“Bring me Aladdin,” the sultan commands.
Guards appear with Aladdin, who looks distraught. But when he sees the palace back where it was, his expression turns relieved.
The sultan calls for silence. A hush falls over the crowd. The sultan holds up one of the apples.
“Aladdin, you were not able to bring me the jewels that I requested.”
Aladdin hangs his head. “I’m sorry, Sultan. I tried. I know I failed to meet your requests, but I want to say that I love your daughter. And I will make it my mission in life to be a kind, loyal, and supportive husband.”
The sultan turns to the vizier. “What do you think?”
I hold my breath. Are we doomed?
Slowly, the vizier nods. “I believe him. He will make a good husband.”
“I think so, too,” the sultan says. “Aladdin, I grant you permission to marry my daughter. Welcome to the family!”
I can’t believe it!
Aladdin is beaming. The princess is smiling. Everyone is cheering and clapping.
“Fruit for everyone!” the sultan exclaims.
“Um, Abby?” Jonah says. “I’m really happy for them, but we have one last problem.”
We do? “What?” I ask.
“We’re out of wishes for today. How are we going to get home?”
That IS a problem. But — if we can wait till midnight to leave, we’ll get three new wishes when the clock strikes twelve! CAN we wait till then?
Okay, let me think. When it’s midnight here, it’ll be … six forty-five A.M. at home. We’ll be pushing it, but we can make it! I decide not to think about the fact that my parents’ alarm goes off at six forty-five. They could catch us rushing upstairs to our rooms. But I guess we have to try.
We also have to try and uncurse Maryrose before we go.
“Karimah?” I ask. “Now that you’re so good at genie-ing, do you think you can free our fairy Maryrose? Not now, but as soon as the clock strikes midnight? If we wish it?”
Karimah shakes her head. “I’m really sorry. But my magic isn’t big enough for that. Maybe in a hundred years, I’ll have the power of the genie of the lamp. But not yet.”
Crumbs. Double crumbs. “Well, at midnight we’re going to wish ourselves home. Is that okay?”
Karimah nods. “Yes. Go back to the cave where we first met. See you just before midnight!”
I slide the ring back onto my finger.
Poof. She’s gone.
* * *
We don’t have that much time, but Jonah, Prince, and I take the magic carpet back through the desert to the mouth of the cave. Aladdin and Princess Badr-al-Badur come along to see us off. We get there exactly at eleven forty-five P.M.
“Do we have to go through all the rooms again?” Jonah asks.
I really hope not. We only have fifteen minutes.
I slide the ring off and rub it. Out pops Karimah.
She smiles. “I’ll miss you guys,” she says. “Your portal home is through the very first room in the caves — the room of mirrors. On my count of three, you’ll see a swirl of purple. Just walk right into one of the thousands of yous and you’ll be home.”
“Do you really have to go?” Aladdin asks.
“Yes, please stay as a guest of our kingdom,” the princess says.
I glance at my watch. “I wish we could, but we have to go or we’ll be in big trouble,” I say. We have to get back home. And back to school. And to the final day of the read-a-thon. Sigh. I’ll have to watch Penny win. Penny with her hundred dollars’ worth of pennies. Groan.
I turn to Aladdin. “Well, Aladdin, I made you a promise and I don’t break promises, either. So the ring is yours.” I hand it to him.
He holds it in his palm. Karimah bows to him.
“I would like to make a wish,” Aladdin says. “For the street kids, the ones who aren’t as lucky as I am, to have a palace of their own.”
“I’ll do my best,” Karimah says. “Aladdin wishes for a palace for the street kids!” Then she wiggles her fingers and a little scene bubble appears in a sparkly haze. We can see the road where the kids play and sleep. But a castle has appeared with domed towers of various heights. Where there was dirt is now a grassy meadow. Sleeping boys and girls wake up and cheer and race inside.
“I did it! I created something new!” Karimah cries, then wiggles her fingers, and the image bubble disappears.
The princess smiles. “I’m so happy for them. And us,” she adds, smiling at her husband-to-be.
“Me too,” Aladdin says. “The princess and I don’t need anything else. We have each other and that is enough.” He hands the ring back to me. “Thank you for inspiring me to reach for the stars. The princess is the brightest star I have ever known.”
“Brighter than the laser stars?” I ask with a wink.
Aladdin laughs. “Much, much brighter.”
“And I don’t burn elbows!” the princess says.
Jonah cheers. “We get to take home the ring!” he says. “We’ll have our own genie in Smithville!”
“Jonah, you know we can’t do that.”
Oh! Wait! I should wish for a spellbook! Something that will help us set Maryrose free!
“I have one more wish,” I say. “It’s that —”
But then I stop. Because if I only have one more wish, I know what I have to wish for. I smile at Karimah. “I wish to free Karimah from the ring!”
