Chapter 3
I would've thought that reappearing in the same puff of smoke would make me cough, but it didn't. We landed in a flashy room where I noticed dangling chandeliers, golden statues of naked women, and the most ostentatious furnishings. It all looked expensive and extremely over the top.
"Say nothing and keep still, Little One, lest he suspect you are here," Jene whispered to me as the smoke began to clear. "To what do I owe the summons, Master?" Jene made a bow towards Harrison.
"I do like it when you call me master." Harrison made the worst feminine giggling sound.
"As I have stated before, I mean only the lamp that formal respect." Jene taunted, which made Harrison start to glower.
That was the first time I started to focus on Harrison, and what surrounded him. A gagging sound escaped me. I couldn't help it when the sight before me left me disgusted. Scantily dressed women draped themselves on an elaborate bed.
Other women enveloped my stepbrothers naked body. They continued pleasuring him even after Jene's appearance. Ugh, the last thing I needed to see and hear were women suckling on parts of his body that I didn't even want to think about.
Thankfully, Jene took a step backwards to block the view of my stepbrothers debauchery. How desperate were these women?
"Explain your summons." Jene demanded in a booming voice.
"She's not cutting it, get me a new one." Harrison waved a hand to a woman who stood beside the bed, she had her teeth bared at him.
"Do you even realise how much the lamp has managed to trick you?" Jene's disgusted look turned to amusement.
"Trick me?" Harrison scoffed.
"Come here, my pet, freedom shall be yours." Jene gestured to the relieved woman, as I peeked out from behind him.
Holding my gasp in when the woman turned into a giant lizard took a lot of work. Harrison's snarl of outrage covered any noise I had made. I dared a glance in his direction to see his bed full of the same giant lizards. Stifling my laugh took more effort than the gasp.
Harrison had scurried off the bed clutching at his genitals and screaming so girlishly. One of the lizards made its way towards him making him screech and rush across the room.
"You sent giant lizards to attack me!" Harrison accused Jene from the other side of the room.
"If you ever see the truth, life shall become far more interesting." Jene snickered before touching me on the head and time stilled around us. "You may use up your hilarity now, Little One. After that, I must know if you can see the lamp." Jene aimed that piercing, amused gaze at me.
I cackled with laughter. It spilled out of me until tears had started flooding my vision. My laughter echoed around that huge room, and I had no hope of containing it.
Harrison always had this need to prove he was so much better than me, he'd been attempting it for years. He saw us as constantly competing, whereas I had no thoughts about him most of the time. One day, after Jene had his lamp back, I intended to remind Harrison of this embarrassing moment of his.
"What happened to the women turned lizards?" I asked once I calmed down.
"Are you well?" Jene raised his brows at me.
"That was the funniest thing I've ever seen." I slashed a hand towards my stepbrother.
"Yes, it ranks quite high in amusing anecdotes." Jene agreed with a satisfied smirk.
"Are you going to tell me about the women turned lizards?"
"They were nothing but an illusion. No genie, or their lamp would trust that ignoramus with a real woman." Jene snorted in contempt.
"I'm sorry, but what?" my shock had me staring between Jene and Harrison, who still clutched at his genitals in the most comical fashion.
"Can you see the lamp?" Jene asked urgently. "It is in a most obvious position." He encouraged.
"Did you fake Harrison's wish? Did he not get what he asked for?" the words fell from my lips.
"Of course. What woman would deal with that selfish oaf? I suggest that you search for the lamp." Jene swished an impatient hand at me.
My eyes diligently swept the room. There was nothing anywhere that resembled any genie lamp that I'd seen in movies. All I saw were tangled sheets, pillows tossed everywhere, and an outraged, naked stepbrother.
"It would help if I knew what I was looking for. Does it look anything like what I think a genie lamp would look like?" I asked in confusion.
"I shall point it out to you."
Jene marched across the room. His finger aimed at a spot that contained nothing to me. I stared at where his finger pointed and slowly shook my head. His obvious disappointment turned to frustration.
"Show yourself to Little One, my friend." Jene tried to coax whatever I couldn't see, but nothing happened.
