New Story Prologue(?)

“If you had just one wish, Mama, what would it be?”

“I would wish for you to be healthy. What would you wish for, Maya?”

“I would wish for Mama to be happy.”

Life wasn't fair. Of that, Susan Gerhardt was certain. The day her daughter's physician told her she had an incurable disease, life seemed to halt. When Maya Gerhardt was diagnosed with a terminal illness bound to end her life before she turned twenty, she was only three years old. At the time, seventeen years seemed like plenty of time to live and grow, to learn. More importantly, time to find a cure, as Susan was sure would happen. Unfortunately, as she watched her now seventeen-year-old daughter, those years seemed incredibly short. They passed by so quickly, of course a cure hadn't been found. It was only a couple weeks ago that she was a three-year-old receiving the disheartening diagnosis, right? When she'd heard the verdict, heard her daughter was going to die so young, Susan had been convinced it was a mistake. There was simply no way someone as perfect as her daughter would have this disease. Even after fourteen years, she still held on to some small amount of hope. Hope that what was wrong with her was something else entirely; hope that a cure would be found. A cure could be found any day, after all, couldn't it?

Maya was less convinced. Her entire life, she dealt with the fact of her demise. “Terminal” was the word she heard over and over. When she was young, she hadn't understood what this meant. This strange word, “terminal” which made her mother so upset, seemed just a word to her. It was a hard one to spell, at that. While she laughed at her inability to remember whether the “m” came first or the “n” her mother cried. When she first had it explained to her why she spent so much time in the hospital when other kids got to play outside, death didn't mean much to her. As she aged, and her father passed away, she began to understand what death was. It meant you left and didn't come back. At first she was scared, of course she didn't want to die. For a time she wrestled with the fact, tried to learn to accept it. Twenty years of life wasn't such a bad run, she finally decided. As long as she made her impact and did something meaningful in that time, dying early would be acceptable. It had taken her a long time to get to “acceptance,” as her grief counselor described it, and by age seventeen the sad truth was completely clear to her. If by some miracle a cure was found, of course she would be happy. That wasn't a real possibility though, and she'd come to accept that.

If one looked at Maya, it was clear something was wrong with her. Eyes of a brilliant green were the only part of her that seemed to have any life left in them by the age of seventeen. Her body was thin, cheeks sunken, skin pale, brown hair lackluster, and she'd only grown to a respectable but short 5'0” tall. These factors combined guaranteed she looked absolutely sickly. It was for this reason she hated leaving the comfort of her home; everyone looked at her with pity she didn't want. If she didn't pity herself, why should they pity her?

Despite her disdain for such public humiliations, her best friend since she was watching the other kids play on the playground often tried to coax her into going out and doing activities. “Live while you can, right?” she'd always say. Anna was someone who was very self-assured. Maya wished she could live life the way the other young woman did. When Anna was Maya's age she decided to join the military, leaving the only question which division of military she would join. She'd settled on the Marines, which suited her well. Anna had a zealous love for adventure, which was probably why she and Maya complemented each other so well. When Maya was unable to be physically active, to experience something as simple as getting lost in the woods, Anna did it for her. In many ways, Maya lived vicariously through her best and only friend. The road ran two ways, as Maya's job was to keep Anna's enthusiasm in check, to guide her from a cell phone out of the woods Anna swore had no distinguishing characteristics.

After basic training, Anna was different, if only more restrained and disciplined. This didn't stop her from insisting that Maya accompany her to whatever place she was fascinated with at the moment. On this particular day, this was a public auction, to benefit those with cancer. Of course she mumbled a bitter obligatory grievance that orphan diseases, as Maya's was, only rarely received the proceeds from auctions of such large magnitude.

Waving around the article she'd printed from the Internet, Anna did her best to persuade Maya to join her, “It's so ridiculous what people will spend on some things! That's something you have to see in your life.” Her words reminded Maya of why she always ended up going along with Anna's stints; she should live while she still had the chance. Anna knew Maya felt this way, and used it to her advantage to attain her friend's company. After Maya agreed, the only obstacle for Anna to tackle was Susan Gerhardt, Maya's very protective mother. Of course Anna understood the reason the woman was so careful with her daughter, but they'd fought on more than one occasion about Maya making good use of the time she had instead of trying to extend her life by a few trivial minutes resting.

Convincing her mother wasn't as hard as normal, since Maya's health had deteriorated in the previous months. The woman's mind wasn't in a good place, and though Anna felt bad taking advantage of her weakened state, she was sure Maya appreciated the things they did together. With the decision made and first aid training in her back pocket, the girls prepared for the auction.

Anna was a tomboy, preferring to wear pants instead of skirts or dresses to formal events like the auction was. In preparation for Maya to say yes, she'd already brought a pair of khakis and a collared blue shirt to wear. As she changed into her formal wear, Maya reflected on her closet of options and pondered Anna's muscular build. The two had no qualms with changing in front of each other, so Anna shed her clothes while Maya stared at her closet. From the mirror, Maya caught view of her friend's body, and wished not for the first time that she could maintain any amount of weight. It was hard to maintain weight, however, when one had no desire to eat at all, and eating much made one sick.

Once Anna was fully dressed, she aided Maya in the decision process, and the pair decided Maya should wear her nicest black dress. Add in a pair of black tights, black boots meant to hide how thin she was, and a silver shrug, and Maya was dressed. They admired themselves in the mirror, and Anna joked, “We're looking fine. Those stuck up rich dudes are going to be wanting our hot bods tonight.”

Maya knew better than to argue; knew better than to protest “I have no body to want” or “I'm not wantable” because if one thing set Anna off, it was a lack of self-esteem. However, when no male she'd ever met had ever expressed interest in becoming more than friends (or even becoming friends, for that matter), it took a toll on Maya. Sure, she was terminal and maybe they didn't think she was worth it if she was just going to die off before the good years, but love wouldn't care about that, would it? More than anything, she wanted to kiss someone just once before she died. With her limited social circle, though, the only option she had was Anna. While Anna might have been perfectly willing, Maya insisted the person who kiss her be someone who felt romantic love for her. Preferably male, she said, and Anna resolved to find someone for her. That was a few years back, and no such luck yet. Maya had more or less given up.

“Our hair sucks,” Maya countered, and Anna scowled at her. As always, Anna's hair was pulled back tight on her head into a bun, a military grade hairstyle. Maya's hair was in a loose bun as well, without much effort given to its upkeep. If no one was going to see it, why bother making it look nice?

Anna protested, “I'm pretty sure this is going for refined nowadays...Maybe not that.” She motioned Maya's mop of hair with a chuckle, and went to find Susan to help tame Maya's unruly locks. Finally they were ready, decked out in fancy clothes and practicing their confidence to make them look like they belonged at an auction where hundreds of thousands of dollars would be spent. Once Anna was satisfied with Maya’s “swagger” she guided her out to her car, explaining on the way that the auction was an event you showed up for when you wanted and left when you wanted.

The way Anna drove made her military training quite evident, she was somehow both incredibly cautious while being aggressive. If she ever met someone else at an intersection and there was a question of who should go first, the answer was always Anna. Maya didn’t really mind, but sometimes Anna pushed the speed limit a little far and this concerned her friend. Being ill her entire life, driving fast wasn’t something many of her companions allowed her to experience, so she never complained when Anna did it. Still, as they flew past every other car in their path, Maya had to wonder if her choice of friends was exactly safe. Dismissing the notion quickly, she turned the radio up and listened as Anna shouted along with it, admiring Anna’s lungs. Most kids her age, she realized as she did so, didn’t ever think of something like admiration for lungs, but Maya’s lungs were one of her biggest problems. The doctors she’d seen told her the most likely way for her life to end would be due to lung issues. In her lifetime the number of lung infections she’d had was astounding.

Once the song, some pop song Maya was convinced she’d heard at least three other times by different artists, came to an end, Anna shot her a brilliant grin. “You ready for this?” she asked, and Maya tilted her head in curiosity. Suddenly the car made a screeching noise, and shot off at top speeds on the stretch of road they were on. From where she sat, Maya could see the speedometer climbing: 70 mph…80 mph…90 mph, and it was only getting higher. The panic in Maya’s face at the action made Anna laugh, but she slowed the car down and drove a more reasonable speed for the rest of the trip.

The auction was held in a large hotel conference area. Maya felt as out of place as ever as she stared at the many overdressed people. In fact, both Maya and Anna wondered whether there had been a more posh gathering of people in the history of the world. Men in tuxes strutted about, chattering with women dressed in gowns probably worth more than Susan Gerhardt’s house. “Feeling a bit out of place,” Anna voiced next to her, and Maya breathed a sigh of relief that her friend was experiencing the same emotions she was. Despite this, Anna happily greeted a few older gentlemen and chatted with them for a time, while Maya stood and wondered why she’d agreed to come along at all if Anna was going to ignore her. Soon they were separated by a decent sized space, and Maya leaned against a wall and looked around the room.

As she brooded, she noticed an attractive young man approaching her. He stood as a stark contrast to many of the others in the room, who were mainly older gentlemen with the occasional older lady in the mix. Why this young man was making a beeline straight for her she couldn’t say, but as soon as she met his eyes her heart beat faster. Averting her gaze as quickly as possible, she set out to find comfort in Anna. Before she reached Anna the young man reached her.