Karimah’s eyes widen. Suddenly, there’s a burst of purple haze and the strings tethering her to the ring disappear.
Karimah gasps and dances from side to side, front to back. “I’m free! I’m really free! Thank you so much!” she says to us.
“Do you still have magic powers?” Jonah asks.
“Yes!” Karimah says. “I have magic but no master. I make my own decisions. And all I want is to stay right here and help all those kids. Did I mention I love to cook? I can wish up the ingredients and make feasts every night!”
“Awww,” I say. “That’s really nice.”
Jonah bites his lip. He seems to be thinking about something. He walks over to Aladdin. “I was going to ask Abby if we could bring this home, but I want you to have it after all.” He takes the rolled-up magic carpet from under his arm and hands it to Aladdin.
Aladdin smiles. “Thank you, Jonah. The princess and I will have many adventures on it.”
“Oh!” Karimah says. “It’s one minute to midnight. You and Jonah and Prince had better hurry to the room of mirrors. One, two —”
“Bye!” Jonah and I say to Aladdin, the princess, and Karimah as I scoop up Prince in my arms and we rush down the stone steps into the room of mirrors. And then on Karimah’s count of three, there’s a swirl of purple and we step through together.
We’re going home.
Jonah and I step forward right onto the floor in our basement. Prince leaps from my arms.
It’s six forty-five A.M.
Beep. Beep. Beep.
Oh, no! Our parents’ alarm clock just went off.
But I have to talk to Maryrose. I look at the mirror. All I see is my reflection. “Maryrose? Are you there? Hello?”
The mirror ripples. A face appears in the glass. Maryrose’s long wavy hair covers the carvings of fairies on the stone frame of the mirror.
“Maryrose! I’m so sorry we didn’t free you,” I say.
Are those tears in Maryrose’s eyes? I step closer. Her eyes are definitely misty.
“Thank you both for trying to help me,” she says. “I am very touched. But even the genie of the lamp wouldn’t have been powerful enough to free me. It means a great deal to me that you tried. Thank you.” The mirror ripples again and she’s gone.
Maryrose was teary because we tried to help her. Wow. One day, I hope we actually CAN help her.
“Abby, we have to go!” Jonah says.
We rush upstairs, turn, and then dart up the next flight of stairs. We tiptoe past my parents’ bedroom. I don’t hear a thing.
&
nbsp; “I think they hit the snooze button,” I say.
As Jonah opens his bedroom door, I tap his arm. “Hey, Jonah.”
He turns and yawns. “Yeah?”
“That was really nice of you to give up the flying carpet to Aladdin. I thought you might try to sneak it home.”
He shrugs. “It would have been really cool to have it. But you freed Karimah from the ring, so …”
I smile and nod. He’s a cutie.
“Prince, go lie down in your bed,” Jonah says.
Prince wags his furry tail and pads over to his dog bed in the corner of Jonah’s room. Then he circles around three times and plops down. In seconds, he’s snoring.
“You did a great job training him, Jonah. Mom and Dad are going to be really happy.”
He smiles. “Thanks, Abby. See you in a few.”
He goes into his room and I go into mine. I quickly change out of the pretty outfit Aladdin’s mom made for me and put on my pajamas.
I look at my hand and realize I’m wearing the silver ring. It doesn’t have a genie inside it, but it’s still pretty. I slip it off along with my watch and put both away in my jewelry box. Then I look at the drawings of fairy tale characters. Aladdin and Princess Badr-al-Badur are on the flying carpet, hovering near the kids’ palace. Aladdin and the princess are smiling, and if I look closely in a window of the palace, I can just make out Karimah in the kitchen with a group of kids around her. They’re all cooking something.
Awesome. I close the jewelry box and notice the book I left unread lying on my dresser.
I have a little time. I’m going to finish this book, even if I have no chance of winning the read-a-thon. Maybe trying is what matters — even if the end result isn’t what you want. Like a squirrel instead of a bag of jewels. But sometimes that can be pretty great, too.
By the time my mom calls me down for breakfast, I’ve finished the tenth book. I’m not going to win the read-a-thon, but it was worth it — the book was pretty great!
When I get downstairs, I see Prince outside in the backyard with my mom.
“Kids?” my mom calls through the open sliding glass door to the kitchen. “What on earth did you give Prince to eat that was sparkly?”
Ruff! we hear Prince bark.
Jonah and I race over to the door. Our mom is holding a doggie poo bag and making a funny face at it.
Ruff! Prince barks again.
Jonah and I cover our mouths to keep from laughing.
I’ll bet if Prince had a chance to ask Karimah for a wish, he’d request more jewel-fruit.
