*Chapter 10* No More Games --- Tell her that you're good.

You're sick and tired of playing Lynn's game and refuse to be led by a string any longer. Let her have her fun with your powers. To be honest, they weren't always yours, you only got them because Amina gave them to you. Sure, Lynn stole them, but what can you do about that? Call the cops? She's got the power to do whatever she likes and she seems intent on using them to torment you, but if you don't play along, she no longer has that power over you. That's one small vicotry against her at least. With that resolution, you feel a weight lift off your shoulder and tell her, "No, I'm good."

"You... wait, what?!" Lynn says, with her eyes bulging in complete surprise. She scrunches her nose and narrows her eyes almost as if disgusted but more to try and figure out what your play is. She asks, "What do you mean you're good?"

You shrug your shoulders and say, "I'm good. You can keep your secrets, do what you will with the pendant. I don't care anymore, just leave me out of it."

Lynn seems to be at a loss for words. She looks at you hotly, glaring contemptibly at your aloofness. "Well... fine then... but maybe I don't want to leave you out of it..."

You fold your arms together and retort, "Well, I'm not playing, so you'll have to find someone else to harass."

Lynn looks miffed by the rebuff. "Well, fine then!" she says with a bit and anger and frustration. "You go on and live your boring life without me! You'll see how much you'll miss the fun."

You just smirk and give her a sidelong glance. Her idea of fun doesn't exactly line up with yours. As you bring yourself out of your own thoughts, you realize that Lynn is gone. You take a quick look around and find no trace of her in the house. You wonder if she's truly left you alone or is just hiding, waiting to cause more trouble. You get a growing dread in the back of your mind that it is the latter and begin to question not going along with her whims. It's one thing to have to deal with an omnipotent presence face to face, but one scheming behind your back is another thing altogether. You have to brush that thought aside though as you once again resolve yourself to not play her games.

With Lynn's chaos out of your hair, things suddenly seem quiet. You let out a breath and sink into your chair, spinning yourself on the spot. No more need to look for rare figurines and follow through on any other half baked, convoluted plans to get your magic back. Who needs it anyways? You can live without it. It was just a 'nice to have'. You wonder when your mom and Amina will come back. Checking the clock, you realize they've only been gone for half an hour at the most. With a sigh, you resign yourself to watching some television.

You flip through the channels, half paying attention to what's on. Maybe you should have at least let Lynn play out what was happening with your mom and Amina. Of course, that's be spying and even though you were curious, it probably wouldn't be right to invade on their privacy like that. Of course, whatever they were up to would be ten times better than what's on TV right now. A sudden panic washes over you as the thought that Lynn is influencing your thoughts occurs to you. Could she be making you miss the magic? You grind your teeth nervously and look around for the girl just in case. No sign of her, so you **** yourself to watch a documentary on Japanese architecture.

Amina and your mom return a few hours later with dinner. You greet them like a bored puppy awaiting his mistress' return. YThey had picked out some fried chicken because they were out for so long.

"My aren't you excited to see us!" your mom notes as you take in the meal and help set the dinner table.

"I.. uh.. I'm just excited to see what you guys got!" you reply.

"Oh, you'll love what Amina picked out, it's so adorable!"

"Well, you helped," Amina smiles back to your mother.

"Don't cut yourself short, hun, you got great taste!" you mom replies. "In more than one way...." They both share a giggle and you feel another pang of regret for passing on the opportunity to see what they were up to for the last few hours. Then again... do you really want to know?

Dinner conversation revolves around the new outfits Amina has gotten, where they are going to store it and where the girl is going to stay for the night. You're set to work, after dinner, to preparing the guest room properly for your guest. More furniture moving, yay! The grunt work would have been a snap with some magic, but you are a normal, non-magical person who does normal, mundane tasks without the aid of mystical forces. You sigh and tough it out. At least maybe you'll develop some muscles out of the workout.

Tired and exhausted, you bid your mom and Amina a goodnight and return to your room. Even though you lost your magic, life isn't exactly going to go back to normal, you realize. You now have Amina to take care of. You find it curious that Lynn hasn't taken her genie with her. Is Amina no longer a genie? Did Lynn somehow take all the magic for herself and no longer needs a genie? She understands how the pendant works, so maybe she figured a way to do that. You run through the logistics of the magic in your head until you fade into sleep.

The next morning you wake up feeling something under your sheets. You remember that you are in your room, in your own bed. Then, who's in your bed with you? Did Amina crawl in feeling frisky? Your mom will have a fit if she catches you two! You struggle to pull off your bedmate and she rises up from under the covers. You come face to face with...