workâfour whole years younger than I wasâand this is a job that demands some maturity. Youâre going to learn a lot about people by what they wish for, sometimes more than they even know about themselves. I know youâre a good kid, Zack, a smart kid, and this all needs to be handled with the utmost care. But weâll talk about all of this,I promise. Meantime, in the next few weeks, strange things may start to happen. As your powers begin to emerge, you may feel a bit like a spark plug. Youâre a current of energy, and you donât know how to control it yet. You have to be careful, andââ
âWhen can I start making the magic happen?â
âAll in due time, Zack. All in due time. But hereâs something I need to tell you now, and I canât say it strongly enough: You need to hang on to that bottle. You donât want it to end up in the wrong hands. That would be badâvery bad indeed.â
âUh-huh,â I say.
âUnfortunately, there are evil forces in the world,â he goes on. âIâve done my best to keep this world safe from them. But you can never be too careful.â Uncle Max pauses. âZack, are you listening to me?â
âYup. Bottle, evil forces, be careful.â
âA little bit of distance can go a long way. Remember that.â
âIâll remember,â I say. âBut waitâhow am I supposed to keep my eyes on the bottle if Iâm sucked up into it and spit out a different one? If theyâre portals, like you said.â
âWe call it sides of the bottle,â Uncle Max explains. âYou look out for this bottle when youâre here, on this side. When youâre called away to the other side on genie business, thereâll be another bottle for you to keep a close eye on. Itâll be your ticket home, too.â
âQuinnâs not going to believe this,â I say.
âYou canât tell Quinn about this,â Uncle Max says.
âOh, come on, please ,â I say. âJust a little bit. Or maybe I could do some sort of trick in front of her. You know, to prove it.â
Quinn thinks sheâs so much cooler than I am. This will certainly show her!
âNo, I mean you canât tell her,â Uncle Maxsays. âYouâre physically unable to. If you try telling anyone outside the genie world, the words that come out of your mouth wonât make any sense. Youâll just sound a bit strange until you change topics.â
âHow can I even be sure youâre telling me the truth about that? Maybe you donât want me to tell Quinn, so youâre telling me lie number three.â
âYou donât believe me?â Uncle Max asks. âStay here. Iâll be right back.â He leaves me on the back porch and goes inside. A minute later heâs back with a phone in his hand. âHere. Your sister is on the line for you.â
I press it to my ear. âUh, hi, Quinn.â
âThis better be important, Zack. Madeline and I are in the middle of doing spa treatments.â
âIt is,â I promise. I pause to take a really deep breath in, and then I exhale out.
âGross, I heard that!â Quinn shouts.
âWhatâs gross about breathing?â I ask,but then I change my mind. âNever mind. I have something to tell you. Something crazy. Something amazing. Something crazmazing! â
Crazmazing . Adjective. When something is crazy and amazing at the same time.
âUgh,â Quinn says. âJust spit it out. And use actual words that exist in actual dictionaries, please.â
âOkay. I know youâre not going to believe this. But Iâm a genie.â
âIâm not going to believe what?â
âIâm a genie,â I repeat.
For a couple of seconds thereâs just silence. And then Quinn starts yelling: âZachary Noah Cooley, I told you to use real words! But if youâre just going to
Learning to Kill: Stories