Tutilage

Jessica clung to the edge of the bed as her Mother stood in front of both teenagers; they sat and waited for her to tell them the answer both she and Simon had sought. Where did she come from?

Unlike Simon, the head cheerleader of Eastlake high school felt her heart rate spike in anticipation. This was personal and tapped deep within every reach of her being. Her father didn’t talk much about his family, which was only because of the distance between him and his parents. This tale was unique among the entire planet because of what she was. Who she was the daughter of.

As Maridallura sighed, she motioned with her hand and called out her daughter’s name,

“Jessica.”

The young genie’s face swiveled, and she smiled at her Mother as not even a plane crashing into Simon’s house could keep her attention from being diverted,

“Have you been able to manifest your magic on your own yet?”

Suddenly, Jessica felt her face go blank at the question and imitated Simon as both teenagers tilted their heads in unison,

“Um, what?”

Manifest her magic? On her own? Could she do that? The cheerleader’s head spun as she tried to adequately answer a question to test she had not known about.

“Um,” the teenage genie looked back and forth at her boyfriend and Mother before clenching her eyes shut and trying to think about it as hard as she could.

Manifesting her magic…manifest…magic, like…powers? Magic powers? Oh!

“Master gave me some powers!” Jessica burst out quickly and answered, her fingers held out in front as she tried to list them,

“I can…tell people to do what I say with a magic phrase, cast illusions and even memories of people, and some objects if they’re magical themselves…uh…Master and I can read each other’s minds, and I can sense and feel his emotions…does that count?”

Her Mother sighed and shook her head,

“Not necessarily what I had in mind, Jessica…but that is quite interesting….”

Jessica watched Maridallura’s eyes dart over to Simon as she questioned her childhood friend’s motives,

“Most Masters would not be so trusting to grant their own genies such abilities. A mortal doing such a thing is highly dubious. Is there a reason for granting Jessica this?”

As if on cue, Simon’s nervous laugh appeared as he smiled, “W-Well, Jess was still getting used to things, a-and we used to play a game together when we were kids. It seemed like a good start to getting her to trust me, so I wanted to help her get used to being a genie by doing that….”

He scratched his head enough that Jessica squinted and wanted to claw at his scalp herself, but then her boyfriend continued,

“The emotions thing-wish was part of us trying to understand each other more; the illusions for when we were investigating people and moments of our past…as well as helping her hide if she needed to….”

Again, Maridallura sighed without giving anything else away from her reaction, remaining stern, “I see….”

Of course, in his nervous state, Simon also blurted something else, “I kind of try and be careful how I phrase wishes because in most stories, things kind of spiral out of control - the whole ‘be careful what you wish for’-thing! Hehe….”

Jessica watched her Mother’s mouth open as her eyes widened, and she shook her head in slight disbelief before the blonde elder genie mumbled to herself. Maridallura then switched back to her daughter and returned to her previous explanation,

“Jessica. As a genie, we cannot control the magic released by our Master’s wishes. However, if we become adept enough to use our magic, we are able to control its outcomes. Like with the rivers of this world, we are the current - the direction - but we can control which way the water will move if given a chance to flow. An elder one or Matriarch can even harness her own magic at will if given the opportunity.”

A Matriarch?

“S-So, it’s true that all genies are female? There’s not any male genies or anything?”

Her Mother nodded softly, slightly amused at her daughter’s response.

So genies could only be girls.

“Yes, Jessica. We are all sisters of the Djinn.”

That was another confirmation, but Maridallura soon frowned once more, then added,

“The Masters, on the other hand, can be both male or female. They do not have restrictions. However, a Mistress is quite rare among them but just as equally dangerous. When I was sired, the sisters that raised me were owned by a Mistress. At my age, I am still considered young for our kind. Though, I have lived the equivalent of several mortal centuries. Time has more meaning for mortals than our kind or the Masters. That is the way of our realms.”

Whoa. Her Mom was HOW OLD? Jessica stared blankly for a moment, then blanked her eyes in rapid succession and shook off that revelation.

Eternal youth was a good look for her!

She didn’t have long to process it, however. Maridallura began to wave her hands when the same purple smoke that appeared from her spilled out the sleeves of Simon’s robe. It continued to envelop the room until the bed was consumed. Finally, ending with that, both teenagers now sat in the middle of what appeared to be a desert. The sun setting in the background. The noticeable difference was the sky. When Simon tugged at his girlfriend’s arm and pointed up at the sight,

“Holy….”

The moon had been broken open above the starry sea of the endless sand dunes glistening in the wind.

“Looks like Arrakis…..”

Jessica sighed as she rolled her eyes at her dork of a lover’s comparative observation. If Sam hadn’t convinced Tiffany to all go to a movie with the raven-haired cheerleader’s blessing given on the sole reason of a naked Oscar Isaac, the Dune reference would’ve flown over the blonde’s head.