* * *
“I won! I won! Go, me!” Penny says after the principal made the read-a-thon winner announcement over the loudspeaker.
The good news was: The principal surprised everyone by deciding to choose two winners. The person who raised the most money, Penny, and the person who read the most books. That was a girl named Priya, who’s in another class. I was glad about that. Because Penny winning just doesn’t seem fair.
Not that life is always fair.
Maryrose is cursed to live in a mirror. That’s definitely not fair.
“What books are you going to suggest to the librarian?” Robin asks Penny as we line up to head out.
“Well, I’m going to ask for some new books about horses,” Penny says. “But if you and Frankie and Abby have any books you want me to ask for, I can do that, too.”
My mouth drops open. Penny being nice? She’s like the vizier — full of surprises.
Am I actually smiling at Penny? I am. I am smiling at Penny.
“I know what I want,” Frankie says, pushing her red glasses up on her nose. “One book of ghost stories. And one about soccer.”
“Two books on science for me,” Robin says, putting an arm around Penny.
Penny is being so nice that I don’t even mind that Robin and Penny have their hair in matching high ponytails again. I don’t mind TOO much.
“Do you know what books you want me to ask for, Abby?” Penny asks me.
Sure do. “One book of fairy tales. And one book on spells.”
Whaddaya know? I didn’t even win the read-a-thon and the two books I want most will still be ordered.
And maybe, just maybe, I can find a way to uncurse Maryrose.
Don’t miss Abby and Jonah’s next adventure, where they fall into the tale of Hansel and Gretel!
Look for:
Whatever After #10: SUGAR AND SPICE
Thanks to all! Especially:
Everyone at Scholastic: Aimee Friedman, Jennifer Abbots, Abby McAden, Olivia Valcarce, David Levithan, Tracy van Straaten, Bess Braswell, Caitlin Friedman, Antonio Gonzalez, Lizette Serrano, Emily Heddleson, Emily Rader, Elizabeth Krych, Rachael Hicks, Elizabeth Parisi, Sue Flynn, and Robin Bailey Hoffman.
Amazing agents: Laura Dail and Tamar Rydzinski.
Helpful genies: Deb Shapiro, Lauren Walters.
Second readers: Joy Simpkins, Chloe Swidler, Munawar Abbas, and Emellia Zamani.
Kelly McCloskey, for the title suggestion!
And to all my friends, family, supporters, and writing buddies:
Targia Alphonse, Tara Altebrando, Bonnie Altro, Elissa Ambrose, Robert Ambrose, Jennifer Barnes, Emily Bender, the Bilermans, Jess Braun, Jeremy Cammy, Avery Carmichael, Ally Carter, the Dalven-Swidlers, the Finkelstein-Mitchells, Alan Gratz, the Greens, Adele Griffin, Katie Hartman, Anne Heltzel, Farrin Jacobs, Emily Jenkins, Maureen Johnson, Lauren Kisilevsky, Leslie Margolis, Maggie Marr, the Mittlemans, Aviva Mlynowski, Larry Mlynowski, Lauren Myracle, Jess Rothenberg, Melissa Senate, Courtney Sheinmel, Jennifer E. Smith, the Steins, Jill Swerdloff, the Swidlers, Robin Wasserman, Louisa Weiss, the Wolfs, Maryrose Wood, Sara Zarr, and the downtown bus families even though we’re no longer on the downtown bus.
Special shout-out to Coco, Belly, and Todd: I love you.
And of course, thank you, Whatever After readers. I hope all your wishes come true.
Sarah Mlynowski is the author of the Magic in Manhattan series, Gimme a Call, and a bunch of other books for tweens and teens, including the Upside-Down Magic series, which she is cowriting with Lauren Myracle and Emily Jenkins. Originally from Montreal, Sarah now lives in the kingdom of Manhattan with her very own prince charming and their fairy tale–loving daughters. Visit Sarah online at www.sarahm.com and find her on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter at @sarahmlynowski.
#1: Fairest of All
#2: If the Shoe Fits
#3: Sink or Swim
#4: Dream On
#5: Bad Hair Day
#6: Cold as Ice
#7: Beauty Queen
#8: Once Upon a Frog
#9: Genie in a Bottle
#10: Sugar and Spice
Copyright © 2016 by Sarah Mlynowski
All rights reserved. Published by Scholastic Press, an imprint of Scholastic Inc., Publishers since 1920. SCHOLASTIC, SCHOLASTIC PRESS, and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.
The publisher does not have any control over and does not assume any responsibility for author or third-party websites or their content.
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available
First edition, May 2016
Author photo by Heather Waraksa
Cover design by Elizabeth B. Parisi
Cover illustration © 2016 by Helen Huang
e-ISBN 978-0-545-85104-6
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