Genie in Charge Read online

  Maybe Jake was right. Maybe being a good mentor would be way harder than she had imagined. What if she ended up being terrible at it? Poppy’s legs turned wobbly, as if her bones had disappeared. She took a breath to steady herself, then walked down towards the stage as carefully as she could. She didn’t want to topple over in front of Lady Topaz, or the Stage Two she’d be mentoring, for that matter. That would be very undignified.

  ‘Ready, Poppy?’ asked Lady Topaz, when Poppy was finally standing at her side.

  Poppy tried to speak, but it wasn’t only her legs that were acting oddly. Her voice had gone all squeaky. So Poppy just nodded instead. Yes, she was ready!

  Lady Topaz struck the silver match against the side of the wooden box, just as she had for all the other tweenies. But this time the flame that appeared wasn’t purple. It was gold.

  Lady Topaz nodded, like she’d been expecting this. ‘That’s because you’re a Golden genie,’ she explained. ‘And sometimes Golden genies are given the more …’ Lady Topaz seemed to be searching for the right word. ‘… the more unusual tweenies to mentor.’

  Poppy looked at her cautiously. Unusual? What sort of unusual? Unusually good or unusually bad? Unfortunately there was no time to ask.

  ‘Look into the flame, Poppy,’ instructed Lady Topaz. ‘Can you see a name?’

  Poppy looked. At first there was nothing, but then gradually letters began to form, flickering and twinkling in the flame. Poppy read the letters out. ‘A-G-G-I,’ she said. ‘Aggi. Is that right?’

  A rustling sound rose up in the Velodrome then, as the Stage Two tweenies began whispering to each other. Poppy looked around, waiting for Aggi to stand up. But everyone stayed seated.

  Finally a Stage Two boy put up his hand. ‘Excuse me, Lady Topaz,’ he said. ‘But Aggi isn’t here.’

  Poppy couldn’t believe it. What sort of tweenie would miss something as important as Mentor Day? Suddenly Poppy wasn’t at all sure she wanted to find out.

  ‘Well then, Poppy,’ said Lady Topaz briskly. ‘You’d better go directly to Aggi’s genie bottle and find her.’ She patted Poppy’s shoulder. ‘And don’t worry, Poppy dear,’ she added. ‘I’m sure you two will get along just fine.’

  Poppy felt her heart bump. There was something about Lady Topaz’s voice that made Poppy wonder if she really meant what she’d said.

  The first thing Poppy noticed after landing (firmly on her feet) in Aggi’s genie bottle was how bare it was. Most tweenies loved decorating. Some tweenies saved up to buy brightly coloured cushions from the shopping bazaars or bed-covers that were as soft and fluffy as clouds. Others got carried away and transformed their bottles into underwater caves or fairytale castles. Even the genies who weren’t so interested in decorating would hang up some pictures. But Aggi’s bottle had none of these things. In fact, the only sign that there was even a genie living in this bottle was a genie textbook lying open on the bed, with a whole lot of scrunched-up pieces of paper around it.

  Poppy was so taken aback that it was a few moments before she noticed the figure sprawled on the floor behind the bed, doing a jigsaw. That must be Aggi, thought Poppy, her heart fluttering a little as she stepped forward.

  Aggi might not have decorated her bottle, but Poppy noticed that she had made changes to her Stage Two uniform. Around Aggi’s waist was a shiny red belt, and she’d pinned some badges to her top. She’d also tied a scarf around her neck. But the biggest change she’d made was to her hair. Instead of wearing her ponytail high on her head like other girl genies, Aggi’s was positioned just over her left ear.

  Poppy coughed, hoping that Aggi would look up from her puzzle. Was it possible she hadn’t noticed Poppy was there?

  Poppy had thought about this moment so many times. She’d figured that her trainee would probably have heard of her already, because she was a Golden genie and Golden genies were famous in the Genie Realm. Poppy thought they might be a little bit shy, so she’d planned to be as friendly and un-scary as possible.

  ‘Hi!’ Poppy said, holding up her arms and smiling in what she hoped was a warm but still mentor-ish way.

  ‘Hi,’ said Aggi, not looking up from her jigsaw.

  Poppy had never really seen the point of jigsaws – especially complicated, boringlooking ones like the one Aggi was doing. But Aggi seemed absorbed by it. Too absorbed, apparently, to bother looking at Poppy.

