89Missing Three Wishes Chapter Three
I saw Cantara's face drop. She turned her head away from me and sighed lightly. She seemed hesitant to answer.
"We were not always slaves you know." She began. "There was a time when we were free, when we were able to use our powers for ourselves. We never used to have gas tails; we never used to become physically exhausted when using our magic without a wish. We were free.
"It all began approximately 4000 years ago, when the humans found out about us." Her voice turned into one o disgust. "Their greed, and lust for power made them…want us. We were tools. Objects. We were so small in population that we couldn't do anything to effectively protect ourselves. We were outnumbered by about 1500 humans to every genie. We asked for assistance from the other magical races, but they refused to help us."
"Other magical races?"
"Oh, Sorcerers, witches, priests, elves, prophets…. A wide range of magical beings exist. Technically we are all the same species. Genie's come from the middle east, Sorcerers from western Europe, wizards from eastern Europe, elves from the Northern Ice Lands, ectetera."
I felt my eyes widen in shock. I took in a deep breath of air, but it didn't seem to reach my lungs. Cantara continued.
"Similarly to humans, the supernatural beings are spread all throughout the world. Technically we are all the same, but we follow different customs, speak different languages, believe different things, and call ourselves different names.
"But the humans didn't find out about the other races. The genies were the only ones to be exposed. The word spread violently throughout all of the Middle East. However, despite the good relationships the genie's held with a number of the other supernatural races, they all refused to help us; for fear that their race would be discovered too.
"The humans outnumbered us. Even with our strong magical expertise we were no match for the army the humans had created. However the main thing that gave them the advantage… was that they found out the relevance of the Hayatashia stone – what effect it had on magical beings." Cantara's eyes turned harder, and she lifted her chin high, almost in an effort to calm herself.
"They discovered an enormous mine of the element in southern Iran. They emptied and destroyed all other known mines in the Middle East, thereby restricting our powers, and creating a weapon for themselves. Once again, the other races refused to help."
Cantara's eyes dropped, and her bottom lip curled inwards.
"We had no chance."
I sat there looking at my aunt, in a way I never had before. The way she looked right at that moment… she seemed more real. More humanthan I had ever seen her before. I was seeing a pained, insecure side of my aunt that I had never seen before. The way she tried to cover her pain, made it even sadder to watch. My thoughts were interrupted when Cantara continued.
"A number of smaller battles were fought. Some gave in, some fought back. Some offered to assist the humans in their task, just to save their own skins. But really, it all came to one final battle.
"There was a colony of genies in the desert, thinking that they were unknown. More came in search of sanctuary, and the colony grew. However, eventually the colony grew too large, and too easily noticed. The human's found us. A devastating battle began. Bodies littered the desert in small bunches. Ear splitting explosions every few minutes. I remember it clearly… like it was yesterday."
My mind stopped, and clicked back into place as she said that final sentence.
"You remember it?" I asked "you mean…Were you actually there!?"
"Of course"
I stared at her, and lifted my eyebrows, asking for an explanation.
"Supernatural beings have longer life-spans than humans. We grow at a human rate up until we are 21, and then we slow to a rate around 50 times slower than the average human. My body is that of about a 92 year old woman."
"So… you are actually… around 4000 years old?" I forced the words out of my dry mouth.
"4600."
I swallowed hard. With everything I've found out in the past week, the fact that my aunt is over four and half thousand years old really shouldn't bother me too much.
"Back to the point, the battle continued for 3 days, and 3 nights. By the third night about seventy percent of us had been killed.
I shivered. I could tell that Cantara was having trouble talking about her memories of this. I could hear it in her voice.
"Then the humans took it too far…"
I could see it in her eyes
"There was a final stand-off between the leader of the humans, and the leader of the genies. The leader of the genies surrendered, when the humans revealed that they had an overwhelmingamount of Hayatashia.
The amount they had, if created into gas, would not only destroy all genies present there – but would probably travel with the wind to cover several continents, thus destroying an overwhelming amount of magical beings. So the leader of the genie's agreed. A contract was signed, which still stands in the ICSA today. International Control of the Supernatural Agency." She explained, after reading my expression.
"So once the contract was signed, all the details were put into place. A spell was cast to give all genies their gas tails at age 21. That rule was put in place so that genies could not hide, and pretend to be human. Another spell was cast so that genies cannot use their magic without a wish from their master. Even the smallest of magic will leave the genie feeling exhausted."
