Dracul takes a granola bar out of his sleeve and starts to eat it.
“Do you have any more of those?” Jonah asks. “I’m kinda hungry.”
“I guess,” Dracul says. He takes out another one and hands it to my brother. “Would you care for one, too?” he asks me.
I probably shouldn’t take food from strangers, but he’s eating one and … well, I’m also kinda hungry.
After our snack, we get up and leave the fountain area. We walk through the golden-domed city gates. In the distance, there’s sand as far as the eye can see. I think we’re about to enter the desert.
Prince is slightly ahead of us, dashing through the sand, having a blast.
I am hot. And thirsty. And getting blisters. Plus, sand isn’t so easy to walk through! Every time the wind blows, a little bit gets in my eyes. There are a few trees scattered here and there with thin trunks and pointy-looking leaves, but there isn’t much shade.
I check my watch. It says it’s only 12:10 A.M. That’s at home. We left home about two hours ago so time is moving much, much faster here than it is at home. But what time is it here? Clearly not the middle of the night. The sun is shining, but it’s lower in the sky than it was when we got here. It must be late afternoon. Maybe around five?
What I do know: Jonah and I have to be home by six forty-five in the morning, when our parents wake up. Which means we still have some time to make our wish and fix the story.
Finally, about half an hour later, or two minutes in Smithville-time, according to my watch, Dracul comes to an abrupt halt.
“Here,” he says with a wave of his hands. I don’t see anything around us but more desert. “It’s time for your adventure. But first I need to make a fire. Go get some branches.”
Jonah and I head toward the trees, Prince following.
Jonah picks up a small branch. “Dracul’s not much of a talker, huh?” he asks.
I grab a bunch of twigs. “He’s probably too busy planning how to trap us in the cave once he gets the lamp.”
“He doesn’t scare me,” Jonah boasts.
“He should! He scares me! Just remember: No matter what, we have to stay together.”
Jonah picks up another branch. “I figured. But I totally could have done this on my own.”
Sometimes my brother thinks he’s seventeen instead of seven. “Do you really think it’s a good idea for you to go into a magical cave by yourself?”
“Aladdin did it!”
“He’s older than you!”
“But I’m a better duckball player,” he insists. “I didn’t get a bloody nose.”
I sigh and scoop another stick off the ground. “C’mon.”
We run back to where the magician is standing.
“Here you go,” I tell Dracul, handing him the sticks.
Jonah hands over his, too. Prince has a stick in his mouth and drops it on the magician’s foot. Awww! Prince is trying to be good.
Dracul sneers at Prince and kicks the drool-covered stick away.
Humph.
Dracul dumps the wood on the ground and leans over it, and suddenly, there’s a small fire. Then he reaches into his pocket, takes out a handful of green powder, and flings it on the flames.
Dracul’s gray hair has an eerie orange glow near the fire. I glance at Jonah. Jonah’s eyes widen and he looks at me. Then we both look at the fire. What is going to happen?
“Magic collides, show us where the lamp resides,” Dracul whispers.
Right in front of us, the flame expands into a huge circle of green fire.
Wow.
The ground beneath us shudders and shakes and I reach for Jonah’s hand.
There is a lot of smoke at first, but when the smoke clears, there’s a square stone hatch in the ground where there used to be sand. There’s a gold ring attached to it. I guess it’s a door.
“What is that?” Jonah asks.
“Under the door is your treasure,” Dracul says. “Are you ready to find it?”
Oh, yeah, we are. Because the minute we find that lamp, I can uncurse Maryrose. Well, the genie who lives in the lamp can do that. But I can wish it!
Jonah and I both nod, and Jonah pulls up the ring. The hatch lifts. Underneath, there are stairs.
“Wait,” Dracul says. “You must listen carefully to my instructions.”
Now he’s giving instructions? He had the whole long walk to give us instructions!
Dracul’s gray eyes gleam. “When you reach the bottom of the stairs, you will have to go through three large rooms. Do not touch anything in these rooms OR ELSE.”
My eyes bug out. “Or else what?”
