Be a Genie in Six Easy Steps (8 page)

T
offee cantered out of the parking lot and down the street. Astonished passersby leaped out of his way.

“Come back, Toffee!” Milly wailed, charging after him. “Please!”

A mother tutted. “What are a bunch of kids doing out on their own with a horse?”

“Where are your parents?” shouted an old man.

Ignoring him, Milly forced herself to run faster. If she could only reach Toffee and grab hold of his lead rope…

“I can see through the pavement,” groaned Michael behind her. “I can see the sewers. I can see rats in the sewers! I can see what the rats have been
eating
in the sewers. Urrrgh…”

Toffee met a crowd of people walking along the pavement. Slowing down, he flattened his ears and lunged for a businessman's arm. The man staggered back with a cry and fell into a workmen's tent with a noisy clatter.

“Call the police!” someone roared.

“Got you!” cried Milly triumphantly, grabbing hold of Toffee's lead rope, but the pony was too alarmed by the shouts of pedestrians and the honking of horns to hold still. He set off down a side street, with Milly hanging on.

Jess rushed after her and grabbed the lead rope too, but Toffee was too strong to be stopped.

“Help us!” Jess yelled as Toffee towed her and Milly out of the side street, toward the main road.

Michael had stopped to be sick down a drain, but Jason managed to lend his strength to the pony's lead rope. With three of them pulling, Toffee came to a stop.

“We've got to get away from here,” said Jess. “To the park.”

“There's a crosswalk over there!” Jason pointed, and a Nestlé Crunch bar fell out of his sleeve. “Come on!”

Between the three of them they pulled and coaxed Toffee farther up the street while Michael followed weakly behind. Drivers in cars stared. A motorbike courier veered off the road and crashed into a concrete pole.

“We're going to cause a real pileup!” Jason fretted. On the other side of the road there was a line of tall trees. “If we could only find cover…”

“Seems to me Toffee had the right idea,” Michael muttered. “Let's go with his first plan—just
run
!” So saying, he grabbed a handful of Toffee's tail, shut his eyes tight, and
thwacked his hand against the horse's backside.

Toffee tore free of Jess, Milly, and Jason and plunged across the road toward the trees, dragging Michael along behind. “Who needs a guide dog!” Michael yelled, clutching tightly to the pony's tail. Cars skidded to a halt on either side of the crossing, blaring their horns.

“Michael, you lunatic!” Jess yelled.

Then the pony pushed through the tall trees, and with a yelp Michael crashed through after him.

Jason led the way over the crossing in pursuit. They battled through the trees and emerged in a large park. Luckily, there weren't many people about, and those who looked over ignored them. Toffee was standing in the shade of a willow tree, calmer now that he was away from the traffic, and Michael was slumped against the tree trunk.

Jess marched over. “That was so dumb, Michael. You and Toffee could have been hurt!”

“I could see through those trees,” he told her. “I knew there was a park on the other side. Maybe I
could
have been hurt—but I didn't want to risk anyone else getting injured on the road because they were staring at us!”

“Oh,” said Jess. She had to admit the explanation sounded pretty sensible. But she was still feeling cross, so she didn't say so. Instead she kicked at the pile of Milky Ways growing up around Jason's feet. Toffee nosed one
aside as he began to graze, flicking his tail.

“I want to go home,” said Jason quietly. “Back to Moreways Meet.”

“That stupid house isn't a home; it's just the place we all live.” Michael sighed. “Even so, I wish we were back there too—”

“Shush.” Milly waved her hands, suddenly concentrating. “I can hear…”

“Sirens,” Jess concluded. She could hear the electronic wail now too.

They all looked at each other in alarm.

“Let's hide!” said Jason.

But Michael shook his head. “No point. The cops will just follow the trail of chocolate, sick, and horse poo.”

“Toffee hasn't pooed,” said Milly defensively.

Michael eyed the pony's backside grimly. “You can't see what's coming.”

“There's still an hour and a half till it gets dark.” Jason fretted. “You're right, Michael, the police
will
find us, and they'll take our names and address and even if we vanish at sunset they'll drive over to our house and Mum'll find out and—”

“Skribble!” Milly exclaimed. She bent and pulled
The Genie Handbook
from Michael's pocket. “Skribble will help us; I
know
he will. Where is he?”

