandered into the dreaded I could have moments.
I fell asleep thinking about a couple of those, and about what would have happened had I taken the chance. I did my best to dispel my whiny thoughts from earlier, because I noticed when I went to bed in a bad mood, I had crappy dreams.
When I woke up, the sun was shining through the top of my window. I peered at the clock and saw that it was 6:37. Why hadn’t my alarm gone off? It was usually set for 6:30. I must not have set it last night. Oh well. I could afford to sleep in this morning. I began to snuggle back into sleep when something caught my eye. I looked again. There was a man, sitting on the edge of my bed, legs crossed, examining his fingernails. He looked…glittery, a mix of what looked like gold and silver.
“Who the fuck are you?” I screamed, clutching the blanket to my throat with one hand while reaching out for my phone on the night table with the other. It wasn’t there. Where the hell had I left it? I tried to look around the room without looking like I was looking around the room. Fuck.
“You can call me your fairy godmother, Toots,” he said cheerfully. Great. A serial killer who was chipper, cheerful, and possessed of a sense of humor. I had to find a way to get to my phone. I cursed myself for not keeping one by the bed.
“Why?”
“Because I heard you last night, and I’m here to help you.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I heard your dreams. Everyone in the state could. I didn’t realize just how loud dreams could sound until I ran across you. So I am here to put to rest your eternal pondering.”
“How are you going to do that?” This was creepy, and interesting, and creepy all at once. I figured I could get to the phone in a minute. He was obviously crazy. I was kind of afraid to move.
“I am a djinn.” He looked at me as though that explained it all.
I clutched my blanket higher around my neck and cast my eyes around for my phone.
He saw me do it, and sighed heavily. “You may know me as a genie.”
“Like Aladdin?” I couldn’t help asking, lowering the blanket a little.
He rolled his eyes like the bitchiest girl in high school. “Djinn. In the understood tradition of djinn, I am going to give you three wishes. You must know,” he held up an index finger, and I was caught watching it sparkle in the sun. “My wish granting is a little different though. There is no wishing for more wishes. Your wishes are going to have to be specific, and they are going to be what you would call a ‘do-over’.”
“I’m not trying to be dense here, but what do you mean?” My curiosity was getting the better of my fear. Everything in the room seemed more in focus, sharper. I knew I ought to be more afraid, but it didn’t seem to be happening that way.
He sighed, and rolled his eyes dramatically. Again. Whatever the hell he was, he did not lack in the dramatic flair department.
Humans. I liked you better when you were more savage in your wants as you were in your dreams. Far more willing to believe without question; able to just wish and get it over with. Okay. I’ll break it down for you, Tootsie Pop. You have been dreaming of turning points in your life. Those maddening little what ifs. What if you had made choice A instead of choice B? That sort of thing. I am going to grant you three do-overs. You get to choose three times in your life where you wish you had made a different decision, and go back and make the decision you didn’t make the first time around. I’ll let you see what happens. You and I will talk after you have done all three, and see what’s next. What do you say? Are you interested?”
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but how do I know that you are not just crazy for glitter paint and breaking into houses?” I had decided that if he was crazy, it was better to humor him until I could find my damn phone.
He rolled his eyes again, muttering what sounded like “humans” under his breath. He rose from the bed. When I say rose, he actually lifted off the bed. He didn’t seem to have feet. It looked a little misty from the knee area down. He raised a hand, and I saw it shimmer in the sun. He made a gesture that looked like he was throwing something, and suddenly there was a giraffe at the foot of my bed.
I fell asleep thinking about a couple of those, and about what would have happened had I taken the chance. I did my best to dispel my whiny thoughts from earlier, because I noticed when I went to bed in a bad mood, I had crappy dreams.
When I woke up, the sun was shining through the top of my window. I peered at the clock and saw that it was 6:37. Why hadn’t my alarm gone off? It was usually set for 6:30. I must not have set it last night. Oh well. I could afford to sleep in this morning. I began to snuggle back into sleep when something caught my eye. I looked again. There was a man, sitting on the edge of my bed, legs crossed, examining his fingernails. He looked…glittery, a mix of what looked like gold and silver.
“Who the fuck are you?” I screamed, clutching the blanket to my throat with one hand while reaching out for my phone on the night table with the other. It wasn’t there. Where the hell had I left it? I tried to look around the room without looking like I was looking around the room. Fuck.
