You’re a genie, Faye had said. It’s who you are. It was the same thing Goldie had always told her. As much as Eden wanted to change that, maybe the truth was that she couldn’t.
Sighing, she glanced at her genie bracelet. And suddenly, she remembered who she was—and why it mattered.
Eden looked at her friends. Sasha was weeping; Tyler stood still as stone, frowning at the top of the Vertical Plunge.
The Loyals and the Electric were busy fighting. For the moment, they’d forgotten all about Eden.
“Tyler,” she murmured, careful not to attract their attention, “you have to make your last two wishes.”
“No,” he said. “We can’t go down without a fight.”
“We don’t want you to leave,” Sasha said through tears.
“They will kill him. Do you understand that? And it won’t stop, even then. Neither side will stop until they get what they want.” She blinked back her own tears. “I’m a genie. I may not like it, but it’s who I am.” She took a breath. “You have to wish to save your dad. And I have to go back where I belong.”
Sasha grabbed her and hugged her tightly. A hot tear dropped onto Eden’s shoulder.
When they parted, she faced Tyler. It was hard to look him in the eye. A day earlier, here in this park, she’d hoped against hope that his wish might change her destiny. How differently things had turned out.
He raised a hand and gently tugged a lock of her hair, still damp from the pool. “I really, really wanted you to stay,” he said. He looked away, and his jaw muscle tensed—just like it had when she’d denied his second wish.
“Will we ever see you again?” Sasha asked.
Eden focused on this moment, mentally storing it to treasure when she was alone again. She wanted to remember them like this. The freckles sprinkled across their faces, the earnest look in their eyes. Her friends.
“You never know, do you?” she said.
“Okay. I’m ready to make my second wish.” Tyler leaned in and whispered so only she could hear. “I wish you could see how special you are.”
The instant the sentence ended, the park seemed to freeze. The wisher and the lamp were in accord. He’d triggered the magic that made wishes come true. She couldn’t have denied it if she’d wanted to.
The snap of her fingers was a reflex—as inevitable as breathing.
At first there was a sense of floating straight off the ground. The joy inside her was like helium in a balloon. All the burdens, worries, and fears she’d accumulated on Earth lifted off her shoulders. Her brain rang with soaring revelation: she was special.
Love was coursing like a current through her veins. Love for everything: not just easy-to-love things, like sunshine and dogs and carrot cake, but for the whole wide world and all the mortals who lived there. Not only Sasha and Tyler and Mr. Rockwell, but also Skye and Claire, the man with the ’hawk, Darryl Dolan, Mr. Willis.
She was overwhelmed, too, by love for the life she’d lived. The hours of lessons, the big marble globe, her beautiful bedroom, the comfort she’d grown up with in the lamp her masters called paradise. And, finally, for her family. Because for the first time she saw clearly that they were her family. It didn’t matter that Goldie hadn’t given birth to her or that she looked nothing like Xavier. They loved her the way Tyler and Sasha loved Mr. Rockwell. The way they’d once loved their mom.
As her euphoria swelled, Eden forgot all about the genies and loosened her grip on the backpack. She was jolted abruptly back to reality when Violet yanked it from her hands.
Once the lamp was up for grabs, all hell broke loose. The genies piled on Violet like starving mortals desperate for the world’s last piece of food.
“You’d better hurry,” Eden said. In spite of the madness, she felt quite calm.
“I hope you’re not thinking of doing something stupid,” Sylvana screeched as she emerged from the pileup. For the first time, she was in a state of disarray. One strap of her tank top had fallen, random chunks of hair were pulled loose from her ponytail, and only one-half of her sunglasses sat precariously on her head. She moved to the lever at the bottom of the Vertical Plunge. “His life is in my hands!”
“That’s about to change,” Sasha growled. “Tyler, go.”
Tyler closed his eyes, and for a moment all was still.
“I wish for my family to be safe—and stronger than ever before.”
At the very same moment Sylvana pulled the lever, Eden raised her hand and snapped.
But it was too late for Sylvana to hurt them anymore. Eden’s bracelet glowed bright as Tyler’s wish was instantly granted.
As the alumni continued to struggle, the lamp vanished from their reach—and so did the genie who lived inside.
Eden reentered through the study, as always. But this time, the masters of the lamp weren’t waiting sternly at their desks. They practically threw themselves on her.
“Thank God!” Xavier said.
“You’re home!” Goldie’s voice rang out.
All at once, they were crying, all three. Goldie sobbed passionately, and even Xavier’s eyes were wet with tears.
When they finally let go, she got a good look at them. They wore their anguish like funeral garb. In addition to his mustache, Xavier was sporting at least a day’s growth of facial hair. His teary eyes were puffy with exhaustion. Goldie’s chest heaved and her cheeks glowed pink with emotion. They were, both of them, a mess.
