No one knew what to say to her. No one knew how to comfort her. No one was able to get near enough to her to figure out what was wrong. He had been the one that she depended on. He had been the one that she could always turn to when she needed him. He was the one that could make everything better. She had wished too late. She had lost the only person that she could count on to be there for her, whenever she turned around. He was gone forever.
Alex had wished for everything to go back to the way it was, but it had been too late. Max, and now Justin, were gone forever. Not in the physical sense of them not being there. But in the sense that they didn't know who she was; they didn't try and get her in trouble any more; they were polite gentlemen to her. They acted as if she wasn't their sister. He acted as though he would die or kill for her. Which wasn't something she wanted. She wanted her brothers back. She wanted him back.
Alex couldn't take it any longer. She needed to talk to her dad. She needed to use her magic to fix this. She had to rewind time, not disobey her mom when she had been told not to use magic while at the resort, not have to go through losing Max, battling Justin to see who kept their powers, and then wishing for everything to go back to the way that it was.
She was going to see if there was any way to not have to go through all of that again, but still be able to keep her powers. Or, actually have everything go back to the way it was before the vacation.
As Alex stood up from the couch to go find her dad and talk to him, Justin stood up from the kitchen table, where he had been sitting and playing his guitar.
"Don't. Don't act like a gentleman to me Justin. I don't want it. I'm not royalty." Alex complained.
"You are to me. You are my Princess." Justin said, bowing to Alex.
"Stop it! I'm not your Princess, I'm your little sister. And you aren't a gentleman, at least not to me. So stop acting like you are." Alex said, tears welling up in her eyes.
"Alex, honey, what's wrong?" Theresa asked as she came up the stairs from the Sub Shop.
"I want my brother back!" Alex yelled before she ran upstairs to her room, slammed her door, dropped herself onto her bed and forgot about talking to her dad.
"Alex!" Justin yelled, starting to go after her.
"No Justin. You're father needs to handle this, not you. You'll just make her more upset. And I wonder what she means by her brother. Both you and Max are back. She must have been so upset that she meant to say brothers, but just forgot to." Theresa said with a shrug.
"That's probably what happened. Would you like me to make dinner tonight?" Justin asked, bowing to his mother as well.
"That would be great. Your father and I are just finishing up downstairs with getting customers their orders and closing up. So we'll be down there for a little bit." Theresa said before walking back downstairs.
As soon as his mom was out of site, Justin ttok the stairs two-by-two to get up to Alex's room. Once he got to her door, he took a breath before knocking.
"Alex, it's me, may I please come in?" Justin asked.
When there was no reply, he tried the doorknob and found that it was unlocked, so he let himself in.
"Alex, please, tell me what's wrong. Maybe I can help." Justin promted.
"You can't help. You don't have magic any more. And I've used up my one wish with the Stone of Dreams." Alex said through tears.
"But I did have magic. Any wizard, or previous wizard, has one wish with the Stone. Do you still have it?" Justin asked.
"Yeah… it's that purple glowing rock sitting on top of my dresser." Alex said with a role of her eyes.
"I'll make a wish for you. What would you like?" Jusitn asked.
"I want everything to go back to the way they were before vacation, but I would still like to keep the family wizard powers, if at all possible." Alex said as her head dropped to the pillow.
"You got it." Justin said as he took the Stone and held it in his hands.
'I wish that everything was the way Alex and I would like it to be.' Justin thought as he concentrated really hard.
As Alex watched her brother make a wish for her, she smiled inwardly to herself. Maybe she hadn't lost him completely. He was always wanting to make sure she was okay, even if that meant being nice to her for a limited amount of time. As Justin concentrated, the world around him and Alex started to ripple outward. As the ripples got bigger, Alex found herself being pulled to Justin. And right before the ripples consumed them and all of Alex's room, the two siblings were stuck together, making out like it was a normal everyday thing to kiss your sibling.
"Justin… what the heck did you wish for? This is not the way it was before vacation!" Alex yelled as she pulled away from him.
"I made the wish when I was falling for you. My thoughts were on us making out, and that is what I wished for. For everything to be the way that we wanted. I remember all of the spells that I memorized, so that I can still help you control the magic if you need to. And you get to keep the family's powers. And I get you." Justin said grabbing Alex and pulling her into him.
"Justin, let me go!" Alelx yelled trying to get her brother to at least loosen his grip on her arms, of not let go all together.