“He's probably stuffing his face,” Michael muttered. “Or else he's asleep.”

“Asleep?” came a familiar, muffled cry. “Asleep, with all the commotion you have been causing, you churlish chitterlings?”

“Please, Skribble,” Milly implored the bookworm. “Please, kind, wonderful Skribble, can you help us?”

Skribble tutted. “I deduce that you have no lamp, my dear Milly. And so, I'm afraid, there is little you can do.”

The sirens were getting very loud now. “But if we wait here till sunset we'll be caught,” said Jason.

“And they'll throw us into prison and lock us up for ages,” said Michael.

“Locked up again?” The worm trembled. “No!”

“What do you mean?” Jess frowned. “Locked up…
again
?”

Skribble stared at her, apparently dumbfounded for a moment. “Er, nothing. Simply a figure of speech…about being stuck in here.” He looked sharply at each of the children. “Now, before I agree to help, do you promise to try harder with your training?”

Jess and Jason nodded. Michael gave a grunt.

“Very well,” said Skribble as the sirens rose in pitch and volume. “You must find a metal container. With a little magical assistance, the container can be used as a
temporary lamp—good for one wish only.”

“Like a sort of emergency exit!” Jason realized.

Jess stared around. “But where are we going to find a metal container?”

“Would an empty soda can be all right?” asked Milly.

Michael squinted at a nearby bin. “There're a couple in there. Look out for the wasp in the one nearest the top.”

Jason forced a path out through his minor mountain of chocolate bars. Just as he reached the bin, the shriek of the sirens suddenly stopped.

“Quick!” Michael hissed, staring at the trees, frowning, and blinking as he used his X-ray vision. “The police have parked on the road over there. They'll find us dead easy. We've got two minutes, tops, to get out of this!”

J
ason rummaged around in the bin. “I've found one of those cans,” he cried, pulling it out. “It's a bit squashed—”

“It'll do,” said Jess, snatching it from him. “Now, what must we do, Skribble?”

The bookworm puffed himself up grandly. “I must recite an incantation. Set down the container. Older boy, you stand beside it.”

“The police!” Jess croaked. Two officers were pushing their way through the line of trees.

Skribble quickly cleared his throat and began to recite:

With a flash and a cloud of cabbage-scented smoke,
Michael was sucked up inside the can.

“Hey, you kids!” called one of the officers.

“They're
coming
!” hissed Milly.

“Argh!” came Michael's faint cry from inside the can. “There's a wasp in here!”

“Sorry!” Jason wailed.

“Don't sting him,” Jess muttered, rubbing the can. “Don't sting him
yet,
anyway….”

Michael the genie swirled out of the can.

“Quickly, girl!” commanded Skribble. “And get it right! Remember, you only have one chance—one single wish….”

The nearest policeman was just a few strides away now. “We've had complaints that you kids and your horse have been running wild….”

Jess closed her eyes and reeled off the wish: “I wish that Jason, Milly, Michael, and I were back in the den in our house in Moreways Meet just after sunset!”

“Wishing won't get you out of this,” said the officer gravely.

“You'd better be wrong,” muttered Michael. And he clapped his hands.

The world started to spin, just as it had done before. Jess felt the ground melt away beneath her feet and for
a long moment she felt like she was floating. Then there was a bump and she knew she was standing on something solid again.

She staggered forward, barely daring to open her eyes. Then relief flooded through her as she saw the sofa, the beanbags, the ancient stereo on a packing case. And she was still clutching the crumpled can in both hands. A wasp wafted out of it and flew smack into the small window before collapsing to the dusty sill beneath. Outside it was dusk.

“We're back!” Jason yelled. He checked his pockets, disbelievingly. “And no chocolate!”

“No Toffee either,” Milly realized, staring all around, still holding on tight to the handbook. “Where's he gone?”

“It's after sunset,” said Jess, still stunned. “Just what I wished for.”

