But I have to, she told herself, or I’m never going to get off the ground. And that would mean she’d never graduate to Stage Two tweenie genie training. It meant other things, too. She’d have to give up her lovely genie bottle. She’d never get another chance to fly on a magic carpet. And she’d probably never see Rose or Hazel or Jake again. Once she thought of it like that, her decision didn’t seem so hard to make after all.
‘Lexie,’ Poppy said. ‘I have something to tell you.’ Then she took a deep breath and closed her eyes. It would be much easier to tell Lexie what had happened if she couldn’t see her!
She began to talk. She explained all about how Astrid had found her bottle and about how she got stuck in the normie world, unable to get her bottle back. And she explained all about the wishes, and how they had halfworked, even before she had her wish routine worked out. The whole room was silent as she spoke. Then, when she’d finally finished, Poppy opened her eyes.
What she saw surprised her. Or, more precisely, she was surprised by what she didn’t see. Where was everyone? For that matter, where was the floor? Poppy looked down. The ground was metres below her, and all the guests were down there, staring up at her. Then Poppy felt something tickling the top of her head. It was the chandelier!
‘How did I get up here?’ asked Poppy, perplexed.
‘You levitated, of course!’ called Lexie. ‘But you’d better come back down now.’
‘OK, I’ll try,’ said Poppy. She tried to think of some heavy things, and the first thing that popped into her head was an elephant sitting on a bus. It was a strange thing to think of, but it worked and Poppy started sinking.
As Poppy’s feet touched the floor, the room erupted into cheers. She had done her wish routine correctly. She’d even levitated! And the written exam had felt pretty easy.
Is it possible that I’ve actually passed? Poppy wondered excitedly.
The crowd clearly thought she had! Poppy’s eyes turned hopefully to the Year Book. But her name wasn’t there.
‘Oh,’ she said, a lump rising in her throat. ‘I failed.’
‘What makes you think that?’ asked Lexie softly.
‘Because my name isn’t in the Year Book,’ Poppy replied miserably.
Lexie smiled at her. ‘You are so determined to believe you are ordinary, aren’t you, Poppy?’ she said. ‘Your name does appear in the Year Book. Just not in this part.’
Lexie opened the book to another page. At the top of the page was the heading, Golden Genies.
‘With every group of tweenies,’ Lexie explained, ‘there is usually one that shows such promise that they are considered Golden. And you, Poppy, are one of them.’
Sure enough, Poppy’s name was there, right at the bottom of the page, written in sparkling gold letters.
‘But that’s not possible!’ said Poppy, shaking her head. ‘I can’t be a Golden genie. I made way too many mistakes. It took me much longer than the others to get my wish routine right. And I kept opening my genie jotter without using the key, remember?’
Lexie and the King and Queen burst out laughing. Poppy stared at them. Why wasn’t she in trouble?
‘We’re still disappointed that you broke the rules. But we’re laughing because the reasons you are giving us are the exact same ones we think prove that you are a good genie,’ explained Lexie. ‘Possibly a great one, if trained properly. The signs were there right from the start. Remember how easily you got into your genie bottle the first time? Most tweenies really struggle with that. And as for opening the genie jotter without a key – well, usually only Stage Three tweenies are powerful enough to do that. And let’s not forget that your wishes half-worked, even though your wish routine wasn’t complete.’
Poppy could hardly believe her ears.
‘But it was when I saw you fly that magic carpet around the Emerald Bazaar that I really knew you were extra special,’ Lexie continued. ‘I’ve never seen a Stage One tweenie get a carpet off the ground, let alone fly it.’
‘You saw me flying the carpet?’ said Poppy nervously.
Lexie laughed at her anxious expression. ‘Oh, yes,’ she said. ‘You were flying one of my carpets, after all. I always make sure that there are a couple of palace carpets patrolling the bazaar when I take tweenies there. You guys have a tendency to wander off, despite my warnings.’
Poppy’s face went hot. It was embarrassing to think that Lexie knew exactly what she’d been up to that day in the Emerald Bazaar. The magic carpet whooshed over, and pushed a drink towards her with one of its corners.