“OR ELSE!” he repeats, and wags his fingers. “So do not touch anything.”
“But what if something touches us?” Jonah asks. “Like a cobweb. Or a branch. Or a beanstalk.”
Dracul stares at Jonah. “Don’t touch anything OR ELSE.”
I glance at Jonah. He puts his hands at his side very stiffly. It’s a start.
But what if Prince touches something? Does it count if it’s a dog?
I decide not to ask. I’ll just have to hope Prince behaves.
“After the three rooms,” Dracul says, “you will find a lamp. Dump out the oil in the lamp, and then bring it back to me.”
The lamp!
“Do I get to keep it?” Jonah asks.
Dracul narrows his eyes. “Of course,” he says.
I give Jonah a warning look. Meaning he shouldn’t say anything else. I don’t want Dracul to get suspicious.
“Understood?” the magician asks.
“Understood,” we say.
Dracul nods. “Now go.”
“I have one more question,” Jonah says. “Why don’t you come with us?”
The evil magician shivers. “I’m claustrophobic. I hate small, closed spaces.”
“Not me!” Jonah says. Then he hurries down the steps, Prince right behind him. I hesitate. I feel like we forgot something. But what?
I look back at Dracul. His hand glistens. Oh! The ring! We need the magic ring! He gave Aladdin the magic ring, so he should give it to us, too.
“Wait!” I say to the magician. “I’m a little nervous about the OR ELSE part. Do you have something that can protect us?” I ask.
He looks at me blankly.
“Like a charm?” I say. “Or a magical piece of jewelry?” Hint, hint.
“Oh,” he says. “I can lend you my ring. It will protect you.” He slides the ring off his finger and is about to hand it to me when he hesitates. “Maybe I should keep this.”
Huh? No! He can’t. We need it as protection just in case something goes wrong. I mean, we’re not planning on giving Dracul the magic lamp. But what if he tricks us and gets it anyway? We need that ring!
“Why?” I ask.
“Just because.” His eyes are raking over me, narrowing and widening. Does he suspect something?
“But …” That’s not the way the story goes!
Dracul is not handing over the ring. Now what?
I guess we won’t really need it once we have the lamp. In the story, the genie of the lamp is much more powerful than the genie of the ring.
We only really need the genie of the lamp.
“Okay,” I say. “Never mind. We’ll just be super careful not to touch a thing. Except the lamp, of course.”
I stare at him in case he changes his mind. He doesn’t.
“All right, then,” I say. “Off I go.”
“Good-bye,” he says. “Bring back the lamp.”
Not going to happen, mister.
Obviously, I don’t say that part. I head down the stairs. The stone steps wind down and down and down. Jonah is already ahead of me, but I don’t want to hurry in case I slip. I can’t see the bottom. It’s a little nerve-racking.
There’s an eerie green glow in the cave, so it’s not too dark.
“Jonah?” I say, my voice echoing. “You there?”
“Wow,” he says. “I’m
in the first room! The walls are covered in mirrors!”
“Don’t touch them!” I call out. “OR ELSE!”
“I know!”
“Keep your arms firmly by your side. In fact, clasp your hands together!”
“What if I trip and accidentally hit something?” he asks.
“Don’t trip!”
“Abby? My shoelaces are undone.”
“Tie them! Without touching anything!” Couldn’t he have checked his shoelaces BEFORE entering a dark, super-creepy cave?
I finally come to the last step and see that Jonah was right. The room is about the size of our living room at home, and it’s all mirrors. There are thousands of me everywhere! I raise my hand. All the me’s raise their hands. I make bunny ears. All the me’s make bunny ears.
“Abby, what are you doing?” Jonah asks, laughing.
“Uh, nothing,” I say, seeing all the me’s blush. “Did you tie your shoes?”
“Yup,” he says.
All the Jonahs look like they have tied shoes. All the Princes let out a Ruff! Ruff-ruff! at their reflection.
“Don’t touch anything, Prince,” I tell our dog sternly. “Now let’s go to room number two.”
We walk through a narrow doorway, single file.