“Hello,” he said in a deep voice. Maya fixed her gaze firmly on his chest, which looked well-muscled even under his tux, she noted, and figured he must be talking to someone else; best not to respond and make a fool out of herself then. Surprisingly, the young man repeated himself, and Maya looked up at him and felt her face flush.

“H-hello,” she stuttered in response, and the man’s face changed into a small smile.

“My name is Miles,” he said in a warm voice, “Miles Johnson. What’s your name?” Maya couldn’t understand why this man was speaking to her, but she squeaked her name out.

“Maya Gerhardt,” she mumbled, looking up into Miles’ eyes. As she did he looked behind her at someone who was passing by, and the expression in his eyes changed before he returned his gaze to her. The first time she saw them she’d been struck by their beauty, this time she was struck by how they captured some dark thing inside of him. They seemed to mask indifference and a hint of hatred from the world. Behind the hatred there was something deeper as well, but much more skillfully hidden. Something so hidden Maya figured even he might not realize it was there, but before Maya had time to decipher what it was he blinked and it vanished. The expression on Miles’ face changed as she stared into his eyes, as if he guessed what she was thinking.

“I haven’t seen you at an auction like this before,” he stated, with every hint of warmth he’d previously spoken absent.

“My fr-friend just brought me here…It’s silly, I…I better get back to her,” Maya babbled, before bowing her head and running back to the comfort of Anna’s side. As she went she could feel Miles’ eyes on her, and felt distinctly uncomfortable and mildly threatened. Anna looked at her with a grin and asked what she thought of the man who’d approached her. Maya’s quick head shake and tense body language eliminated him from Anna’s possible options for her friend’s first kiss.

“What was he like?” she asked, turning her attention back to her friend. “I mean, was he rude or something?”

Maya shook her head, “No, something about him sort of just…Gave me chills. Like, I guess…It felt like what I imagine looking into the eyes of a murderer might. He was perfectly pleasant, but, I…he didn’t seem trustworthy.”

Anna nodded as Maya spoke, “Well, you’ve always been a good judge of people. If you think he’s suspicious he just might be.” It was at that moment Anna made a silent resolution to watch the young man and make sure he didn’t cause any trouble. The older men Anna had been talking to cleared out, and she quickly recounted what they’d told her. Not only had one of them spent $10,000 on a pair of cufflinks that month, another had bought a yacht for his toddler. This one, as Anna observed, walked with a woman much younger than him on his arm, and Anna made a joke that she was most likely a trophy wife and a gold digger. Anna also learned the next item to be sold in the auction was a lamp, but as soon as they tracked it down by number, displayed proudly on a pedestal meant to be sold after a fifteen minute break, she declared her information a lie.

“How is this a lamp?” she asked, glaring at the strange gold object which looked to her more like a strangely flattened teapot.

Maya shrugged, “I guess it’s a lamp in the sense of a genie lamp, you know? I always wondered why the called them that, actually…Do they light something up?”

“I don’t know. They’re just liars, calling it a lamp. Lamps light things up. This is…A pot at best,” she said, before the pair realized they were being watched.

Miles approached them slowly, “It’s called a lamp because it would have traditionally been used as an oil lamp. You should quiet down now, the host is speaking.” Maya nodded and Anna wrinkled her nose as they turned their attention to the front of the room, where a decrepit old man was speaking into a microphone. To be more specific the old man was attempting to speak, but it was clear he’d been a smoker in his early years because his voice was constantly strained as if he needed to cough. Once he finally did cough, to Maya’s relief since she was beginning to feel sympathy throat tickles, nothing changed. To Maya’s left, Anna grew increasingly frustrated at the man’s mundane words about everyone gathering together for a good cause. Instead of listening she glanced toward the pot to ponder it and noticed Miles staring it down, with an open shoulder bag with a piece that looked conspicuously similar to the lamp inside. As soon as it occurred to her what Miles was planning, he snatched the real lamp and replaced it with the fake one. The movement was so swift Anna doubted she would have caught it if she hadn’t been watching for it. As quickly as he’d made the trade, Miles glided away quietly, so as not to bring attention to himself, but Anna followed. It took Maya a moment to notice her friend had left her side, and when she glanced around the room she spotted her stalking Miles out a side door. Maya followed hastily, but felt a wave of tiredness wash over her at the same moment. Her lungs felt constricted, but she pressed on anyway, wondering what Anna could possibly be doing following a man Maya believed to be dangerous.

“Where are you going with that?” Anna asked once she and Miles were alone in an alleyway next to the hotel they’d been in. She slowly approached him as they spoke.

“Where am I going with what?” he asked with a sick sincerity to his voice that made Anna almost question what she’d seen.

“You stole the lamp, put it back,” she ordered in an authoritative voice.

“Brave, aren’t you?” Miles mumbled, mainly to himself. “I won’t put it back. I’m going to leave now, so please return to the auction. There’s nothing you can do to stop me.”

“Oh really?” Anna questioned, now standing next to him. In a flash of movement she reached out and grabbed his bag, pulling the lamp from it and giving him a smug grin. His shocked face and her smug grin both didn’t last long as he became enraged. Before Anna knew what was happening, Miles had her in a sleeper hold and growled into her ear.

“Don’t do that,” he snarled in a whisper, holding Anna steady. For the first time in a long time Anna experienced fear, and in a panic flailed until Miles’ hold on her caused her consciousness to slip away.

A gasp brought Miles’ attention to Maya, who stumbled into the alleyway and collapsed completely. Contrary to his earlier behavior, he walked over to her and scowled. He crouched by her side and gingerly helped her to turn over as she went into a coughing fit. The lamp fell from his grip as he wondered what to do and it landed by Maya’s side. She wheezed deeply, and missed the complete change in Miles’ demeanor as he panicked over what to do.

“OK, you can’t die or anything. I don’t want to be a murderer! Never that, I told him never that,” he mumbled desperately, and Maya shook her head, trying to tell him she’d be fine. As she coughed she waved her hand to tell him to forget about it, still feeling herself quivering in fear at his cold presence. Her dismissal didn’t deter him as he ran off to try to wake Anna, leaving his things behind. Maya coughed again, and after her next cough lowered her arm, brushing the lamp in the process. Miles pointed wordlessly at Maya when Anna awoke, and both stared in awe at the lamp. The object was glowing as it lay on the ground by Maya’s side, and then began floating up completely on its own.

Maya’s coughing slowed and stopped as the lamp’s shape began to change, and a golden humanoid shape grew in its place. Within a few seconds green eyes blinked around at the group.
“Well, it’s been a while. You’re…very clean looking,” he complimented them all, as Anna and Miles rose to full standing positions and approached the strange man. “Oh, you’re giants too! My superior height is…,” he trailed off as Miles approached, comparing their heights to each other. The strange man was slightly shorter, and he wrinkled his nose, “Not so superior anymore. Uh, I guess people have grown since the last time I woke up…”

“What the hell are you?” Miles asked. The man tilted his head and glanced at Anna, then down to Maya. He offered her a hand to help her up and smiled when she took it and stood. He took in her height.

“You’re the right height for a woman,” he said calmly. He then looked at Anna in her 5’7” and mumbled, “You’d be a little tall for a man…”

“Are you seriously talking about how tall we are instead of explaining who the hell you are?” Anna asked, and the man turned to look at Maya.

“Sorry,” he said, “but neither of you woke me from my slumber, did you? That was this young woman.” Maya smiled at him and laughed in disbelief.

“Are you a genie?” she asked, and the man shrugged.

“Define genie. I’ve been known as a djinn, is that word the same word?” he asked in response. Maya nodded and confirmed that the two terms were equivalent as far as she knew. “What language are you speaking to me in?”

“English,” Maya mumbled, with a clear question in the inflection of her voice.

“Like England? Is this England?” the man asked, looking around the alleyway and scowling deeply as if unimpressed. Maya shook her head.

“It’s the United States of America,” Maya informed him, and then laughed at his subsequent confusion.

“That’s a new one,” he stated. “I guess the protocol would be to tell you I am a—what was the word? Genie? I am a genie, and I am here to grant you three wishes…The two staring at me are making me uncomfortable…” The genie turned to Miles and glared, “Do you need something?” Anna moved to Maya’s side to check on her as the two males had a stare down.

“Do you ever change back to a lamp?” Miles asked, and the genie laughed.

“Well now that’s a look I recognize,” he said. “Your desire to sell me, however, will go unheeded. Until I fulfill this young woman’s wishes I will not leave her side.”

“What if someone just, you know, took you?” Miles asked.

The genie laughed again in a good natured way, “Are you going to kidnap me, Malus? Forget it. Go home.”

“What did you just call me? It was…very almost my name,” Miles mumbled, and the genie shrugged.

“Forget it,” his dismissed. “Your presence is unnecessary. You will be unable to steal me, despite the devil in your eyes. You know, the way you present yourself is fascinating to me. It isn’t as if your soul—.”

Anna cut him off before he finished his sentence, “Don’t talk to the scum who tried to steal you. Talk to the saint you’re supposed to be granting wishes to.”

“Sorry,” the genie replied, barely concealing his rolled eyes. “First of all, what is your name?”

Maya obliged him and told him her name quickly, then asked, “Um…So this might be a strange question, but do you have a name?”

“Of course,” the genie replied with a genial smile. “My name is Melchior.”

“Just Melchior?” Maya asked, and Melchior nodded.

