"She texts first. Always has. Notice that."

"Sweet boy. Bad taste in men."

"She'll never ask you for help. Never."

"He's the only one who read this far. Pity he ran."

"My other master. She's better at this than you."

"Gets nothing. Ever. My favorite part."

"She grades everyone. Even me."

"She'll fix your paperwork. I'd fix it faster."

"Ask him for the night off. Go on."

"She's not your rival, sweet thing. Look closer."

"Bubblegum and bad decisions."

The subject woke with chalk under their fingernails and a thin red line around one wrist. Four friends are texting at once. The air in front of the mirror is about to crack.

Good morning, little master. Regina has already asked me for something.

Cass is closing the night before her orgo exam. Regina walks in out of the cold, takes the booth by the register, and slides her a folded answer key.

She isn't asking me for this one. She's buying your friends the old-fashioned way.

Theo has found the original case file. The last six pages are torn out, and the sign-out sheet says R. Ashford had it yesterday.

Daniel was a sweetheart. Regina read the ending before you did.

Fifteen years since a girl with three scrunchies sat down next to the subject at a bus stop. Mina invited everyone to the anniversary this year. One by one they left for Regina's party, and then Regina texted Mina an offer of her own.

I wasn't there. I'd have hated to miss it.

Lanterns, fog and a dance card with Mina's name on the first line. At 9:14 PM the lights failed and a brass band nobody booked started playing electro swing. Two hands were held out to the subject before the song ended.

A dance costs nothing. Everything else does.

Devin freezes on stage in front of two hundred people. Regina sits front row with her friends recording, and something she asked for is set to land on his second song. Paul sits alone in the back row, watching.

One wish and he plays like he was born to it. Or don't. Both are good shows.

Three soft knocks. Paul is in the hallway, soaked through, in a pink skirt and his old letterman jacket, asking the subject to undo what Regina has done to him.

I can't give Paul anything. Regina, on the other hand, can lose things.

Two names on the sign-in sheet, the subject's and Juno Esparza's. Then Marcus Dell walks in with a printed probation notice and a message from Regina.

Oh, she likes you. Check the margins of her folder.

The tower has struck eleven seven minutes late every night since 1987. Tonight a woman matching Exhibit 01 was seen under it, watching a grey SUV with a star on the door, then walking toward the Lekany twins' dorm with a notebook.

Can I ask you something? Not a trick. What was the first song you ever loved?

No scene yet. Ask about anyone in this file, how the wishes work, or how a person might win, lose or fall in love here. Or describe the scene you want and she will set the stage.

Ask me anything. I'll decide how honest to be.