Jinny & Cooper: Curse of the Genie's Ring

by Tania Ingram

  ‘We have to go to Anywhere now,’ I said. ‘We can’t wait any longer.’

  Humphrey didn’t respond. He simply stared at the bowl in my hands and quivered. I placed the bowl into the sink and picked him up. He went limp in my hands, obviously still in shock.

  ‘Snap out of it,’ I commanded, giving him a small shake. ‘You have work to do. You’re an almost-sorcerer and you’re going to send us to Anywhere.’

  Humphrey wiped his paw across his nose and sat up straight.

  ‘Right, well, we’ll need a powerful spell. Do you know where Miss Morgan keeps her potions and magical things?’ he asked.

  ‘I think they’re in her study,’ I said, pointing towards the hallway.

  ‘Let’s go then. We’ve got to rescue our brothers.’

  Ten minutes later, we were surrounded by potion bottles. Humphrey had quickly sorted through Miss Morgan’s belongings and asked me to put several bottles aside.

  ‘They’re not what I’d normally use, so I hope they’ll do,’ Humphrey said, reading the label of a skinny blue bottle with a corked lid. ‘I’ve never tried to teleport to Anywhere before, but I’m thinking I might be able to get us there by combining a travelling spell with a lost things spell.’

  I sat on the floor and watched him as he went about creating the spell. Every so often he would stop and close his eyes as though deep in thought. Then he’d crouch back over the chalice, adding splashes and drips of potions and pinches of powders. Finally he stood up and stretched out his back.

  ‘Now we wait for a few minutes to see if the spell works,’ he announced.

  He jumped down, joining me on the floor, and slumped against my leg with a sigh.

  ‘I’m surprised that Cooper risked himself like that,’ he said. ‘He must really care about you.’

  ‘He does,’ I replied. ‘And I care about him as well. We’re family. Just like you and Cooper are.’

  Humphrey shrugged but said nothing.

  ‘Didn’t you ever look for him?’ I asked. ‘Didn’t you try a finding spell or something?’

  ‘I couldn’t,’ Humphrey said. ‘I’d already put a cloaking spell on him so Magus wouldn’t find him.’

  ‘The sorcerer who was training you?’

  Humphrey nodded.

  ‘Why would Magus be after Cooper? Is it because he ate the cake?’ I asked.

  ‘Oh, it wasn’t just about the cake,’ Humphrey replied. ‘It was much more than that.’

  ‘What happened?’

  ‘The cake gave Cooper some . . . special powers. And Cooper was just a pup at the time so he didn’t have any idea how to control those powers.’

  I leant closer to Humphrey, wondering what on earth Cooper could have done that was so awful.

  ‘Cooper had eaten so much magic cake that he was stuffed full of magic,’ Humphrey continued. ‘Every movement he made, every eyebrow twitch caused something to happen. Chairs would fly across the room or candles would turn into fireworks. When Magus tried to stop him,’ Humphrey paused, ‘Cooper was sick all over him.’

  ‘Eww, gross!’ I said.

  ‘That’s not the worst of it. Cooper’s vomit turned Magus into a man.’

  I frowned. ‘Wait . . . what?’ I was confused. I’d always assumed Magus to be a man.

  ‘You heard right. Cooper turned Magus into a man,’ Humphrey repeated.

  ‘What was he before?’ I asked, bewildered at this revelation.

  ‘A cat, of course,’ Humphrey said, looking surprised that I didn’t know.

  ‘So you’re saying that the most powerful sorcerer in the world . . . is a cat.’

  ‘Was a cat,’ Humphrey corrected. ‘He still hasn’t worked out how to change himself back.’

  I shook my head in disbelief. Obviously I still had a lot to learn about Cooper and Humphrey’s world.

  A popping noise from the chalice on the counter interrupted us.

  I stood up and lifted Humphrey onto the counter top. Humphrey reached into the chalice and pulled out two marble-sized balls of red light. He tucked one of them into his satchel and slung it over his back. The other one he held out in front of him.

  ‘Are you ready to go?’

  I nodded and grabbed the bag of containment. I’d decided to take it with me in case I had to smuggle Tyrone out of Anywhere. Humphrey carefully climbed up onto my shoulder while balancing the ball of light on his nose.