“Just Melchior,” he confirmed, as Miles attempted to sneak up behind him. “Malus,” he said in a lightly threatening voice, stopping Miles in his tracks, “as I said, kidnapping will not happen.” Melchior took a step away from Miles and turned to face him. “You will leave,” he said, looking deeply into the eyes that had so frightened Maya. Miles stared Melchior down and Maya almost believed the two males were going to fight, but Melchior’s sudden grin made her doubt that thought.

To Maya and Anna’s surprise, Miles roughly picked up his shoulder bag from the ground and gave Melchior one last glare before turning to leave. What the pair missed was when he tossed something very tiny and sticky onto Maya’s back. Melchior saw it in, but simply blinked in confusion, not sure what the item could possibly be.

“So, get to it,” Anna said, and Melchior held his hand out to halt her.

“Patience,” he growled in a way that was still oddly good natured. “Maya, do you have a first wish in mind?”

“World peace,” Maya deadpanned back. Melchior looked taken aback, and Anna immediately glared.

“W-well,” Melchior replied. “Would you like to return to your home and think it over for a while?”

“No, I’m sure,” Maya replied, causing Melchior to frown.

“World peace is a very complicated wish,” he said. “Perhaps we should go somewhere more comfortable and private so I may explain?” Maya nodded and began to walk toward the parking lot, but Anna held out her arm and stopped them.

“Don’t you think you might draw a little attention, wearing that outfit?” Anna asked, and Melchior glanced down at his body and frowned. The young looking genie was wearing a pair of dark brown harem pants with a golden band at the top. On his feet was a pair of golden shoes which came to a distinct point, and his chest was mainly bare. Around his neck sat a golden collar reminiscent of Ancient Egyptian jewelry, and gold bangles were on both of his arms. His ears were adorned with golden earrings, halfway covered by his dark brown hair. Though his eyes were green, his skin was tan and his complexion dark.

“I guess my clothes are a little different, I should get new clothes, then...,” he trailed off as he stared at his body. He wore no shirt so his toned body was very visible, and he stared at it as if he hadn’t seen it in quite some time. His focus was taken up by his flat stomach, which distracted Maya as well. Anna snapped her fingers to bring their attention back to the present. “Oh!” Melchior gasped, “Right, uh…It’s not a problem. Those who didn’t witness my first transformation can’t see me. I’m like a spirit, I guess. No reason to worry.”

With his assurance the group walked back to Anna’s car, which Melchior eyed suspiciously. Anna regretted inviting him inside when he spent the better amount of the car ride trying to claw his way out of the back seat and telling her she was going way too fast. At one point he opened the car door, causing general panic to pass between Maya and Anna and subsequently Melchior as well when he realized he could fall out at any moment. After the “door incident” Melchior quieted down, but when Maya glanced back at him to check on him she realized he was letting out a steady stream of what may have been either curses or prayers and was probably three shades whiter than normal. To her credit, Anna wasn’t speeding quite as much as usual, but Melchior didn’t really know the difference. Once they were back at Maya’s humble home, he all but flew out of the car and made an attempt to hug the ground, alluding to his belief that he wouldn’t ever get to walk on it again after riding in Anna’s car.

“I promise never to take advantage of you again,” he whispered to it as Anna walked by and rolled her eyes. Maya smiled at him, somehow not bothered by his hysterical behavior, and invited him inside her home. Melchior stood on shaking legs and followed Maya, admiring the modern landscape as he went. “Wow,” he mumbled, then grinned at Maya. “This is where you live?” he asked, and Maya nodded. “It’s beautiful.”

The house was, by modern standards, nothing special. Susan Gerhardt rented it from one of her college friends sympathetic to her situation, so she got a good deal off it. The house was fairly small, with only a ground floor and a basement. Maya and her mother’s rooms were on the ground floor, so Maya wouldn’t have to climb stairs on a regular basis. They had a part time live in nurse as well to take care of Maya, whose room doubled as an office area. Susan worked from home so she could spend as much time with her daughter as she needed. The outside of the house was painted a dull brown, and looked as cozy as it felt inside. Maya had never once considered it beautiful, but she wondered why she hadn’t once Melchior said it. In another time she would have certainly been considered to be well off.

Maya and Anna walked inside the house and up toward Maya’s room, but Melchior stopped outside it. “Sorry,” he laughed uncomfortably, “but you’re really all right with a man entering your room?”

“What kind of culture do genies have?” Anna countered with a tilt of her head. “Of course it’s fine.”

“Besides,” Maya added with a genial smile, “you’re not a man. You’re a genie.” A hint of emotion too quick for Anna or Maya to recognize flashed across his face as he stepped inside, and Maya wondered if she’d said something wrong.

“Right you are,” Melchior said, glancing around Maya’s room carefully. Each step he took showed how out of place he felt, hit by more than culture shock; after all, the last time he’d woken everything looked completely different. From his eyes the floor was immaculate, the walls were somehow holding up unfamiliar sheets of paper as if by magic, and strange machines littered the area…It was intimidating. The genie sat on the floor and gazed around the room. Luckily Maya’s nurse, Heather Richards, wasn’t there at the moment to see Maya and Anna talk to someone only they could see. Melchior also didn’t seem to be completely there with them, at least in his mind.

“How is that staying up there?” he asked with a deep scowl on his face. What he was talking about, the girls realized after following his gaze, was Maya’s poster of a baby sea turtle sitting on a beach. “Some sort of sorcery?” he mumbled to himself, standing from the ground and approaching the poster. He reached for it and nearly pulled at it, but Anna spoke up.

“It’s called sticky tack,” she explained, “not sorcery. And definitely not easily fixable if ripped.”

“Oh,” Melchior mumbled as he lowered his hand from the poster and looked dejected. As soon as his dejection came it passed and he continued to survey Maya’s room while Anna attempted to convince Maya she should wish her disease away. Between arguments of “How selfish would that be when I have the chance to do something great?” and “What would your mom think if you told her you passed up a chance to get better?” Melchior became overwhelmed. Maya’s room was fairly small, fitting with the small house she occupied, but it had quite a lot inside it. On a desk in a corner of the room sat a desktop computer, which Melchior eyed suspiciously as he walked by, giving himself a tour. The walls were painted a pastel violet, and Melchior inspected how perfectly well covered they were. She had a double bed with a comfortable mattress causing the genie to wonder whether she might be royalty while standing from it in alarm; he’d practically been swallowed up by the soft fabric covering it, after all. Panic only seemed natural, but there was no time for it. Something on Maya’s desk was moving, and he hit it off the desk in fright before leaning down to inspect what turned out to be some sort of bird toy and not a giant bug that was brightly colored.

Melchior walked back to his comfortable place on the floor then and decided to stare at his hands until Maya was ready to speak with him so he didn’t accidentally break any of Maya’s things. By the time Anna was deterred and stopped commanding Maya to wish what Anna wanted, Melchior had his face buried in his hands and was whimpering slightly.

“Are you OK?” Maya asked as Anna bit her lip and sat on Maya’s bed, looking annoyed.

“HAHA!” Melchior replied much too loudly. “Of course I’m OK. I’m here to help you, not get confused by all your stuff!” Melchior’s eyes betrayed what he was truly feeling then, and Maya almost laughed at his expense when she realized he looked scared of the objects in her room. “Anyway, there are a few things I have to tell you before you make a wish—I still don’t recommend ‘world peace’ by the way. Though I won’t—can’t—stop you if that’s what you truly desire. So, there are certain things my magic won’t allow me to do,” he said, preparing to continue on, but Anna interrupted.

“No extra wishes, can’t bring someone back from the dead, can’t make someone fall in love?” Anna interjected jeeringly, and Melchior seemed surprised.

“Well, yes. How did you know?” he asked, and Anna shrugged.

“Just that smart,” she replied sarcastically, rolling her eyes as she spoke.

“Well that’s not it, of course. I cannot kill. I can only use my magic to do things related to your wish,” he explained, looking at Anna as if expecting her to have something to say on the matter. When she didn’t speak up he went on, “and the first two things the light haired woman said," Anna interrupted with her name then and he went on, "the things Anna said are self-explanatory, but…it isn’t only matters of love which I can’t control. I can’t make people’s opinions change—violates free will, I guess…Or so I was told. All I know is that I’ve tried, but it has never worked and it can’t ever work. There are laws of magic use, and if I violate them I am severely punished and the magic is undone.”

“Oh,” Maya mumbled, and then frowned as she sat next to Anna on her bed. “So why don’t you think world peace is a good idea?”

“Hm, yes…,” Melchior replied, pausing to put his thoughts into order. “World peace is a wonderful concept and I believe in its possibility. However, when faced with the decision of what must be changed to attain world peace I run into the issue of being unable to impede free will. More so than that, what would be the best way for the world to work is purely subjective. What I believe world peace is meant to be, then, may be entirely different from what you believe…As I imagine it is. Different cultures, as you and I come from, will see world peace in a different light. Some might not even desire world peace, and unless I was able to kill them or change their opinions their persistence might make world peace impossible, even in mostly peaceful times as it appears to me you currently enjoy.”

Anna snorted at this comment from her place on Maya’s bed, and Melchior tilted his head. “You disagree that your times are peace times?” Anna mumbled a confirmation, and Melchior frowned, “Well, I should have to research that statement.” After another pause he turned to Maya and smiled, “You do not have to make your decision yet. You have three days before you must make your first wish. On that note I must inform you, if you do choose to go down the path you have suggested, you will not receive two more wishes. A wish of world peace counts as all three of your wishes.”