  After a moment Poppy let her arms fall back down by her sides. They were beginning to ache. This was not how she’d imagined the first meeting with her trainee would go.

  Poppy tried again. ‘So … you weren’t at Mentor Day this morning.’

  Aggi picked up a yellow puzzle piece and fitted it into another yellow puzzle piece. ‘That was today, was it?’ she said, sounding bored.

  ‘Yeah, it was actually,’ said Poppy. A bubble of irritation had started to form in her chest, but she quickly squashed it down. ‘It was actually a really important meeting,’ Poppy said, ‘because it was when all the Stage Twos found out who their mentors were.’

  Aggi clicked two edge pieces together. ‘Oopsy,’ she said. ‘Silly me, I forgot. Sorry.’

  Poppy looked at Aggi suspiciously. She didn’t sound sorry. She sounded like she didn’t care one little bit.

  ‘So … do you want to know who you were matched with?’ asked Poppy.

  Aggi rolled her eyes and finally looked up at Poppy. ‘This may surprise you, but I’ve worked that out already. You. You’re my mentor.’

  ‘Well … yes,’ admitted Poppy, feeling silly. ‘I am. Because you weren’t at the meeting, I thought I’d better come and introduce myself.’

  Be the best mentor ever, Poppy reminded herself. Super-understanding and calm. She took a deep breath. ‘I’m Poppy Miller,’ said Poppy, stretching out her smile – and her arms – again. ‘I’m your mentor and I’m so excited to meet you!’

  Now that Aggi was looking at Poppy, it seemed as if she couldn’t tear her eyes away. She didn’t speak, but just kept staring, her head tilted to the side. Aggi did it for so long that Poppy started wondering if some of her breakfast was stuck to her somewhere. She’d had her favourite genie cereal that morning, floating flakes, which were deliciously purple but had a tendency to float out of the bowl and become stuck in her hair.

  ‘You don’t look anything like I was expecting,’ Aggi said eventually.

  ‘How were you expecting I’d look?’ asked Poppy, feeling a little self-conscious.

  Aggi pursed her mouth. ‘I don’t know. Sort of hard, I guess. And way more shiny.’

  Poppy stared at her, astonished. ‘Why would you think I’d look like that?’

  ‘Well, you’re a Golden genie aren’t you?’ shrugged Aggi. ‘You don’t look very gold to me.’

  Poppy rolled her eyes. ‘Being Golden doesn’t mean I’m made of gold!’ she said. ‘It just means I’m a special kind of genie.’

  Aggi’s attention returned to her jigsaw. ‘I have to tell you, Pops, I’m kind of disappointed. It would’ve been so cool if you really were made of gold,’ she said. ‘But still, thanks for dropping around. I guess you can figure your own way out.’

  Poppy was taken aback. She wasn’t sure what to do. A large part of her was dying to leave this strange tweenie alone and go back to her friends in the Velodrome Bottle. But there was a tiny part that made her want to stay. The part that was still sure she could be the best mentor in the entire history of mentoring.

  Besides, there was something sort of interesting about this tweenie. Well, interesting in an annoying kind of way, at least.

  So Poppy decided to give it another try. ‘Listen, I don’t know what you’ve heard about me, but I’m just here to be your mentor like any other Stage Three. So, isn’t there something I can help you with?’

  ‘Actually, there is something you can do,’ said Aggi. ‘My homework. It’s just over there on the floor. It’s due today and I’ve been so busy with this jigsaw I haven’t had time to deal with it.’

  Pop
py was going to point out that mentors weren’t supposed to do their trainee’s homework when she had a sudden thought. Maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea. If she did Aggi’s homework – or at least some of it – Aggi might be so grateful that she would stop being so strange and behave like a nice, normal trainee. It was worth a try.

  Poppy picked up one of the pieces of paper on the bed and unscrunched it. It was a list of questions that Poppy recognised as coming from a Wish Twisting class. Wish Twisting, as you might already know, is when genies take a perfectly straightforward wish and mix it around so that the normie ends up with something they didn’t want at all.

  Poppy had done well in her Wish Twisting classes. She read the first question.

  What would you do if a normie wished to be a genie?

  Underneath this Aggi had scrawled:

  I would say ‘How about I turn you into an alien instead? You already look like one.‘

  Poppy laughed. ‘That’s funny!’ she said. ‘But it’s not right, of course. What you should really say is …’

  Aggi cut her off before she could finish. ‘Listen Pops, I was just joking about the help,’ she snapped. ‘I’m not in the mood for homework right now.’

