Genie-Us

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

When I awoke to a sunlight flooded bedroom, I had no idea where I was. Pushing up onto my elbows, I finally recognised the light blue walls and the furniture. This was the room where I'd spent my childhood years. What the heck was I doing here?

The last thing I recalled... my heart clenched at losing Jene. He had to go back to the Realm. He'd said my name, and told me to search for his lamp.

"Jene." I spoke my loss aloud and it came out all raspy.

"Isla, honey, are you awake?" Bev's voice came from outside of my room.

"Bev?"

My stepmother bustled into my room in her no nonsense way. Her worried expression brightened when she saw me. I managed a small smile around the depth of the confusion within me.

"Oh, thank goodness, I'm so glad you're awake." Bev gushed.

"Why am I here? Last thing I remember I was at Tammy Lee's party... Jene." I said his name again and tears flooded my vision.

"Don't you recall the accident?" Bev came over to me and patted my hand.

"What accident?"

"Part of the ceiling on the building where you attended the party collapsed. There were so many injuries but nobody died, thankfully. You've been in and out of consciousness for the last three days. It's a terrible way to start your school break." Her obvious distress warmed my heart.

"Did Harrison end up injured?" I thought of my stepbrother standing near me when Jene left.

"No, he wasn't at your party, in fact he wasn't even in the city. Why would you ask that?" her reply left me a bit baffled, so I changed the subject.

"I'm sorry that I've left you worrying, Bev."

"Why do you keep calling me by my name? Maybe I should call the doctor in case you've suffered more damage then I thought." Now she pressed a hand to my forehead, as if that could fix whatever she thought ailed me.

"When you and dad got married, you insisted that I call you Bev, so that's what I call you." I explained, but that only managed to shock her.

"What ever does that mean? Your dad and I were married long before you were born." Bev's words managed to startle me. We must have both appeared too shocked for more words.

"Okay, you married dad over seven years ago, back when Harrison and Candy were still in high school. You and dad were married in this beautiful ceremony without all of the drama a normal high society wedding had." I opened my mouth to say more, but Bev raised a hand.

"Honey, you need to stop there."

"Why?" I looked closely at her and saw the most disconcerted expression on her face.

"I'm your mother, as in I carried you for nine months. I needed a cesarean when you refused to move the right way and almost got stuck. Trust my, a mother never forgets the birth of her children." She smiled at me and cupped my cheek in her hand.

"No, my mother died, wait, no, she didn't. My mother's the She-Gen in charge of the genies." I exclaimed as I reached for the pendant that she had given me. A cold shiver went through me when it wasn't around my neck.

"You must have had a very interesting dream while you've been unconscious. That bump on the head has made you delusional and seeing things that never were. I'll head out and call the doctor. You stay here and try to recall everything."

Bev left the room, while my hand kept trying to grab my non existent pendant. I hadn't removed the pendant since my mother gave it to me, but it wasn't there. Maybe someone took it off me after this bizarre accident that I don't remember.