“What? No, I don’t.” Her voice is so high-pitched it sounds like Alvin the Chipmunk.

“Yes, you do.”

“No, I don’t.”

“Yes, you do!”

“No, I don’t!”

I crack up and slap my thigh so hard it stings. “You know what this means, right?”

Hattie frowns. “No, what?”

“If you guys get married and hyphenate your last names, you’ll be Hattie Oh-Noh.”

Hattie groans loudly, but Emmett cackles like a hyena, and even Mong seems to appreciate my comedic genius. He runs in circles a few times trying to chase his tail.

“Oh-Noh. Oh no! Get it?” I curl over myself and almost wet my pants. “It’s too good. Just too, too good.”

Hattie crosses her arms and harrumphs, but I see the ends of her lips curl upward eventually. “I realize it’s at my expense, but it’s nice to know you still have a few laughs in you. Especially when so much has gone wrong today.”

The reminder of today’s events sobers me up. My eyes glance down at the mess of clothes strewn across the floor. Summoning the mother of all creation and asking for a wish is a radical plan, if ever there was one. But it’s got to be better than running away from home. I’m not even thirteen, I don’t have any money, and I don’t have anywhere to go. At least this way I have a minuscule chance of saving my parents’ gifts and remaining a part of this family.

I turn to my sister. “Okay, let’s do it. I mean, at this point, what have we got to lose?”

“Uh…” Emmett raises his eyebrows and gives Mong an exasperated look. “Am I the only one with an amygdala in this room, boy?” Mong barks and wags his tail.

Hattie ignores Emmett’s nerdy comment and smiles at me. “Good, we’ve got this! I’ll text Noah and let him know we’re coming. Also, the adults are gonna be home any minute, so we need to get out of here fast. They’d never let us try this. We can leave them a note so they don’t worry.”

She grabs a pen and paper from my bedside cabinet. “Dear Eomma and Appa,” she says aloud as she writes. “We’re sorry about the gift-sharing spell today. We didn’t mean to get you in trouble with the council. But don’t worry, we have a plan, and we’re going to fix everything. We’ll be back as soon as we can. (And no, we haven’t run away or anything, so please don’t call the police.) Lots of love, Hattie and Riley. P.S. We borrowed the money from the swear jar, just in case. Sorry!” She picks up the paper and scans it. “There. That should do the trick.”