My chest clenched as the wave of disappointment hit me. I'd known this man for a few hours, but he already had the power to devastate me with one look. That didn't bode well for me at all.
"You cannot see the lamp." He didn't need to ask, he knew.
"No." I admitted.
"Why won't you show yourself?" Jene went back to talking to nothing, which became darn funny to watch. "Even if he asked you to hide yourself," he paused again. "Did he wish it? I cannot recall."
"Jene, you've got to stop talking to yourself, it's too hilarious." I spluttered when I couldn't hold my laughter in anymore.
"I am trying to discuss this situation with my lamp." He made the haughty declaration, but that only made him look more ridiculous.
"If you're trying to kill me with laughter, then you're doing a great job." I chortled.
"The lamp said he made a wish, but I cannot recall such a wish." Jene mused.
He clicked his fingers, and a huge scroll of paper appeared in his hands. I stared at him wide eyed, my laughter vanishing at such an unusual sight.
"What the heck is that?" I asked.
"The list of wishes that my lamp has accommodated for that human." He waved the scroll, and I'm sure my mouth popped open.
"That many?" I exclaimed.
"Yes, nothing but a greedy human. Hmmm, let me see." Jene remained distracted as he continued searching through the scroll.
I stared at him. That was the first time that my morning actually sank into me. I stood here in front of a bonafide, real genie. My stepbrother had his lamp. Harrison had taken full advantage of the genies lamp with his extensive list of wishes. Enlightenment shone down on me as I considered my new reality, I had to help Jene get his lamp back.
I pinched myself hard on the arm, and then winced at the pain. Yes, this had occurred with me wide awake and alert. The reality sank into me, all of this was the truth.
"Demons below! How could I have let him make such a stupid wish?" Jene growled.
He glared over at Harrison with a deathly glower, both dark and foreboding. With a sigh, his gaze returned to the lamp, or the blank space where I should've seen the lamp. Once again I tried to stem my curiosity. The last thing I wanted was that nasty glare of Jene's aimed at me.
"What was the wish?" as usual, my mouth took control over my mind.
"That none but he and I can see the lamp," Jene's scowl turned thunderous, and I cursed myself for saying anything. "I must take you to the Realm, if I ever have a hope of retrieving my lamp." He smacked one huge hand into the other.
"What on earth is the Realm?" I asked, and he whirled around from where he'd started pacing, as if he'd forgotten my presence.
"It is not on earth, Little One. The Realm is a universe outside of yours."
I frowned at him as the obvious occurred to me, "exactly how am I, a human, going into some other realm in a different universe?" I packed my question with a huge dose of sarcasm.
"As you are not exactly human..."
"What?" I stopped him when he said something so insane. How was I not exactly human? That made no sense at all.
"It will take time for the human part of your body to develop enough anti-magic to cope with the rigours of the Realm. We shall have to spend time on earth to accomplish such a feat." He mused as he stroked his chin and ignored me.
"You need to explain." I walked into Jene's space, so he had to take notice of me.
"I shall, once I finish with that hideous human," his thumb pointed to Harrison with a savage thrust. "You must hush, lest he know you are here."
"If you made me invisible to him, then why can't you make me inaudible?"
"The magic refuses to work that way. You must hush."
"Fine."
I made a motion of zipping my lips, but that only managed to confuse him. With a roll of my eyes, I said nothing else. He nodded in understanding.
Harrison came back to life with another of those feminine squeals. Jene pushed me behind him with a subtle motion that I hadn't expected. It wasn't as if Harrison knew I was there.
"You! You did this!" Harrison howled as he strode towards Jene.
"Ware the lamp, for the only one it befriend is the genie." Jene said those words in the same ominous tone he'd used on me, and I shivered.
Harrison didn't seem to get the message as he flew at Jene in his rage. Now I knew why Jene had pushed me behind him.
Harrison began to froth at the mouth as he roughly grabbed hold of Jene's vest. Jene did nothing to defend himself, but something warm and comforting wrapped around me.
"Give me my wish!" Harrison snarled the words as he stood on tiptoe to try and reach Jene's massive height.