Cantara looked at me sternly and said in a very serious voice "But you must be careful about this Aliya. Magic to large or complicated could even cause your own death."
I took a small shaky breath, not daring to take my eyes away.
"That rule was put in place obviously, to keep the magic exclusively for humans, and to erase any possibly opportunity for a revolution. Our power has become their power. The other rules such as education of magic and numbers of masters were all finalized as well. And so, Aliya, in answer to your question, that is where it all began."
I nodded slowly, still trying to take in all the information I had been bombarded with.
"Any other questions?" Cantara asked formally.
I shook my head from side to side.
"Very well. Well, I'm glad that you have calmed down some in the past week. As I have a few things I need to give you."
Cantara said, as she searched through her pocket. She pulled out a key, which looked as though it was several decades old. She bent down to the bottom draw of her desk, and clicked the key into the equally rusty lock.
She sat back up, holding two objects in her hands
"Now, tell me, do you want to be 'genie in a bottle' or 'genie of the lamp'" she asked. I took a closer look at the objects. The one in her right hand was a deep blue genie bottle, and the one in her left a small golden oil lamp.
My lips curled upwards into a sincere smile, and a chuckle escaped my chest unlike any that I had felt in a long time. Cantara smiled and laughed with me.
I sat humming along the music playing on my computer, while I flipped through an old magazine. It was dark outside now, but the light was provided by the old little girl's lamp on my bedroom table. The lamp took the shape of beautiful, blonde faerie dancer, holding up the ball of light. I remember when I was little, wishing I could be like her… have the natural, magical beauty that she did. Now that I do have the magic… well its not quite as appealing.
My favourite singer Dido sung eloquently from my computer speakers, singing the words that seemed to be plucked from my own mind.
If my life is for rent
And I don't learn to buy
I deserve nothing more than I get
Cause nothing I have is truly mine
"Life for rent" is one of my favourite songs. Its pretty old, but Its timeless to me. I know it's silly that I've connected that love song to my whole genie situation. But I can't help it. I often find myself relating to songs in ways that probably wasn't the writer's intention.
Nothing I have is truly mine.
I turned my attention away from the magazine, a looked at my brand new genie bottle placed lightly on the side of my bed. I decided that the bottle was prettier than the lamp. The blue colours stood out beautifully against my white quilt. My bottle had a thick, rounded base and a tall skinny neck, and a small diamond as a cap. I picked it up and ran my fingers over the delicate silver patterns calved into the blue glass, when a golden glint along the side of the bottle neck caught my eye
I noticed an inscription along the neck that I hadn't seen before, in a language I didn't recognise.
"خالب للعين وسام الفكرة الرئيسية الصاحبي"
I suppose I'll ask Cantara what that means later...
Cantara told me that once my powers had grown enough, she would teach me how to propel my body into the bottle. Gosh, it sounds weird saying that… my powers…
Thinking of that reminded me. I pushed my body upwards, and went to my desk. There sitting in a small container was my small white pebble of Hayatashia. Cantara had told me to touch it at least once every hour of the day, for about 30 seconds. More if I can. It was time for me to do it again.
I hesitantly reached for the pebble. The moment it touched my skin, I felt the power surge through my veins once more. I felt the same cramping, pushing feeling against the walls of my unstable body. I squeezed my eyes shut and counted to thirty…
1…2…3…
The power of the Hayatashia spread to the tips of my body, and pulled its way up my spine, towards my head.
13…14…15…
The power reached my brain, and began surrounding and suffocating it, pushing its contents as far in as it could. The leftovers ricocheted off the sizes of my skull, pushing hard against every corner of my head.
27…28…29…30!
I threw the stone across the room, as far away from me as I could, and my knees buckled as I fell to the ground. I sat there, shaking and concentrating on every breath for a couple of minutes. Eventually my breathing began to slow.
I pushed myself to a stand, and stretched my limbs. Now that I had had the Hayatashia, I actually felt a bit stronger. A bit more alert. A bit more powerful. I sighed, and grabbed the tongs I had put on my desk earlier this afternoon. I stepped towards the door where the stone had landed, and carefully closed the tongs over it. I then hurried over and dropped it into the small plastic container – scared that its power would move through the tongs.
Cantara says I'll get used to the magic of the Hayatashia eventually. I don't think I'm quite there yet.