Room number two is completely black but filled up with giant stars. They hang in midair and from the ceiling, and float above the ground. Some are a few feet away from each other, some only a few inches.
“How are we supposed to get through this?” Jonah asks. “It looks like we’re in a Star Wars movie!”
“Don’t touch the stars,” I say.
“But they’re everywhere! They look like lasers!”
“I know. You have to be very careful. Prince, do not touch the stars!”
He woofs in response and starts zigzagging his way through.
Okay. The stars are all across the room in every direction. But there are spaces I can fit between — if I’m careful. Jonah’s smaller, so he’ll have even less trouble. I think. I hope.
I stare down the laser stars.
I can do this. No problem! I took gymnastics for three years!
I move forward. Step. Bend. Arch, I tell myself. Step. Bend. Arch.
I step. I bend. I arch. I’m around the first star! I got this. “Jonah, are you okay?”
“Finished!” he says. “Prince, too! He didn’t touch a single star! Hey, where are you? I can’t see you.”
Phew about Prince. But how is Jonah done already? He never took gymnastics.
“I’m only past the first star!” I call out.
The truth is I never loved gymnastics because I’m not very flexible. Step, bend, arch, SPLAT was more how it went for me on the balance beam.
I’m around another star. Now on to the next. I step. I bend. I arch. I straighten my body and I …
“Ow!” I shriek.
I touched something. I touched a star with my elbow!
Oh, no! OR ELSE!
It burns. It really, really burns. It feels like hot ice digging into my skin.
“I touched a star!” I cry. “And it hurts!”
“Why did you touch it?” Jonah asks.
“By accident! Ow, ow, ow,” I say as I continue bending and stretching my way over to him.
“Well, we know what the good news is,” Jonah says when I reach him.
“What?” I ask.
“The OR ELSE wasn’t that bad,” Jonah points out. “Your arm didn’t fall off. A cave monster isn’t suddenly chasing us.”
I rub my burning elbow. “That is good news.”
We go through the door into the last room. This time, trees are everywhere, and they have fruit on them. All kinds of brightly colored beautiful fruits. Tiny apples. Tiny limes. Tiny pears. Tiny blueberries. Tiny white fruit that I can’t identify. I look more closely. Are they fruit … or jewels? I remember something in the original story about there being jewels disguised as fruit in the cave.
“I think I’m going to take a few of these,” I say. “In the story, Aladdin ends up needing jewels.”
“What if they’re burning hot, too?” Jonah asks.
GULP. I reach out and very quickly touch the back of my hand to a blueberry that looks like a sapphire.
“It didn’t hurt!” I say. “I’m taking a few.” I take a blueberry, a strawberry, and the white fruit. Oh! It’s a lychee. The fruits are hard like gemstones and they sparkle. I put them in my pocket.
“Where’s the lamp?” Jonah asks, looking around.
“It has to be in the next room,” I say. “Keep walking.”
We go into the next — and there’s the lamp! It’s on a small table with a purple tablecloth.
The lamp looks just as I imagined it would. Like … not a lamp. More like a kettle. It’s dark gold and smooth and has a long spout. But light is coming from the center of it, so I guess it is a lamp.
“There it is!” Jonah says, pointing. “What do we do now?”
“We don’t give it to Dracul, that’s for sure. I guess we make a wish.”
“Are you making the wish or am I?” Jonah asks.
“I will,” I say. I step closer to the lamp. “Am I supposed to rub it?”
“I guess,” he says. “Oh, wait! We’re supposed to dump the oil.”
I yawn. I’m so tired from staying up late that I’m forgetting important stuff! I pick up the lamp, but I don’t see where the oil would be. I turn it upside down and some inky liquid spills out a little hole near the spout.
“Okay,” I say. “Here goes —”
“Wait! Abby! What happens if it works?”
Huh? “Then it works. What’s the problem?”
“We’re going to wish for Maryose to get uncursed, right? Well, if she’s not trapped in our mirror anymore, the mirror won’t be magic! So how will we leave this fairy tale and get back home? We’ll be stuck here.”