‘I think that carpet has taking a liking to you,’ smiled Lexie.
Poppy gave it a pat. ‘I like it too,’ she said.
‘Consider it yours, then,’ said Lexie. ‘Golden Genies always receive a prize. I will have it sent to your normie home tomorrow. Congratulations, Poppy. You should be proud of yourself.’
There were so many things that Poppy wanted to say right then. But all she could manage was, ‘Thank you.’
She’d passed. And she’d passed really well. It was a wonderful feeling.
When Poppy joined the other tweenies, Rose and Hazel hugged her so tightly she could hardly breathe. But Jake stood back. For a horrible moment Poppy wondered if he might be a bit jealous. But then his face broke into its usual, cheeky smile.
‘You might be a Golden Genie to everyone else,’ he grinned, ‘but to me you’ll always be Teeny Weeny. So don’t go getting a big head, OK?’
Poppy rolled her eyes. ‘Somehow I don’t think that’ll be possible with you as a friend, pineapple-head!’ she laughed.
Wednesday 20th October, 4pm.
Remember way back in chapter one when we talked about people who stand out? Those kinds of people who have a certain something special about them? Go back and re-read it if you like.
Well, it’s not like Poppy turned into one of those people over night. After all, a genie – especially a tweenie genie – is meant to blend in. But at the same time, a few people did notice a change in Poppy on Wednesday. Ms Kelly did. She couldn’t place what it was about Poppy that had changed, so she put it down to growing up and becoming more responsible, because these are the kinds of things adults always think. And she decided to give Poppy more work to do, which is what adults also always think is the best thing in these circumstances.
A few kids noticed something different about Poppy, too. She suddenly had a certain something that made them turn and stare when she walked by. Something that made her seem, well, a touch out of the ordinary.
One of the people who noticed was Claudette. She came up to Poppy at lunchtime the day after the Genie Graduation Ball.
‘Hey, Poppy,’ she said. ‘I was wondering if you would like to be on the front cover of School Style?’
‘I’m not having a make-over, Claudette,’ said Poppy firmly. ‘I’m quite happy with the way I look.’
‘You should be,’ said Claudette. ‘Your bangle and your high ponytail – they look great. I think you might be about to start a whole new trend! So how about it? Will you be on the cover, just this once?’
Poppy laughed. ‘Well, maybe,’ she said. She was in too good a mood to say no, even to Claudette.
When Poppy rushed home from school that afternoon, there was a long cardboard box on the hallway table, covered in glittery stamps and addressed to her. Poppy tried sneaking it into her room, where she could open it in private. But Astrid caught her.
‘What’s that?’ she asked curiously. ‘Another birthday present?’
‘No, it’s just something I won,’ said Poppy, blushing.
‘You won something?’ said Astrid incredulously. ‘Open it up. Let me see!’
So Poppy opened the box, and out fell the magic carpet she’d met in the Genie Realm. But it was behaving like it wasn’t magic at all. It was keeping very still and limp.
‘A scruffy-looking carpet,’ said Astrid, sounding disappointed. ‘What a weird prize. You can’t put that on the mantelpiece.’
Poppy saw one of the tassels flick ever so slightly. ‘It’s not scruffy, it’s beautiful,’ she said, giving the carpet a reassuring pat. ‘And it’s going on my bedroom floor, right where it belongs.’ Then she went to her room.
As she laid the carpet down, she noticed a gold-trimmed card pinned to the back.
Tweenie Genie: Genie in Training
first published in 2009
this edition published in 2012 by
Hardie Grant Egmont
Ground Floor, Building 1. 658 Chruch Street
Richmond, Victoria 3121, Australia
www.hardiegrantegmont.com.au
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publishers and copyright holders.
eISBN: 9781742738185
A CiP record for this title is available from the National Library of Australia
Text copyright © 2009 Meredith Badger
Illustration and design copyright © 2009 Hardie Grant Egmont
Cover design by illustration by Michelle Mackintosh
Text design by Sonia Dixon
Genie In Training Page 7