"Not until you say that you love me and want to be with me." Justin said, looking into her eyes.
"I'm not going to say that, because it's not true." Alex said, struggling to break free.
"I know that line isn't true Alex. I know that you said that I deserved to get the family powers. I know that you were crying before I was sucked into the vortex and that you didn't want me to leave you." Justin said, tightening his grip on her arms.
"Justin, you're hurting me!" Alex yelled as more tears welled into her eyes.
"I'm not letting go until you say that you love me." Justin repeated.
"I can't say it Justin. I don't love you." Alex said as the tears fell fast.
"Alex, it's the only way. Say you love me and I'll let you go and we can get Max to make the wish that everything is back to the way it was before. Just say it Alex." Justin said.
"I'm sorry, but I don't love you!" Alex exclaimed as she bit down on Justin's left arm.
As Justin held his left arm in his right, Alex backed herself into the corner of her room and slid down to the floor.
"I just want my brother back." Alex cried, as she started shaking.
"MOM! DAD! MAX! GET UP TO ALEX'S ROOM, AND DO IT FAST!" Justin called out to his family as he went to the bathroom and quickly put a band aid onto the bite mark.
"What is it?" Jerry asked.
"Alex bit me because I was holding her arms to tightly and then she went to the corner, sat down, repeated what she said earlier about wanting her brother back and then started shaking." Justin explained while his parents went over to his sister.
"Why am I here?" Max asked looking from Justin to his parents and sister, then back to Justin.
"Alex and I need you to wish for everything to go back to the way they were before the vacation, and if possible, she would like to keep the family powers." Justin explained.
"No, she's not keeping the family powers. She isn't ready for them and this way, all three of you will be able to compete and it will still be fair game on who gets to keep them." Jerry said to his sons.
"Dad, it's what Alex wants." Justin argued.
"And I'm saying no. She's been like this since she got the powers." Jerry said sternly.
"Dad… listen to what she says whenever I'm around. She wants her brother back. It has nothing to do with the family powers. She wants me back, the real me, the one that makes fun of her and is there for her when she gets in trouble. Alex wished that everything would go back to normal, but she didn't do it fast enough, so Max and I were a little messed up from the vortex, and then I messed up when I tried to make the wish for her. So Max is the only choice to make the wish." Justin said. "Either Max makes the wish, or Alex really will be like this forever. I don't want to see her like this. It's my fault that she bit me, but she was just trying to get things back to the way they were. Let Max make the wish!" Justen yelled before going over to Alex and pulling her towards him.
"Get away from me!" Alex yelled. "All of you. Just get away from me!" she yelled again, using magic to push everyone away from her.
"ALEX!" Jerry exclaimed.
"I want Justin back. I love him! Let Max make the wish so that I can just have my brother back!" Alex exclaimed.
"Max, take the Stone, and wish for things to go back to the way they were before the vacation. But make sure you say it so that Alex can keep the family powers." Justin said, slowly moving toward Alex again.
"How am I supposed to do that?" Max asked.
"I wish things would go back to the way they were before vacation, but that Alex can keep the family wizard powers." Justin said, not looking up at Max.
"Okay." Max said, closing his eyes so that he could concentrate.
'I wish things would go back to the way they were before vacation, but that Alex can keep the family wizard powers.' Max silently wished as the world started to ripple outward again.
As soon as the ripples were gone, Alex looked around her and saw Max with a huge smile on his face, Justin looking really concerned, and her mom and dad talking quietly by the door.
"Did it work?" Alex asked.
"I hope so. I wished for exactly what Justin told me to wish for." Max said.
"Can I talk to Justin alone please?" Alex asked her parents and Max.
"Sure. Come on Maxy, let's give your brother and sister some privecy." Theresa said.
"What is it?" Justin asked as Alex got up slowly and went over and closed the door.
"I'm sorry Justin. You're right. I do love you, just, not the way you love me, or wanted me to love you." Alex said as fresh tears formed.
"Alex, please don't cry. I don't like seeing you like this. You look broken beyond fixing and I want to be able to fix you." Justin said pulling Alex into a soft hug.
"Kiss me Justin." Alex demanded.
"Really. You didn't seem to want to ever kiss me again Alex." Justin said.
"One more time. And this will be the last one." Alex said.
"If you say so." Justin said as he gently placed a passionate kiss on Alex's lips.
"Now I have my brother back." Alex said with a smile when she pulled away from the kiss.