Maggie blinked.

Had she imagined it? While she was turning the key, the runes had seemed to glow. She blinked again. She probably just imagined it.

Now the box was open, she cautiously lifted the lid.

Inside was not gold, not money, and not jewels. All that was there was a single statue of a small purple dragon, carved intricately from cold stone and painted with metallic colours, each scale carved with precision. It was curled up, lying on a little black platform, its eyes closed and its wings resting peacefully beside it. Each scale was metallic purple edged with gold. Its wings were ombre of the same colours, and its horns stretched up above it's head.

Maggie was confused. She thought the chest was bad, but why would someone build a secret chamber, a glowing chest and a golden key just for a dragon statue?

Maggie sighed. It was now late in the evening, so she re-locked the box and slid it under her her bed, leaving the statue out. Maggie placed it on her windowsill. It was worthless, but still pretty. She left it there and went to get ready for bed.

It was probably nothing special.

x+x+x

Sometime around midnight, Maggie woke. She had been dreaming about nothing but moonlight, and now that she opened her eyes, that was exactly what was streaming into her room, casting a silver glow through the window. She got up to the window to gaze out onto the full  moon. When she looked down again, she noticed something.

The dragon statue was gone.

But not the whole thing. Just the dragon. The base was still sitting in the same spot in the windowsill. Maggie stared at it in shock. Where did the dragon go?

It was probably Georgie, Maggie decided. He must have stolen the dragon when she was having dinner. She frowned, deciding to sort it out in the morning.

But when she turned back around again, she saw something that stopped her in her tracks.

Sitting on her pillow was a dragon. 

The dragon from the chest.

 But it was no longer curled in its sleeping position, it was sitting up and staring at her.  

Maggie gasped and took a step back.

Quietly a whisper in her head spoke to her.

Wish.

"What? What are you?" 

The purple dragon blinked bright blue eyes at her.

I Wish. Wish is me.

"Wait. Can I.......hear you?"

Only if you listen.

"I must be dreaming." Maggie decided.

No dream. You here. Wish here. The stars brought us here.

"You're real?"

Maggie reached out to touch the dragon, and her fingers collided with cool scales. Suddenly, searing pain sliced through her body and she fell to the floor, the world collapsing into darkness.

x+x+x

The moon. The chest. A dragon. A dragon?

Maggie sat up with a gasp. Sunlight flooded her room. Birds tweeted outside. No dragons haunted her dreams, there were no unexplained voices in her head. Maggie looked up at the statue on the windowsill. It was lying down quietly the way it always had, not moving and very much not alive.

Maggie breathed a sigh of relief. She had dreamed it after all.

The door to her bedroom slammed open, revealing Kate's angry face.

"What are you doing on the floor? Get up. Your late for school."

The harsh reality of Kate's words snapped Maggie into action.

Momentarily ignoring the supposed events of last night, she stood up and got ready for school.

It was only later in the day when Maggie thought about the dragon again. She was in maths class, daydreaming through the teacher droning on about algebra. 

Maggie was almost positive now that she had imagined the dragon coming to life, the only doubt she had was the pain that she had felt when she touched it. That was definitely real. Maggie thought that she had seen an empty statue base when she had left for school, but Kate was ushering her out the door, and she had no time to check.

The teacher was writing some random sum on the board, and the boy next to her got up to solve it. He solved it and the boy, Simon, sat back down, giving Maggie a smug grin. It was pretty obvious that he had a crush on her, and Maggie wasn't amused. 

The teacher gave instructions to go to a text book page, and Maggie reached down into her bag to get it. But instead of her textbook, her fingers met cold scales.

Maggie's eyes went wide.

'You're real?'  

I is Wish, not I is Real.

Maggie snatched her hand back.

'How are you here?'

I came.

Maggie put her hand up. 

"Miss, can I go to the toilet?" It was embarrassing, but the most believable thing as an excuse to exit the room.

The teacher nodded, and Maggie bundled up her bag and dashed out of the classroom,  Simon giving her a puzzled look as she hurried away.