Over me? Eden thought in wonder. But then, she knew the answer. Yes, over her. After all, they were her family.
“Are you all right?” Xavier sputtered. He ran his hands over her hair and squeezed her shoulders, as if making sure all of her was there.
“What happened?” Goldie begged. “Sweet girl, were you hurt out there?”
Something crumpled in Eden’s chest, and her tears flowed afresh.
“We couldn’t see,” said Xavier frantically. “At the end, it was so hard to tell what happened.”
Eden smiled through the pain.
“I’m okay,” she said. “Everything’s going to be okay.”
For the next few hours, they talked as much as they could talk and then some. Sitting around the dining room table, they devoured a freshly baked carrot cake as Eden told them everything.
She started with her rescue from the ocean, then moved on to school, the hot air balloon, and the journey into Sylvana’s grantings. Goldie and Xavier listened absorbedly, desiring endless details as she filled in the gaps between the parts they’d seen and heard through the telescope. All of it spilled out, even the parts she knew would get her in trouble.
As she spoke, Xavier watched her with a sad affection she’d never seen in him before. It struck her that in the past few days, he’d changed too.
When she reached the end of her story—the showdown at the amusement park, and Tyler’s final two wishes—her eyes filled with tears again.
“I’m grateful it happened,” she said. “I’d wanted to live in the world for so long. But I’m sorry—so sorry—because I put you in danger. I know I must have hurt you. I understand now that you’ve loved me all along. My whole life, you’ve given me everything I need.”
“Oh, darling!” Goldie covered her mouth with a hand.
The flames of the candles on the table danced in the dark.
There was a tilting, shifting moment before Xavier cleared his throat. “You did disobey me.”
“I know,” Eden said quietly.
“Repeatedly, when you consider the messages.”
She hung her head. “I know. And I deserve whatever punishment you give me.”
He winced. “We’ll discuss that later. For now, we’re glad you’re home.”
Eden smiled weakly. “Me too,” she said in a husky half-voice. Drawing a shaky breath, she pushed her empty plate away. “Would it be okay for me to go to bed now?”
With all her heart, Eden wanted to want to be exactly where she was: in her bedroom in the lamp, with the family she’d dis
covered she loved so much, patiently awaiting her next opportunity to light up a mortal’s life with a granting.
She wanted to want to. But that didn’t mean she wanted to.
Propped on the pillows on her canopy bed, she gazed around the genie’s chambers. The room that had so recently contained her whole life was now a museum of her childhood. The frozen chandelier. The spacious closet. Inside it, beneath the sumptuous clothes, the rose lipstick marks numbering her outings.
Even the scent of the air was familiar: that perfume of innocence, ignorance, and comfort.
In a way, it was nice to be home. And yet, spending thousands of nights to come here seemed unthinkable. How could she readjust to not having mortals her age to talk to? To candlelight, recycled air, and sitting in one classroom all day long?
It wasn’t that she was ungrateful. Tyler’s wish truly had made her realize how special it was to be a genie—to be Eden.
But she couldn’t deny that Earth had changed her too. She’d seen, felt, and learned things she couldn’t in the lamp. Frankly, she supposed, she’d grown up.
Earth had exposed her to all the things Xavier and Goldie had tried to protect her from. She understood now why Xavier had warned her about cars and bodies of water. She’d seen how a mortal’s death could break the hearts of those still living. She’d experienced the gut-wrenching feeling that came from being told you don’t belong.
She’d learned about the dark, angry mission of Electra, and witnessed Sylvana’s wicked ways.
They’d wanted to keep her safe and innocent. And in the lamp’s sheltered confines, she was.
And yet, when she remembered the smell of the ocean, the thrill of standing in a basket as it rose into the air, the satisfaction of shared laughter—she was brutally, violently heartsick.
She went to the closet to change into a nightgown. She was still wearing Sasha’s shorts and tank top. But as she slipped the shorts over her hips, something sharp poked through the fabric. She reached in the pocket and pulled out the photograph from the roller coaster. There she was again, shiny and sure, beaming with the joy of exploring the world.
Eden on Earth. The girl she could never be. Her heart swelled with pain.
“Eden?” Goldie said as she knocked on the door. Eden rebuttoned her shorts and went to it.
Goldie brimmed with nervous energy like a boiling teakettle. “Xavier and I want to speak with you. Come to the study, dear.”
She bustled down the spiral stairs, and Eden followed closely behind. What now? Had Xavier settled on the terms of her punishment? Of course it was only a matter of time.
As they entered, Eden thought about the night when she’d made her escape. She’d slipped the drawers from their places to find the forbidden ladder that would lead her to freedom—or at least, where she’d thought she’d find freedom. Remembering, she was shocked by her own boldness.