  ‘The genie won’t be happy to see us,’ he said. ‘Be prepared.’

  I nodded that I understood.

  ‘The thing is to stand your ground. And don’t let him get into your head. He’ll use your own thoughts against you.’

  I nodded again and hugged the bag of containment closer to my body.

  ‘Ready?’ he asked.

  ‘I’m ready,’ I said.

  Humphrey threw the ball of red light onto the floor. Red smoke filled the room, burning my eyes and scratching at my throat. I squinted into the haze, not knowing what to expect, but nothing seemed to be happening.

  ‘I don’t think it’s working,’ I spluttered through coughs.

  The smoke was so thick I could barely make out Humphrey on my shoulder.

  ‘Almost there,’ he said.

  The red smoke soon began to clear and I could see that we were no longer in Miss Morgan’s house.

  ‘I did it!’ Humphrey squealed. ‘We’re in Anywhere.’

  As Humphrey did a victory dance on my shoulder, I looked around and shuddered.

  Perhaps coming to Anywhere hadn’t been such a good idea after all.

  Anywhere was a place unlike anything I’d ever seen before. An eerie mist hung above our heads, blocking out the sky and making everything damp and grey. There were crumbling buildings dotted across the landscape and trees that leant at strange angles as though a giant had crashed through them. In all directions the horizon seemed to fade away to a white nothingness. The ground below our feet was covered with everyday items – books, keys, bicycles, shoes and a variety of toys – lonely, lost and forgotten.

  I heard a clanking, scraping noise, which sounded like chains dragging across the road and I gave a shiver. I wished Cooper was with us. He somehow always made me feel braver simply by being around. I took a deep breath and steadied myself.

  ‘Which way do you think we need to go?’ I asked Humphrey, looking around. My voice echoed back at me as I spoke, making me jump.

  ‘I’d say away from that,’ Humphrey replied, pointing behind us where a wall of mist was building.

  ‘I agree,’ I said, scared of what might be watching us from inside the white mist.

  We hurried away from the mist, along a road of forgotten things and past dark, abandoned buildings with crumbling walls and peeling paint. At the end of the road we came to a newer building and I let out a gasp. It looked identical to my house!

  ‘This is where the genie is keeping Tyrone,’ I said. I was sure of it.

  We carefully made our way up the verandah steps, to the front door. My heart thumped in my chest and I could feel a tight knot in the back of my throat. I turned the handle and to my surprise, the door swung open.

  Although the outside of the house looked the same as mine, inside was completely different. Instead of our cheery living room with a cosy fireplace and colourful rug, the door had opened onto a long empty hallway. The floor was impossibly crooked and it sank under my feet like a wet sponge when I stepped inside. I staggered down the hallway, struggling to keep my balance. Humphrey sat on my shoulder, holding tightly to my jumper. At the end of the hall was a black door with a snake-shaped handle. Was the room behind the door where the genie was keeping Tyrone? I thought. As I reached for the handle the snake’s body flexed and it raised its head to look at us.

  ‘You’re not welcome here,’ the snake hissed. ‘You’re not wanted.’

  ‘Ignore it,’ Humphrey said. ‘It’s not real. It’s just an illusion.’

  I hoped Humphrey was right as I closed my eyes and reached for t
he handle. I expected to feel the snake’s scaly, cold body wriggling under my hand. Instead, my hand found a metal doorhandle, and I opened the door to reveal another hallway, identical to the one we’d just walked down.

  Identical that is, except for the bees!

  ‘I hate bees!’ I cried, watching them swirl around like black, buzzing clouds.

  ‘The genie knows that,’ Humphrey said. ‘He’s read your mind and is using your fears against you. But the bees can’t sting you because they’re not real. They’re just an . . . ’

  ‘. . . An illusion, I know,’ I finished.

  I took a deep breath and ran through the bees to the door at the other end of the hall. The genie could try all he liked, but nothing was going to stop me from finding Tyrone and Cooper. I threw open the door and before us was an ordinary hallway with white walls and hanging brass lights.

  ‘What next?’ I muttered to Humphrey. ‘Killer bears? Man-eating lions?’

