The Godmother Supreme sighed. “As your well-researched friend has recognized, Crisanta, this is in fact a genie bottle. It is the only genie vessel left that still retains its magical properties following the theft of Aladdin’s lamp from your school last fall. As you may be aware, genie lamps and bottles have many unique attributes. For example, they don’t just hold genies. Any magical creature within fifteen feet can be sucked inside when such a vessel is opened.”
Yeah, I’m familiar with the concept.
“However, if the magic vessel is linked to a specific genie, then it does not matter how far away the creature is. When the owner of the lamp or bottle rubs it, the corresponding genie will be sucked back to it instantly. Another rule to be aware of, in the past, all genies were outfitted with control cuffs as a means to rein in their powerful magic. These cuffs force genies to use their magic to serve their owners’ will. The genies can still use magic for their own means too, but must answer to their owners above all else.”
Now I got why Blue was so worked up. She knew more about fairytale history and magical items than anyone. She’d seen coming what I only now fully absorbed. Panic fluttered my diaphragm.
“Hold on,” I said. “Does that mean what I think it means?”
It was my last question as a free woman. Lenore waved her wand and her raspberry-colored magic enveloped the cuff bracelets, which lifted into the air, glowed briefly, and then zoomed toward me and clasped around my wrists. They sealed shut instantly.
“You’re not being sentenced to live in a bottle, Crisanta,” Lenore said. “You are not being sent to Alderon either. We have decided you can live and exist as you have been, and you can use your magic as you see fit. However, genie servitude gives us a contingency and a good use for you. If you ever use your magic for evil, I can stop you immediately by sucking you back into this bottle. And if our realm is ever in need of your services, I can summon you by the same means and have you take care of whatever magical job you are needed for.”
“Lenore . . .” I could barely get the words out; I was so in shock. “That’s making me a slave like Blue said. And to whom? To you?”
“I am the highest order in the realm, Crisanta. Who better is there?”
“And what happens if something happens to you?” Daniel said. He stood and marched over to my side like Blue. “What if you’re killed and someone takes that bottle from you?”
The curly blonde Godmother let out an amused huff. “Don’t be ridiculous, child. This is the Godmother Supreme. No one can best her.”
“No one is immortal and no one is invincible,” Daniel retorted. “If someone else gets a hold of that bottle they can make Knight do anything they want. And since she’s not a genie, regular genie rules wouldn’t apply. Her servitude would go beyond three wishes; it’d be indefinite.”
Lenore waved her wand and the genie bottle before us lifted off the table and shrank to the size of a pendant. A sparkly chain sprouted from the bottle like a vine and the new necklace flew across the room and secured itself around Lenore’s neck.
“The bottle is safe with me. As is the regulation of Crisanta’s powers,” Lenore stated resolutely, looking at my friends and me. “You all should be grateful. She can walk out of here freely today, and as long as she doesn’t use her magic to hurt the realm, she can go about her business as usual, only performing the occasional task I may ask of her.”
Horrified, I stared at the silvery cuffs around my wrists. They were such a snug fit it was like they were a second skin. My face sank with sadness then my eyes drifted to Lenore. “How long do I have to wear them?”
Lenore sat down in her chair coolly and gave me a condescending look. “Crisanta, I think you know the answer to that.”
Ambassador Steinglass banged a gavel I didn’t even know she had.
“This concludes sentencing. Crisanta Knight is free to go but will henceforth live under Genie Code Twelve—perpetual servitude to one homing beacon and one master: the Godmother Supreme, Lena Lenore.” She raised her gavel again.
BANG.
e were moved into an empty conference room in the Capitol Building after the trial so the higher-ups could discuss other closing matters while we composed ourselves. The guards stood watch outside the door. The room had a long wooden table, whiteboards on one wall, and decorative maps on another. I sat in a chair with my forehead planted on my arms upon the table.
“It could be worse,” Marie suggested softly, patting me on the back.
