Be a Genie in Six Easy Steps (9 page)

T
hat night, Milly couldn't sleep. She wasn't just thinking about
The Genie Handbook
, but about her dad and Ann as well. When they'd lived in London in separate houses, they had hardly ever argued. But now it was all they ever did. Just like at supper this evening. Ann had been cross because her dad had signed up for some big town trivia contest that Saturday—just a day before the bookshop opened.

Milly sighed. She didn't like it when they argued.
Maybe we can use magic to help them
, she thought. She felt her pillowcase. The book lay inside it, silent and still. It was hard to believe there was anything magic about it at all.

But there was. The memories of being in London that day were still vivid in her mind. She blushed as she remembered the shocked looks on people's faces as Toffee towed her down the street. She wondered what had happened to him. Where would he have gone?

“Skribble,” she whispered to the pillowcase. “Are you awake?”

There was a quiet rustling; then Skribble's voice carried through the pillow. “What is it, Milly?”

“I…”” She hesitated, then sighed. “I was just thinking about Toffee. What happened to him after we left? Is he okay?”

“Do not worry, Milly,” said Skribble. “He was a pony made by magic, and so back to magic he went. There is nothing to be concerned about.”

Milly felt better. Even though Toffee had been very bad-tempered, she hated to think of him lost somewhere. “I'm sorry we failed Step Three, Skribble,” she whispered. “If we get another chance, we'll try harder, I promise. We'll think about what dangers the wishes will put us in and try to make sure we never let other people see anything magic happening from now on. It was really stupid of us.” She yawned. “Thank you for telling me that Toffee's all right, though. You're a lovely worm. I don't care if we never become genies; I'm going to look after you forever and ever.”

Skribble did not reply.
He must have gone to sleep
, Milly thought. And a few moments later, she had gone to sleep too.

 

She was in the middle of a dream about a magic riding hat that kept shaking on her head when she woke with a start, blinked, and then realized that her head really
was
shaking. She gasped and sat up in alarm. Then she realized that it wasn't her head; it was her pillow.

The book!

Milly pulled out the book. Rainbow flashes of light glimmered over its cover, lighting up the dark of the bedroom. As it fell onto the bed the cover flew open and the pages started flipping over.

Milly jumped off the bed. “Jess!” she hissed, shaking her stepsister awake.

“What is it? What's going on?” Jess said in confusion.

“The book! Something's happening! It's doing what it usually does when we've passed a step.” As Milly spoke, the pages stopped turning and the sparks flickered and went out.

Turning her bedside light on, Jess got out of bed. She went over to the book. Two sentences stood out at the end of Step Three, the words clear and dark:

Courage, compassion, and care serve a genie well. You have passed Step Three.

“We've passed!” Jess gasped in surprise. “But how? We made such a mess of everything!”

“You passed by the skin of your teeth and the tips of your toenails,” said a tetchy voice. Skribble poked his head out of a hole in the book's cover. “You were, as the scholars say, a borderline pass or fail. The book has been evaluating your performance and your reactions and has decided that you deserve to pass. Goodness knows why. One question about a pony and a few regrets—soppy, sentimental, ridiculous book!” He tutted and looked away, but Milly was sure she caught sight of a smile on his little face.

“I can't believe we've passed!” she exclaimed. “Let's tell the boys!”

“Not now,” Jess said quickly, shushing her. “We might wake up Mum and Mark. Let's wait until the morning. It can be our secret till then.”

Milly smiled. “Okay.”

“First thing in the morning, mind,” said Skribble, yawning. “There is still much to be done. And as you have all agreed, you must work a good deal harder.”

“Good night, lovely Skribble,” Milly said, picking up the book. “We'll see you then.”

“Good night, Milly,” the bookworm replied sleepily.

Milly closed the book and tucked it carefully under her pillow and settled down.
Step Four!
That meant there were just three more steps to pass and then they got to be proper genies.
Then we'll be able to have wishes that don't stop at
sunset
, she thought. She sighed happily and shut her eyes.

On the other side of the room, Jess lay awake. There was only one wish burning in
her
mind. To go back to London.
Not like we did today
, she decided.
But properly. To go back to our old lives, before Mum and Mark were married, and
stay
there
.