“Um,” Maya mumbled, looking down at her hands, “Melchior, right?” The genie nodded. “Melchior, I—I’m sure of what I want,” Melchior nodded somberly, both knowing his words hadn’t changed her mind in the slightest, “but before I want to make sure—will you try your best to fulfill it?”

“Of course,” Melchior quipped. “I’m bound to do whatever you wish.”

“And what if you do try your best, and…You just can’t do it? Does something bad happen to you?” Maya asked quietly, and Melchior’s unfortunate nod caused her to scowl and make her sunken face look more pointedly so. “What would happen?”

“Since it would be the fourth wish I failed to fulfill, I would once again lose a portion of my magic, and be one wish away from being stripped of my powers completely. However, since it is such a big wish, and since I would likely have to use a great deal of my power to fulfill part of the wish if it is attempted, I would be likely to lose all of my magic when the wish went unfulfilled,” he iterated, and Maya tilted her head to the side.

“What would happen if you lost your powers?” she questioned, causing Melchior to sigh.

“I would die,” he stated clearly, and Maya scowled.

“Um, well…,” she mumbled, as she tried to think of a solution, “could I change the wish before it becomes officially unfulfilled—if there’s an official ‘unfulfilled’ time, that is—so that you would have fulfilled my wish by doing whatever it is that we accomplish?”

Melchior stopped to ponder this thought as Anna nudged Maya’s leg, as if telling her to ask something important. Maya couldn’t figure out what that important thing might be, and before Anna opened her mouth to speak Melchior stated, “Yeah. That should work.”

Anna glared at Melchior and asked, before Maya could say anything, “Why does this wish take up the cost of three wishes? That’s so stupid.”

“Well, it’s about exchange and balance,” Melchior said. “Only a certain amount of my magical abilities will work for a single master. The person who receives the wishes is able to make either three wishes or wishes that use up as much magic as three wishes would average.” Anna scowled at him, and he shrugged sadly, “I don’t control the rules of magic. I wish I did, but that is beyond my scope of influence.”

“Well then,” Anna huffed at him, “once Maya is finished with her wishes, will I be able to make three wishes of my own?”

“Conceivably yes,” Melchior responded, and continued on with contradictions to Anna’s dismay, “however there are specific rules as to who can wake me from my slumber in the lamp. Only those with a ‘pure heart’ can awaken me. To be honest, even I am not sure what constitutes a pure heart. Secondly, I will most likely not have much magic left with which to grant your wishes. After a successful wish we gain magical powers; however it will likely only be enough for one wish.”

“That’s stupid,” Anna declared, and Melchior smiled at her.

“You’re quite refreshingly direct,” he laughed. “Not that I don’t agree. Like I said—if I made the rules they’d be different.” Anna nodded and wrinkled her nose, showing her distaste for what bound the genie’s powers. Melchior turned to Maya then, where she sat on her bed, psyching herself up for her wish and smiling broadly. “Would you like to make your wish official?” he asked, and she nodded. “Then you must say the words ‘I wish…’ with what you wish for.”

Maya grinned through her words, “I wish for world peace.”


There you go. The first chapter (or a prologue?). Tell me what you think? I know it got a little long. I just figured this was the best stopping point I could think of...Yep. :)

Story Idea

So here's my idea for a totally legit story. I thought I'd post in here to see what you think. Should I go forward and write it? And If I did, would you be interested in reading it?

I don't really have a title yet, but here's a summary: A girl, Maya I have decided on a whim to call her, has a terminal illness. According to her doctor, if she makes it past 20 it'll be a miracle. She's perhaps 17ish during the story. Her best friend is older than her, like 21ish, and is a member of the military (perhaps the Marines?). I have decided on a whim to call her Anna. Anna is home working on a college degree. Maya lives with her mom and a nurse no one acknowledges is basically hospice care (since Maya's health has been deteriorating).

When Anna stops by one day, she brings an article about a rare lamp being sold for $100,000 at a public auction and convinces Maya's mom to let Anna take her. At the auction, Anna spots someone steal the lamp practically in front of everyone and replace it with a fake before he saunters away. Anna, with an addiction to adrenaline and desire for people to notice her, follows him outside to an empty alleyway. Maya follows, but her disease slows her down. The thief in question is a young man who I haven't yet named on a whim, around 21ish like Anna is. Anna confronts him and ends up unconscious on the floor, and as the thief turns to leave Maya shows up in a bad state and he realizes he can't leave her there, but doesn't know what to do. After a couple attempts at helping her, he resorts to getting out his cell phone to call paramedics, and in the process knocks the lamp to the ground. Maya's hand brushes over the lamp and after it does the lamp floats into the air.

The thief stops fishing for his phone and watches in confusion as Anna regains consciousness and tends to Maya immediately, while the thief continues to stare down the floating lamp. Once he realizes Maya is OK he reaches for the lamp, but it glows and begins forming a shape. These shape takes a decidedly human quality as the thief looks unsettled and Maya and Anna turn their attention to it. The being before them appears to be a young, tan man dressed in a silly outfit but he corrects the assumption by telling them he's a genie, and Maya has three wishes.

Maya's immediate response is to wish for "World Peace," and the thief and Anna shoot her glares at the wish. The genie explains that world peace is a tall order, and if she really wants to wish for it it will be the only wish she gets. He tells her to think about it, as the thief asks him if he would return to lamp shape, but the genie refuses, citing the strange look in the thief's eyes. The thief leaves, but vows to get the lamp someday, and sticks a tracking device to Maya's clothes as he goes.

Maya and Anna take the genie back to Maya's home, where he explains only those who witnessed his initial transformation will be able to see him. Maya is still dead set on "world peace" as a wish, though Anna insists she wish away her disease. Maya asks Anna to let her decide for herself, and Anna quiets down but mutters a few bitter words under her breath. The genie explains that he's had the wish posed before and never been able to pull it off, and tells her she's going to need to guide him if she wants that wish.

So basically, she and the genie travel the world to various places to evaluate and help things. Anna sometimes comes along, and the thief tracks them down and stalks them frequently. The thief's motivations are uncovered (it's a family thing) and his little brother accompanies him at times.

Sound interesting?

Chapter 15: Families Suck Sometimes

Chapter 15: Families Suck Sometimes

Time went by quickly after Halloween. The parents of many students were outraged by the party, and school became sort of boring after that. People were around evaluating things all the time, and before Blue knew it it was Thanksgiving. She went home for Thanksgiving, as nearly everyone else did, and hung out with her family for the extended weekend. This proved challenging, because she honestly didn't understand her sister, and she thought she didn't understand her parents.

This left her talking on the phone to Malik, who was hanging out with Teddy. Blue didn't really think it was fair that the two of them were from the same place and got to hang out with each other when they went home. Teddy was “venting” about his very large extended family, while Malik tried to talk to Blue. Blue's boyfriend then described to her how to create a “Skype,” and soon she was in a video call with Malik and watching Teddy run around in the background, falling all over himself and snorting, with a steady stream of curses pervading Malik and Blue's conversation.

Despite Teddy's presence in the room and ability to block off everything Malik was trying to show Blue somehow, Malik showed the girl his room. His walls were stripes of various grays, and they were lined in posters of his favorite shows, actors, bands, and movies. Blue didn't really care as she asked, “WHERE IS ME IN YOUR ROOM?”

Malik laughed, “I don't have any good pictures of you. Do you remember how you have a lot of energy? You're blurry in all my pictures of you.”

“PUT THEM UP ANYWAY!” Blue demanded, then watched Teddy in the background carefully.

“And then Moneybags goes 'money!' and...!” at this point he fell over himself and declared a very loud swear which caused Blue to glare at the space that had been occupied by him.

“Hold on,” Malik told Blue, as he went to tend his friend. “You OK?” Malik asked, and though Blue couldn't see it, Teddy probably shook his head. Malik helped Teddy up to his bed, where he sat and coddled a bleeding knee. Malik went to get a band-aid, leaving Teddy to stare at his knee. Eventually, and apparently for the first time, he noticed Blue and waved.

“HI BLUE!” he shouted, and Blue as pretty sure it was because she was on Malik's desk in a computer, and Teddy was all the way over on his bed, where Blue wouldn't be able to hear him well. The thing is, Teddy was really good at projecting, and when he shouted it hurt Blue's ears.

A girl who couldn't possibly be related to Malik or Teddy showed up on Blue's screen then, giving Teddy a “look,” as Blue liked to call it. “Teddy, can you keep it down? We're playing Wii. Has that been you thudding around all over the place for like twenty minutes?”

“My family is so frustrating!” Teddy declared, as Blue realized this girl must have been kidnapped! Or she was there to kidnap Teddy and Malik? Oh no! Blue wasn't there to save them, so she tried to will Uni there to help them out, but Uni didn't show. Blue was disappointed in her.

“Teddy, everyone's family is frustrating,” the Asian girl insisted, but Teddy just looked bitter as Malik returned with band-aids and a washcloth to help with Teddy's scrape.

“Li-Mei,” Malik greeted, and Blue almost remembered that name but couldn't place it.

“Malik,” Li-Mei replied, “your gay boyfriend is loud. And bleeding on your carpet.”