Somehow, the study seemed even larger and more impressive post-Earth. It was like a throne room, replete with a certain majesty. Xavier was standing in front of the telescope. Goldie joined him there, and they stood hand in hand, strong as a fortress, united and equal.
“What’s going on?” Eden asked apprehensively.
They looked at one another, and Goldie nodded. Xavier spoke with gravity. “Eden,” he said, “your time in the lamp is over.”
She nearly choked. She’d dreamed about leaving the lamp for as long as she could remember, but hearing his words made her indignant.
“What do you mean?” she cried.
Xavier swallowed. Eden saw Goldie squeeze his hand.
“That can’t be! The rules say a genie has to live in the lamp until she’s granted nine hundred and ninety-nine wishes!”
“Sometimes,” Xavier said, “rules change.”
Her heart was racing. “I don’t understand.”
Goldie met her eyes. “You’re still going to be a genie, dear. You’ve got a lot of wishes to go.”
“And the lamp will still circulate Earth, just like it always has,” Xavier said. “But you’ll no longer be bound to it—at least, not in the same way.” He raised his eyebrows. “Do you understand? You’re going to live out there.”
Over the past few days Eden had seen and heard a few bombshells—but this one trumped them all.
She’d thought things could only be different if she rebelled against the system. She’d never dared to dream that she might have the power to change it.
“Your duties as a genie haven’t changed,” Xavier went on. “When a wisher rubs the lamp, you’ll still be summoned. You’ll just be on Earth between grantings, instead of here, inside the lamp.”
“But—where will I stay?” Eden gasped.
“You’ll meet your new guardian when you arrive,” Xavier said. “Goldie and I are still your masters, but she’ll look after you while you’re on Earth.”
“She’s lovely,” Goldie said. Eden could see she was trying her very best not to cry.
“Will I still see you?”
“One of us will come to Earth for your post-granting assessments,” said Xavier. “And of course, we’ll visit you. But one at a time.”
“But the lamp,” Eden protested. “It won’t allow me to live out there—will it?”
“Goldie and I designed the lamp,” Xavier said. “Even for us, some of its rules are unchangeable. But in this case”—he shrugged—“change has to happen.”
“What about the bracelet’s power? Won’t it keep the lamp wherever I am?”
Goldie and Xavier exchanged a glance.
“Considering the circumstances,” he said, “it seems that in order to best protect both you and the lamp, the bracelet’s powers must be altered. Your genie bracelet will still be active, but your connection to the lamp will cease to exist the way you know it.”
She frowned. “You’re not kicking me out, are you?”
Goldie laughed through her tears. “Of course not! Do you have any idea how much we love you?”
“That’s how we know this is right.” There was pain in Xavier’s eyes, but Eden could see that he finally understood her.
“I always said you weren’t meant for that world,” he said. “I was wrong. You weren’t meant for ours.”
And it was true. She’d known all along—since her earliest lessons about waterfalls, jungles, and trains. Since the granting in France when she’d first felt the sun. Every time she’d added three more lipstick ticks to the tally in her closet.
Still, fear took its best aim at her. Images from her journey into Sylvana’s grantings grasped at her mind. The veil of darkness the alumni had tried to pull over her threatened to obscure her vision.
But then there was a still, small voice in her ear. It said:
There is pain on Earth. But it’s worth it anyway.
And she knew she could never look back.
“Okay then.” Eden lifted her chin. “I’m ready.”
She hugged Goldie first, taking care to store the memory of her fragrance deep in her brain. “I’ll see you soon, my dear,” said Goldie tenderly.
“Goldie, you hate Earth,” Eden said with dismay. “You haven’t been there for thousands of years!”
Goldie wiped away the tears that spilled onto her full pink cheeks. “I’d say you’re well worth a trip.”
Next was Xavier. He wrapped his arms around Eden, then pulled back and gripped her shoulders.
“You’re still a genie,” he said intently. “Graceful. Brilliant. And terribly beautiful. Don’t let the world tell you anything different.”
She blinked back tears. Looking straight into his eyes, she nodded. “I think I finally know what you mean.”
She took a deep breath. Even though she knew what she was doing was right, she had no idea what might come next.
But wasn’t that part of the adventure?
So she held out her hand and snapped her fingers. And just like that, she was gone.
Gone to love, disappointment, and elation. To trees and windows
, birds and sand. To photos and friends and hot air balloons. To that dizzy sweet moment at the top of the roller coaster, just before the drop—
Yes, Eden was gone.
And then—she arrived.
M. TARA CROWL grew up in Murfreesboro, Tennessee. She studied Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California, then received an MA in Creative Writing at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia. She lives in New York City.
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