Double huh. Jonah might be right about one thing: Our mirror might not be magic anymore if Maryrose isn’t in it. But that doesn’t mean we’ll be trapped in this fairy tale.
“We won’t get stuck here,” I assure him. “We’ll have the genie, remember? He can help us get home.”
“Good point,” Jonah says, looking a lot less worried. “So,” he adds, “do you think we could also wish for a magic carpet?”
Flying around on a magic carpet does seem like a fun way to get around. “I don’t see why not. We can’t bring it home, but I guess we could use it until we have to go back to Smithville.”
“Yes!” Jonah exclaims, pumping his fist in the air.
“Okay,” I say. “Time to make a genie appear.”
I glance at Prince. “No barking at the genie, okay?”
Ruff! Prince agrees.
I touch the golden lamp with the tips of my fingers. It’s warm and smooth-feeling. I rub my fingers against the side.
Jonah and I hold our breath.
Nothing happens.
I rub the lamp a little harder and then …
VROOM!
A huge cloud of sparkly gold dust bursts out of the spout, followed by a small, wrinkled old man with glasses. He’s standing on the ground next to me, but I can see smoky-looking strings connecting him to the lamp. He reminds me of a puppet, but he’s life-size. And hunched over.
“What do you want?” the man snaps. He’s wearing what I can only describe as beige pajamas.
“Hel-l-l-o,” I stammer. “Are you the genie?”
He snorts. “No, I’m the dentist.”
“Huh?” I say.
“Yes, yes, yes. I’m the genie. Now I’m your genie. What do you want?”
“Oh. That was fast. Do I just say it?” My heart starts to hammer. This is so exciting! I get to make a wish! And it’s going to come true! How amazing is this?
“I’m not great at reading minds,” he says. “So yeah. You better say it.”
Grrr-ruff! Grr-ruff! Prince barks. Oh, no! Prince is growling at the genie.
“Jonah, control Prince!
” I say.
Jonah bends down and tells Prince, “No growling at the nice genie!”
I don’t know if nice is the right word. The genie seems a little obnoxious.
“Are you sure I can’t make the wish?” Jonah asks. “It was my idea.”
“No. I’m doing it.” I am still clutching the lamp. “Okay. Here we go —” I let out another giant yawn.
“Am I boring you?” the genie asks, one eyebrow raised.
“No!” I say. “Just tired. Sorry. I’m doing it now. We would like to uncurse our genie!”
He freezes. His eyes almost pop out of his wrinkled head. “You … would?”
“Yes!” I say.
“Are you sure?” He looks from me to Jonah. His expression is totally different now. From grumpy to … total shock.
“Yes,” I repeat. “Is that all I have to do?” I ask. “Say it aloud?”
He nods multiple times. “You are incredible! Because of your age, I expected you to ask for something silly like a magic carpet, but no, you two are the best. The best, I tell you. The best! So noble and generous!” His eyes tear up.
“When do we ask for the magic carpet?” Jonah whispers in my ear.
“Not now, Jonah!” I whisper back. “He’s about to do the spell!”
I puff up my chest and face the genie. “Why, thank you, genie. It’s nice to be appreciated.”
“Okay,” the genie says. “Here we go, then.” He sprinkles some of his sparkly dust over his shoulders and says, “The world I shall return to thee; these children have set their genie free!” His eyes are all misty and he presses both hands to his heart. “Thank you, thank you, thank you!” he cries. “You two kids have made me a very happy genie!”
Wait a minute. “I didn’t say set my genie free!” I exclaim. “I said set my fairy free!”
“No, no, no! You definitely said genie.”
“I did not!” I turn to Jonah. I suddenly have a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. A lychee pit. “Did I?”
Jonah is very pale. “Abby,” he says, “I think you did.”
The strings connecting the genie to the lamp disintegrate into thin air.
“That jerk cursed me a thousand years ago, but now, finally, I’m free!” the genie cries. “Free!” He starts to shake his bum. “This is my happy dance! Look at me! I’m doing the happy dance!”
He was cursed a thousand years ago? He was cursed? And now he’s uncursed?
Genie in a Bottle Page 3
