Be a Genie in Six Easy Steps (11 page)

B
ack outside, Milly jumped as
The Genie Handbook
started to shake in her hands.

“My tail!” squawked Skribble, squirming about inside the book. “Magic is being drawn into the house.”

“Then Michael's out of the lamp!” Jason realized.

“Jess did it!” cried Milly with delight.

Then they heard the shouts for help, and a strange, gruff, grunting noise.

Jason gulped. “But
what
did she do?”

 

“Wow, that's amazing!” breathed Ollie. Pushing Michael aside, he strode up to the Slitherbot and yanked away its weapon before it could react. “This slush gun is so detailed…. Impressive 3-D render, Genie!”

Michael gulped as the monster glared down at Ollie and took a squelching step toward him.

“It's all so lifelike!” Ollie raised the gun and fired, and the monster suddenly splurged away into thick green dribbles.
He grinned in delight. “Or do I mean,
death
like!”

Michael was already jumping across the molten remains of the monster and out into the corridor, his heart pounding. “Hey, Jess!” he shouted. “You okay?”

“No!” he heard Jess yell back. But he couldn't see her for the two enormous Slitherbots advancing on the kitchen….

“Quick,” Michael gasped, terrified, “while those things have got their backs turned!” He grabbed the slush gun off Ollie. It felt very real and surprisingly light, just the way he'd always imagined it would if
he'd
been the hero in the game. He heard a girl scream. The monsters had reached the kitchen doorway!

Michael lifted the gun and took aim.
Now!

As he pulled the trigger, a bolt of yellow light blasted out. With a wet thud, both monsters exploded into slush. Green goo splattered the pristine walls of the hallway.

Now that the monsters had gone, Michael could see Jess in the kitchen comforting a dark-haired girl who was sobbing against her shoulder.

“Hey, give me that slush gun!” Ollie dropped the lamp and yanked the weapon away from Michael. “You only grant the wishes;
I'm
the one who has all the fun!”

“You don't get it, Ollie!” Michael swung around hotly. “I think I made this game
too
real—”

He broke off with a gasp as another Slitherbot marched out of the lounge. Before Michael could do anything to stop it, it had grabbed Ollie by the back of the neck and lifted him into the air. The boy cried out and struggled, dropped the gun, and the Slitherbot threw him against the wall.

“H-h-h-help!” squeaked Ollie as he landed in a sprawling heap.

“Wish them away!” Michael boomed. “Wish them
away
, you idiot,
now
!”

But Ollie was lost in a blind panic. Grabbing the fallen lamp, he struggled to his feet, raced to the front door, threw it open, and ran outside. Meanwhile, Michael lunged for the gun. If he could only slush the Slitherbot…

But just before he could reach it, his genie slippers began to glow—and suddenly he found himself being pulled toward the front door. He tried to stop and turn back for the slush gun, but it was no good.

It must be the lamp
, he realized as he barged past the Slitherbot.
There's a link between genie and lamp—and after what happened in London, if the lamp's going one way, I guess I have to follow
….

The Slitherbot picked up the slush gun from the floor. Now it had one in each hand. It glowered at Michael, gave a deep roar, and aimed them both straight at him….

“Genie me again!”
Michael shouted in terror, just in time. As the slush guns fired, he felt himself being whisked through the air after Ollie and spiraling back inside the lamp.

“Jess, hang in there,” Michael gasped. “I'll sort it out. I'll make everything okay….”

Yeah, sure you will, hero
, he thought bitterly.
But how?

 

Jason and Milly could hear all the commotion from outside the house.

“Oh, Skribble, what's going on?” asked Milly.

“My dear child,” Skribble sighed, “I cannot see through walls!”

“You don't have to,” said Jason. “Look!”

Ollie had burst out of the front door, clutching the lamp. He ran across the garden as if his life depended on it. A cloud of dark smoke suddenly spiraled after him, and vanished into the lamp's spout.

