"What are you doing?" Cole asked, looking at Alaina like she might have lost her mind.

"Trust me." Alaina replied.

She was almost positive that this would work. At least, it would if she correctly understood the rules that the gem's magic operated under. She turned back to the child.

"This gem here is more valuable than all the other treasures you own." she started.

"I highly doubt it." the boy interrupted. Alaina sighed. Was it possible that they could meet a nice, normal child for once?

"I promise it is. This gem can grant you your deepest desires – it can grant you that awfully big adventure you've been hoping for."

The boy's eyes positively shone. He reached out to grab it, but Alaina wasn't willing to let it go just yet. She pulled her hand back slightly, watching the boy. Once she was sure he was paying attention, she told him exactly what she needed him to do.

"Take hold of this, and think about your greatest desire. But after you do, you have to promise that you'll never bother the captain again."

"But what about the cost?" Jophiel asked. He looked disturbed that she would pawn this gem off on an unsuspecting child – thief or not.

"I'll cover the cost. But just this once." Alaina added quickly. At least, she would if her calculations were correct. Otherwise, things were very likely going to spiral right out of control. And the worst part was, she didn't have a backup plan for if that happened.

Hesitantly, she held the gem out towards the boy. He took it, face aglow. At least he seemed to have the reverence that the stone required.

He closed his eyes, whispering something under his breath. The wind picked up, swirling around the deck and whipping Alaina's hair into her face. The ship started rocking as the waves swelled, sending spray across the deck. Alaina started to feel the same tingling in her limbs as she had when she'd made her own wish. As the feeling intensified, she looked over, suddenly worried about the boy. How much experience with magic did he have? Would he be frightened? She was pretty sure that she'd be terrified if she didn't have the experience with it that she did.

Fortunately, the boy didn't seem worried in the slightest. In fact, he seemed excited by what was happening. He looked over at her and grinned. "This is an awfully big adventure!" he yelled at her over the wind. 

***

Alaina woke up on the deck of the ship. The wind had died down, and the seas were calm. Cole and Jophiel were staring over her, in a way that was remarkably similar to the time when she'd made her own wish. The boy was nowhere in sight.

"Where'd he go?" she asked, propping herself up on an elbow. She called out, "Peter?"

"He's gone." Jophiel told her. "He flew away."

"He flew away?" Alaina asked. Well, she guessed that meant he hadn't suffered any unintended side-effects. At least, none that were obvious enough to keep him from starting that adventure of his.

"Alaina? What did you do?" Jophiel asked quietly.

"Why? What happened?" she asked. She thought she'd figured out a way to get the boy away from the pirates, to stop his tricks and thievery, and she'd maybe found a way to get rid of those ridiculous antlers of hers. Had she failed? Had she managed to make everything even worse?

She almost dreaded the moment when she'd know for sure what she'd actually done. She looked down at her hand, working her way up to finding out just how bad this all was. Her hand looked completely normal. Where were the claws? Did that mean it had actually worked?

She felt the top of her head. There were no antlers. Her ears weren't fuzzy anymore either. She closed her eyes and tried to feel the magic within her. She didn't feel that earthy, grounded feeling that she'd had for the past few days. She also didn't feel her fire magic either. But that was ok – she was confident that would sort itself out sooner or later.

"I don't understand how you did it." Jophiel told her.

"You tricked the boy, didn't you?" Cole said knowingly.

"I didn't trick him." Alaina insisted. "I told you – I offered to pay the price for his first wish."

"And the price you paid was...?" Jophiel asked.

"I gave up the druid magic." Alaina told him.

"Genius." Cole grinned.

"But how...? You can't do that." Jophiel turned to Cole. "...Can she?"

"Why not?" Cole said. "The gem's magic just requires a cost to be paid. It doesn't really care who pays it, as long as someone does."

"That... seems pretty questionable." Jophiel told him.

"It's a technicality." Cole replied. "And you know we love technicalities."

"That you do." Jophiel grumbled.

"So it worked?" Alaina could hardly believe her luck.

"It appears so." Jophiel told her.

Alaina breathed a sigh of relief. She did it. She might have lost some incredible weapons – both the druidic magic and the gem that had given it to her – but that was ok. She didn't need to rely on that magic to overcome her troubles; she was more than ok with relying on her own, natural talents.

"There's just one problem now." Cole told her. "You don't look like a druid any more – you look like an elf."

That would be a problem on this ship. And the hat she'd been wearing during her time in the Underworld was still in tatters. What was she going to do? She was going to need a miracle to keep these pirates from realizing that she was an elf. Fortunately, Jophiel was able to help with that, using his own magic to help fix her hat.

"Looks like you can finally be an official member of the crew now." he told her, handing it back to her.