Genie High School

by Meredith Badger

  ‘You get twenty minutes to visit as many of the ancient bottles as you can,’ explained Zara. ‘We always take our carpets because then you can fly across the bottles and you see more. You need to take a quick video with your Dial-Up Device to prove you’ve been there. Then you hop to the next ancient bottle.’ Zara shrugged. ‘Easy.’

  ‘Um, excuse me,’ piped up a small voice. It was Poppy’s Dial-Up. ‘Sorry to be a partypooper, but I must strongly advise you against this. Ancient bottles can be very dangerous. Some have powerful charms protecting them. And if you get lost in one, no-one will know where you are. You’ll be lost in it forever.’

  Zara groaned. ‘Don’t listen to that bunch of buttons, Poppy,’ she said. ‘I’ve done heaps of Bottle Hops and I’ve never seen anything dangerous. It’s fun. The best bit is that you can fly as fast as you like because there’s no-one to tell you to slow down. And if you do freak out about something then you can just click on the lamp’s lid and it will take you straight back here. No problem.’

  ‘It sounds pretty cool,’ admitted Poppy. Secretly, she was feeling pleased that Zara wanted her to compete. Maybe she’s not so horrible after all, Poppy thought.

  ‘Don’t do it, Poppy!’ said the Dial-Up, sounding panicked. ‘If Lady Topaz finds out about this you’ll be expelled.’

  Poppy hesitated. On the one hand, she wasn’t sure it was worth risking expulsion just to prove she wasn’t perfect. She’d been dying to come to Genie High, and she really loved learning how to be a genie. But she was also sick of everyone thinking she was a goodygoody. Competing in a banned game seemed like the perfect way to change how people saw her.

  Zara rolled her eyes. ‘You can mute that thing, you know,’ she said. ‘Just press the red button. Unless you actually want to listen to it and be known as a totally boring goldie.’

  Poppy frowned. ‘I’m in,’ she said loudly, and muted her Dial-Up. She wondered if she had accidentally changed the profile too. Her Dial-Up’s digital face changed from polite to extremely grumpy, but it remained silent.

  ‘You’ll love the Bottle Hop,’ said Santino, rubbing his hands together. ‘It’s awesome fun.’

  Poppy’s Dial-Up flashed. A message appeared on the screen.

  Ancient Genie Languages starts in two minutes.

  Not that you care about anything I have to say.

  Regards, your Dial-Up.

  Jake was already in the Sapphire Bottle when Poppy arrived. ‘Hey!’ said Poppy, grabbing a cushion next to him. ‘How did the football tryouts go?’

  ‘I made the team!’ beamed Jake. ‘So what have you been doing? Did you go to another class after Genie Judo?’

  ‘That’s great about the football team,’ said Poppy, trying to avoid the question. The Bottle Hop meeting was supposed to be a secret.

  Jake looked at her through narrowed eyes. ‘You’re up to something,’ he said. ‘And if you don’t tell me what, I’ll start boasting about you being Golden again.’

  ‘OK, OK,’ said Poppy hastily. ‘But you have to promise not to tell anyone.’

  Jake grinned. ‘Of course not! Now spill.’

  But before Poppy could say a word, Madame Pearl arrived. ‘I’ll tell you later,’ Poppy whispered as everyone quietened down.

  Once she had everyone’s attention, Madame Pearl began writing strange smoky squiggles in the air. ‘This word is written in the ancient genie language of Swirl,’ she said while she spun her fingers through the air. ‘Genies don’t really use it anymore, but Lady Topaz feels that it’s important for tweenies to learn – sort of like normies studying Latin. Now, can anyone tell me what this says?’

  Poppy squinted at the smoky loops. It looked like a vapour trail made by a small out-of-control plane. But then, as she watched, the letters started merging and moving and changing shape until suddenly Poppy realised she could read them.

  Hello.

  Madame Pearl noticed her concentrating. ‘Poppy,’ she said, ‘can you read what this says?’

  Poppy glanced around the class. Everyone was staring at her, waiting to see if she knew the answer. Here we go, she thought desperately. I’ll look like a know-it-all again!

  So Poppy shook her head. ‘Nope,’ she said. ‘I have no idea.’

  Madame Pearl looked surprised. ‘How unusual,’ she said, peering closely at Poppy. ‘Golden genies are usually very quick to understand Swirl.’