She hesitated. To be separate families again instead of one big one—was that what she really wanted?

Of course it is
, she thought firmly.

 

“Time to get up, girls!” Ann Worthington banged on the door in the morning. “You're going to be late.”

Milly sat up and checked the alarm clock. Quarter to eight. She groaned and jumped out of bed. She'd meant to be up early to have a chance to talk to Jason and Michael. “Come on, Jess, we've got to tell the boys about the book!”

“Later.” Jess groaned and buried her face in the pillow.

Milly pulled on her robe and ran to Jason's room, but he'd already gone downstairs. She raced up to Michael's room instead and banged on the door. “It's me, Michael! You'll never guess what; the book says—”

“It's too early, Milly!” Michael groaned.

“But…”

“Go away!” he snapped.

Milly stamped her foot in frustration and then headed back downstairs. Jason would be excited by her news. She knew he would. But when she got to the kitchen she found Jason deep in conversation with her dad.

“What type of animal is a natterjack?” Jason was asking.

“A toad?” Milly's dad replied.

“Good,” said Jason. “Tell me what the next three prime numbers in this sequence are: 1, 3, 5, 7, 11…”

“Um…” Mark Worthington looked worried. “Now let me think….”

“What are you doing?” Milly asked curiously.

“Practicing,” her dad answered. “For the Trivia Team Challenge at the town hall on Saturday.” He shook his head. “Will you help me again tonight, Jason? Maybe you could think up some more questions for me after school.”

“Sure.” Jason looked pleased.

Milly suddenly remembered what she had come into the kitchen for. She pulled Jason's arm. “I read something in a book last night I wanted to tell you about.”

Jason's eyes widened. Milly dragged him out of the kitchen.

“So what is it?” he said as they hurried up the stairs.

“We've passed!” Milly hissed.

“What?” Jason's whole face lit up. “Let's see!”

They went into the bedroom. Jess was now dressed and brushing her hair. “I'm trying to get ready for school. Go away, Jason!”

“He can't,” said Milly. “He's come to see the book!”

The door opened behind her and Michael shambled in. “So, what's going on, Mil?”

“Argh! It's like Piccadilly Circus around here!” Jess moaned.

“We wish,” said Michael. “At least it would be closer to home.”

“Aha!” Milly's eyes were gleaming with her news. “But we're now a step nearer to getting there!”

Milly opened the book with a flourish. “Ta-da!”

For a fleeting moment, she had a horrible thought. What if she'd dreamed everything the night before? But no—there were the words at the end of Step Three saying that they had passed, and there was Step Four, clear and ready for them to read.

 

“W
ow,” breathed Milly as she finished reading. “So, we'll be doing magic for someone else…like proper genies!”

Jason nodded nervously. “What if we mess up?”

Michael shrugged. “I suppose if we mess up totally, at least whoever we choose will have forgotten about it at the end of the day.”

“If we
do
mess up,” said Jess, “I guess we can forget about becoming genies, too.”

Milly flicked back through the pages. “It's so weird seeing pictures of us—” She broke off. “Hey! This is a new picture. It wasn't here yesterday!”

Jess looked over Milly's shoulder at a picture of her standing in the park with her eyes closed, about to make the wish that brought them home. She read out the caption beneath it: “‘Beware of those who watch you.'” She frowned. “What's that supposed to mean?”

“Dunno. What are those shadows there?” asked Jason,
pointing to a pair of tall, dark outlines on the grass behind Jess.

“It must be those policemen.” Milly frowned. “Maybe the book means we should watch out for the police?”

Jason looked uncertain. “But I thought the police came up to us from the other side….”

“Forget the shadows,” said Michael impatiently. “We passed! We won! We're on to Step Four!”

“I wish we could start after school,” Milly said longingly. “But Jason's helping Dad with some trivia questions.”

“Too bad, Jase,” said Michael. “
I'm
going around to Ben's house after school to spend a few hours on his Megaplay Ultra….”

“You lucky thing!” said Jason.

Milly was disappointed. “I wish we could start Step Four tonight.”

“We can always start planning what we're going to do after supper,” Jess consoled her.