  ‘Well, how about we do something else then?’ suggested Poppy. ‘We could go to a bazaar and get you some cushions or a rug. Make your bottle a bit more cosy. It still looks like you haven’t moved in properly.’

  Aggi’s eyes flashed. ‘I’m not interested in decorating this stupid bottle,’ she said. ‘I don’t even like it. And I definitely don’t want to go to some dumb bazaar with you. In fact, the only thing I want right now is for you to leave me alone so I can finish my jigsaw.’

  Poppy felt the bubble of irritation inside her rapidly boiling into anger. Aggi was so rude! And so ungrateful! But Poppy was determined not to lose her temper. She sighed. She couldn’t help thinking how unfair this all was. How could she possibly be the best ever mentor in the Genie Realm if she’d been given the worst ever trainee?

  Just then, Poppy thought of the one genie in the whole of the Genie Realm who might be able to help her: Lexie.

  Lexie was the first genie Poppy had ever met. She’d appeared in Poppy’s room on her twelfth birthday with some surprising information: because Poppy had something called the ‘Genie Gene’, she was now officially a genie. It was also Lexie who gave Poppy her first genie lessons – how to levitate, how to squeeze into a bottle and how to grant wishes. It wasn’t until later that Poppy found out Lexie was a member of the Genie Royal Family. Her official name was Princess Alexandria. But most genies, including Poppy, simply called her Lexie.

  Without another word to Aggi, Poppy took out her Dial-Up. The sooner she located Lexie, the sooner she could get this Aggi situation sorted out!

  Deciding to talk to Lexie was easy. Finding her turned out to be much more difficult. Genie princesses like Lexie were often very busy, helping out with all sorts of different problems that arose in the Genie Realm. They might be expected to fill in for the Genie Judo teacher if he was sick, or help make new genie bottles. And of course Lexie often had her hands full training Stage One tweenies. Poppy knew that lots of tweenies thought it would be fun to be a genie princess. But not Poppy – especially because genie princesses also sometimes had to wear scratchy dresses and tiaras. That didn’t appeal to Poppy one bit!

  First Poppy checked the palace, but Lexie wasn’t there. She wasn’t in any of the classrooms at Genie High, either. Nor was she in the Emerald Bazaar or any of the sports bottles. Poppy finally found Lexie in the Stables Bottle. Lexie was in front of Thunder’s resting tube, stroking him gently with one hand. In her other hand was a little gadget, flashing and beeping noisily, and Lexie was looking at it with a frown. Something was clearly wrong.

  ‘What’s the matter?’ said Poppy, hurrying over to Lexie’s side.

  ‘Lightning is missing,’ said Lexie. Sure enough, the tube next to Thunder’s was empty!

  ‘Maybe she’s just hiding somewhere in the stables,’ said Poppy. ‘She loves playing games, you know.’

  ‘No, I’ve checked everywhere,’ said Lexie, sounding worried. Then she held up the beeping gadget. ‘I used this new carpettracking device but she’s not showing up in any of the school bottles. In fact, I can’t get a signal for her anywhere in the Genie Realm.’

  Sometimes when Poppy did a loop-theloop on a magic carpet, her stomach went all swirly. It felt swirly now, but not in a nice, fun way. This time it made her feel queasy.

  ‘But where is she, then?’ said Poppy.

  ‘She must be somewhere in the normie world,’ said Lexie. Poppy could tell from her tone that this wasn’t a good thing.

  ‘Why would she go there?’ Poppy asked.

  ‘Well, she might have decided to go exploring,’ said Lexie. ‘Carpets do that sometimes. They are very curious, as you know.’

  Poppy nodded. Carpets loved exploring. And Lightning was one of the most curious carpets Poppy had ever met. She’d once spent a whole genie hour searching for her after accidentally leaving a cupboard open in the stables. Of course Lightning had sneaked inside without her realising. Poppy had eventually found her curled up between the tassle combs and a bottle of wool cleaner.

  ‘The thing is,’ said Lexie, ‘it’s very unusual for a twin rug like Lightning to go that far on her own. Twin rugs usually like to stay close together, because of what happens if they’re separated for too long.’

  Poppy’s stomach did another loop. ‘What exactly does happen?’

