Rocket twitched as the needle went into him and Poppy winced to see it. Poor Rocket!
Poppy hardly dared to breathe while Lady Topaz worked. The thread seemed so fine. How could it possibly keep Rocket together? Poppy kept patting Rocket and hoping everything would be OK. Zara looked just as worried as Poppy felt.
Finally, Lady Topaz picked up a tiny pair of golden scissors and cut the thread. Then she sat back.
Poppy looked at her anxiously. ‘Is Rocket going to be OK now?’
Lady Topaz sighed and shook her head. ‘It’s too early to say,’ she replied. ‘We need to wait for a few minutes to see how he responds to the mending. The rip was caused by ancient magic, and this makes the injury difficult to repair. The other problem is Rocket’s age, which makes him very fragile. And, of course, he’s a story rug, which complicates things even more. All the threads must match up perfectly or the story won’t make any sense.’
‘What do you mean, a story rug?’ asked Poppy.
‘It means the patterns on the carpet aren’t just for decoration,’ explained Lady Topaz, pointing to the curly looping patterns covering Rocket. ‘They can be read, like a story.’
At first Poppy had no idea what Lady Topaz was talking about. But then she realised that Rocket’s markings looked familiar. ‘It’s Swirl,’ she murmured.
‘That’s right,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘Can you understand what it says?’
Poppy started to read out loud. ‘Topaz thought she was just an ordinary girl …’ She stopped, amazed. ‘Is this story about you?’
‘In a way,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘I made the carpet, so the story begins with me. But it goes on to tell the story of all the Golden genies who have owned the rug.’ She pointed to a squiggle. ‘This is where you found the genie bottle on your twelfth birthday. And over here is where you didn’t hide your bottle properly and your sister found it.’
Poppy pulled a face. ‘So it’s got the bad stuff as well as the good stuff then?’ she said.
Lady Topaz nodded. ‘It has everything.’
Zara pointed to part of the design that looked like the pattern had trailed away to nothing. ‘What’s this?’ she said.
‘That’s what’s happening right now,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘While we wait to see whether Rocket will get better.’
The three genies sat there in silence, watching and waiting. Poppy felt like she might explode from nervousness.
Then suddenly, Rocket’s tassels twitched slightly. A moment later, they twitched again, more strongly this time. Poppy’s heart beat wildly against her rib cage.
Then there was a whooshing noise and Rocket up flew off the table and raced around the room doing wild loops. ‘Rocket!’ yelled Poppy. ‘You’re fixed!’
‘Stop showing off, Knotty,’ said Lady Topaz with a smile. Rocket slowed down, then leapt into Poppy’s arms and nuzzled in.
‘That carpet pretends to be invincible,’ warned Lady Topaz, ‘but he’s not. Make sure he takes it easy.’
Poppy nodded. ‘I will,’ she promised.
‘And now that Rocket is better,’ said Lady Topaz, ‘why don’t we talk about your punishment?’
‘Lady Topaz,’ said Zara quickly. ‘None of this is Poppy’s fault. I talked her into doing the Bottle Hop. She would’ve been way too scared to do it otherwise.’
Poppy stared at Zara. Was it possible she was being genuinely nice? Then she realised what Zara had actually said. ‘Hang on a minute,’ Poppy said hotly. ‘I was not too scared. But I should’ve been trying to talk you out of racing, not joining in myself.’
Zara rolled her eyes. ‘Don’t get all Golden on me and try to take the blame, Poppy,’ she said, shooting her a look. ‘If anyone’s getting expelled it should be me.’
‘Girls, please,’ said Lady Topaz, putting up her hand. She looked like she was trying to suppress a smile. ‘There are enough punishments to go around.’ Then her stern expression returned. ‘I should expel you both. Zara, you’re supposed to be Poppy’s mentor. What kind of mentor talks her Two into doing something as dangerous as a Bottle Hop?’
Zara flushed bright red. Lady Topaz turned to Poppy. ‘And you, Poppy, should have known better. Golden genies are supposed to set a good example. Even worse, you almost lost Rocket – an ancient and valuable story rug. If he had faded away, all his knowledge and wisdom would have been lost. I don’t understand why you would do such a thing.’
