He eyed me up and down, doubt on his face. “I think you need to talk to someone about that,” he said again.
“Who?” I asked, confused.
He chuckled mirthlessly before he walked away from me. Carrying my bottle with him, thankfully. Even though he was trying to be rid of me, so long as he kept my bottle, there was no way he’d be free of me. If he dropped it and denied my services, I would be sucked back into my prison within sixty heartbeats, and I’d have to wait for my next master to summon me from the depths.
I had to make sure he held onto that bottle. At the thought of going back in there, panic threatened to bubble up and take me over.
“Make a wish then!” I yelled, running after him. When I caught up, I matched my stride to his, pleading with him. “Make a wish, and if I can’t grant it, then I’m crazy and you can leave me alone.”
Not that I was crazy, but that seemed to catch his attention.
James glanced back at me, and our eyes held each other’s gazes for the briefest moment. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I marveled at how deep his brown eyes were, even with the pair of glass circles around them. Gold flecked the brown irises, giving them a dimension not found in most human eyes.
They were almost djinn-like.
“Okay,” he said.
I breathed a sigh of relief, closing my eyes, ready for the first wish. “Be very careful and consider what you wish for, mas—uh, James,” I warned him.
I could very easily see him making a flippant wish, such as wishing for everyone to have a puppy. It might bring joy to the world. Then again, it might not.
“Really,” he said, “all I want is a cup of coffee.”
My eyes snap open. “What?”
His cheeks colored with embarrassment. “A cup of coffee. I used to have a medium latte with soy milk at my local coffee shop every day until I lost my job.”
I raised an eyebrow, not sure what this “coffee” was. Maybe it was some sort of dastardly plan to take over the world. Maybe I had him pegged incorrectly and he was a megalomaniacal genius. He could go far with his innocent act.
I braced myself. “You have to say, ‘I wish for…’, and then say it for me to follow through with it.”
He rolled his eyes—actually rolled his eyes!—before speaking. “Genie, I wish for a medium latte with soy milk from The Java Junkie.” And he held out his hand, as if to accept the wish.
I didn’t have to understand any of what he said for me to follow through with the wish. I felt the magic swell up within me, beckoning me to complete the task. It took over my limbs, and I lost myself as the magic reached out through me to take his proffered hand.
He looked down at our joined hands for a shocked second.
Then I dragged him along behind me as my legs start walking without me leading them. We walked perpendicular to the shore, towards a road where strange, shiny monsters ran down it in single-file lines.
“What the—?” he cried out. He stumbled behind me, unable to keep my brisk pace. “Hey, what are you doing?”
I gave him a cool look. “Taking you to get a medium latte.”
He rolled his eyes again, only to let out a yelp when I pulled him forcefully along once more.
The magic led me to a pole where I pressed a button below a sign that had a simple pictogram of people walking. We stood there, waiting for the monsters to stop their prowling in front of us. I wasn’t afraid, but I was surprised the monsters hadn’t attacked.
“Mas—James,” I said, correcting myself. “What are those monsters?”
James huffed next to me, unhappy for some reason, before he followed my gaze. “What, you mean the cars?”
“Cars,” I repeated softly, trying not to show my amazement. “And what are we doing here?”
A slow, lopsided smile came to his face. “You mean other than kidnapping me?” When I didn’t answer, he glanced around. “It looks like we’re waiting for the light the change.”
More gibberish I didn’t understand, but I nodded. We stood there for a few more heartbeats before I saw a glowing sign change from an orange hand to a white picture of people walking.
Exactly like the sign above the button.
Everything was so strange in this new world. I couldn’t help looking around as my legs moved forward, jostling James and taking him along. The houses looked different. The cars moved quickly and many people were out and about. It must have been early morning, as the sun was still sitting barely above the eastern horizon, and the light was weak.
It felt so good to walk.
We walked for a while, how long, I’m not sure. James kept asking me questions I couldn’t answer. I was too busy looking around and taking in my new surroundings. Five thousand years and the whole world went on without me. As if I’d never mattered, even though I had limitless power to fulfill wishes.
The thought made me sad, that so much happened I didn’t bear witness to.
We walked up to a small shop on the corner of the street. I looked up and saw a sign my magic translated to “The Java Junkie: Life-Giving Coffee”.
Whatever this coffee was, it must help James stay alive. Perhaps he was actually older than he appeared and it gave him a youthful appearance. Maybe he was the villain I feared he was.
We walked in the front door, a bell jingling overhead. The Java Junkie was…quaint. There were a few tables where people tapped away at a contraption in front of them. They looked lost in their thoughts, like they were oblivious to the world.
There were other things around me, things I didn’t recognize. Benches, fancy cups, relics of this place I found myself in. I tried looking at everything, because I had no idea how quickly James would use up his wishes, and I wanted to make sure I had some sort of grounding in this era when I was summoned again in five thousand years.
What hit me most was the smell of something so delicious, it made my mouth water.
From behind a counter in the middle of the store, an elderly woman gave me a warm smile.
“Welcome to Java Junkie,” she greeted me kindly.