Malik made no attempt at responding to Li-Mei's “gay boyfriend” comment, so Blue thought they might be cheating on her but she didn't say anything. Not yet. “Teddy,” Malik said with a less sympathetic voice, “try to contain your blood.” Teddy gave him the puppy eyes, which Blue knew well, and Malik sighed, “Here, take this washcloth and put some band-aids on your knee.” Teddy nodded with his sad eye mode still activated as Malik returned to Blue with a sigh.

“Sorry, but disasters of Teddy and his family are best averted early on or allowed to run their course and managed along the way,” he explained, and Blue nodded.

“Who was that girl?” Blue asked, and Malik seemed surprised Blue had forgotten his sister. “I knew it...She's your wife, right?”

Malik laughed at Blue's dismay then, and lied, “She's my sister. Adoptive sister. That means we're not related by blood, but we're still related. We're siblings. She's my parents' daughter as much as I'm parents' son.” Malik only felt the need to continue on for so long because Blue was shaking her head at him.

“Your parents have been lying to you,” she insisted, and Malik sighed.

“We've had this conversation,” he responded simply, and Blue didn't believe him.

“You crazy. I had no idea your parents were kidnappers,” Blue sighed, and Malik shook his head. Blues's mom called something to her then, and she asked Malik what she had said, since Malik seemed to understand her.

“You need to go eat dinner with your family,” her boyfriend stated, and Blue nodded at him.

“OK,” she said, “I'll Skyperize you again sometime perhaps? Have fun with Teddy!”

“Yep,” Malik replied with a smile, “have fun with food.”

Malik disappeared from her screen then, and Blue sighed as she went to join her family for a meal. She had a fairly small family, so she was always a little jealous of people with big families, but Teddy made it seem like it was sort of awful. The only people joining her family unit for Thanksgiving were her uncle, aunt, and their three-year-old daughter. Meals and basic family interactions were a chore considering how little they all understood of each other, but it was extraordinarily boring. She wondered what her friends were doing with their families at that time.

Teddy was still sitting in Malik's room, staring at his knee with its new band-aid while Malik ate with his family. Pretty soon he received a phone call requesting his return to his house and begrudgingly drove home, where his large family was waiting for him. Though he tried to sneak by them, his family trapped him in a series of exchanges, relating but not limited to how big he'd gotten, what year of school he was in, why he thought wearing glitter on his pants was a good idea and whether all young men were doing that, whether they missed his birthday, calling him by his much larger brunet cousin's name and then asking his name when they were corrected and many other questions, eventually resulting in Teddy retreating to his room.

One of his cousins stood in the middle of his room, and he stared at her with giant eyes until she noticed him. “Oh, hey,” she said finally, but apparently couldn't see how flabbergasted Teddy was by her uninvited presence in his room.

“Hey,” Teddy replied, his voice dripping with animosity. His cousin missed it entirely as she sat on his bed and spoke to him.

“So what are you doing in here?” she asked, opening one of his nightstand drawers as she did so.

“This is my room,” Teddy replied. His cousin nodded as she picked out a notebook from his drawer and started flipping through it. Her blond cousin just stared at her, until he finally just walked out of his room and into his sister's room. It was on her bed that he flopped down, face first, and just lay there, totally still. It was in this position his sister found him later, and she patted his arm, as if sympathizing with a pain she didn't feel. While he stayed on the bed for the rest of the evening, Malik at the very least showed his family the courtesy of his presence.

Malik's family wasn't at all like Teddy's; they remembered everything about him. It was almost a little creepy, he thought, when they asked him, “You were in a reality show? What was that like?”

“Your class is doing the play As You Like It? How fun. You have to double up on parts though, right? That must be tough.”

“So how is your new girlfriend, Blue? I hear she's a little odd.”

Later in the evening, he and his two aunts, one uncle, twelve cousins, and two grandparents played Trivial Pursuit together, and every single time anyone got an answer right there was a chorus of, “Good job!” and “You're so smart!” coming from almost every adult in the room. After the adults were all tired and went to bed, the cousins who were older than twelve all gathered in Malik's basement, where they complained about how annoying their relatives could be. Malik entertained himself by counting the number of ethnicities shared by the seven of them. His mom's side of the family, which was the group gathered at his house, was all into adopting foreign children, so most of the occupants of the room came from different countries. There were seven ethnicities among the six of them, the only odd kids out being the two biological children in the room, one per aunt (though they were each half white half something else, so there were slight differences between them).

“And yes, I'm pretty smart,” Li-Mei was saying as Malik's phone started buzzing and he saw the words, “Teddy (home)” on the screen. He excused himself from the group as Li-Mei continued, “but I don't need to be called a genius all the time. How is that going to motivate me to become smarter?”

Malik answered his phone, expecting Teddy, but instead ended up talking to two of Teddy's prepubescent cousins. “Hey,” one of them greeted, and the two giggled as if they thought they were incredibly funny, “hey, um...hey,” the boy stopped and told the other he couldn't “do it” then. The speaker changed and Malik blinked in confusion.

“Hey have you and Teddy...kissed yet?” the second cousin said, as if it was a dirty word. Malik had forgotten that literally every member of Teddy's family thought he and Teddy were dating. “Because...Because that's gay!” A reinforcing voice came from the other boy, urging him to “ask about the butts and wieners,” at which point Malik hung up the phone.

When he returned to his own cousins he was rubbing his temples and trying to forget the phone call he'd just received. If his estimation of Teddy family meltdowns was correct, Teddy had given up for the night and didn't even know what his cousins were up to. Malik ignored the subsequent phone calls and eventually ended up in his bed, which was being occupied by one of his cousins as well.

In the morning he received a call from “Teddy (mobile)” and answered it, hearing Teddy sob from the other end, “I'm so sorry, Malik. They're so stupidddddd.”

“Haha,” Malik laughed, “I don't mind it. How was Thanksgiving for you?”

“OH MYYYY GODDDDD THEY'RE NEVER GOING TO LEAVE!” Teddy whined, and Malik laughed again.

“Power through it,” he said, as one of his aunts greeted him with an overly cheery, “Good morning!”

“I want to go back to school! ...That's the worst thing I've ever saiddddd,” Teddy maundered, before someone stole his phone from him and Teddy squeaked something along the lines of “How did you find me?”

“IS THIS MALIK?” a thirteen-year-old girl screeched. From her voice, Malik knew who she was. He was speaking to none other than Teddy's second cousin, Hillary, who had a crush on him. She firmly believed she could “awaken” his “love for the female form,” even though she hardly had a female form herself.

“Hi Hillary,” Malik replied, and the girl literally screamed.

“He recognized my voice!” she declared. “It's true love I know it!” From the sound of things, Teddy then described Blue to her, and the line went dead very suddenly. Malik shrugged as his family got ready to leave his house, and called Teddy back when they were all gone.

“Hi Malik,” Teddy greeted cryptically, “I'm thinking I might just hit my head against the wall until I give myself a concussion...or die.”

“Would you like to tell me about it?” Malik asked. Teddy then started the tale of his Thursday, before he showed up at Malik's house in the middle of the day, through when he passed out late at night to the sound of raucous laughter from his great uncle that haunted his dreams. Unfortunately for Teddy, his family was still at his house, and before he finished telling Malik of his woes his phone was taken from him.

“Who are you talking to? Your family is visiting! You spend time with them!” one of his aunts ordered him, as Teddy wrestled the phone away from her.

“Malik I have to go I love you bye!” he shouted into the phone, before it was removed from his possession again. His best friend laughed, then found Teddy's behavior made him miss Blue, so he called her up again.

Blue was finished with her Thanksgiving celebrations as well, and she was delighted to receive a call from Malik, “Hey Babyface,” she greeted with.

“...I don't have a baby face,” Malik replied, sounding completely confused.

“I thought it was, like...a pet name?” Blue responded, jumping onto her bed as she did so, and making an “Oomph” noise that confused Malik further.

“Oh. No, I don't think so,” he mumbled, glad to be talking with her again, even if the conversation started out in confusion. They'd only been apart for a couple days; this missing her already thing was not good for his sense of independence.

“Sorry. I'll try again...Hey Dollface,” Blue corrected, and Malik grinned.

“Hey Dollface,” he simply laughed. They spoke for a while, and eventually their conversation turned to how everyone else from school was spending their Thanksgiving...

Gerda and Alec spent Thanksgiving in the dorms, trying to comprehend why exactly it was celebrated, and dissecting what turkeys had to do with it.

“Perhaps the color of the turkeys,” Gerda suggested, and Alec nodded at her to continue, “reminds them of the Native Americans they exploited?”

“Well, that could be,” Alec replied, scowling. “Yes, I imagine it has something to do with Native Americans...”

“Maybe Hakan knows...”

Kip spent Thanksgiving at his home, apparently having a staring contest with a large ham that was sitting on his table while his parents took notes about his reactions. He hadn't moved since he'd gotten home and gotten led into the kitchen, where his parent sat him. Even they seemed surprised when he was still sitting there after they'd gone to bed for the night. Eventually they moved the ham, and he immediately fell asleep at the table. In some attempt to not be the worst parents ever, they moved him to his bed, where he spent the rest of the extended weekend.

Rashida spent Thanksgiving in her grandparents' house, doing generally regular Thanksgiving sorts of things. Hammy, Reg, and Miss Allberry had a slightly more "exciting" Thanksgiving.