“I have magical shackles on my wrists for the rest of eternity, Marie,” I said, sitting up and staring at the cuffs.
“We could try to get them off?” Girtha suggested.
“Bad idea,” Blue said. “There’s a reason that genies can only be freed by their masters. Any attempts to take those off could seriously injure or even kill Crisa.”
“Well, Lenore is never going to willingly let her go,” Jason said. “So what’s our play?”
“Don’t you guys get it?” I said. “There is no play. This is over. We should just accept that this is my new life and get on with it.”
“But, Crisa,” Divya said sadly. “This should not have to be your life.”
“Maybe not. But it is.” I sighed. “Bad things happen. Sometimes we don’t deserve them, but they come at us anyway. The options are sulk or move on. I’d rather do the latter.”
“That’s very mature,” Ozma said, sounding surprised.
“This coming from a thirteen-year-old queen,” I replied.
“So you’re okay with this awful turn of events?” Divya asked.
“Of course not,” I replied. “I’m never going to be okay with this. But at least I’m not in Alderon and this whole trial business is behind us. Now we can focus our attention on bigger things. SJ, Merlin, please tell me you’re close to finishing Mauvrey’s memory potion.”
“The final brewing is being done now,” SJ said. “We left the last stage boiling before we came here. It will need some time to set, but in about a week of Book time it should be ready.”
“We’ll let you know the moment it’s done,” Merlin said. “For now, we should probably get back to Camelot. I asked Peter to watch the cauldron, but the kid gets distracted.”
“How is Peter?” I asked, turning to Arthur and glad to change the subject.
“He’s adjusting a bit,” the king replied. “He asked if he could shadow me one of these days so he could walk a mile in my shoes. Not literally, since he’ll probably fly for most of the day. But it’s a big gesture on his part. We also agreed that he’ll return to Neverland for a month and reconnect with his friends after that. Gwenivere and I will miss him, but it’s a wise idea.”
“That’s good to hear,” Dorothy commented. “I will feel much better returning to Oz knowing he has a plan for at least the foreseeable future.”
“I speak for everyone in the Emerald City when I say we can’t wait to have you back,” Ozma said. “Though I get it if you want to visit Neverland periodically to check on Peter.”
“Hold on. Everybody stop. This is ridiculous.” Daniel said. He turned to me ardently. “Knight, one of your most powerful enemies just made you her magical slave for the rest of your life. Are you really going to let that go this easily?”
“It’s what she wants, Daniel,” Chance interceded on my behalf, coming to stand behind me. “If she doesn’t feel the need to focus on it, why are you trying to force her to?”
“I’m not trying to force her to do anything. I just think playing it casual isn’t the best option.”
“Well, what would you have her do?” Chance retorted. “Get stuck feeling sorry for herself? That kind of attitude can eat a person alive.”
Kai held up her hands and moved between the boys. “Enough. Everyone here is sorry about what happened. But since it happened to Crisa, and not any of us, she should decide how we react. If she wants to move on, we move on. End of story.”
The room fell silent. For the first time in a while
I was genuinely glad to have Kai around. Lenore’s sentence was hard to accept, but I did not want to crumble or cry. Although the pain was deep, I knew neither action would make me feel better. I would process this change in my own time, and right now I needed to distance myself from the matter and not think about it unless I absolutely had to. People dealt with tragedy and regrettable acts of fate all the time and they lived on. I would do the same.
Lenore may have been cruel and cold, and she may hate me, but she was not a bad person. I didn’t believe she would ever make me do anything that wasn’t for the greater good of the realm. As long as I maintained control of my magic on my end, maybe I could live a relatively normal life. By our standards, anyway.
“Kai is right,” SJ said. “And in the spirit of that—changing the subject again—Merlin, I will gladly get us all back to Camelot shortly. If you could just give me a few minutes to take care of that errand I mentioned to you on our way here.”
“Wait, how did you guys get here anyway?” Girtha asked.