“That was Michael!” Milly slammed the handbook shut, making Skribble yelp with fright, and pelted off down the path after the disappearing Ollie. “You check on Jess. Be careful!”

Jason nodded and ran inside the house. “Jess?” he called anxiously. “Jess, where are you? Are you—”

The door slammed shut behind him. He broke off and whirled around….

To find himself face-to-face with a big, green monster. He recognized it at once—a Slitherbot, brought to gruesome, full-size life. And that gun…Jason remembered Michael banging on about them in the den the night before.
The rays turn anything they touch into wallpaper paste
….

He opened his mouth to yell, but someone else beat him to it.

“Jason, get in here!” screamed Jess, sticking her head out of a room farther down the long hallway.

Jason didn't stop to think twice. He ran toward her.

“We're going to block ourselves in Colette's bedroom!” She grabbed his arm and yanked him inside—just as the Slitherbot behind him opened fire. The blast went wide, hit a coat stand in the hall, and turned it into wood-textured trickles.

Colette slammed the door shut and started dragging her dressing table over to barricade it.

“Thanks,” squeaked Jason as he sank, shaking, to the floor.

“Where's Milly?” demanded Jess. “Is she okay?”

“She's gone after Ollie to get Michael and the lamp back.”

“What
is
it with this lamp?” Colette wailed. “What's
going on? Where did
you
spring from?”

“Uh…just called around to see Ollie,” said Jason, suddenly remembering their vow to keep everything secret, whatever happened. If Jess hadn't told Colette what was going on, then neither could he.

“Come on, Jase,” said Jess, “help me move the bed in front of the door.” She lowered her voice. “Ollie must have wished these monsters could come out of his dumb video game. What an idiot!”

“The good news is they'll vanish at sunset,” said Jason, straining to shift the bed.

“The bad news is, that's still an hour away,” Jess pointed out. “You've seen what their guns can do and you know what Skribble said yesterday—‘the effects of the magic will remain.'”

Jason stared at her. “So whoever gets slushed,
stays
slushed?”

Jess felt sick. “Yes.”

“What are you two going on about?” Colette said, pushing her hands through her hair. “What's going on?”

Before they could answer, the top of the bedroom door burst apart like a water bomb. Colette shrieked.

“We'll never last till sunset!” cried Jason. “What are we going to do?”

 

Milly panted for breath as she ran after Ollie, forcing herself to keep going. But his legs were longer than hers, and her schoolbag slung over one shoulder was slowing her down.

“Retrieve the lamp, Milly!” she heard Skribble cry. “Free your bothersome brother from this odious Ollie's control so he can put things right!”

But Ollie was getting away.
I need to get his attention
, Milly realized, staggering to a stop.
Time for a bit of improvising…

“Oliver Jones!” she bellowed with the last of her breath.

Her shout echoed around the quiet street, so loudly that Ollie actually stopped running. Then he frowned and looked about. “Where…where did my genie go?”

“I'm glad you finally noticed,” said Milly, desperately trying not to seem out of breath as she walked toward him. “I am your genie's personal assistant. He's been called away by the, uh, League of Genies…on urgent magic business.”

“Hang on.” Ollie scowled. “I recognize you. You're from my school.”

“Duh! I'm in disguise!” Milly rolled her eyes and walked right up to him, lowering her voice. “Now, hear my words, Oliver Jones. It is easy to get your genie to come back to
you when he's been tied up on magic business.” She smiled innocently. “You simply say, ‘Genie be free.'”

“I see….” Ollie nodded to himself. “Well, I want him here now—
Genie be free!”

There was a squall of black smoke as Michael shot out of the lamp in his normal form. But before Ollie could see anything clearly, Milly belted him as hard as she could with her schoolbag. With a squawk of surprise, Ollie fell down in a heap on the pavement. Milly snatched the lamp from him, and then Michael grabbed her by the arm and they ran off back toward the house.

“Nice going, sis,” said Michael. “But now you'd better get into the lamp quick, in case Ollie comes after us and recognizes you. Besides, it'll be the safest place.”

