Be a Genie in Six Easy Steps Read online

  “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!”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Michael, Milly, Jess, and Jason were all dressed and ready for school by eight o’clock the next morning. The lamp and handbook were stowed safely in Jess’s bag. Just to be sure that Ollie knew what to do, Milly had written “rub me” on a label and tied it securely to the lamp’s handle.

  As they headed to Ollie’s house, Jess ran over the final plan they’d decided on: “We get to the house. Michael turns into a genie and then Jason sneaks into the garden, taps on Ollie’s window, and leaves the lamp on his windowsill for him to find.”

  “It would be a lot easier if we could just grant our own wishes again,” said Milly.

  “This is proper training,” Michael reminded her. “It’s not supposed to be easy.”

  “And we can’t get ourselves disqualified after all this,” Jess added.

  “That’s Ollie’s house,” Jason said as they turned into a wide avenue. “That one with the white door.” He pointed out a smart bungalow with large gardens all the way around it. A yard-high wall separated the garden from a narrow path that cut through to the next street. They hurried toward it.

  “Ollie’s room’s that one there,” Jason said, pointing to a window that overlooked the path.

  Jess looked shiftily about to be sure they weren’t being watched, but while one or two commuters were starting up their cars on the avenue, the path was quite secluded. She took The Genie Handbook out. There was a rustle and Skribble popped up through a crack in the cover.

  “Are we here, at last?” he asked imperiously. “Have you found the boy?”

  “Not yet,” Michael said. “But any minute now!” He put the lamp on the ground. “Genie me!”

  No sooner had he vanished inside than the front door of the bungalow opened and a pretty girl walked out, her chestnut brown hair tied back in a sleek ponytail.

  “Get down!” Jess hissed, ducking behind the wall and making Skribble squawk with surprise.

  Jason crouched on the pavement beside her. “What is it?”

  “You never told me she was Ollie’s sister!” Jess watched as the girl walked over to join two other girls with identical ponytails, waiting for her farther up the avenue. “That’s Colette Jones and the Colette Clones,” Jess whispered as the girls walked away. “They’re in my class.”

  Jason nodded. “I met her when I was here for tea.”

  “Hurry up, boy!” Skribble interrupted. “Before your wish-maker leaves, too!”

  “Here goes!” Picking up the lamp, Jason climbed over the wall and raced across the garden to Ollie’s window. He tapped loudly on the glass and then left the lamp on the window ledge. There was a large bush just to one side of the window, and Jason quickly ducked out of sight behind it—as the window opened.

  Milly saw Ollie glance out. He had thin, straight brown hair with a fringe that flopped forward and sharp blue eyes that soon fixed upon the lamp on the windowsill.

  “‘Rub me,” Ollie read out. Then he snorted. “Yeah, right. As if! It’s bound to be a trick or something.” He stuck his head out the window and yelled: “Well, ha, ha, ha, whoever you are. You’ve lost your lamp, you big losers!”

  Then the window slammed shut with a bang.

  Inside the lamp, Michael felt the world turn upside down. “Whoa!” he cried, crashing into the metal sides as Ollie chucked the lamp across his bedroom. It landed with a thud.

  “What kind of nut do they take me for?” Michael heard Ollie’s voice above him. “It’s not like I’m some dumb little kid who believes in magic!”

  Michael jumped to his feet. “Rub the lamp!” he yelled. He banged on the sides. “Pick it up and rub it!” But Ollie didn’t seem to hear. There was the sound of footsteps moving away and then a door slamming shut. Then there was silence.

  “Oh, great,” Michael groaned, shoving his head in his hands. “Now what am I going to do?”

  Outside, Jason had raced back to join the others. “The plan’s gone wrong!” he gasped, scrambling over the wall. “Ollie thinks it’s a trick and won’t rub the lamp!”

  “We heard,” said Milly worriedly. “So Michael’s stuck!”

  “He could be there till sunset,” Jess realized.

  “Or a good deal longer,” said Skribble.

  “What do you mean?” Jason asked.

  “As you know, a genie cannot leave his lamp until someone rubs it,” the bookworm reminded them. “The wishes that trainee genies grant only last until sunset. But the genie form is much stronger magic, granted by the book, and will last until the genie is summoned.”

  Milly stared at him in dismay. “So Michael could be stuck in Ollie’s house forever unless we get the lamp back?”

  “Or until the lamp is rubbed,” Jason realized.

  “But what if Ollie throws it in the bin?” Tears well
ed up in Milly’s eyes. “We’ll never see Michael again!”