“No, seriously,” Hammy insisted to Today's parents, where they went by default at Thanksgiving time. Hammy's family was a no-go, and Reg's didn't celebrate the holiday, so Today's hippie style parental home was the destination of choice. The meal was completely vegetarian. Since Hammy was already a vegetarian, Reg pledged to become one too after they got engaged. Today didn't often cook for herself, so she'd become a vegetarian by default after moving in with Hammy.

“I don't think that's possible,” Today's mother, May Allberry, replied.

Reg chimed in then, “Yeah, actually it's pretty much everywhere.”

“I still don't think toilets flush normally,” Today's father, Birch Allberry, replied after a pause.

“They do,” Today deadpanned, and her sister, Tomorrow, and brother, Yesterday, nodded to enforce her words.

May and Birch shook their heads, “Nahh.”

Austin spent the majority of her break in her room, only coming out to eat and tell her brothers, Evan and Ewan, to be quiet. Kendall spent time with her family as well, awkwardly staring at her younger brother Kendrick as he spoke to their extended family. Pablo, Hakan, Estela, and even Kakahi also had fairly "regular" Thanksgivings, too, in their own rights.

By Sunday they were all back in their dorm rooms, and while Blue and Malik discussed how much they missed each other, Teddy sobbed into Pablo's shoulders about how annoyed with his family he still was.

“And then I didn't have any time without them until I left earlier today and...and they were still there! It was so awful,” he whimpered, as Pablo held him consolingly.

“I'm sorry. If it makes you feel any better, my family sounds a lot like yours, but they all speak in Spanish,” Pablo consoled, and Teddy stopped sobbing to blink at him in confusion.

“Do you speak Spanish, Pablo?” he asked, and Pablo smiled.

“Claro que sí,” he said, “pero no hablo ningún idioma asiático. Me siento como un fracaso.”

“De repente, tú te has convertido más atractivo para mí,” Teddy said, leaning in toward Pablo, all but forgetting his familial woes.

“Dame un beso,” Pablo replied, seeming to be equally as turned on by Teddy speaking his mother tongue. As they started kissing, Kip walked into the room, gave them a look only to be described as “Oh. Ehh...I'll deal with the awkward to stay in my own room” before flopping down onto his bed and sighing loudly. The other four occupants of the room ignored him.

“What else about me did you missssss?” Blue asked, and Malik frowned. Kip sighed again.

“Seriously, though, Blue...I just listed every one of your personality traits. I missed everything about you...I can't...I can't move on from there,” he replied, and Blue grinned. Kip sighed even louder.

“Well I missed your abs and your pretty green eyes,” Blue said. “Oh, and your smile. Mmm. Love me some Malik smiles.” Blue stopped, and Malik looked a little disappointed. Another sigh from Kip floated toward them, but no one noticed.

“Nothing else?” he asked, and Blue shrugged.

“Sometimes you do silly things with me,” she suggested, “but you're pretty much perfect, aren't you? I missed your awesomeness.” A great big sigh came from Kip's direction.

“Perfect?” Malik mumbled, not taking it as a compliment as Blue hoped he would have. “I'm not—,” he tried to say, but Kip interrupted him.

“NOTICE ME,” Kip ordered, and both couples abruptly pulled away from each other and gave him curious glances.

“Is there a problem, Space Invader?” Teddy asked, and Kip sighed again.

“Rashida...Rashida...broke...up...with...me,” he said sadly, and the couples each glanced at each other.

“Why?” Malik asked, voicing the rest of the room's feelings.

“Higlork,” he mumbled. “She thinks I don't take things seriously or something. Like...religion is somehow something serious now. Who knew?”

“It usually is,” Teddy replied.

“Radish broke up with you?” Blue mumbled, with her mind starting to spiral out of control. If Kip and Rashida broke up, then anyone could break up! Plus, Teddy and Malik were quite possibly cheating on her with each other.

“Yeah,” Kip sighed, “I just said that. Anyway, I know I'm a dude and for some reason dudes aren't supposed to express their feelings, but do you all want to watch a sad movie with me? Preferably we would invite someone who is single as well so I don't feel terrible about it. You guys cool with that?”

The four of them nodded, and spent the evening with Alec and Kendall for very strange company. In the middle of the movie, Teddy left to answer a phone call. Even with the volume turned up almost as high as it could go, they could hear him shriek, “NO! Diaries from sixth grade are still very personal! Just because they happened a long time ago doesn't mean they become public domain!!! Hillary...Put it down or so help me I will call the police! How did you get it, anyway? ...Hillary, stealing is wrong! ...Hillary! Why did you call to ask if you were just going to read it anyway?”

I wrote a new chapter! It was more Teddy focused than I actually intended. Writing about his family was a lot of fun though. Yayyy! :D

Chapter 14: Halloween

Halloween

“TRICK-OR-TREAT!” Blue yelled at the top of her lungs.

“More emotion!” Miss Allberry commanded forcefully.

“...I'm sorry, I just can't. I've given it all I've got,” Blue mumbled.

“Well, all right. Sit down,” Miss Allberry permitted, and Blue shuffled over to her seat. “So as I was saying, you all have very important homework other than memorizing lines tonight! You must, and I mean must, dress up in a costume and act as if you are whatever the character is. Never break character! I also expect you all to show up at the school's Halloween party tonight. Now will you please all tell me what you'll be going as?”

“Ooo! Me first!” Blue said, waving her hand in the air. “I'm going as a vampire! Like a cool one. Not like Twilight, right?” Teddy nodded as if this was something they had previously discussed as Miss Allberry wrote down Blue's costume choice.

“I'm going as Captain Jack Harkness from the British show Torchwood,” Teddy said with a proud grin.

“Omnisexual means you need to be into girls too,” Kip informed him with a proud grin of his own. Teddy stuck out his tongue as Miss Allberry waited for the next person to tell her his or her costume.

“I will be dressed as Vlad III of Romania,” Gerda stated with a twisted look that was only visible if you looked very closely.

“No sh--?” Teddy gasped, but Blue saw his words coming and interrupted him.

“BEEP!” Blue yelled.

Teddy rolled his eyes affectionately before turning his attentions back to Gerda, “Vlad III? As in, 'Vlad the Impaler'? Inspiration for Dracula?”

“Yes,” Gerda replied.

“That's going to be a fun character to stay in. This gives us no right to murder, correct?” Teddy laughed, and Miss Allberry nodded.

“If you kill anyone you're going to go to jail,” Miss Allberry warned, and Gerda rolled her eyes as she nodded.

“I'm going as Jesse from Team Rocket,” Malik muttered.

“And I'm going to be James!” Kip declared, causing Rashida to roll her eyes from the seat next to him.

“I was somehow suckered into dressing as Meowth. Which will be absolutely awesome in terms of staying in character,” Rashida sighed.

Silence followed as everyone turned to look expectantly at Austin, who glared at them all. Finally she stated, “I'm going as Austin Connelly, AKA me, and I'll be staying in my dorm room.”

“Stop being such a terrible non-team player. I can fail you,” Miss Allberry snapped.

“Fine, I'll come to your thing. But I'm not dressing up,” Austin sighed.

“You could go as Grumpers!” Blue said, and Austin rolled her eyes and sighed again.

“All right, if that's the best you can do,” Miss Allberry agreed as she wrote down Austin's choice. “Mr. Paddington and I will be dressed as Mario and Luigi. We tried to convince his fiance, Reginald the British, to dress up as Peach. We haven't convinced him yet, but we totally made him a costume, so he'll probably be guilted into it.”

“You know, not to be sizist or sexist or anything,” Teddy stated, using a term Blue coined herself, “but wouldn't you or Hammy be a better choice for Peach?”

“No way,” Miss Allberry replied singularly.

“So which one of you will be which?” Malik asked, and Miss Allberry shrugged.

“You'll just have to show up to find out,” their teacher replied. They spent the rest of the class period discussing how and where they got their Halloween costumes, and then preparing for their roles.

The next highlight of their day, as happened often, was Hammy's class, where he gave the class the same assignment. In his class they played improv games in character of their costumes, and discussed why exactly the Halloween celebration that was happening was happening the first Friday of November. Hammy explained that since it was a school sponsored event it had to be on a Friday or Saturday and since Halloween had been on a Sunday, they put it on the nearest Friday after Halloween. When asked why it couldn't have been on October 29^th, Hammy simply shrugged.

After class the kids got ready for the night's party, dressing up in their costumes. Alec was predictably not going, so Blue told him to take good care of Shelly while she was away. After the group finished getting dressed in Teddy's room, they met up with the rest of their acting group, as well as a couple of tag-alongs by the names of Hakan, Pablo, Estela, and Kakahi. Hakan was dressed as “Pyro” from X-men, and had real flamethrowers attached to his arms, to everyone's concern. Pablo and Kakahi were dressed as Spock and Captain Kirk, respectively. Estela was dressed as a chopstick, since she'd allowed Kakahi to pick her costume as long as Kakahi wore Estela's choice. They'd all agreed to go along with the assignment as well, though Estela was having trouble deciding how to be a chopstick, Hakan was Hakan, and Kakahi and Pablo were convinced Spock and Kirk were lovers. Unfortunately this caused both of them to whine all the way to the gym, where the party was being held.

“I mean, I'm into girls and all, but I don't want to cheat on my beautiful boyfrienddddd.”

“And I'm totally a dude right now but I'm still only into girls, really...Except for...I'm not really a guy right?”

Estela sighed as she replied, “No, you're still female, even if you dress up like a guy. We talked about this, remember?”

