Chapter 1

A sketchy link popped up on my phone. It was a YouTube Live called "DarkWish Live." Against my better judgment, I clicked.

On screen, a masked host purred at the live chat. "Who's on your hit list today? Drop a big donation, and I'll make it happen!"

This was seriously messed up. I was about to nope out when a comment made my blood freeze. [I wanna wish for my dad to have a car crash. All that insurance money would be mine!]

I recognized the username instantly. It was my daughter's alt.

The next day, my daughter swanned in with a brand-new iPhone.

"Mom, look what I got from streaming last night! The biggest donor said he'd PayPal me big bucks if Dad had a little accident today!"

Her face was lit up with sick excitement. My husband had just texted that he was okay. Ice crawled up my spine.

*****

I practically ripped the new phone from her hand, the bright screen lighting up my livid face.

"Lily Carter! Are you out of your mind? That's your own father!"

My voice trembled, my heart hammering with a cocktail of disbelief and terror. I just couldn't wrap my head around it.

But Lily, my sweet daughter, just stared back at me with an expression I'd never seen before. It was a chilling mix of arrogant pity.

She slowly slid the phone from my grasp and wiped the screen with exaggerated care, like I'd somehow ruined her precious toy.

"Mom, you're so behind the times. This is 'Wishcraft.' It's cosmic energy," she said.

She pulled up a video, a highlight reel of so-called 'success stories' from the livestream.

She explained, "Look, this girl wished her teacher would get sick, and the next day her teacher got hospitalized with acute stomach flu."

She swiped to another clip. "And this guy cursed his classmate to fail a test. The kid literally slept through his alarm and missed the entire exam."

The screen was filled with young faces, their mouths spewing the most venomous words. But their eyes shone with the joy of their dark victories.

Lily exclaimed with fanatic zeal, "Mom, Top Patron said it's all about faith. If you believe hard enough, the wish has to come true."

Nausea churned inside me.

I burst into the study and spilled everything to my husband, Charles Carter.

He sat there with his gold-rimmed glasses, glued to project reports on his computer screen.

He didn't even look up as I spoke.

When I finished, he just patted my shoulder and sighed, his tone gentle but laced with impatience. "Babe, you've been under a lot of stress lately, haven't you? Don't get worked up over nothing."

"Kids joke around. Don't take it so seriously."

He turned to look at me then, but his brow furrowed in annoyance.

"Look at you. Don't frown all the time. You'll get wrinkles, like a hag. If you're short on cash, just ask. I'll transfer you the money."

It felt like being doused with ice water.

He dismissed my every fear as nothing but me being hysterical.

This must be the famous composure of a successful man.

I walked back into the living room, where Lily was sprawled on the couch with a smug smirk.

She looked at me like I was a clown in her own private circus.

That evening, Charles was heading out for an important business dinner.

While he was changing his shoes, Lily poked her head out of her room with an innocent grin.

"Dad, drive safe tonight," she said.

She paused for a beat and added the one sentence that made my scalp tingle with dread.

"I made a wish, you know!"

She shot me a quick wink over his shoulder.

There was no innocence in it but a flash of raw mockery and provocation.

Charles laughed it off as kids being kids, even pinching her cheek affectionately. "Alright, I'll be careful, you little trouble."

The moment the door clicked shut, my world went dark.

That night was torture.

I sat by the phone, jumping at every sound. The anxiety was a knot of fire in my chest that I couldn't put into words.

It wasn't until midnight that Charles finally walked in, looking completely relaxed.

The first thing he did was grin toward Lily's closed bedroom door.

"See? I'm home, safe and sound. Stop playing those creepy games."

Then he pulled out a wad of cash from his wallet and shoved it at me.

"Go buy yourself something nice and hit the spa. Stop worrying yourself sick. You're ruining the whole vibe at home."

I stared at the money and shook my head, a bitter laugh bubbling in my throat. It was all so horribly ironic.

In his eyes, my deepest fears were just a minor inconvenience that could be solved with a shopping spree.

And his dismissive attitude was all the fuel Lily needed to pour on her fire. Her arrogance exploded.

She was no longer content playing queen in her livestream games.

She began plastering her story across anonymous social media platforms under a new handle, "Wishcaster Girl."

She openly bragged about how she'd used DarkWish Live to cause her father a "little accident" and scored a massive payout from her top patron.

She even hyped it up as some "get-rich-quick" shortcut, daring others to join her.