Instead of going to the bathroom, Maggie bolted outside and hid behind the shed on the far side of the playground. 

"What are you doing here?" She hissed at the dragon. 

He clambered out of the bag and sat on top, watching her with slitted eyes.

You need me. I need you.

"I do not need you. You are just going to get me in trouble!"

You get in trouble for being a trueblood?

"I don't know what a trublood is-" Maggie stopped. "Wait. How can I hear you?" 

You can only hear me if you listen.

"That's helpful."

I had been waiting for you.

"Waiting for me? Do you mean while you were in the chest?"

The box. It said you can open it.

"Said? Like with the runes on it?"

The Sun Runes.

"You can read that?"

I come from Star Abyss. Sun Runes come from Star Abyss. I read them.

"What is Star Abyss?"

Star Abyss is Star Abyss.

"Where is Star Abyss?"

At Star Abyss.

Maggie sighed. "Well, what do they say?"

The dragon thought for a moment.

Open with a: true key, true blood, true purpose.

'Strange,' Maggie  thought.

Is strange.

"You can hear my thoughts?"

I hear you. You hear me.

'Oh.'

Maggie glanced back at the classroom.

"I have to get back to class. You stay in my bag until the end of the day, then I'll work something out."

The dragon gave her an odd glance then slunk back into Maggie's backpack.

'Strange little dragon.'

My name is Wish.

x+x+x

Rrrrrriiiiiiinnnggg!

Maggie sighed with relief.  She gathered up the rest of her belongings and joined the group of students heading out of the classroom. 

We are going?  Wish's voice echoed in her head.

'School is over.  I can go home now.'

You can't go home before? You are prisoner?

'No! It's just, the law.'

Wish stayed silent and it was obvious he didn't know what laws were. When Maggie had placed her stuff in her locker and gathered up her textbooks, she began to walk home. Wish crept out of her backpack and found a more comfortable spot in Maggie's pocket.

As she walked home, Maggie thought about wish, careful not to 'speak' in her mind, as it felt like when she and Wish talked. She still had no idea how Wish was there, how he existed. Everything she knew told her that it wasn't possible, but the thrumming heartbeat against her leg told her otherwise.

Her grandfather telling her 'It's not safe,' came back to her. Was Wish the reason he wouldn't adopt her? Didn't he want her to find him? But Wish was friendly, he didn't want to hurt anybody. He didn't want anything.

But did anyone want him?

Maggie's breath caught in her throat, and she started walking faster. What if her grandfather wasn't trying to keep her safe from Wish, what if he was trying to keep Wish safe? Of course someone would want to know about his existence. A sickening image of Wish held captive in a science lab crossed her mind. 

Maggie clenched her fists, a fierce wave of protectiveness washed over her. Wish was hers. No one would lay a finger on him. She would protect him. Always.

Maggie realised she may not have a choice. 

If anyone came for Wish, they would come for her too.

There is someone behind, Wish said.

Maggie flashed a look over her shoulder. In her quick glance, she could make out a figure, walking a small distance behind her. Experimentally, she sped up. So did the figure.

No one knew why John died. Some people said he died foaming at the mouth. Food poisoning, some said. Spider-bite, others said. A few people said poisoned by an assassin. 

Maggie ran.

There, Wish said, drawing Maggie's attention to an alleyway. It was probably a dead end, but the figure was just far away enough that they might think Maggie turned the corner instead.

It was a chance.

She bolted down to the end of the alleyway. The only other exit was a small door, leading who knows where. Maggie ran up and twisted the handle.

Locked.

The rest of the alley was empty apart from some broken plastic crates and a discarded crowbar.  Maggie picked it up, desperate for anything to defend herself. Wish clambered onto her shoulder, looking as fierce as a tiny dragon could.

The figure stopped at the entrance to the alleyway, their face hidden by shadow.

Maggie raised the crowbar. This was it. If Wisp died, she would go down with him.

Then the figure  stepped into the light.