The magic made me walk all the way up to the counter with James, who still looked bewildered. I looked at the woman, then I saw a little tag pinned above her right breast on her shirt. I read it as “Elaine.”
Her eyes landed on James. “Ah, James!” she cried out, like she was seeing an old friend. “I haven’t seen you around these parts!”
James shrugged, now embarrassed. He shifted his feet and nodded towards the woman sheepishly. “Hi, Elaine. Sorry about not coming more—I’ve hit some hard times.”
I was correct in thinking it was her name.
Elaine smiled apologetically. “Don’t worry about it. I know the recession’s been hard on a lot of people. You’ll land on your feet soon. Who’s this?” she asked, brightening as she turned her gaze to me.
“Her?” James glanced at me, our eyes meeting briefly, and the red flush of his cheeks deepened even more. “She’s uh… That is, her name is…”
“Ain’t you cold in that little dress, hun?” Elaine asked, putting her hand on her hip. “It must be forty degrees outside.”
I shook my head. “I’m in a New Age music video,” I said, using what James had said earlier. “Down by the beach.” The lie came easily to my lips, and I stifled a grin, knowing I was duping her.
James, however, looked like he wanted the tiled floor to open up and swallow him into darkness at my words. Elaine picked up two cups and a writing instrument, although I didn’t recognize it. It didn’t look like any quill I’d ever seen before, but she held it like she planned to write directly on the cup.
“What would you like? On the house.”
James’s mouth opened, then he frowned, his brow furrowing deeply as he considered her words and my involvement in them.
The magic of his wish made me step in. “A medium latte, with soy milk.” I paused, considering. “Two medium lattes. Please.”
I could use some of the life-giving properties of t
his coffee. It certainly smelled delicious enough.
“Right away,” Elaine said smartly, turning away from us.
I looked to James, raising a sly eyebrow. “See?”
“You took me to the coffee shop where they serve medium lattes,” James said. “Big deal.”
“Your wish has been granted.”
“My wish was made possible because Elaine is giving us our drinks for free.”
“The result is the same in the end, isn’t it?”
James huffed. “Hardly.”
A few minutes later, Elaine called out James’s name, and he grabbed both cups and beckoned me with his head to sit down at one of the tables. I obliged, marveling at the fact that this chair was cushioned, much like the pillows of the royal family when I was last summoned from the bottle. Pillows for one’s rear end meant this coffee was for the wealthy.
“So, you say you’re a genie.” James said.
“Djinni.”
“Right.” He lifted the lid off his cup and blew gently on it before taking sip. He set down the cup, and licked away the remaining white foam from his lips. I found that oddly endearing, and I wasn’t sure why.
“Do your wish-making skills only mean you can get me free cups of coffee? Careful, it’s hot,” he adds, leaning across the table to block me from drinking from the cup. “Wouldn’t want to burn your tongue. Blow on it first.”
“Okay,” I said, and I followed his directions. After a good long time blowing on it, I lift the cup to my lips and take a tentative sip. The flavor exploded in my mouth, rich, earthy, filling all my senses. It was hot, yes. But it was also divine.
I nearly swooned from the sensation.
I must have more of this drink.
“How does this give you life?” I asked, taking another sip.
“What?” James seemed confused by my question.
“The sign out the front said this gives you life.” I point towards the entrance. “How does it do that?”
He blinked towards the front. “It’s because there’s caffeine in it. It means it’ll wake you up.”
“But what about the life part?” I pressed, wanting to know the secret.
He shook his head, chuckling slightly. “There is no ‘life’ part to that. It’s a joke that some people can’t live without coffee.”
“A joke.” I frowned. “You mean what’s outside is false?” I didn’t take Elaine for being a liar. Disappointment filled me at the thought that coffee didn’t give me life. However, it also meant James was what he seemed. More or less.
He took another sip. “I guess so.” He paused for a moment and looked me up and down. “You really don’t know much about the world, do you?” he asked.
“Well, I’ve spent the last five thousand years stuck in that bottle.” The bottle he had carried over here. “I haven’t seen much of the world change.”
He took a deep breath. “So you’re saying you truly believe you’re a…a djinni?”
I nod. “And you are my master.”
“So this cup of coffee was one of my three wishes?” He still sounded like he didn’t believe me, and to be honest, with how easy this task was, I almost wished he had chosen something more complicated with more fanfare. I flipped through every wish my masters had wished of me in the past, and none of them were so easy. I couldn’t think of a single time when one of my masters asked for something so trivial.
This James Hoover was a strange man.
I nodded. “But I can do more complex things.”
“Like what? Get me a croissant as well?”
“Whatever your heart desires,” I said, leaning into him. “I am your servant.”
He blanched. “Please stop saying that.”
“Of course.” I sat back in my chair and idly played with my cup, wondering how I was going to convince him I was, in fact, a djinni. He was so skeptical, it would take him wishing for something grand to do so.
“But you can wish for something more extravagant,” I added. “Something more than your medium latte with soy milk.”
He snorted. “Well, you have to admit, it is a good cup of coffee.”