“What do you mean?” panted Milly.

“Jess and Colette are in big trouble. There are real Slitherbots in the house, with working slush guns!”

“What?” Milly gasped. “I sent Jason inside to check that Jess was okay!”

“Oh, fantastic. Come on!” As Milly sent herself into the lamp, Michael put on an extra burst of speed.
But what am I going to do when I get there?
he thought.
What?

J
ason stared in horror as the Slitherbots blasted the door again. The wood burst into torrents of brown water. Now he could see the monsters' hideous green faces, the crimson of their narrowed eyes.

“They're going to get in!” he shouted, terrified. “There's nothing we can do to stop them!”

The Slitherbots growled and prepared to fire at the dresser blocking their way. Colette shrieked. Jess jumped onto the big bed as she hurried to get away, and bumped her head on the fairy wind chimes. They clanged and tinkled around her ears.

In desperation, she tugged them down from the ceiling and hurled them at the nearest Slitherbot. They tangled around his head and he howled in anger. The more he shook his head, the more the chimes jangled, enraging and distracting both him and the monsters behind him. They clawed at the delicate glass fairies with their sticky, spongy hands.

“Come on,” gasped Colette. “The window—maybe we can get out in time.” She ran over to her bedroom window—just as Michael burst into view. With a scream of surprise she jumped back.

“Hey, I'm one of the good guys!” Michael protested, grabbing Colette's hand. He helped her clamber out into the garden.

“Good guy?” Jess snorted, helping Jason through, then scrambling after him. “This is all
your
fault, Michael!”

“Huh?” Colette stared between the two of them, confused. “What's going on?”

“This is Michael, our stepbrother,” Jason explained.

“Everything's
always
my fault around here,” said Michael sourly, leading the charge across the grass toward the wall, Milly's schoolbag bouncing around on his back.

“Michael, how did you get out?” Jess hissed so Colette wouldn't hear her.

“Milly got me out of Ollie's control and now she's in the lamp,” said Michael, patting his jacket pocket. “About the safest place right now.”

“Then let's wish our way out of this!”

“Duh!” Michael retorted. “The book said we couldn't grant each other's wishes, remember? We'll get disqualified—no more genie training.”

Jess buried her face in her hands. “No more
anything
if
we don't get rid of those things!”

“The house!” Colette shrieked, looking back over her shoulder. “Look!” Sections of the brickwork were starting to dissolve into water as the aliens attempted to blast their way out of her bedroom.

As they reached the garden wall, Jason turned to Michael. “Colette has to wish them away and put everything back as it was. It's our only chance.”

“And, like,
now
,” Michael agreed, pulling the lamp from his pocket and shoving it into Colette's hands. “Do it!”

The girl stared at the lamp, bewildered. “I'm asleep,” she murmured, falling to her knees on the grass. “That must be it. This is all a nightmare.”

Jess grabbed hold of Colette by the shoulders and spoke in a low, urgent voice. “Colette, listen. You know we were talking about magic before, and how we used to believe in it when we were little? Well, it really does exist!”

Colette stared at her.

“I know it seems crazy, like kid stuff,” Jess went on desperately. “I know everyone thinks magic is babyish but…this whole mess is because of magic. And only magic can put it right!”

“They're coming!” howled Jason as four huge Slitherbots lumbered into sight through the hole in the wall.

“Oh, Jess,” Colette gasped. “I've always wanted to believe in magic….” Her eyes widened. “You're not tricking me? It's really real?”

“You'll have the proof when those things blast us to bits,” Michael growled. “Now,
rub the lamp
!”

The green, glutinous monsters stomped toward the garden wall.

“Hurry!” cried Skribble from inside Milly's schoolbag.

“Colette?” Jess said urgently. “What's your heart's desire?”

Colette rubbed the lamp hard. “I wish this craziness had never started,” she cried fervently, “and that things were back the way they were!”

