Of Stardust and Wishes (A Wish Rewrite)

Chapter 25 - Desperation

The trip back was fraught with peril. Well...mild peril. True, Asha had been dropped a few times, but Sol had rescued her...kinda. Each plummet brought her closer to the choppy waves. The last time saw her submerged completely while the star's frantic arms grappled below the surface. His glow the was only thing she could see in that oppressive dark. After he had pulled her from the vicious water, they shortened their flight to leaps. Jumping from reef, to rock, to peninsula; they pieced their way back to the island. Less than a hundred feet from shore, gravity pulled them from the sky. Exhausted, the star could fly no further. Having to swim the rest of the way, the girl was able to guide her celestial companion past the enchantment. There the tide drew them in and led them ashore.

Catching their breath on the beach, the magician spied her shadow. Rolling over she groaned, it was already four o'clock in the morning. She thought they had more time! The roosters would be crowing soon enough. With much effort she pushed herself to her knees. Glancing over at Sol, she saw his breaths were shallow. Golden eyes were glassy, reflecting the blue sky above. Her heart constricted. He was really sick...wasn't he? Crawling over, she reached to shake him, then thought better and waved her hand over his eyes. Blinking, his head shifted to look up at her.

"We made it," his smile was thin.

"Yeah," she swallowed, "Are you sure you feel well enough to do all this? I mean your brother-"

"-Is exaggerating!" he shot upright, "Yeah, I'm a bit under the weather, but I've been worse."

"But..." The blood. Why was he coughing up blood?

"But?"

She shook herself of the memory. She peered at him, squinting...studying. Leaning close, their noses almost touched, like the night they'd met, "You're sure?"

"Certain."

Dropping her gaze, she nodded.

"Great!" the boy chirped, easing himself to standing, he hooked his thumb over his shoulder, "I suppose we should be heading back."

She rose, attempting to brush her saturated clothes free of sand, and failing, "We should, but..." she grabbed his wrist. Raising it between them, she gave it a shake, "...aren't you forgetting something?"

"Ah. Oh...yeah..." he still glowed. Fainter to be sure, but still obvious. He focused; in his mind's eye he was brunette. His light was fading, nonexistent. He was merely another human boy. One of the rabble that filled the kingdom. Practically invisible. He held onto that image and stepped into the disguise.

Or...he tried. His hand was still illuminated where Asha shook it in front of his face. The longer he tried, the more furious the shaking became.

"Hey!" he jerked away from her, "That's not helping!"

"Sorry, but we don't have much time! What's taking so long?"

"I...uh...no, I can do this!" he closed his eyes. He was a peasant boy. Didn't matter the hair color, or the appearance. He could look like he'd been kicked in the teeth by a mule, he couldn't care less. He simply needed to look human. Human...he was human...he was...his glow flickered but remained.

He shouted his frustration, kicking up a sheet of sand. Come on! He needed to do this, he could...he could. He crouched down, his head tucked under his arms. He'd done this millions of times before. It was so easy, just dampen the light. Turn off your glow, you useless-

"Sol..."

He looked up, defeat written on his face.

The girl shoved down her worries, "Here," she dropped to her knees and scooped up the sand between them. Rubbing it well in her dampened hands, she worked it through his hair. Once she had rubbed the first fistful in, she reached down for another, then another. Each one did little more than highlight the brilliant strands of gold. After many attempts, she had finally gotten it to a place of a somewhat-faded blonde. Though his skin still gave off enough light to illuminate a small room. She skewed her lips to the side and slapped his cheeks with her sandy hands. The boy's eyebrows raised at the sound.