“To be honest, it’s the only one I’ve had.” I took another sip. “It is really good, though.”
He nodded distractedly, and I wondered what constantly went through his mind. It was as if he was always thinking, always trying to guess what would happen next. Granted, he was wrong about me from all angles, but that was not entirely his fault. I was a force of nature he hadn’t encountered before.
He still didn’t believe me, either, so I needed to coax some more information out of him in order to help him trust me further.
Maybe he’d wish for my freedom.
I inwardly rolled my eyes. Wishful thinking for a djinni.
“What did you mean ‘hit some hard times’?” I asked.
James flinched, averting his eyes as if he were ashamed of something. “I am—was—a programmer. I worked for a bank, doing their internal backend compliances—stuff that probably doesn’t interest you…”
I shook my head. “I don’t know much of what you’re talking about.”
He sighed and closed his eyes. “They let me go a few months ago, because I was outsourced.”
“What does that mean?”
“That means…” A pained look crossed his face, making him grimace. “It means they took my job—my career—and gave it to someone in a different location. Most likely in a different country. And I have not had a job since.” He combed a hand through his hair. “It seems like no one wants to hire me.”
“Why not?”
He laughed bitterly. “If I knew that, I could fix it. Our economy is in a recession at the moment, so everyone is having trouble. I had to sell a bunch of stuff to make ends meet. But it still looks like I’m going to lose my condo. My home,” he added for my benefit.
Even if he didn’t believe me, it was good to know he was still playing along.
“Would you wish for your former employers’ demise in that case?” I prompted, wondering if that’s what he could wish for. I generally hated causing something like that, but I was trying to figure out where he stood on that scale. How likely was he to wish for something heinous?
He stared at me for a shocked moment before responding. “What? No. No.”
“Would you want your job back?” I leaned in conspiratorially. “Or, I could make you rich so you never have to worry about working ever again.”
He studied me for a moment longer before exhaling loudly through his nose. “You really think you can do that, huh? Make me rich?” He sighed and sat back and scratched his ear. “No, actually what I should wish for is something like world peace. Or ending hunger.”
I sucked in a deep breath, because I felt the magic tingling in my bones, anticipating his wish. I had masters long before him who wished for similar things, only they did so without putting specific details into the wish. The master who wished for world peace didn’t include any details, and the warring countries were swallowed up by the sea, killing all of their inhabitants. The world was at peace then, but at a great cost. The master who wished to end hunger didn’t specify for how long, and the world ate well until the food stores ran out. Then everyone starved for a time.
I was all powerful. But magic is nothing to be trifled with.
“You look like you just ate last week’s laundry,” James said, breaking into my thoughts.
I snapped my gaze towards him. “What?”
“It looks like I said something you didn’t like.”
“It’s merely that you should be very specific about the wish. My magic can be very…mischievous at times. The bigger the wish, the bigger the potential for it to backfire.” I pointed to his cup “The smaller the wish, the less of a chance there is for something horrible to happen.”
He probably didn’t care about my stipulations. He would either try to be benevolent and make some grand gesture like that. Or he would make himself rich.
He
quirked an eyebrow. “Ah, so you’re saying you’re one of those deals.” He nodded sarcastically as he sat back. “And to think, I was starting to believe you.”
“You don’t?”
“You just said if I were to do something big, it would end horribly. I think it’s you trying to make sure I wish for something achievable. Like this cup of coffee.” He shook his head, getting up from his seat. “You’re playing me, aren’t you? Where’s the camera? Who’s trying to prank me?”
“What—it isn’t a prank!” I spluttered after him.
“Good luck with whatever you’re doing, genie. Here’s your bottle.” He set it on the table, and I fought the urge to shy away from it.
James had rejected me. And I had moments before the bottle sucked me back in. I couldn’t have that happen. I wouldn’t have that happen. Not so soon. Not when I just got out.
“It’s djinni,” I said shortly. I got up from my own seat and faced him. I knew we were creating a spectacle, and Elaine was probably warily watching us from the counter. But at the moment, I didn’t care. “And you’re not going to try another wish? Just to see?”
James whirled on me, his eyes flashing. “Okay, you want another wish? How about I wish for a good job, one that won’t be outsourced?”
We stared at each other for a long moment, huffing angrily, before I felt the magic swell up in me and release.
I took a shuddering, steadying breath and said one word. “Granted.”
His face pinched into confusion before we both jumped at sound of something tinkling, like a jingle. I looked around for the source of it. It was strange and melodic, but it seemed to be…coming from him?
James pulled a small, black bar out of his pocket, the glass on one side glowing. He frowned, examining it before touching the screen and bringing it to his ear.
“This is James Hoover,” he said suspiciously. A faint voice spoke to him and I watched as his expression changed from hard, to disbelief, and then to gratitude. As a djinni, I could have used my magic to listen in on him, but I knew the core of what was happening.
I gave him that much privacy.
“Yes, yes, thank you so much!” James said. He coughed and straightened up, trying to appear more professional, but he couldn’t keep the grin off his face. “I will report to them on Monday. Thank you again.”
Not Just Voodoo Page 5