“Yeah.” My eyebrows went up. “I mean, I get that Merlin is great at knowing when and where to send people because of his visions, but a Portalscape Portal appearing right in front of the Capitol at the start of my trial? That seems too convenient.”
“You’re right,” Arthur said. “That is why it is fortunate that we have SJ. Merlin had visions, which let him know that the door to Book in the Portalscape would briefly let out in Century City today during your trial. But while a Portalscape Portal appeared in Oz this morning, Camelot did not have one scheduled.”
SJ nodded. She reached into her magic potions sack—designed to retrieve anything she knew the precise location of and that could fit through the sack’s mouth. In her hand, she presented a black orb that looked like one of her marble-sized portable potions. Only this orb was marginally bigger and seemed to have angry snaps of shimmering light inside it like a condensed lighting storm.
“I have been working on this idea for a while,” SJ explained, holding up the orb for everyone to see. “In fact, I have been tinkering with the formula since we came back from our Author quest last semester. It is not perfect yet, but I have created a type of portable potion that can temporarily shatter the dimensional boundaries between our worlds and create a Portalscape Portal.”
“I’m sorry, WHAT?” Blue said.
“There are many potions out there that can weaken different types of magical barriers,” SJ replied. “I have studied plenty of them over the years. Then last semester, Crisa and Daniel brought us that magic flower from the Cave of Mysteries that made us immune to In and Out Spells.”
“The petals strengthened magic and the leaves were designed to weaken it,” Daniel recalled. “We only used the leaves at the time.”
“I saved the petals,” SJ said. “I thought they could be used in the future to enhance my brews. I was right, of course. But it was not until recently that I had the time to research the idea. Julian has that magic scanning device outside of the Emerald City, and he lent me the technology to study wormholes. After Madame Alexanders was captured, before her memory was wiped I spoke with Lady Agnue and insisted the school guards extract the formula for the potion she used to make the magic hunters temporarily immune to our school’s In and Out Spell. I thought that could help as well. After some trial and error combining those resources, voilà! I am calling it the Realm Tearer. What do you think?”
“I’m gonna stick with my initial reaction,” Blue said, amazed. “I’m sorry, what?”
“This potion can tear a hole in any realm and lead to the Portalscape?” Jason clarified.
“It was not always my intention to go to the Portalscape,” SJ replied. “But during the testing phase, the small holes my potions were making in the realm inevitably led there. Since the Portalscape connects all of the Wonderlands, I believe it is the nexus of our magical dimension—a balanced place not governed by time, people, or traditional space. It is my best theory for why my attempts to tear holes in worlds always go there.”
“How stable is this potion?” Kai asked.
“A tear lasts for fifteen seconds,” Merlin responded.
“And the potion only works reliably when someone with Pure Magic ignites it with energy,” Arthur added. “If you fire it as is, or power it with normal magic, the wormhole produced is unstable. We tested that too. Several things we tossed through those wormholes were shredded or chopped in half.”
“Yikes,” Girtha said.
“Yikes is right,” Dorothy replied. “It’s a good thing we have Merlin and Crisa to keep us from getting chopped when we ignite these.”
“Pure Magic is a great charge for all kinds of magic tech in the Emerald City, so Julian suggested that we try it,” Ozma explained. “Before Glinda turned temporarily evil, she used hers to advance a lot of our city’s defenses.”
“I feel like we should give you a round of applause or something,” Girtha said to SJ in awe. “That’s literally a world-shattering invention.”
“One of many I plan to create,” SJ responded proudly. “Though for now, it takes a long time and a great deal of work to produce even one of these. This Realm Tearer is the last I have for the moment.”
“What other crazy potions have you been whipping up in Camelot?” Divya asked.
SJ smiled slyly. “That is proprietary information. At least until I have taken the proper legal steps, which brings us to this.” SJ reached into her satchel and pulled out the red folder I’d brought her.
“This contains my patent applications,” she explained to our friends. “I am going to file for utility and design patents for all my portable potions, my SRBs, and a few other innovations and prototypes I have come up with, like the first known cure to Questor Beast poison.”
