Vella sat her sword against the nearby stump.

“That’s it,” she said, turning to Jasmine and looking up at the tree before them.

Leaves scattered the cobblestone walkway, turning an otherwise barren, snowy scene into something a bit more spectacular. The trunk of the tree itself was large and scarred, but no different from any of the other trees they’d seen on the journey here. Jasmine hadn’t particularly enjoyed the ride; her horse had been unruly, and her nerves were trembling being so far away from home.

“How do you know?” She asked now. “This just looks like a normal tree.”

Vella smirked. “We know, my people. We come here when we’re young and wish. And then again when we’re older, and once more - whenever we choose. I’ve chosen now.”

Jasmine noddded. “Let’s wish. Tell me how.”

The two friends held hands in front of the Wishing Tree, their horses neighing nearby and grazing on whatever sprouts they could find poking up from the snow.

“I’ll count to four, and then we say our wish. It’ll be granted immediately.”

Vella counted. _One, two, three, four . . . _

__

__

“I wish for us to be together forever.”

“I wish for you to die.”

Before she fell to the forest floor, clutching her breastplate, Vella gasped, staring Jasmine in the eye. Jasmine smiled back, then cowered as she realized what Vella’s last wish had been.

As she finished burying the body and tying the horses together, as she left the scene of the Wishing Tree, she could have sworn she felt something wrapped around her shoulders, lurking.