  Poppy felt her face go red. Could her teacher tell she was lying? She shrugged, trying to look innocent. ‘I guess Golden genies don’t know everything,’ she said.

  To Poppy’s relief, Madame Pearl turned back to the class. ‘Never mind. Now, Twos,’ she said. ‘It’s time for you to try writing in Swirl. We won’t use our jotters today, we’ll just write straight into the air.’

  ‘There’s just one slight problem with that,’ said Jake, holding up his hand. ‘My finger has no smoke.’

  Madame Pearl’s eyes twinkled. ‘Of course it does, Jake,’ she said. ‘You just need to activate the smoke by tapping your wrist twice.’

  Jake tapped his wrist sharply and then swooshed his finger through the air. Sure enough, it left a smoky streak. Poppy laughed at Jake’s surprised face.

  ‘Not bad,’ said Madame Pearl. ‘The smoke is a little green, but that will improve. Now, everyone else try.’

  Poppy tapped her wrist and did a cautious swish with her pointer finger. Sure enough, bluish smoke began trailing out of her finger. Soon the air was filled with smoky stripes in many different colours.

  Once everyone could make smoke, Madame Pearl called the students up to the front one-by-one to try writing the word ‘hello’. Most of the class found it very difficult. Sometimes the problem was that the smoke came out of their fingers too quickly or too slowly. Sometimes the letters were too large, or so small that they all squashed together.

  When Jake tried, he wrote so slowly that the first few letters had blown away before he’d written the last ones. But it didn’t seem to bother him too much. ‘I’ll just write “hi” next time,’ he joked. ‘That’ll be quicker.’

  ‘Now your turn, Poppy,’ said Madame Pearl. Poppy came out the front and started to write. The smoke from her finger was not too fast and not too slow and the letters were neither too large nor too small.

  Her teacher was delighted. ‘Perfect, Poppy!’ she said. ‘That is the most impressive first attempt at writing in Swirl I’ve ever seen. I just knew you would have natural talent.’

  Poppy bit her lip and glanced around the class. Was everyone thinking she was a show-off? The other tweenies seemed pretty preoccupied with practising their own Swirl, but Poppy was sure she caught a few of them rolling their eyes.

  Then Madame Pearl wrote something else in the air. Poppy could read it easily.

  My name is Poppy.

  ‘Try writing this sentence,’ her teacher said, patting her on the arm.

  Poppy hesitated. It was bad enough that her first attempt had gone perfectly. If she wrote a whole sentence, the other tweenies would definitely think she was a know-it-all. So she pulled a worried face, like she wasn’t sure she could do it. ‘I’ll try, Madame Pearl,’ she said. ‘But it looks hard.’

  Poppy started swirling her finger through the air, doing loops and lines. Then she stepped back. ‘How did I go?’ she asked, trying to keep a straight face.

  Madame Pearl frowned. ‘That doesn’t look like what I wrote,’ she said.

  ‘Hey!’ interrupted Jake, laughing. ‘It looks like me!’

  It was true. Poppy hadn’t copied Madame Pearl’s sentence at all. She’d drawn a picture of a boy genie’s face with a very cheeky smile.

  Poppy pretended to be surprised. ‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘It does look a bit like you, Jake. But it’s not quite right.’ Then Poppy gently blew the smoke just a little. The eyes changed shape and suddenly they looked like they were crossed. ‘That’s better,’ she grinned.

  The class burst into giggles. Even Madame Pearl was smiling. ‘I’m impressed w
ith your drawing skills, Poppy,’ she said. ‘Drawing with smoke is very hard to do! But then, Golden genies are often brilliant artists.’

  Poppy groaned inwardly. ‘Thanks, Madame Pearl,’ she muttered, and headed back to her cushion. She was trying to be ordinary, but somehow she always ended up standing out.

  Jake was still laughing about the drawing when the class ended. ‘Being Golden has made you naughty,’ he said, waggling his finger at her.

  Poppy shrugged. ‘There’s nothing wrong with having some fun occasionally, is there?’

  ‘Of course not,’ replied Jake. ‘So long as you’re really having fun and not just trying to make people think you’re someone you’re not.’

  Poppy felt a bit taken aback by that, but before she could say anything, her Dial-Up flashed. Poppy’s heart did a double thump as she read the message that had appeared.

  Bottle Hop starts in ten minutes. Meet

  in the Quartz Bottle. Zara.

  The message faded and was replaced by another one.

  This is my last warning. DON’T DO THE

  BOTTLE HOP! Regards, your Dial-Up.