  Lexie reached out and stroked Thunder gently. ‘Well, at first they just don’t fly as well as they used to. They slow down, or fly a bit wonky. Then they start to fall to pieces. Sometimes this happens slowly, but it can aslso happen extremely quickly. Eventually, if they aren’t reunited, they’ll disintegrate.’

  Poppy looked at Thunder. He wasn’t moving, but he had never been a very wriggly sort of carpet anyway. Maybe Lexie was wrong. Maybe Thunder wouldn’t fall apart. But as Poppy watched, a single thread drifted down to the floor.

  ‘Why would Lightning leave Thunder?’ said Poppy, her throat tight. ‘If she knew how dangerous it was?’

  Lexie shook her head. ‘I don’t know. It’s really very strange. I can’t explain it. Unless someone …’ She stopped, frowning.

  ‘Unless someone what?’ said Poppy.

  ‘Well I suppose it’s possible that Lightning might have been stolen,’ said Lexie. ‘A real magic carpet could be sold for a lot of money in the normie world.’

  ‘But that would be stupid!’ cried Poppy. ‘Because Lightning won’t be able to fly after a while anyway. She’ll just …’ Poppy couldn’t bring herself to say ‘disintegrate’. It was too awful to think about.

  ‘Look, hopefully she hasn’t been stolen,’ said Lexie. ‘Maybe she just sneaked off for an adventure in the normie world and got lost.’

  ‘We have to find her!’ said Poppy.

  ‘That’s just what I’m planning to do,’ said Lexie. ‘The carpet-tracking device isn’t showing Lightning in the Genie Realm, but I’m hoping it will pick up some movement from her once I’m in the normie world.’

  ‘I’m coming too,’ said Poppy.

  But Lexie shook her head. ‘Aren’t you a mentor now? You need to stay here. Your trainee might need you.’

  Poppy twisted one of her bangles around her wrist. ‘Actually … there’s something I need to talk to you about,’ she said. ‘It’s just not going to work out with my trainee. She’s called Aggi and we’ve got nothing in common and I actually don’t think she even likes me. So I was wondering if you’d let me swap her for another trainee? Someone who I really match.’

  Lexie frowned. ‘Didn’t Lady Topaz explain that it’s not possible to swap?’

  ‘Well yes,’ admitted Poppy. ‘But I thought because you’re a princess that maybe …’ Her voice trailed off when she saw the look on Lexie’s face.

  ‘The Matchmaker has paired you up with Aggi for a reason, Poppy,’ Lexie said
with a frown. ‘There’s nothing anyone can do to change that. Not even me. And even if I could do it, I wouldn’t. You can’t give up so quickly.’

  ‘Oh,’ mumbled Poppy. It was horrible having Lexie disappointed and cross like this.

  Lexie’s face softened. ‘I didn’t mean to snap,’ she said. ‘I’m just worried about Lightning. It’s going to be hard to find her.’

  ‘You will find her,’ said Poppy. ‘I know you will.’

  Lexie smiled – but it was just a small one. ‘Hopefully you’re right. But Poppy?’ Lexie put her hands on Poppy’s shoulders. ‘Don’t give up on Aggi just yet, OK? Even if you feel like you’re not going to get along.’

  ‘I guess I can try,’ Poppy said slowly.

  ‘Exactly,’ said Lexie, giving her shoulders a squeeze. ‘You just need to find the thing that connects you. And there must be something, or the Matchmaker wouldn’t have paired you up.’

  I don’t know why everyone thinks some oversized silver toothpick is so smart, Poppy thought gloomily.

  ‘Here’s an idea,’ said Lexie. ‘How about you take Aggi to the Funfair Bottle?’

  ‘I don’t know if she’ll come,’ said Poppy doubtfully.

  ‘Of course she will. I’ll send her a message and tell her to meet you there,’ said Lexie. ‘I’m sure once you’ve gotten to know each other properly, you’ll get along just fine.’

  Lady Topaz had said almost exactly the same thing. Of course, thought Poppy, it’s easy to say that. It was harder to believe it was true.

  Normally Poppy would’ve loved an excuse to go to the Funfair Bottle. She and Jake always had a great time there. There were lots of fantastic things to eat and sideshows to explore, but the best thing of all was the rides. Poppy’s personal favourite was the Big Flipper. She just knew the funfair wouldn’t be nearly as much fun if Aggi was there – but she decided to keep that to herself.

  ‘OK,’ Poppy said finally.