  “You really are the most incompetent clutch of children!” railed Skribble. “Whatever possessed you to choose someone who wouldn’t rub the lamp? Of all the ridiculous things to do!”

  “How were we to know Ollie would think it was a trick?” said Jess.

  “Can’t you help us, Skribble?” Milly begged.

  “There is nothing I can do,” said Skribble, more softly.

  Jess glanced at her watch and groaned. “Look at the time! We’re late for school and…Quick, duck!” She yanked them both down behind the wall as Ollie came out of the front door and slouched away down the drive.

  “Never mind school,” said Milly fiercely. “We’ve got to get Michael out!”

  “We can’t just break in, can we?” Jess said. “And if our schools phone home to find out why none of us are there…Look. We’ll come back straight after school when Ollie’s here and ask for the lamp back, okay?”

  Milly carefully closed The Genie Handbook and put it in her schoolbag. “He’d just better say yes….”

  Inside the lamp, Michael was pacing around in a small circle. “How am I going to get out of here?” he shouted. His voice echoed back at him mockingly from the brass walls of his prison.

  The others will come and get me, Michael told himself. He sat down and leaned against the wall of the lamp. “Wish I had my Game Boy with me. Still, I won’t be here long.”

  Two hours later, he realized that his optimism was misplaced.

  Three hours later, he realized the lamp was not equipped with a toilet.

  By midday, he had worked out his 133rd preferred method of taking a terrible revenge on Milly and his stepsiblings.

  By one o’clock he’d decided he would give them anything in the world if they would only get him out of here.

  And by three thirty, Michael was going out of his mind with boredom. His stomach felt as if a wolf was tearing at it from the inside. He hadn’t had anything to eat since breakfast and that had only been half a piece of toast.

  “Please, guys!” he yelled in desperation. “This is officially not fun anymore. I’m a genie—get me out of here!”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Even as Michael yelled for help, Milly and Jason were crouched outside behind the wall, waiting for Jess—and for Ollie.

  “Here he comes,” hissed Milly as Ollie came sauntering up the drive to his front door and let himself in. “Jase, you know him—ask him to give us the lamp back.”

  “At once!” came Skribble’s muffled voice from the book in Milly’s schoolbag.

  “Okay,” said Jason. He walked up the drive as casually as he could and knocked on the door.

  Ollie opened it. “Oh, it’s you, Jason,” he said shortly. “What do you want?”

  “I…I wondered if you had seen a lamp lying around.” Jason felt the words tumble out of him. “Some people are looking for it on the next street and I said I’d help them find it.”

  “Who are they?” Ollie demanded.

  “I, er, don’t know,” Jason said quickly. “If you’ve got the lamp, I’ll go and give it back to them, and find out who they are.”

  “Well, I haven’t got it,” said Ollie.

  “Yes, you have,” said Jason. “We…they saw you pick it up.”

  “So why are they looking on the next street, then?” Ollie inquired.

  “I…” Jason blinked. “I don’t know,” he finished lamely.

  “You’re such a loser.” Ollie shook his head and slammed the door shut.

  Jason stared at the shut door for a moment and then walked despondently back down the drive.

  “Hey, Jase!” He turned to find Jess hurrying down the avenue. “What did Ollie say?”

  As they walked back up the path to where Milly was waiting, Jason explained what had happened. “I told you he was horrible!”

  Milly nodded. “He’s not a worthy wish-maker at all.”

  Just then they heard the sound of people walking along the pavement. Jess groaned. “Oh, no, it’s Colette!”

  “You could ask her to get the lamp,” Jason suggested.

  “But I hardly know her!” Jess cringed. “I can’t just go up and start asking about some stupid lamp. She’ll spread it all over school tomorrow. Everyone will laugh at me!”

  “Would you like me to come with you?” Milly offered.

  “That’ll only make it worse!” Jess buried her face in both hands. If she had to get into Colette’s house, the last thing she wanted was her kid sister hanging around. Stepsister, she corrected herself. “Just stay here, both of you.” Jess got up and marched toward the house.

  Colette was just putting her key into the door.

  “Hi, Colette!” Jess called out in a shaky voice.

  Colette turned around. “Oh, hi…Jess.” She shrugged. “What do you want?”

  “I…um…I saw you and I…” Jess’s mind raced for a good excuse. “I was just wondering if you’d written down tonight’s science homework?”

  Colette looked puzzled. “It was just to finish off writing up the experiment, remember? Nothing complicated.”