  Then it switched itself off with an angry-sounding click.

  Jake read the message over Poppy’s shoulder. ‘Bottle Hop!’ he said. ‘So that’s what you were up to this morning!’

  There was no point denying it, so Poppy told Jake everything she knew about the Bottle Hop. Jake listened with wide eyes.

  When she’d finished, he jumped up and grabbed her arm. ‘I’m coming for sure!’

  Poppy shook her head. ‘No, Jake,’ she said. ‘Zara would kill me if I brought you along. It’s supposed to be top secret.’

  Jake looked at her sternly. ‘There’s no way I’m letting you do it on your own, Poppy,’ he said. ‘Anything might happen. I should be there, for safety’s sake.’

  Poppy raised an eyebrow. ‘I think what you mean is, this sounds like fun and there’s no way you’re missing out!’

  Jake grinned. ‘Well, that too,’ he admitted. ‘Come on, let’s go.’

  ‘OK,’ sighed Poppy. Secretly, she quite liked the idea of Jake coming with her. ‘But Zara is not going to like this.’

  Poppy was right. Zara frowned darkly when she spotted Jake with Poppy in the Quartz Bottle. ‘What’s he doing here?’ she demanded.

  ‘I’m her mechanic,’ said Jake politely.

  ‘If Poppy is going to ride that mangy old rug of hers I have to come too. It could fall apart at any moment.’

  Rocket was not impressed by Jake’s comment. His tassels all stood up like bristles and he angrily swiped at Jake’s ankle with one corner. Jake leapt neatly leapt out of the way.

  ‘Nice try, Doormat,’ he laughed. ‘But waaaay too slow.’ Then he looked at Zara. ‘So, can I go with Poppy?’

  For a moment, Zara didn’t reply. She walked over and brushed her hand over Rocket, bending closer to inspect something. Then she shrugged and said, ‘It’s up to Poppy, I suppose. If she really wants to slow herself down, that’s her choice.’

  Poppy tugged her carpet out from under Zara’s reach, and Jake nodded eagerly. ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘Poppy’ll win the race easily. She could probably win it blindfolded.’

  Zara raised an eyebrow. ‘We’ll see about that.’

  ‘OK, racers. Board your rugs,’ commanded Louis, who was also there.

  Poppy climbed on the front of Rocket and Jake scrambled on the back, carefully avoiding Rocket’s tassels, which were whipping at his legs. Poppy pulled out her Location Lamp and ran a finger over the mysterious symbols carved into the lid. She felt a little shiver of excitement through her spine. I bet none of the other Twos are doing anything like this! she thought.

  ‘Don’t forget your Dial-Up for taking videos of the bottles you visit,’ reminded Santino. ‘If you don’t have proof of visiting a bottle, you won’t get any points for it.’

  Poppy switched her Dial-Up into video mode, and decided to un-mute it as well. The face did not reappear and Poppy felt a twinge of guilt. I must have pressed the ‘grumpy’ profile, thought Poppy. It’s really cross with me.

  ‘Hoppers, prepare for flight!’ said Louis.

  Poppy grabbed hold of her lamp. Which way should she twist it first?

  Zara gave Poppy a strange grin. ‘Good luck, Goldie.’

  Then, just as she twisted the lid of the Location Lamp, Poppy thought she heard Zara mutter something else.

  ‘Because you’ll need it!’

  As the darkness swirled up around them, Poppy called out, ‘Hold tight, Jake!’ Then she urged Rocket into flight, although she had no idea which way to head. She just knew that the best way to deal with the strong winds swirling around them was to fly as fast as they could. Finally, the wind dropped away and Poppy slowed Rocket down.

  The dark mist around them gradually cleared and Poppy looked around. They were flying over a beautiful, sunny meadow filled with flowers and trees heavy with fruit. The sky was tinged with a deep purple, and Poppy’s heart leapt with excitement.

  ‘This must be some sort of old orchard,’ she called over her shoulder to Jake. ‘I can just imagine the ancient genies coming here on picnics.’

  ‘You’re making me hungry! Can you tell the doormat to fly down close to the trees?’ said Jake. ‘I want to eat some of those cherries. They look delicious.’

  Instantly, Rocket whooshed down steeply towards the trees. ‘Aaah!’ yelled Jake, trying to hold on and cover his head at the same time.