"You have wished nothing, Human."
Jene reached out a finger, pushed it against Harrison's forehead, and moved the man backwards with one tiny shove. My mouth gasped open as I stared at him, while Harrison grew increasingly ferocious. It was kind of funny when you consider that he stood there naked.
"I wish for a woman who actually wants to see to my needs." Harrison demanded in a haughty tone.
"As you wish it to be." Jene's cold words held a hint of amusement.
"By the Goddess above! Put some clothes on, Boy! You youngsters these days." The crotchety voice sounded exactly like my favourite Aunt Chloe.
She had always been such a character, but she had died over two years ago. I knew it couldn't be her, which made me miss her more.
"By the devil, get dressed now, Boy."
I dared to peek around Jene, only to find the funniest, but most endearing sight. My Aunt Chloe stood there with her no nonsense expression. Her hair remained steely grey in its short, permed froth. Hazel eyes, much like mine glowered at a stunned Harrison.
My throat tightened uncomfortably at seeing her. I had cried for days when we lost her. Dad had no idea of how to console me either. It hadn't been the best time of my life. The only mother figure I ever knew had left me.
"Chloe..." Harrison whispered before turning on Jene.
"I didn't wish for her! Plus, she's dead."
"Perhaps you should have made your wish more specific. You wished for one to care for your needs, and your aunt chose to volunteer her time." Jene replied calmly.
"She's dead! She can't volunteer anything." Harrison's agitation grew as he threw on a robe.
"Does a robe amount to clothes these days?" Aunt Chloe kept badgering Harrison.
She then turned and looked straight at me. That familiar, welcoming smile managed to bring those tears to my eyes. I hadn't realised time had stopped once more until Harrison's screeching protest disappeared into the general hum of the time stop.
"Hello, hon." Aunt Chloe said as she walked towards me.
"Aunt Chloe." I murmured in amazement.
"It's really me, hon."
"What are you doing here? You died. We buried you, and now you're here." I rubbed my brow as my thoughts spilled.
"Two things, or maybe three. First up, death is not the end of life. Our souls live on," she ticked that off on her finger. "Second, someone must distract that idiot and make sure he suspects nothing, as well as attends to your father's schedule," she now pointed at Harrison. "The last thing, hon, you must help Jene to retrieve his lamp. Harrison has had it in his clutches for far too long." Aunt Chloe patted Jene's arm, before turning another glare on Harrison.
"This day just gets more and more surreal." I shook my head.
"Hon, I didn't read you all those fairytales and mystical stories for nothing when you were younger. There's many worlds beyond our own. Jene has his world of mysteries, so different from what you know, but there are many similarities. The human side of you has become so pragmatic." She added the last part when I just stared at her wide eyed.
"I already told Jene I'd help him." I said.
"Good girl, I knew I could trust in you. Now be on your way before the dingleberry wants to make another wish."
Aunt Chloe gave me a quick, but warm hug, and she was warm. It was great to have her loving arms around me once more.
"I've missed you." I admitted as I hugged her close.
"Sorry I had to leave you as unexpectedly as I did. I would've hung around longer, hon, but there were suspicions growing. I had to end the chatter about you," her words left me completely baffled. "If you ever need me, all you have to do is call my name, and I'll be there." She pinched my cheek, smiled in that motherly way of hers and stepped back.
"Can't we have..." I didn't get a chance to say anything else because she turned to Jene.
"You let anything happen in the Realm, and you know what I'll do." Aunt Chloe waggled a threatening finger to Jene who seemed affronted at the thought.
"I would never let anything happen to her." Jene crossed his arms appearing as a fierce warrior, and that was quite a breathtaking sight to me.
"Remember what I said, hon." Chloe said those words to me before walking back towards Harrison.
Time restarted and we disappeared before I could say anything else to my favourite aunt. Appearing back at my house, next to the kitchen table made everything waver in a surreal way.
I decided that I wasn't up to dealing with any other surprises right now. Without a word to Jene, I walked to the couch, flicked on the television, and decided to nap for a while.