“You finished it?” Blue said in disbelief.
“She works extremely fast,” Dorothy replied. “She gave it to me and Arthur already and our wounds completely vanished—no sign of them, not even the scars that were there after Crisa healed us.”
“That’s my mentee,” Merlin chimed in. “Efficient and effective. I’ll do follow up scans on Artie and Dorothy, but as of now it seems the poison has totally left their systems. This, like SJ’s other creations, is stellar and worthy of recognition.”
SJ nodded. “I shall definitely try to get the antidote mass-produced once my intellectual property is secured. The only invention I am not patenting right now is the Realm Tearer. There are some inventions that humankind is better off being unaware of. For now, the secret of this innovation remains with us.”
“SJ, I had no idea you were so . . . remarkable,” Marie said, stunned.
I didn’t blame her for looking so shocked. I knew SJ was brilliant, but even Blue and I—who knew her best—hadn’t seen this coming. Our best friend’s genius was profound and it only seemed to be growing by the day. I was simultaneously amazed, excited, and straight-up impressed.
SJ shrugged. “You would be surprised how much a girl can accomplish when people leave her to her own devices.” She carefully placed the Realm Tearer back in her potions sack. “So, who wants to walk with me to the patent office? Based on my inquiries, these days it is located two floors up.”
Suddenly a knock came at the door and a Century City guard opened it. “Crisanta Knight,” he said. “Will you come with us a moment please?”
“Now what?” Blue said. “You guys going to teach her to sing and dance so the whole genie slave persona is complete?”
“Princess Knight has a visitor who was not allowed at the trial per the Godmother Supreme’s instructions. However, the Godmother Supreme has decided to allow a ten-minute visitation now. It is a family member, after all.”
Family member?
“Maybe your parents came, or Pietro?” Divya suggested.
I shook my head. “No, there is a big war council meeting today in Midveil to discuss the commons rebellion. That’s why none of them could come.” I tilted my head toward the guard. “Who is it
?”
“I’m not supposed to say,” the guard replied. “Just come with me, please.”
I got up from my chair, curiosity overpowering my previous glumness, at least for now. “I’ll meet you guys back here in fifteen minutes,” I said to my friends.
Outside the room, two more guards joined us to escort me down the hall and up the stairs to the next floor. We arrived at Conference Room J and they opened the door. An older woman was standing inside, looking out the window. She turned, and it took a second for my brain to register who it was.
“Emma!”
I dashed around the conference room table and tackled my elderly godmother in a big embrace. Hugging her was the best; she was soft and just the right amount of thick.
I pulled away from my godmother and studied her with wonder. I couldn’t believe she was here and I was looking at her laugh-line-covered, rosy-cheeked face. Although her blue eyes were small and behind glasses, they glimmered when she looked at me.
“Crisanta, I am so happy to see you!”
“What are you doing here?”
“Supporting you, you silly squash. Despite the banishment clause that prevents me from making contact with people from my old life, and the enchantments at my home that notify the Godmother Agency if I am gone too long, I made it here without being detained. The guards did, of course, apprehend me when I approached the Capitol Building, but luckily Susannah stood up for me. If it weren’t for her, Lenore and her lackeys would have sent me home on the spot. They came to an agreement that I could visit with you once the trial was over.”
I hugged her again. “It means the world to me that you came.”
“Not that you needed my support, it seems,” Emma commented. “I am told you had quite an assembly of friends with you. I am happily surprised.”
I tilted my head. “Why’s that?”
“Well, dear, don’t take this the wrong way, but when you were little you weren’t very adept at playing well with others.” My mouth opened to respond, but she held up a hand to forestall me. “That is not a bad thing, Crisanta. Sometimes it can just be a sign of someone who sees things differently than others. But showing up at my home last fall with four companions, and now having such a strong support group—it means you’ve grown up and learned how to get along with different types of people. That is a good sign of a strong leader. I am so proud.”
Into the Gray Page 23