Suddenly I heard a loud beep coming from my back left. I turned around and saw my mobile phone vibrating on my dresser.
Wow… I'd kinda like, forgotten my phone even existed.
I used my new energy to bound over to the dresser, and pick up my little pink phone. I flipped it open, and saw the photo of my caller appear on the screen.
Most of his short spiky brown hair was covered by a grey hood he wore over his head. His cute face shone with a friendly crooked smile showing his white teeth.
I felt my cheeks burn, and my eyes widen at the caller.
What was Brandon Grapier doing calling me?
Brandon went to my school. He was a really nice, funny guy. He was popular, but not in the way that most of the popular people at my school were. He still allowed himself to associate with people below his "level". He was nice to everybody. Even me.
My thumb twitched a little before I pressed the "answer" button, and lifted it to my ear.
"Hello?" I said hesitantly into the phone
"Hey Ally, its Brandon here. Brandon Grapier." His low voice answered.
"Oh hi Brandon. Um… how are you?"
"Pretty good. Where have you been? I've been trying to call you for a couple of days now"
"Oh I'm sorry. I – I've been sick."
"You must be pretty sick! You've been away for almost a week now."
"Yeah I am…well yeah I know… cause see I've got a… throat infection, flu…thing" I mentally hit myself at my lame excuse.
"How are you feeling now?"
"A bit better."
"Alright, well that's good. I gotta talk to you. We've been put together for an ancient history assignment for school. It's due in a couple of weeks."
"Ok, well, what's it on?"
"Like, the black death or some shit like that"
"Ha, ha ok…."
"So do you wanna get together after school or something when you're feeling better?"
"Oh yeah, don't worry I'll be at school tomorrow."
"Alright. Great, well I'll see you then?"
"Yup. See you then"
"Okay, bye"
And with that he hung up. I sighed and dropped my phone onto my dresser, and sat down in the chair next to it. My eyes rose to meet my reflection in the mirror.
I winced, and attempted to use my hands to flatten and control my dark fuzzy hair. I took note of the low, blue droops underneath my eyes, caused from lack of sleep. I turned my head from left to right, trying to find an angle that would make my large round face look at least a little less distorted.
I groaned, and rushed out of my bedroom to go get my mum's hair straightener.
I rushed out of the house, and ran down the street as fast as my legs would carry me. I was running late, and I had to rush to get the bus. It was about a 200 metre trek to the bus stop. I swung my bag roughly over my shoulder as I ran, and held my short green school uniform skirt down, so it wouldn't flutter upwards, and give the other people on the street a shock.
My teeth began chattering as I moved, and the icy morning air rose small goose bumps up my arms. I saw the bus ahead, boarding the last passenger, and pushed my legs to run even faster.
I was about ten metres away when the bus began to move away.
"WAIT!" I yelled.
A couple of the passengers sitting up the back heard me and turned around. Some of them began snickering. One of them however recognised me, and I saw her jump up, and go yell something at the driver.
The bus slowed to a stop, and I bounded the last few steps to reach to door. A stitch ached in my side, as I breathed heavily. The doors opened, and I pushed myself up the stairs, and showed my pass to the driver. He merely glared at me.
I tried to smile apologetically, and then turned to see my rescuer.
"Ally!" my friend Danielle beamed at me, before she came to give me, what one could only describe as a "tackle hug"
Danni was one of my closer friends in the group. She was the really beautiful, really nicegirl. She was friendly and got on well with anyone. You'd never hear her bitching about anyone. Not to mention she was gorgeous. Even in our ugly green school uniform she looked stunning. Her long, platinum blond hair hung in two loose pig tail braids, only emphasising the cuteness she displayed.
"Ally, where have you been!? I missed you!" she squealed, still hugging me. "You like, disappeared off the face of the earth!"
I was still breathing too heavily from my run to answer properly.
"I was – "I took another deep breath "I was going to – "I stopped to breathe again. I placed my hand to my side and pushed hard, hoping to stop the pain of the stitch. "Thanks for… stopping the bus"
Danni and I both giggled, and she grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back of the bus, where she and two other girls, Riley and Leah sat.
Riley was a small, slightly goofy girl who fell over a lot. She had short brown hair with a nice straight fringe. She was what you would probably call the clown of our group. Leah was a black girl with her long hair tied up in a high pony tail. She was a tall, medium built girl with a strong, aggressive, but still lovable personality.