Milly blew out of the lamp in a blur of gold trousers and a strappy red top. Her turban was glittering with gold sequins, and her eyes were elaborately made up in gold and black to disguise her appearance. Jason gazed at her, seriously impressed—then yelled as the Slitherbots loomed up behind her.

Milly turned to face them, unafraid. “As you wish it,” she boomed, in a voice that thundered up to the skies above, “
so shall it be!
”

The Slitherbots defiantly lifted their slush guns to fire at her, at Colette—at
all
of them….

And then they vanished.

The garden was silent and peaceful once more. For a long moment, nobody moved. Then Jason slowly raised his head and started peering all around.

“It's okay,” Milly told him in a whisper that sounded like distant thunder. “They've gone.”

Jess punched the air. “It's over!”

Michael turned to Milly and grinned. “You did it.”

Milly looked like she might burst with happiness. “I couldn't have done it without Colette!” she said, pirouetting as she shrank back into the lamp. “See you later, guys!” With that, she vanished down the brass spout.

Michael gently took the lamp from Colette's hands. “Say, ‘Genie be free,'” he told her.

“Genie be free,” she repeated, parrot fashion. Colette was so deep in a daze she didn't even notice as Milly burst out of the spout in her school uniform and flew right over a bush, landing in a noisy heap.

Michael placed the lamp inside Milly's schoolbag, next to the handbook. Then he handed the bag to Milly. “Stay here,” he murmured. “The less she knows the better, yeah?”

“Okay,” sighed Milly. “I'll wait with Skribble.”

Colette was staring at the holes in the wall of her house. “The wish hasn't worked completely. What will Mum and Dad say when—”

“Give it a chance,” said Jess, putting a sympathetic hand on her shoulder. “That was quite a big wish you asked for.”

Colette looked at her with wide eyes. “You're, like, an expert at this, aren't you?”

Jess blushed. “Not really.”

“None of us are,” sighed Michael.

“Look!” Jason pointed at the side of the house. The holes in the wall were fading away to leave perfect brickwork in their place.

Taking a deep, shaky breath, Colette headed toward the house. “Okay. Let's go inside and check the place out.” She ran to the front door and pushed it open, Michael, Jess, and Jason following her.

“The coat stand's come back,” Jason noted. “That's a good sign.”

Just then, the door to Ollie's room opened and he wandered out.

“Ollie!” gasped Jason. “Where did you spring from?”

“I live here, you idiot!” Ollie frowned. “And if you've come to hang out with me, tough. I'm busy.”

“He didn't come to see
you
, moron,” said Michael, taking an angry step toward Ollie. “However many cool games you might have.”

Ollie scowled at his sister. “Keep your weirdo friends
out of the lounge, Colette.” He yawned. “I want to go on the Ultra later and I'm
not
sharing.”

“Thank goodness!” sighed Jason, and the others all shared knowing looks. Infuriated, Ollie slammed his door shut on them, and they burst into laughter.

“Come on, Colette,” said Jess. “Let's check your room.”

Colette led the others into her bedroom. Everything was back to normal—the door, the bed, the fairy chimes, all perfectly in place.

“Magic,” breathed Colette. “Proper magic.” She grinned at Jess. “It really exists!”

Michael groaned. “Oh, you two aren't going to start that again, are you? Come on, Jase. Let's scope out the rest of the place. Make sure it really
is
Slitherbot-free.”

“But it will be,” said Jason. “The magic will have worked.”

“I still think we should go and check.” Michael jerked his head toward Colette and Jess and gave Jason a meaningful look. “Maybe start in the lounge?”

Understanding dawned on Jason's face. “Oh, yeah, yeah,” he said quickly. “We should definitely go and check.”

Together, they went out, leaving Jess and Colette alone. Colette looked at the shelf of books about mermaids and
unicorns and enchanted princesses.

“It's funny how I could never bear to throw those books away,” she said. “I guess I didn't want to stop believing in magic.” She looked at Jess. “So what other magic have you done? Tell me about it!”