Poppy felt awful. Everything Lady Topaz was saying was true, but it was terrible to hear it spoken out loud like this. She glanced at Zara, who had gone pale.
‘But,’ said Lady Topaz, ‘I am not going to expel either of you.’
Poppy stared up at her, not sure she’d heard correctly. ‘You’re not going to expel us?’
Lady Topaz shook her head. ‘No,’ she said. ‘However, this is a serious matter, and you will each be given three punishments.’ She paused, looking each girl in the eye. ‘First, you will each be suspended from Genie High for three days. During this time you will not be allowed into the Genie Realm. That should give you time to think about your actions.’
Poppy was horrified. Three whole days out of the Genie Realm!
‘You deliberately disobeyed the school rules,’ Lady Topaz continued, ‘and there is just one reason you are not being expelled. Do you know what that is?’
Both Poppy and Zara looked at their feet.
‘It’s because you showed a great deal of bravery coming to find me,’ said Lady Topaz, her voice suddenly gentle. ‘You knew that you risked getting into a lot of trouble by bringing Rocket to me. But you did it anyway. And that shows exactly the sort of qualities I’d expect to see in a mentor and a Golden genie. So I’m giving you both another chance.’
Zara and Poppy both looked up and smiled. They couldn’t believe their luck.
‘Thank you, Lady Topaz,’ said Zara quietly. ‘But somehow I don’t think Poppy is going to want me to be her mentor after this.’
Poppy shook her head. ‘Actually,’ she said to Zara with a shy smile, ‘you’re wrong. I mean, I did feel like that. And OK, so you haven’t been the friendliest mentor so far. But you saved Rocket and that was really brave. So how about we give it another go?’
Zara beamed, the colour returning to her cheeks. ‘Really?’
Poppy nodded. ‘But could you just forget about me being a Golden genie? It’ll make things a lot easier.’
‘Tell me,’ said Lady Topaz, turning her piercingly blue eyes to Poppy. ‘Do you enjoy being Golden?’
Poppy hesitated. No-one had ever asked her if she enjoyed it before. She thought it was just something she was and she didn’t have much say in it. But there was something in Lady Topaz’s voice that made her feel that she could speak the truth.
‘I hate it,’ Poppy blurted. ‘Genie High has been really fun so far. But it would be so much more fun if I was just a normal tweenie. Everyone expects me to be some super student who knows everything without being taught. Or even worse, they think I’m a goody-goody and that I’m going to dob on them all the time.’
Lady Topaz put her head on one side. ‘What do you think being a Golden genie means?’
Poppy thought for a moment, then shook her head. ‘I don’t know,’ she admitted. ‘It doesn’t mean I’m the best at everything. And it doesn’t mean that I don’t make mistakes, because I still make heaps of them. I don’t think I’m all that special. I just feel ordinary.’ Then Poppy looked at Lady Topaz hopefully. ‘What does it mean?’
Lady Topaz smiled. ‘You’re right, Poppy. Being a Golden genie doesn’t make you better than anyone else. What makes you a Golden genie is that you have a good heart. You see, Golden genies have a heart of gold.’
Zara looked at Poppy with surprise. ‘But I always thought Golden genies were supposed to have special talents,’ said Zara.
‘We all have special talents,’ laughed Lady Topaz. ‘We’re genies, after all. If you hadn’t noticed what was happening to Poppy’s carpet, Zara, it might have faded enti
rely. And that would have been terrible. You used your special talent with carpets to save Rocket.’
Poppy’s mind started ticking over. ‘But if everyone has special talents, why do we need Golden genies?’ she asked.
‘The Genie Realm is full of riches, Poppy. Genies could easily be very greedy and selfish,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘Golden genies are important because their good hearts help them to make the right decisions and they set an example for others.’
‘I didn’t make the right decision about Bottle Hopping,’ said Poppy, realising how silly she had been.
‘Ah yes, thank you for reminding me,’ said Lady Topaz, ‘I had not quite finished with your punishments.’ Poppy prepared herself for the worst. ‘The second punishment is that when you come back to Genie High, you will both spend every Monday afternoon in my Workshop Bottle. I will teach you about rug repairing.’