  I’d taken three steps into the hall when the door behind us slammed shut and the lights went out. I tried opening the door, but it was firmly locked.

  I used the wall to feel my way down the hallway, trying not to think about what else the genie had in store for us. The dark hall reminded me of a ghost house at the fair I’d once gone to with Mum, but the silence of this hall was ten times scarier. At any moment I expected to hear a loud bang or scream.

  I was relieved when we came to the end of the hallway and I felt another door. I found the handle and pushed it open only to be greeted by the buzzing bees again.

  ‘That’s not fair! We’ve somehow gone backwards!’ I cried, kicking the door in frustration.

  ‘The genie wants us to give up,’ Humphrey said.

  I slid down the wall and sat on the floor. How were we supposed to find Tyrone and Cooper if the genie kept sending us around in circles? It was hopeless. Tears spilt down my cheeks and I sobbed into my hands. I felt Humphrey’s whiskers brush against my face.

  ‘Don’t cry, Jinny,’ he said, taking something from his satchel. In the dim light it appeared to be a small, flat stone.

  ‘Take this,’ Humphrey said, passing the stone to me. ‘It will help us see through the illusion. Throw it as far down the hallway as you can.’

  I took the stone and threw it into the dark hallway we’d just come through.

  At first nothing happened. I stared down the hall, trying to adjust my eyes. In the blackness I could make out a dot of light. It was small to begin with but appeared to be growing rapidly.

  As the light got closer I heard a whining, tearing sound and to my horror saw the floor at the end of the hall dropping away, vanishing into a cloud of white nothingness below.

  ‘What have you done?’ I shouted to Humphrey.

  ‘I’m not quite sure,’ he replied in a frightened voice. ‘This has never happened before.’

  The door behind us slammed shut. I tried the handle, but it was locked. I could feel the floor shaking as more of the floorboards were sucked into the mist and the whining sound was deafening now as the nothingness pulled at my clothes.

  Humphrey was clinging onto my shoulder, his claws digging painfully into the skin of my neck. All of a sudden, with a frightened squeal, he slipped and I turned just in time to see him disappear into the advancing white mist. I pushed against the door as hard as I could. This time the door gave way, but it was too late. As I fell forwards with a scream, the floor beneath me dropped away and I found myself plummeting into the white cloud of nothingness below.

  I had visions of falling through the air forever. I almost expected the nothingness to be bottomless, so you could imagine my surprise when I landed heavily onto the ground. The mist around me began to clear and I saw that I was lying on a white marble floor in a large open room. Above me hung a vast rainbow-glass ceiling.

  ‘Humphrey?’ I whispered. ‘Where are you?’

  ‘Looking for something?’ a loud voice boomed from the corner of the room.

  It was the genie. He was still wearing his vest and waistcoat, but now a silver turban sat on his head in place of the top hat. That wasn’t the only thing different about the genie though. He’d also grown to the height of a three-storey building! His head almost touched the rainbow-glass ceiling as he strode towards me. He had an evil sneer on his face and in his hand, dangling by the scruff of his neck, was Humphrey!

  ‘Put him down!’ I shouted.

  ‘As you wish,’ the genie said and he let Humphrey go.

  Humphrey fell with a frightened squeal.

  ‘No!’ I cried.

  The genie waved his hand and Humphrey stopped before he hit the floor. I grabbed Humphrey from mid-air and cuddled him into my chest while he whimpered.

  The genie threw his head back and laughed as he shrunk back to his normal size.

  ‘That wasn’t funny!’ I shouted at the genie.

  ‘It’s just my nature. Like it’s Tyrone’s nature to be greedy.’

  ‘He’s not greedy; you tricked him!’ I yelled, forgetting my fear. ‘You’re sneaky and cruel . . . and horrible!’

  ‘Surely you didn’t come all this way to call me nasty names?’ the genie taunted.

  ‘I’m here for Tyrone and Cooper. Where are they?’

  ‘I sent the furry brown rat to rot in my labyrinth,’ the genie said, ‘and as for your brother . . . I’m afraid you’re too late.’

