The Wish List Read Online Free PDF Page A

just hear from other mites.”
    â€œWell, what did Flit hear?”
    Flit pointed at the marbled wall. “Go through.”
    â€œI tried that,” said Meg, rubbing her head. “Didn’t work.”
    Flit frowned. “Not think wall. Think hole.”
    This sounded a bit like surfer logic to Meg. “You’re sure about that?”
    â€œNope,” admitted the tunnel mite. “Crank tell I.”
    Crank? Probably another blue creature with limited vocabulary. Meg tried to marshal her brain into some sort of order. Hole, she thought. Hole, hole, hole. The notion gripped her mind and spiraled in on itself like a mini-twister. Soon the word boomed in her head, pounding with her pulse. Hole, hole, hole. What was going on here? She’d never been able to concentrate on one thing her entire life. Maybe that was it. Life wasn’t here to distract her now.
    She stretched out a hand. The wall did seem less solid now. Fluid somehow, as though it were a slow wave rippling with barely noticeable momentum. Her fingers brushed the surface and sank into it. Silver sparks danced around the contact point.
    â€œSee!” gloated the mite.
    Meg whipped her hand back, flexing the fingers experimentally. Everything seemed in working order. Not bad for a dead girl.
    â€œGo, girl—go!” urged Flit. “Pit strong here.”
    Meg nodded. The farther away she was from that thing, the longer her spectral trail would last. And she’d need every ounce of strength in what was left of her body to make it up to old Lowrie.
    â€œOkay. I’m going. I just hope you’re right. This’d better not be a shortcut to hell.”
    â€œNo, no, no. Flit sure. Straight homey home.”
    No point in hanging around here putting it off. Into the wall and be done with it. She’d never been afraid of anything in her life, and she wasn’t going to start in her afterlife. She took a deep breath and . . .
    â€œGirl, wait!”
    â€œWhat?” spluttered a startled Meg.
    â€œHere.”
    Flit pressed something into her hand. Two small stones from his basket. Blue with silver ripples.
    â€œSoul residue. Extra batteries.”
    â€œThanks, Flit,” said Meg, stuffing the stones deep into the pocket of her combats. That was all she needed. Some rocks. Still, better not dump them in front of the little guy. Might hurt his feelings.
    â€œGirl go now! Fast. Roadrunner fast.”
    â€œBeep, beep,” said Meg nervously.
    She reached into the rock face again. The sparks danced around her wrist, then her elbow, then she was gone.
    Myishi was fiddling around in Belch’s brain.
    â€œWell?” said Beelzebub impatiently.
    â€œDon’t rush me,” muttered the diminutive technician, not bothering to raise his eyes from the gray jelly before him.
    â€œI’m on a tight schedule here, Myishi. Is he worth salvaging or not?”
    Myishi straightened, shaking the slop from his fingers.
    â€œNot in this state. Total burnout. The canine brain meld blew his mind. Literally.”
    Sparks rippled at the end of Beelzebub’s talons. “Damn it to heaven! I need some background on that girl!”
    The computer wizard grinned smugly. “No problem, Beelzebub- san . I can uplink him.”
    Computers were something of a mystery to hell’s Number Two, a bit like transubstantiation.
    â€œUplink?”
    Myishi grinned nastily. “On Earth, my methods were somewhat curtailed by professional ethics. Here . . .
    He didn’t need to finish the sentence. In Hades, human rights were no longer an issue. Myishi removed a nasty-looking object from his box of tricks. It resembled a small monitor on a metal stake. Without hesitation the programmer plunged it into the morass of Belch’s brain.
    Beelzebub winced. Myishi was one creepy individual. He made Doctor Frankenstein look like a Boy Scout.
    â€œThe brain spike. I love this little baby. The brain’s own