  “Oh, yeah. Dumb of me to forget.” Jess cursed herself for not thinking of something better, but it was too late now. “I’ll…I’ll just go then, I guess.”

  Colette looked at her for a moment and then smiled. “Do you want to come in? We could do some of our homework together.”

  Jess stared at her. Was this a trick? Or was Colette Jones, the most popular girl in her class, actually being friendly?

  “Well?” asked Colette.

  “I’d love to,” Jess murmured shyly. “Thanks.”

  Colette opened the door. “Come on, then!”

  Glancing over her shoulder, Jess saw Milly pop up from behind the fence, giving her a thumbs-up. “Go away!” Jess mouthed frantically. Colette’s going to think I’m teaching my little sister how to stalk her or something!

  She followed Colette into a hallway. It was smartly decorated in shades of white and pale brown. An open door led into an enormous lounge. Jess caught a glimpse of two dark brown leather sofas, and a huge plasma TV on the wall. Colette headed out of the hall and along a wide corridor. There was a spacious designer kitchen on one side and bedrooms on the other. One door, half open, had Colette’s name on a china plaque with painted stars around it. The other, firmly shut, had a handmade notice with the words: OLLIE’S ROOM. STRICTLY PRIVATE! written on it.

  Jess couldn’t resist looking inside Colette’s bedroom. She felt a twinge of jealousy at how lovely it was, neat and tidy with purple walls framed by a sparkling white ceiling and carpet. There was a white dresser with a large double bed at one side, and hanging from the ceiling was a set of wind chimes with delicate glass fairies, tinkling in the breeze from the open window.

  Fairies?

  Jess stared. She had never expected to see fairies in Colette Jones’s bedroom. Her gaze fell on the bookcase by the window. The bottom shelf was filled with many of the same books she had had when she was younger—books about enchanted forests, unicorns, and mermaids. I’d never have thought Colette was the sort of person who was into magic when she was little, Jess thought.

  Suddenly she gasped. There by the open window was Milly!

  “Have you got the lamp yet?” Milly whispered.

  “I’m working on it!” Jess said in a low voice. “Go away before you ruin everything!” With that, she hurried after Colette, who was in the kitchen pouring them each a glass of orange juice.

  “I like the wind chimes in your room,” said Jess shyly.

  “Oh, that old thing.” Colette looked a bit embarrassed. “I should take it down. Fairies are so babyish, aren’t they?”

  “Well, yeah, of course they are, but even so…” Jess smiled self-consciously. “I really like it.”

  “You do?” Colette looked at her. “My mum’s always telling me it’s babyish. She’s got this interior designer from Oxford making me a glass mobile to ha
ng in its place.”

  “Wow,” said Jess. But Colette didn’t look so excited. She probably has tons of cool stuff like that coming her way, Jess thought.

  “Were you into magic and stuff when you were younger?” Colette asked hesitantly.

  “Kind of.” Jess decided to be cool. “When I was really little.”

  “Me too,” said Colette.

  Jess wondered what Colette would say if she told her the truth about why she was really there—that she had come to rescue her stepbrother who was stuck in a magic lamp, trapped in the form of a bearded genie in a ninja outfit! “So where shall we do our homework?” she asked, changing the subject.

  Colette started taking her books out. “We can do it in here. Mum and Dad are both working late, so there’s just my little brother, and he’ll probably be playing video games in the lounge.” She pulled a face. “He’s such a pain. Do you have brothers and sisters?”

  “A brother, a stepbrother, and a little stepsister,” Jess said. She glanced nervously at the kitchen window, half expecting Milly to come popping up with a set of binoculars.

  “Three of them!” Colette’s eyes widened. “That’s gruesome. How do you cope?”

  “Barely!” Jess shrugged. “I’m just, like, ‘whatever…’”

  Colette smiled and nodded. “I wish I had an older brother instead.”

  Jess raised her eyebrows. “One with cute mates?”

  “Naturally!” Colette replied with a grin. “So, you’re new around here—where did you move from…?”

  As the conversation went on, Jess felt herself start to relax. This was fun. Almost like being back with her old friends, just chatting and hanging out after school. But at the back of her mind was the thought of Michael. I have to rescue him, she reminded herself.

  Just then she heard a door open and saw Ollie slouch along the corridor toward the lounge. Her heart thudded. Maybe now was her chance. “Um, can I use your loo?” she asked Colette as casually as she could.

  “Sure,” Colette replied. “It’s just down the hall, past Ollie’s room.”

  Perfect. Jess left the kitchen. Ollie’s door was shut, and she could hear the TV blaring in the lounge.