“...Right,” Kakahi mumbled, as she fidgeted with her costume.

Blue was running ahead of the group, biting on a practice dummy's neck, when she was greeted by a sight that made her scream. “It's Justin Bieber!” she declared, and Teddy laughed as he ran to catch up with her.

“I forgot to tell you Kendall got dressed and left before us,” he whispered, so as not to get caught out of character.

“I must...suck his blood!” Blue declared, pouncing for Kendall.

Teddy got in her way, though, stating, “Whoa, whoa. Don't make me take you out, vampire.”

“I wanted to be a vampire...,” Kendall mumbled, “but my b—.”

“It's Justin Bieber!” Kakahi yelled, running over to “him” and grinning. “I love you! You're truly an inspiration to lesbians all over the world! ...I mean! Damn! Captain Kirk!” she shouted, as if an order to herself. She then took a rather feminine stance and wiggled her hips, as well as her head, back and forth with each word, “Captain Kirk has no need...For Justin Bieber. I fly space ships, thank you. I fly the 'inner prize.' I got it out of a cereal box.”

“That's not quite right...,” Teddy mumbled to himself.

“Most illogical, captain,” Pablo stated as he caught up with them.

“What is illogical?” Kakahi asked, snapping a “z” with her fingers.

“The way you're talking,” Pablo replied, stifling a giggle.

Kendall walked away while Teddy made “attractive” faces at Pablo to try to attract him over to him. Pablo, in true Spock fashion, ignored Teddy. Blue ran inside the gym then, and Kakahi chased after her, yelling something about space vampires and needing to shoot her with a “pew pew-er” gun. Pablo followed after, because he figured he should stay with Captain Kirk, since they were in love he was pretty sure. Hakan flew by them as well, simply because he wanted to beat everyone else inside.

Rashida, Kip, Malik, Gerda, Austin, and Estela caught up with Teddy, who shrugged at them when they asked what happened to everyone else. They walked inside, and were immediately greeted by Mario and Luigi.

“It'sa me, Mario!” Hammy declared loudly, and Miss Allberry nodded.

“Anda me, Luigi,” she added. “...And you are?”

“Uh, Jesse and Ja—.”

“Nu-uh,” Miss Allberry interrupted. “Don'ta you havea thinga to saya?”

Malik and Kip glanced at each other, then at Rashida and then started speaking, “To protect the world from devastation.” Malik sounded creepily like Jesse, they all noted.

Kip spoke next, “To unite all people within our nation.”

“To denounce the evil of truth and love.”

“To extend our reach to the stars above.”

“Jesse.”

“James.”

“Team rocket blasts off at the speed of light.”

“Surrender now or prepare to fight.”

Rashida chimed in at last, with what was probably her best Meowth impression, “Meowth, that's right!”

“Aha,” Hammy grinned, “welcome, please come ina!”

As Hammy and Miss Allberry stepped aside, the group realized exactly what it is that they had walked into.

“Shit,” Teddy mumbled, as they all looked around and their teachers faded from sight. “Blue! Pablo! Don't be idiots!” he shouted, though their friends were nowhere in sight. They all looked around then and realized they were in a scene very befitting of a horror movie, and the doors had been locked behind them. The only source of light was a dull glow, which showed a maze like structure which was divided up into various rooms. Every so often something would move, and the light would flicker out completely.

“So...Blue, Kakahi, Pablo, and Hakan. Off on their own in this...,” Malik mumbled, sighing. “Not good.”

“I think someone is going to get burned,” Kip warned, referring to Hakan and the presence of others who were clearly put there to scare them.

“IN CHARACTER!” they heard a shout from outside the door. “You're constantly being monitored!”

“Right,” Teddy and Malik mumbled at the same time causing them to give each other weary glances.

“We're here to...Steal your Pikachu?” Malik mumbled, to himself mostly.

“Hey! I know there's a vampire around here somewhere!” Teddy shouted. There was no reply, other than a dull mumble from Austin.

“I'm leaving,” the redhead stated, turning toward the door and knocking on it, “let me out!”

“You're doing perfect staying in character, Ginger. Unfortunately, letting you out is against the rules! Which, coincidentally, are simple. Find your way through the maze and get to the other end! Have fun!”

Austin growled at the door before turning back around to see find herself all alone. “Awesome,” she mumbled as she started walking forward.

Blue was sort of starting to regret how excitedly she'd run into the room. Because, well, even with Pablo, Kakahi, and Hakan with her, she wasn't exactly sure she was safe. The gym and a few other rooms, she and Kakahi and Hakan figured (though Pablo didn't agree for some crazy reason) had clearly been attacked by real life scary people, and it was haunted. Also, judging by the sounds they heard, there were murderers with chainsaws in there with them. So they stopped to talk and form a plan.

“X—Sorry, Pyro believes we should burn it down! Burn it all down!” Hakan shouted, cackling maniacally.

“Illogical!” Pablo declared, with a little more emotion than he should have, he knew, but he was a little worried by the group he was with. Sure, he acted like a moron most of the time, but he'd never suggest “shooting everyone” or “biting everyone” or “burning everything down.” Pablo cleared his throat then and spoke calmly, “We have to find the exit, right? So let's just move forward and...Oh god...There's an arm hanging down from the ceiling I'm scared!”

“X—Pyro will protect you!” Hakan declared, aiming his flamethrowers at the ceiling. The arm, to all of their alarm, moved out of sight as they watched.

Kakahi whimpered and buried her face in her hands, Pablo whimpered and buried his face in Kakahi's wig, and Blue and Hakan “got down to business.”

“OK, the way I see it, we have no other choice but to eat everybody's blood and then shoot them and light them on fire! And don't you have a death grip, sir?” she asked Pablo, who sighed.

“I suppose,” he mumbled.

“Let's move!” Hakan shouted. “I'll hold down the rear, you take care of the front, madame vampire-face!”

“OK!” Blue agreed.

“Teddy,” Pablo whined to himself, “I'm scared...”

“Don't worry,” a creepy voice said, from behind them. A blood curdling scream followed, and the entire group stopped moving at the same time.

“I wanna go home!” Kakahi declared.

“Be strong captain,” Pablo mumbled, as they heard a crash. The next thing they heard was a yelp, followed by the sound of flames bursting out of the cylinders attached to Hakan's arms.

“OH MY GOD YOU WEREN'T KIDDING WHEN YOU SAID THOSE WERE REAL!” Pablo shrieked, and Hakan nodded.

“Of course,” the daredevil replied. “I made it myself this time. I learned that the things Gerda makes for me always tend to be better for play. I made this for work and serious times.”

“Did Gerda help?” Blue asked from the front of the line as she flailed at the air when she heard something that sounded like a growl.

Hakan glared at the ground, “Only a little.”

As if on cue, the flames spurting from his arms died down, eventually becoming nothing more than torches. Hakan kicked at the air angrily, hearing a grunt as he did so and seeing a ghostly face. Hakan let out a scream and stumbled into Pablo and Kakahi, causing the three of them to fall onto Blue. A chorus of screams could then be heard from the group, as a voice shouted out to them.

“Hold still, you four! Captain Jack is on his way!” Teddy shouted, and Pablo threw Hakan and Kakahi off and ran to his boyfriend, hugging the spray dyed brunet and crying into his shoulder.

“Where's everyone else?” Pablo whimpered, and Teddy shrugged.

“They got grabbed and taken to another room. I'm glad I managed to find you, Spock. I trust you have Kirk, the vampire, and Pyro with you?” Teddy asked, and Pablo nodded as he noticed a ghostly pale arm touch Teddy's shoulder.

“God dammit,” Teddy mumbled, brushing the hand off his shoulder and turning around to stand between the figure and his friends. Blue let out a tiny squeak of terror as she, Kakahi, and Hakan stood up and backed into a wall. They looked all around and realized they'd walked into a dead end. An arm fell down from the ceiling again, and a person crawled down attached to the arm, causing Kakahi to hide in a corner. Hakan held his arms up threateningly to the two figures, who both were, notably, covered in blood. One had a badly mangled hand. The other held her arms up to approach Hakan, Kakahi and Blue, while the first grabbed for Teddy.

Teddy pulled something out of his sleeve as Hakan turned his flames on, now at a dull lighter-like level, and Blue held her arms up menacingly. A loud bang sounded, and the man approaching Teddy thudded to the ground. The woman walking up to Hakan stopped momentarily, then smiled creepily and walked away with no warning. Teddy grabbed Pablo's hand and pulled him over to where the other three were as Blue and Hakan gave each other high fives for scaring the woman away.

Teddy smiled at the sight of them, then started to speak seriously, “So this is basically a maze we have to get through. Unfortunately, I don't think the school planned this well. Though we definitely walked through security scanners when we walked in, I don't think they did their job if I still have this. It's a, well, I call it a stun gun. Vampire, you and Pyro used these previously in the zombie apocalypse. Since I was able to sneak this in, one can only assume others could have sneaked things in as well. Therefore take every threat as real and stick together as closely as possible. OK?”

“Where's Malik?” Blue asked, and Teddy sighed.

“You get points off every time you use their real names, careful. And I'm sorry. We were walking when someone with a chainsaw popped out and grabbed him. James and Meowth panicked and chased after Jesse, and they vanished from our sight, leaving only the chopstick and I.” Kakahi perked up at Estela's mention, but Teddy shook his head sadly at her excitement. “As the chopstick and I walked, we heard a shout and turned to look at it. What can only be described as a faceless man came running in and grabbed her around the waist. To be honest, it was a bit scary. Let's get going though, they'll find their way...I'll drop you guys off and head back in.”

