The Pool of Wishing Stars

Lily was not supposed to swim at night. But the moonlight spilling across the backyard pool looked too magical to resist.

She crept outside in her bare feet, the concrete cool beneath her toes. The great **palm** tree towered above, its fronds whispering secrets in the gentle breeze. Lily climbed to the pool's edge and peered into the water.

What she saw made her gasp.

The water wasn't dark anymore. It glowed with shimmering light, like stars trapped beneath the surface. And at the very bottom of the **pool**, something pulsed with a soft **orange** glow.

Lily reached toward it, but her arm wasn't long enough. Then she spotted it—her older brother's charging **cable** dangling from a nearby chair. She grabbed it and carefully lowered the end into the glowing water.

Hook! She had it!

She pulled up something that looked like her brother's old **iPhone**, but it was different. Its screen didn't show apps or games. Instead, it displayed swirling constellations and a single message:

"WISH WITH YOUR HEART."

Lily's hands trembled. What should she wish for? A million toys? A castle? The ability to fly?

She remembered her best friend Emma, who had been sick in bed for three days. Emma loved swimming more than anything. Lily missed her laughter at the pool.

"I wish," Lily whispered into the magical phone, "that Emma could swim in this magical water with me. I wish for her to feel better."

The orange glow burst forth like tiny fireflies, swirling around Lily, then rising into the night sky. The phone gently slipped from her hands back into the water, its light fading until the pool looked ordinary again.

The next morning, Lily's mother burst into her room with a smile. "Emma's fever broke! She's coming over this afternoon!"

When Emma splashed into the pool that afternoon, Lily could have sworn she saw a tiny orange spark deep beneath the water. She grinned and dove in, knowing magic was real—and the best wishes were the ones you made for others.