Poppy glanced at Lady Topaz in surprise. That didn’t seem like a very bad punishment. She was expecting that she’d have to clean bins or something.
But Zara bit her lip. ‘Lady Topaz?’ she asked. ‘Does it have to be Monday afternoon? That’s when my Extreme Flying class is on.’
Lady Topaz nodded. ‘Yes, I know,’ she said. ‘Which leads me to the third part of your punishment. Absolutely no riding for either of you for three months.’
Poppy stared at her in horror. ‘But I can’t go that long without riding!’
‘Well, you will have to,’ said Lady Topaz firmly. ‘Besides, Rocket needs time to recover from his injury. It won’t do you any harm to have a break. You are already a long way ahead of the other Twos. It will give them a chance to catch up with you. Does that sound fair?’
Zara and Poppy looked at each other, then nodded. It was going to be horrible, not being able to ride. And it was going to be even worse, having to spend three days away from Genie High. But at least they hadn’t been expelled.
Then Lady Topaz looked at her watch. ‘You should head back to school now to pack up your things. I’m sure the other Bottle Hoppers are curious to know how you are going. You’d also better break the news to them that the Bottle Hops are officially over. As you have seen today, visiting ancient bottles can be extremely dangerous. However, perhaps in future we will organise a school excursion when you can visit some of the ancient bottles under proper supervision.’
Poppy grinned. That sounded great!
Then Lady Topaz cleared her throat. ‘Oh, and Poppy? Tell Jake that he needs to write I must not go on Bottle Hops two hundred times. In perfect Swirl.’
Poppy froze. How did Lady Topaz know that Jake had gone too? She’d been very careful not to mention his name.
Lady Topaz seemed to know what Poppy was thinking. ‘I received a Dial-Up message that filled me in on everything,’ she said.
‘You mean you knew about Rocket being injured before we got here?’ asked Zara. ‘I can’t believe one of the Bottle Hoppers blabbed!’
‘The message wasn’t sent by a genie,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘The Dial-Up sent it all by itself.’
Poppy was puzzled, until she realised what that meant. She reached into her bag and pulled out her Dial-Up. The little face had reappeared. It looked nervous. Then a message flashed up on the screen.
‘You can talk, you know,’ said Poppy. ‘I un-muted you ages ago.’
The Dial-Up gave a little nervous cough. ‘I only told Lady Topaz because I was worried about you,’ it said. ‘It’s my job as a Dial-Up to protect you. When you wouldn’t listen to me, I thought I’d better tell Lady Topaz instead.’
‘I’m sorry about muting you,’ said Poppy. ‘It was really mean of me. I could have used your help, too.’
‘Oh,’ said the Dial-Up, sounding surprised. ‘Oh most Magnificent and Magical …’ the Dial-Up started to gush.
Poppy shook her head. ‘Let’s do something we should have done ages ago,’ she said, flicking through the voice profile menu. One option caught her eye straight away, and she smiled as she selected it.
‘Let’s go girls,’ said Lady Topaz briskly. ‘It’s getting late.’
Poppy nodded eagerly. ‘I can’t wait to get back.’ She had so much to tell Jake and the others. But how am I going to survive three whole days away? she thought.
‘It’s good to see you’re settling into school, Poppy,’ said Lady Topaz. ‘It seemed at first that you had some trouble fitting in.’
‘Poppy fits in fine,’ Zara butted in. ‘I just wish she’d stop boasting about being a Golden genie all the time.’
‘I do not boast about it!’ Poppy said.
‘Just teasing, Goldie,’ laughed Zara. ‘You know I’m here to look after you.’
‘I can look after myself, thanks,’ said Poppy, but she caught Zara’s eye and gave her a friendly wink.
When Poppy and Zara arrived back at Genie High, they found all the Bottle Hoppers at the Pool Bottle having a swim.
Magic carpets hovered around the outside of the pool with drinks and ice-creams. The ice-creams were studded with small sweets that glittered like jewels, and the drinks had ice cubes that were shaped like shells and fish.
When the Bottle Hoppers saw Poppy and Zara they rushed over to greet them.
‘How did it go?’ asked Santino urgently. ‘Is Rocket going to be OK?’
Zara and Poppy explained what had happened.