  The genie snapped his fingers and Tyrone appeared in a glass room a few metres away from where we stood. He was almost unrecognisable. His face was pale and his skin stretched tightly over his cheekbones. He looked small and thin, almost as though he were wasting away. He was sitting on a couch, watching cartoons on the biggest television I’d ever seen. I noticed, with horror, that the room looked familiar.

  ‘Hey! That’s our living room!’ I cried. ‘Except for the TV.’

  As I watched, my mother came into the room and handed Tyrone a pizza and can of drink. She ruffled his hair and smiled, before leaving the room again.

  ‘Mum?’ I muttered, puzzled. ‘But she’s away. And she never lets us have soft drinks.’

  I was confused. Was Tyrone really back home with Mum or was this an illusion too? As I watched Tyrone eat the pizza, I saw someone else enter the room. It was me! I stared in shock as the other me plonked down on the couch next to Tyrone and took a slice of pizza. Tyrone pointed to something on the television and the other me laughed.

  ‘What kind of awful trick is this?’ I cried.

  ‘No trick,’ the genie replied. ‘I granted your brother’s wishes. Now he has everything he wants.’

  ‘But that’s not Mum! And that’s not me!’

  ‘No. But he hasn’t noticed,’ the genie said. He stuck out his bottom lip and pretended to be sad. ‘You mustn’t be that special to him after all.’

  I looked at Tyrone sharing pizza with the other me and felt a pang of jealousy.

  ‘I want to talk to my brother,’ I demanded.

  ‘Be my guest,’ the genie said, waving his hand towards Tyrone. The glass walls of the room disappeared.

  I ran to where Tyrone was sitting. The other Jinny glanced at me briefly before grabbing another slice of pizza. She didn’t seem surprised or bothered that there were two of us.

  I dropped the bag of containment onto the floor and gently placed Humphrey on the edge of the couch. Then I turned and squatted in front of Tyrone.

  ‘Out of the way!’ Tyrone yelled, trying to look over my head to the television.

  ‘Tyrone, it’s me . . . Jinny,’ I said.

  Tyrone gave me a cold, vacant glare.

  ‘Out of my way!’ he repeated. ‘It’s coming up to the good bit.’

  ‘No!’ I said, standing up in front of him, hands on hips. ‘I won’t get out of your way.’

  Tyrone held up the ring on his finger and stared at me threateningly.

  I stood my ground.

  ‘Genie, I wish she would get out of my way,’ he commanded.

 
‘As you wish, Master,’ the genie replied.

  I heard a hissing sound and saw more colour drain from Tyrone’s complexion. It was as though he was fading before my eyes.

  The genie flicked his hand in my direction and a strong gust of wind hit me, blowing me off my feet. I tumbled to the other side of the room and landed against the wall. I sucked in a deep breath as a sharp pain stung my shoulder. The genie gave a laugh as I scrambled back onto my feet, biting back tears.

  ‘Give up, you’re too late,’ the genie told me. ‘There’s no goodness left in your brother now. It’s all been replaced with greed and selfishness.’

  ‘I don’t believe you!’ I shouted.

  I ran back to Tyrone and grabbed him by the shoulders. I had to believe that somewhere deep inside there was still some goodness left. I couldn’t bear the thought of losing my brother.

  ‘Tyrone, listen to me. You have to stop making wishes. The genie is stealing your goodness with every wish you make,’ I said.

  Tyrone scowled. ‘I don’t have to do what you say!’ he yelled. ‘I can do anything I want.’

  ‘Please, Tyrone . . .’ I begged.

  ‘You’re just a stupid snot head!’ he shouted. ‘You want to take my genie so you can have all the wishes for yourself. I should wish you to the moon.’

  ‘I promise, I don’t want your genie,’ I said quickly before Tyrone could send me to the moon. ‘What I want is my brother back.’

  Tyrone’s face dropped and for a second he seemed to recognise me. There was still some goodness in him after all!

  ‘I miss you and I really want you to come home,’ I pleaded. ‘I even promise I’ll stop being so bossy and I’ll listen to you more.’

  Tyrone shook his head and his eyes glazed over once again.

  ‘Go away and leave me alone,’ he said.

  ‘But I can’t leave without you . . . you’re my brother.’