  ‘Rocket,’ said Poppy, trying not to laugh. ‘Are you trying to scare Jake? Slow down, please.’ Her carpet did as she asked, but flipped his tassels in a pleased kind of way.

  As they swished past the cherry tree, Poppy took a closer look. The fruit looked very hard and very shiny. Suddenly she realised what they were. ‘They’re rubies!’ she exclaimed.

  ‘You’re right!’ said Jake, looking around. ‘This is a gemstone orchard.’

  It was true. The apples were actually enormous emeralds and the oranges were made of smooth, glittering tiger’s eyes.

  ‘Let’s pick some,’ said Jake, his eyes gleaming. ‘Just one of those apples would be worth a fortune.’

  But Poppy shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘We’d better leave everything as we find it.’

  No-one had told her that this was a rule, but it just didn’t seem right to take anything from such a beautiful, ancient place.

  Poppy flew down low over the orchard, taking a video with her Dial-Up. She could have stayed in the orchard forever. But they had a race to win!

  ‘OK, next stop,’ she said, pulling out her Location Lamp and twisting the lid to a new symbol. There was a clap of thunder, and suddenly Poppy and Jake found themselves flying through a whole new bottle.

  The new world looked like the inside of a winter snow dome, except that it had the same purple light they’d found in the orchard bottle. There were small fir trees, covered in the white, powdery snow. Little candles were balanced on the tip of each branch, burning not only in gold, but in blue, red, purple and green. There was a faint sound of bells in the air, which Poppy realised was coming from the tiny silver birds flying around.

  ‘It’s like a fairytale, isn’t it?’ said Poppy, as a soft dusting of snow fell over the carpet and on their heads. She stuck out her tongue to catch a snowflake, and realised what it was. ‘Sugar!’

  ‘I wonder what the ancient genies used this place for?’ said Jake, tilting his head back to lick the air.

  ‘Maybe they used to come here for their parties,’ suggested Poppy. ‘Or maybe it belonged to a genie who loved snow.’

  ‘And sugar,’ Jake added.

  ‘Exactly,’ laughed Poppy. ‘Come on, let’s go for a zoom. Hold on!’

  Rocket took off joyfully, skimming low over the fir trees so that the coloured flames of the candles trembled in the breeze. It felt wonderful to fly so fast, even though Jake was yelling at her to slow down!

  So this is what Bottle Hopping is all about, thought
Poppy. She felt a stab of disappointment when she saw the curve of the bottle’s wall looming up ahead. But then again, maybe the next bottle would be even better.

  ‘Time to hop again,’ she called to Jake. She twisted the lid to a new symbol, and a moment later the sugary snow disappeared.

  The next bottle contained a dense forest, with trees so tall that Poppy couldn’t see the ground at all as they sailed over the canopy. Strange, beautiful melodies drifted up from the forest floor.

  Poppy pointed Rocket downwards and started weaving expertly in and out of the trees. Soon, Poppy and Jake spotted unusual-looking birds flittering through the foliage. ‘I think we’re in some kind of old aviary,’ said Poppy. Some of the birds were no bigger than a coin, with brightly glittering wings, while others were as large as ponies, with loud cries that shook the leaves.

  ‘Aren’t they beautiful?’ whispered Poppy. A bird with rainbow-coloured wings landed beside them on the carpet. Poppy started filming it with her Dial-Up. The bird fanned its tail feathers, which were all the colours of the rainbow.

  ‘I’d love to have one of those feathers,’ said Jake, reaching out a hand.

  ‘Jake!’ exclaimed Poppy. ‘Don’t you dare!’ The bird gave Jake an offended look and then flew off, doing several impressive loops before disappearing into the forest.

  Poppy looked at her watch. ‘I think we’ve got time to visit one more bottle before our twenty minutes are up,’ she said. ‘What do you think? Shall we do it?’

  But just then there was a low rumbling noise. Poppy looked around. Menacing storm clouds had formed at the top of the bottle, and thunder was beginning to growl.

  ‘That doesn’t look good,’ said Poppy, frowning. ‘It’s like a storm is brewing.’

  ‘Really?’ said Jake, looking around nervously. ‘I didn’t realise you could have storms in genie bottles.’

  ‘Me neither,’ Poppy said, slowly. She had a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, even though she didn’t know why. ‘Maybe it’s a protection charm trying to get rid of us, like the ones my Dial-Up warned me about.’ Poppy suddenly missed her Dial-Up’s chattiness. It would have been useful in this situation.