“You can call me your fairy godmother, Toots,” he said cheerfully. Great. A serial killer who was chipper, cheerful, and possessed of a sense of humor. I had to find a way to get to my phone. I cursed myself for not keeping one by the bed.
“Why?”
“Because I heard you last night, and I’m here to help you.”
“What? What are you talking about?”
“I heard your dreams. Everyone in the state could. I didn’t realize just how loud dreams could sound until I ran across you. So I am here to put to rest your eternal pondering.”
“How are you going to do that?” This was creepy, and interesting, and creepy all at once. I figured I could get to the phone in a minute. He was obviously crazy. I was kind of afraid to move.
“I am a djinn.” He looked at me as though that explained it all.
I clutched my blanket higher around my neck and cast my eyes around for my phone.
He saw me do it, and sighed heavily. “You may know me as a genie.”
“Like Aladdin?” I couldn’t help asking, lowering the blanket a little.
He rolled his eyes like the bitchiest girl in high school. “Djinn. In the understood tradition of djinn, I am going to give you three wishes. You must know,” he held up an index finger, and I was caught watching it sparkle in the sun. “My wish granting is a little different though. There is no wishing for more wishes. Your wishes are going to have to be specific, and they are going to be what you would call a ‘do-over’.”
“I’m not trying to be dense here, but what do you mean?” My curiosity was getting the better of my fear. Everything in the room seemed more in focus, sharper. I knew I ought to be more afraid, but it didn’t seem to be happening that way.
He sighed, and rolled his eyes dramatically. Again. Whatever the hell he was, he did not lack in the dramatic flair department.
Humans. I liked you better when you were more savage in your wants as you were in your dreams. Far more willing to believe without question; able to just wish and get it over with. Okay. I’ll break it down for you, Tootsie Pop. You have been dreaming of turning points in your life. Those maddening little what ifs. What if you had made choice A instead of choice B? That sort of thing. I am going to grant you three do-overs. You get to choose three times in your life where you wish you had made a different decision, and go back and make the decision you didn’t make the first time around. I’ll let you see what happens. You and I will talk after you have done all three, and see what’s next. What do you say? Are you interested?”
“I don’t want to sound ungrateful, but how do I know that you are not just crazy for glitter paint and breaking into houses?” I had decided that if he was crazy, it was better to humor him until I could find my damn phone.
He rolled his eyes again, muttering what sounded like “humans” under his breath. He rose from the bed. When I say rose, he actually lifted off the bed. He didn’t seem to have feet. It looked a little misty from the knee area down. He raised a hand, and I saw it shimmer in the sun. He made a gesture that looked like he was throwing something, and suddenly there was a giraffe at the foot of my bed.
Lisa Manifold is a USA Today Bestselling Author of fantasy, paranormal, and romance stories. She moved to Colorado as an adult and has no plans of living anywhere else. She is a consummate reader, often running late because "Just one more page!" She writes paranormal romance and urban fantasy because she really, really wants to live in a world where these kinds of stories happen.
She is a fan of all things Con, and has an entire room devoted to the costumes created for Cons. She served, until recently, on the board of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers as the Independent Published Author Liaison, and in 2016, was named the RMFW Independent Writer of the Year.
Lisa is the author of the fae paranormal romance series The Realm, the Grimm fairy tale retelling Sisters of the Curse series, the Heart of the Djinn series which follows a free-lance djinn, the Aumahnee Prophecy urban fantasy series, and the forthcoming urban fantasy series The Dragon Thief.
She lives as close to the mountains as possible with her husband, children, and three attentive dogs, all of whom fervently believe they are lapdogs.
She is a fan of all things Con, and has an entire room devoted to the costumes created for Cons. She served, until recently, on the board of Rocky Mountain Fiction Writers as the Independent Published Author Liaison, and in 2016, was named the RMFW Independent Writer of the Year.
Lisa is the author of the fae paranormal romance series The Realm, the Grimm fairy tale retelling Sisters of the Curse series, the Heart of the Djinn series which follows a free-lance djinn, the Aumahnee Prophecy urban fantasy series, and the forthcoming urban fantasy series The Dragon Thief.
She lives as close to the mountains as possible with her husband, children, and three attentive dogs, all of whom fervently believe they are lapdogs.