“What about Vlad the Impaler?” Hakan asked, and Teddy laughed.

“Oh, she's fine. Don't worry about her,” he stated, shaking his head and smiling.

“So what do we do?” Blue asked, as Teddy frowned.

“You guys need to follow me. Stay close, and trust no one. The special effects department is having a great time with this,” he replied, grabbing Pablo's hand and intertwining their fingers, causing Pablo to smirk.

“This is sex for me, as a Vulcan,” he said, and Teddy rolled his eyes.

“You want to hold my hand, or make jokes?” he replied, and Pablo looked ashamed.

“Hold your hand...,” he mumbled, then shouted as he looked up. “Pyro! Look out!”

Hakan screamed as arms grabbed him from seemingly inside the wall and pulled him through, as Kakahi and Blue ran as fast as they could into Teddy. “Pyro!” Blue shrieked, as Teddy pulled her forward.

“Vampire, we know you are quite brave,” he said, “so I would ask that you please take the other side of our chain. Join hands with Kirk. Kirk, would you please join hands with Spock?” Kakahi and Blue nodded as they grabbed onto each others hands, then Kakahi grabbed Pablo's. “Step carefully. I saw a girl fall through the floor on my way to find you guys,” Teddy warned, and the other three glanced at the ground, only to notice that it was littered with bugs. Blue whimpered as they walked through the “wall” they'd previously been backed against, after Teddy did some sort of magic to it. As they walked the dim light flickered for a final time, and the room became pitch black. Screams echoed throughout the building, undoubtedly from other students lost within the maze.

“I'm worried about Jesse,” Blue mumbled, and Teddy nodded as he halted all of them to let a wandering translucent figure walk by.

“I'll find him as quickly as possible and return him to you,” Teddy guaranteed, and Blue nodded sadly.

“Thank you, Captain Jack,” she mumbled. They kept walking through the maze, and apparently Teddy knew his way through somehow,. Even though it was dark Blue felt only moderately terrified. The lights flickered back on and she was overjoyed, but only for a quick moment, since there was someone with a face that looked it had started partially melting off mere inches from her own.

“Hello,” the old woman uttered, and Blue buried her face in Kakahi's shoulder.

Teddy held his gun up at the woman, and Blue realized for the very first time that her bestie was left-handed. The woman simply smiled at him and vanished into thin air, causing Blue to cry inside her mind. “Don't worry,” Teddy assured quietly, “we're almost to the end. Just keep walking.”

“How do you know?” Blue asked, as Kakahi shifted her hand against Blue's. Though this scared Blue for an inexplicable reason, Teddy's words repeated in her mind. “Just keep walking,” she mumbled to herself, as she waited for Teddy's response to her question. Kakahi stopped walking, though, so Blue asked, “What's wrong?”

“Nothing's wrong,” a creepy voice responded, and Blue screamed. From the distance she heard someone gasp her name, then swear loudly and use her character name instead.

“Hold on, vampire. The exit is right there, Spock. Take Kirk and leave. Through the door!” Teddy shouted, running back to Blue. Blue, though, had started panicking because the person holding her hand started pulling her away. As it occurred to her that vampires wouldn't be scared of anything, even people trying to kidnap them, Blue made a big decision.

She bared her fangs big and proud and said, “I vant to suck your blood,” in her best Transylvanian accent. The person holding on to her hand hesitated for a moment, obviously in fear of Blue, and made a funny sound a little like laughter. Clearly it was a muffled cry of terror, and Blue felt pretty proud of herself as Teddy returned to her.

Her bestie grabbed her hand and started to run with her to the exit, making a huffing noise as if annoyed by the predicament they were in. Within a moment she was pushed through a door, and greeted by Estela, who scowled at her for a moment than smiled that she had company.

“Chopstick!” Blue said with delight, and Estela smiled.

“It's OK to break character in this room,” she replied. “I thought I would wait here for you guys. You're the first to show up...”

“How did you get here?” Blue asked, and Estela glanced at the ground in shame.

“Turns out if you start crying and curl up into a ball on the floor saying you want to go home one of the seniors dressed up like a ghost will take pity on you and walk you to the exit,” Estela replied with a light laugh. Teddy appeared in the doorway then and shoved Pablo and Kakahi through the door, smiling when he spotted Estela.

“I'll be back with everyone else, OK?” Teddy said, and the group nodded.

“Be careful out there,” Pablo and Blue said at the same time. Teddy titled his head and smiled at their simultaneous words before returning to the scary room inside. As soon as he was inside, he looked around for other members of the group. “Team Rocket” were hopefully still together. Teddy knew all he really needed to do was look for “Jesse's” beautiful abs. They would stand out in the darkness, right? Before that, though, he wanted to confirm that Hakan was OK.

“Pyro!” he shouted, then heard a shrill response.

“No touching Pyro! Pyro has flamethrowers!” Hakan shouted, and Teddy followed his voice back into pitch black darkness. As he walked the faint light flickered back on, and his eyes began to be able to see just a small amount. He followed Hakan's screams and his eyes to the entrance of the maze, and ended up in a secluded area, where four people were approaching Hakan as he held his arms up menacingly.

When Teddy realized what the people walking over to Hakan were saying to him, he found himself laughing. “Listen, we just want to get you out of here. We're sorry for grabbing you, it was a mistake.”

“That's what they all say!” Hakan shouted, and his eye twitched. There were four people talking to him, three looking like ghosts and the final one looking like she was in some terrible accident.

“Yes, we are all saying that! Because we don't want you to burn us, even with tiny lighters in your arms!” the girl insisted, and Hakan's eye twitched again as he looked at her and the swollen bloody growths covering most of her body

“NOOOO!” Hakan yelled, starting up the flames on his arms. Teddy decided to wait no longer as he jogged over.

“Hey Pyro,” he greeted, and Hakan excitedly hugged Teddy.

“These guys are trying to kidnap Pyro!” he exclaimed, and Teddy nodded.

“I know, they absolutely are. Let's go, I'll take you to the exit,” the smaller boy stated. Hakan nodded and began following Teddy, but held his flamethrowers up to the ghosts just in case they tried anything. Many of them rolled their eyes, and they all dispersed. Teddy held his gun up to a couple of wandering figures who looked very similar to the girl who'd been speaking to Hakan and they left the pair alone. Teddy wasn't sure yet, but it seemed like there were less roaming people trying to get them.

Once Hakan was safely with the others and had been reassured many times Gerda was absolutely fine, Teddy headed back inside to look for Malik, Kip and Rashida. As he searched he wondered if the “Space Invader” had had a psychotic meltdown yet.

“Team Rocket” wandered the room they'd been shoved into together absently, wondering if they were ever going to make it out. “Meowth” was holding hands with “James” for a time, until Rashida decided Kip was just being too annoying. None fo them were doing well with being in character.

“What?” Kip asked, and Rashida and Malik glared at him.

“Just knock it off,” Rashida commanded, as they walked forward.

“Seriously though, I don't see how any of this is scary,” Kip replied, and Malik and Rashida glared again as a ghost popped out then disappeared. The latter two in the group jumped, and Kip just shook his head and shrugged.

Malik spoke in spite then. “Guess how many of us there are here?” he growled, and Kip glared.

“Don't you dare,” he warned, and Rashida and Malik glanced at each other.

“Three,” they said at the same time. Kip screamed and covered his ears.

“What the hell?” Malik mouthed to Rashida, who just shook her head and shrugged. They kept walking forward, their eyes adjusted to the dim lights of the room by that point, until they found where they'd come in. Walking through the door, they realized they had finally made it back. To the room they'd started in, at least. They rejoined the maze, noticing a distinct lack of anyone at all trying to grab them anymore. Suddenly they heard someone shouting their character names, and shouted back. At least, Rashida and Malik did. Kip seemed to be both bitter at them for scaring him and frustrated that this place was supposed to be scary.

Teddy ran over to them with this awkward smile on his face, motioning the exit. They walked through the door and Teddy explained he felt bad leaving Austin behind and went back into the room. Once he was back inside the room, he laughed at the sight in front of him. Gerda stood among a field of bodies, cackling evilly. Teddy just laughed to himself as he called out to her, “Vlad! Have you seen Austin?”

Gerda turned to look at him and every hint of evil in her faded away, “Is she lost? I have not seen her. I will find her though. One moment.” She turned and sprinted back into the maze, and Teddy bent down and inspected the bodies lying on the ground. Gerda had apparently rounded up every single person who was terrorizing them that night and put them to sleep with weapons she'd specialized to fit Vlad the Impaler.

Teddy was admiring her handy work when she returned with Austin, who turned into a color that could only be described as “snow white” when she saw the bodies. Teddy guided her out of the room as Gerda made sure she didn't leave anyone behind. Once the group was all together again (minus Gerda, who was seriously enjoying the other room) they walked into the next area, where a happier Halloween party was taking place. Reg was there, dressed as Peach as Miss Allberry and Hammy had predicted, and there were buckets full of candy for them to consume. For the rest of he evening the group hung out and ate candy to drown out their sorrows.

So that's that. It's been a while since I posted a chapter, but yep. It might be a little long, actually...Anyway, I hope you liked it. :)