I wasn't as close to Riley or Leah as I was to Gina, Jessica or Danni. Those three were definitely my best friends. But I still loved these two – and the other people in our group too of course.
The group was made up of six girls and five guys. We weren't particularly popular or particularly unpopular. We were the "normals". Well should I say MOST of us were the "normals"…I always felt like I didn't deserve to even be that high up on the social ladder. I think the "populars" feel that way too – they will often try anything they can to knock me down a few steps. Sometimes they succeed. But my group will always pick me back up again. We are all loyal, and we all love each other.
I took my seat next to Danni, and saw Riley and Leah's faces light up, when they saw me. They hugged me, and asked where I'd been as Danni had. I told them I had a "Throat infection, flu, thing" as I did Brandon. Yeah so I'm not the best liar.
"And Ally, you straightened your hair! You never straighten your hair!" Leah commented.
"Yeah true. But I decided to do it yesterday. I had nothing better to do, so…"
I felt quite pretty with straightened hair. It made a nice change from the fuzzy mess my hair usually was. I usually say that there's no point in straightening your hair. I usually say that it's only for girls with no brains and no other way of making themselves feel good about themselves. But I suppose I fit the profile.
"And… are you wearing makeup?" Riley asked.
"No!" I said twitching my face away from them.
"Oh my God, you are!" Danni squealed.
"Look who finally crossed over to the other side!" Leach laughed
My cheeks burned red. Probably with shame.
Once I got to school, all the people in my group were happy to see me. They hugged me, and asked where I was, as the others had. The popular people seemed to be disappointed at the fact that I came back. I got a couple of death glares from them as I walked into first period.
At lunch I didn't contribute much to the conversation. I would add in a comment every so often, but I wasn't really there. I was thinking of other things. More important things. I was thinking of leaving in a year's time. I was thinking of outliving all my friends by thousands of years. I was thinking of grabbing Gina, pulling her into a corner and telling her the truth.
I was being unrealistic though. I could never tell anyone. That was obvious. Not only because she'd think I was insane, but also because the only people who were allowed to know about magical beings were those who needed to know, or those who rub the lamp, and get three wishes themselves.
Like my parents for example. Neither of them are genies, but the need to know. Dad found out at an early age. He needed to know that the magical gene ran in his family. Mum found out before she married Dad. She needed to know that there was a chance that their children could be what I am.
I don't think any of my friends count as "need to know".
It was nearing the end of lunch, and most of the group were engaged in a conversation about the funniest clip on Youtube. I was barely listening.
"Aliya?" I deep voice said behind me. I turned and saw Brandon standing behind me. He moved towards the table, and everyone greeted him with smiles. Jessica's face turned a deep red. She had had something of a thing for Brandon for a while. He was oblivious to it of course.
"Hey" I replied as he moved closer and lent on the table.
"Hey I'm glad your back" he smiled sincerely. "So I wanted to talk to you about this ancient assignment. We're about a week behind, so I reckon we should get started pretty soon. Don't you think?"
"Oh yeah… sorry…"
"No, no don't worry about it" he said smiling "Do you wanna come over to my place this afternoon, and we could work on it?"
"Um… yeah sounds great." I said, smiling back at him
"Great, so… meet me by the… gate? After school?"
"Yup ok"
"Cool. See you then" he then turned to the rest of the group and waved "See you guys"
All the guys waved back, and immediately went back to their video clip conversation. All the girls turned to me and squealed. Jess looked at me enviously.
"You're with Brandon for ancient?!" she moaned.
I just rolled my eyes.
A/N:
Okay well I hope you enjoyed chapter three! In this chapter you found out about the history of the genies.
In chapter one a lot o people were asking what the opening segment was. Well now I'm pretty sure you can figure it out. It was the final standoff battle, told from the perspective of the leader of the genies.
So yeah, it was kinda just like a flashback to the past, to set up the scene.
Also in this chapter you got a closer look at Aliya's school life. You've now met all the girls in the group:
Aliya
Gina
Jessica
Danielle
Riley
Leah
i'll introduce guys later on. :D
OH and of course, I introduced you to Brandon. He's pretty cool - but he's got a backstory too!
So yeah, R&R and tell me what you thought! I love feedback. Thanks all!
XoxoX groovi