“Then…he disappeared as the magic wore off,” said Milly forlornly. “I never even said good-bye.”

“Hang on, where's Michael?” said Jason, frowning. “If it's after sunset and we can't do any more magic—”

“OOOF!” In another thick cloud of smoke, Michael was spat out of the can, back in his normal clothes.

“Hey,” Jess told him with a smile. “You did it. You got us home!”

“Huh?” He stared around in amazement. “Wow…I really
did
do it, didn't I! And—” He blinked. “My eyes are back to normal!”

Jess sat down heavily on the squashy sofa. “I'm glad that's over. Today has
not
been fun.”

“Next time we've got to think really carefully about what we wish for,” said Jason. “We could have gotten into so much trouble!”

Milly nodded with feeling. “Wishes can go wrong so easily.”

Michael rubbed his aching stomach. “And we must never,
ever
forget the lamp again.” He clapped Jason on the back. “If you hadn't picked up the book, Jase—”

Just then, Skribble poked his head out. “Is everyone back safely?” he asked, and Milly was sure there was worry in his little eyes.

“Yes, we are,” said Milly in relief. “Thank you for helping us, Skribble.”

“We made a real mess of things,” said Jason. He thought about the chaos they had caused. “What will all those people in London be thinking?”

“They won't be thinking anything, will they?” said Milly. “It's after sunset, so everything will be back to normal.”

“Not quite,” said Skribble.

The children stared at him. “What do you mean?” said
Jess. “You told us yesterday that our magic wore off at sunset.”

“Perhaps I did,” said Skribble. “But as you progress through the steps of training, your magic becomes stronger. Of course, until you become full genies, your magical creations will vanish at sunset and people's memories of them will cloud and fade. But in the meantime, now you have completed Step Three….” He swung around to Milly. “Does your arm still hurt where Toffee bit it, my child?”

“Yes,” Milly realized, rubbing her arm. “Yes, it does.”

Skribble nodded gravely. “You see? Unless a wish-maker wishes it, the physical
effects
of the magic will remain.”

“So, that motorcycle
will
have crashed into the pole today?” said Jess.

Milly looked worried. “And that businessman will have been bitten too?”

“Yes. As you say in your modern way of speaking, you
have
indeed made a ‘real mess of things.'” Skribble sniffed. “The book is not pleased with your progress. Not pleased at all.”

He ducked down inside the book, and the pages fluttered over to the end of Step Three. New pictures had appeared.

“There we are in the parking lot,” said Jason.

Jess cringed to see herself looking so flustered and afraid.
The book's comment didn't make her feel any better:

Badly prepared, ill-thought-out wishes, granted lazily.

“Oh, come on, I wasn't lazy!” Michael argued. “If I'd been lazy, I would have zapped us a mile down the road or something.”

The next picture showed Jess looking very guilty and Michael looking furious.

Without a worthy vessel, a genie is unworthy,
was the book's only comment.

“I should never have dropped the lamp,” said Jess, feeling tired and miserable.

“We wouldn't have passed this step anyway,” said Jason, staring at a picture of them running after Toffee, spilling chocolate everywhere and scaring passersby. The caption underneath read:

Thoughtless exposure of magic in the commonplace invites needless danger and questions that must not be answered.

Milly sighed. “What does that even mean?”

“I think it means that we should never have gone out on a busy road when we had so much magic going on,” Jason told her. “We must have scared loads of people, as well as nearly causing a lot of crashes.”

The last picture was of Michael charging across the road with a handful of horse tail.

Courage and consideration for others around are valuable qualities
, the book stated.

“Well, that sounds a bit better,” said Michael. “But there's no getting away from it; we messed up big-time.” He straightened and sighed. “I still feel funny after that X-ray vision. I'm going to lie down.”

“We can try to pass the step again tomorrow,” Jason said optimistically.

The others nodded slowly.

They left the den, feeling very subdued. At the top of the stairs, they all went their different ways—Jason and Michael to their rooms, Jess and Milly to their bedroom to hide the book.

As she shut the door behind them, Milly carefully opened the book again and checked the page where Step Four should have begun.

There was nothing to see but squiggles in the dark, mysterious ink.