‘You’re suspended for three days? That’s terrible!’ said Jake. ‘Who would have thought that old doormat could get you in so much trouble?’
Rocket slapped a tassle against Jake’s leg.
‘Watch it,’ said Poppy. ‘He may be sick but he’s still faster than you.’
Poppy looked around the pool, and wished she didn’t have to go home.
But leaving the pool party wasn’t the only reason Poppy was reluctant to leave. She had just remembered her ‘perfect’ mum, no doubt waiting to pounce on her as soon as she walked in the door. Not to mention the bird-eating spider wandering around her bedroom.
When Poppy finally returned home, she was more than a little nervous walking into the lounge room. She saw her mum lying on the couch, a pile of paperwork on one side and some dirty laundry on the other. Astrid was sitting on another chair, doing homework with her headphones on. She didn’t even look up when Poppy came in.
‘Hi, Mum,’ said Poppy carefully.
‘Hi, sweetie,’ her mum replied with a yawn. ‘I’m going to make something special for dinner tonight because Dad is coming home. But grab yourself a snack if you’re hungry. Not ice-cream though, please!’
‘That’s OK,’ said Poppy hastily. ‘I’m not that into ice-cream right now.’ She walked to the kitchen, a little confused. Her mum was clearly back to normal. But how had that happened without her making a wish?
In her bag, her Dial-Up beeped. Poppy pulled it out. ‘As a special favour, I took the liberty of reversing the wish on your behalf,’ the Dial-Up explained quietly. ‘I’m allowed to do that in very special circumstances, and it seemed like you’d had a long day.’
Poppy rushed to check the freezer. Sure enough, the enormous bucket of ice-cream had been pushed to the back, and in front of it were packets of frozen peas and spinach. ‘What about the spider?’ whispered Poppy nervously.
‘Your mum took Bertha back to the pet shop this afternoon,’ replied the Dial-Up.
‘Phew!’ said Poppy. ‘Thanks, Dial-Up.’
The Dial-Up winked. ‘No problem.’
Poppy grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl, feeling enormously relieved. ‘Incredibly helpful’ was turning out to be the perfect profile for her Dial-Up.
When Poppy returned to the lounge room, her mum had almost fallen asleep holding a pen in one hand and a shirt in the other.
Poppy suddenly felt very sorry for her mum. She totally wasted her first two wishes, she thought. And she’ll probably waste the last one wishing for an early night or something really boring.
Poppy thought hard. Maybe I’ll try a spot more wish leading. But this time I’ll help her
wish for something nice.
‘Hey, Mum,’ said Poppy, snuggling up beside her on the sofa. ‘If a genie suddenly popped up right now and granted you one wish, what would you wish for? But it has to be something just for you. No wishing for World Peace or anything like that.’
Her mum yawned and gave her a sleepy grin. ‘Why not? World Peace is a lovely thing to wish for.’
Poppy patted her mum on the shoulder. ‘I think the genie might find that a bit too complicated,’ she explained. ‘Especially if it was a beginner genie. So just make a wish for you.’
Poppy’s mum thought for a moment. ‘Well, right now I wish I could spend a few days on a tropical island,’ she said. ‘Somewhere I could sit on a beach and drink juice out of a coconut shell.’
Poppy nodded slowly. ‘That sounds like a great wish, Mum.’
She closed her eyes and concentrated very carefully on her mother’s wish. Then she said the magic word.
When she opened her eyes, she somehow knew that wish had worked.
A few minutes later, the phone rang. Poppy’s mum answered it.
‘You must have the wrong number,’ she said first. Then, as she listened, a strange expression came over her face.
‘If this is a joke …’ she began. But her look gradually changed from a suspicious one to a happy one. Then the happy look grew and grew, until Poppy’s mum was beaming. ‘Thank you,’ she said finally. ‘Thank you so much!’
‘What’s happened, Mum?’ said Poppy.
Her mum shook her head, like she couldn’t quite believe what had just happened. ‘It’s ridiculous, but according to that person on the phone I’ve won a holiday for three nights. On a tropical island. At first I didn’t think it could be real,’ she said. ‘But then I remembered I did enter a raffle at the supermarket the other week.’
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