Jess hesitated. But then she remembered that at sunset, as the worthy wish-maker, Colette would forget everything.

And so Jess started talking. She told Colette about the handbook and about the adventures they'd had, about Jason getting stuck in the lamp, about the fuss with the food and the trip to London. Colette listened, wide-eyed.

“Oh, wow,” she breathed. “It's crazy; it's so way out and…and
ridiculous
!”

Jess smiled. “I suppose it is!”

Colette smiled back. “You're amazing, Jess. I've always wished I could have a friend who was more like me. I've got loads of mates but none of them would dare to talk about believing in magic in case they got laughed at. You're way cool.”

Jess was very pleased but also embarrassed. “Nah. You've got it wrong.” She pointed to a pair of strappy red sandals with killer heels by the dresser. “What's
way
cool are those shoes!”

They both laughed. “Do you want to try them on?” Colette offered.

“Can I?” said Jess eagerly, slipping them onto her feet. They were a perfect fit.

“I'll never forget today.” Colette shook her head. “Never.”

Jess felt a twinge of guilt.
Oh, yes, you will
, she thought.

“Guess we'd better finish our homework now.” Colette went to the door. “From magic lamps and monsters to scattering light through prisms—what a comedown.” She paused. “Actually, maybe after all the excitement, it'll be good to get back to something totally boring and normal!”

Jess grinned and followed her toward the kitchen, but then she heard the sound of gunfire from the lounge.

Heart thumping, she looked around the door—to find Jason and Michael sitting in front of the wall-mounted TV, yanking on joysticks and giving the fire buttons a good thumb pummeling. “What are you doing?” she exclaimed.

Michael hit
PAUSE
and looked up innocently. “Just checking that no Slitherbots are going to come out of Ollie's Ultra at us!”

“Uh-huh.” Jess smiled wearily. “Very thorough.” Then she glanced out the window and realized that the sun was close to setting. When the book had done its work, would
Colette remember that the two of them had talked at all, that she had shared her secret longing to believe in magic? Or would she just think Jess was a weirdo trying to steal her shoes?

Leaving the boys to their game, Jess went into the kitchen. She sat down and stared nervously at her homework.

“Are you okay?” Colette frowned. “You look…” She broke off as the last curve of the sun sank behind the hills, and put her hands to her forehead. “Oh! That's funny, I…I was going to say…”

Jess looked at her anxiously. “Colette?”

“Sorry, my head feels strange, all kinds of swirly…. Must be this dumb homework sending me to sleep!” Colette shook her head and sighed. “Don't you wish, sometimes, that something really exciting would happen?”

Jess almost burst into hysterical laughter. “Yeah…sometimes.” She heard the soft click of the front door opening as Michael and Jason slipped away into the night, and decided to risk it. “Sometimes I wish that something
magical
would happen. It would be fun to believe in magic…wouldn't it?”

“Yes,” said Colette. “It would be brilliant.”

They grinned at each other. Jess got up. “I suppose I should be getting back home.”

“Hey, my shoes look great on you,” Colette noticed.
“You should have them.”

Jess stared. “What? But I can't just keep them! They're much too expensive!”

“They're too tight on me.” Colette waved away her protests. “And I've got loads of other shoes. I'm glad you came around,” she went on as they walked into the hall. “I've really enjoyed it—just sitting and chatting….”

Sitting and chatting!
Jess had to hide her smile. “I've really enjoyed myself, too.” She paused. “Wait a sec. I think I left my other shoes in your room.”

She hurried into Colette's bedroom. The fairy wind chimes tinkled gently. Jess touched one of the little glass figures and smiled, remembering something else the book had said about the wish-maker.

“He will surely come to know happiness,” she whispered. “Or
she
will, anyway.”

Picking up her old shoes, she went back to the hall. She said good-bye to Colette, then turned and set off into the chilly evening. Her feet were a little cold in the sandals, but inside she felt warmer than she had for ages.