“That's true.” Milly brightened up. “Step Four, already…I can't wait!”

 

After supper, when Mark Worthington had gone to a meeting and Ann was dozing on the couch in the living room, Milly, Jason, Michael, and Jess met in the den.

“You should have been there at Ben's, Jase,” said
Michael. “You'd have loved it.”

“You didn't ask him,” Jess pointed out.

Michael ignored her. “We played Maximum Carnage Two. It's cool. There's all these Slitherbots coming at you and they've got these awesome slush guns—they turn anything they touch into wallpaper paste!”

Milly stifled a yawn.

“Ollie Jones, a boy in my class, has got the Ultra,” Jason put in. “He's been going on about how cool Maximum Carnage
Three
is….”

“Then he's talking out of his bum,” said Michael, “because that doesn't come out till the autumn.”

“He's got a demo version,” Jason explained. “His dad works for a software house. Ollie gets early versions of all the latest games.”

“What?”
Michael stared at Jason. “You
know
this kid and you didn't tell me?”

“Is he one of your friends?” Jess asked.

“No way!” Jason pulled a face. “Ollie's got no friends. He's horrible. His mum asked me over to his house during the holidays, remember? I think she hoped we might get on, but he wasn't very nice.”

“Who cares if he's
nice
?” Michael cried. “If he gets early versions of the latest games,
I'll
be his friend!”

“I expect even this Ollie has some standards,” said Jess.

“And even if he didn't, you wouldn't be able to borrow his games because we don't have anything to play them on,” Milly pointed out.

“If Dad still had his old job we could afford an Ultra,” said Michael with a sigh.

“But if we get to be real genies we can just wish for one,” Jason reminded him.

“Good point,” said Michael, brightening. “And if we don't, maybe I could
borrow
good old Ollie's games and play them at Ben's….”

“Never mind about all that,” said Milly. “What's our plan with Step Four?”

Skribble popped out of the book. “That is precisely what
I
would like to know!”

“Hi, Skribble!” said Milly.

But the bookworm gave her only the smallest of smiles. “The four of you have wasted an entire day! Now here you are still talking nincompoopy nonsense! Quickly, you must decide. Whom do you choose to be your worthy wish-maker?”

“We could grant a wish for Mum or Mark,” Jason suggested. “They're both really deserving.”

“Yeah,” Milly said excitedly. “We could make the bookshop a mega-success!”

“But only until sunset,” Jess pointed out. “And it hasn't even opened yet!”

“Oh.” Milly's face fell. “Well, who
can
we grant a wish for, then?”

There was silence as they all considered.

“This Ollie kid!” Michael declared. “Why don't we grant
his
heart's desire?”

“I don't know,” said Jason. “The book says the person should be deserving, and Ollie isn't very nice.”

“Give him a chance, Jase,” Michael said. “Maybe he just doesn't make friends easily…like Jess. I'll be genie; I'll take care of it.”

Jess glared at him. “You're so transparent, Michael. You only want to go so you can check out what cool stuff he's got, find out what else he likes, then pretend you like it, too, to get in with him!”

“As if!” Michael protested. But he winked at Jason as he said it.

“Actually, Ollie's got a sister about your age, Jess,” said Jason. “She was nice. I bet you'd like her—”

“I don't need to be set up with some lame boy's even lamer sister,” Jess complained.

“You do,” Michael assured her.

“Cease this silly chatter!” Skribble said crossly. “No
more delays! Decide!”

“Maybe I
did
get off on the wrong foot with Ollie,” said Jason, not wanting to annoy Michael. “He might be all right.”

“I can't think of anyone else,” Milly admitted. “Jess?”

“Oh, all right,” she said. “There's no one in my class I want to grant a wish for. And the sooner we get through Step Four the sooner we become proper genies with proper wishes.”

“Sorted, then,” said Michael. He looked around at the others. “We'll do it tomorrow, yeah?”

Milly and Jason nodded eagerly, Jess more reluctantly.

“We'll go around to this Ollie's house before school,” Michael went on. “We'll leave the lamp where he'll find it, he'll rub it, I'll grant him his wish…and we'll all be another step closer to getting our own hearts' desires—just wait!”