Begrudgingly to her popular girl persona, the cheerleader admitted mentally that Simon had a point. Her Mother continued as she moved closer and opened her arms to the sand around them,

“According to the legends of Master and Genie alike - this is the realm from which we were all created - and for where our purpose was born. Our world. Like the origin of life, of time, the exact moment we were created remains lost to the sands. Every daughter of the Djinn knows this deep inside our beings; we were born to serve since our creation. Our magic is life and creation itself. For every one of us born, a new light is created in the sky.”

Jessica watched as her Mother’s face saddened as she continued the story,

“All our tales speak of war. A war begun by the ancestors that sought to unleash our magic amongst one another. It caused unspeakable chaos, destruction, and the world in which we were born became an endless sea of sand with only the Masters left to ensure the Djinn could never be used for such purposes again. In the end, only the great city was left. Built by those that would be our owners - a monument and the only home many of us know - from the realms of the Masters.”

As Maridallura moved and whisked her smoke and hands again, Simon and Jessica watched as something caused the light to glint in the distance. The teenage genie watched as her Mother brought them closer until both could see what it was.

A massive ancient city that stretched out over the horizon, with buildings and spires crafted and constructed entirely of bronze. Simon’s emotions caught her attention as Jessica watched his finger-pointing and examining the designs of each structure to himself.

“It’s like one big monument to some lost civilization of the ancient world…holy shit….”

“Use words, Master.”

Jessica gave her Master a quick shove to get him to make his remark to her Mother as he nearly stood up to jump on his bed,

“I-It’s all made of bronze-brass! The whole thing is Bronze, Jess! H-How is that even….”

Maridallura walked forward and held out her hands as she motioned toward it,

“Of all the great cities, the Masters constructed this place to withstand our magic. It serves as their only monument to their existence, our origins outside their own realms. This world where our magic was first born saturates every granular of sand, where our power is weakest. Here we slaves are brought to be judged, tested, taught, or confined to wait upon our new Master’s acquisition of our lamps and bindings.”

Jessica watched worriedly as her Mother’s face twisted from her serious tone to sadness as she looked away to let the teens observe. Simon’s thoughts and emotions remained a roller coaster, and his girlfriend knew they would be running for days off these revelations.

But Jessica knew that look, that guilt, that pain, the trauma written on her Mother’s face.

“This is where they brought you when they took you from me. Wasn’t it?”

Maridallura squirmed as she faced her daughter. Her eyes became shaken as a broken smile crossed her lips,

“Because I was claimed by more than one Master, one of them issued a formal challenge. As a result, I was confined here until won by my Master. Who this one now serves and obeys.”

“Mom….”

Simon’s attention suddenly snapped as he spoke again, “Wait - what kind of formal challenge?”

Jessica wanted to remind her boyfriend of his tact in front of the saddened face of her Mother, but she also knew that he would only have spoken up if it meant he caught something worth knowing. As that inner conflict remained, her Mother nodded and spoke,

“It is the only thing the Masters truly amuse themselves with. To see who is best at the Mastery of controlling us. We are nothing more than objects to be dueled with, to display their own individuality through us. We are nothing more than extensions of our Masters proving themselves. By proving ourselves to our Masters in their battle, we prove our usefulness and our own strength, for we are merely objects and tools to their will…and nothing more….”

Battle. Genie Battle. Jessica’s emerald eyes widened as she gasped and pointed to her childhood friend in shock,

“Master! Like your vision, right? You saw that!”

Simon’s face was frozen, and he managed to slowly nod. His left hand reached and clutched the shard fragment around his neck,

‘Fuck….’

Simon’s face was frozen and he managed to slowly nod. His left hand reached and clutched the shard fragment around his neck,

‘Fuck….’

Jessica continued to excitedly explain to her Mother,

“Master saw something just like that, Mom! When looking for answers, he saw it!”

“Saw what?” Maridallura questioned her daughter, perplexed, dispelling her illusion and returning the three of them to Simon’s bedroom.

Her demeanor became more visibly angered as she frowned and approached the awkward teenager who owned her child,

“What did you see, boy?”

Jessica felt unsettled by the tone in her Mother’s voice. The blonde woman seemed more visibly angry than the more muted responses. The shock and horror she previously displayed at the sight of her childhood companion when revealed to be her daughter’s Master. Simon felt nervous; he sensed and felt worried while not showing it on the outside. His own demeanor became more serious as he looked to Jessica for some cue, to which his genie only nodded to proceed.

“I’ve been researching for Jess - to help us understand where genies come from. Unfortunately, I hit a rough spot, and out of frustration, I made a wish. Specifically to know what this was.”

Simon held up the metal shard of the Seal of Solomon around his neck, “That night, I saw a battle. Genie fighting other genies in a desert. Woke up with this in my hand, covered in sand….”

Maridallura’s eyes remained locked in shock, the genie frozen in place as Simon attempted to find the right words to continue. Jessica’s Mother now looked increasingly unsettled as she stepped toward him, and his eyes darted away from her.

He failed to see the glare in the genie’s eyes as they began to glow,

“So…I….”

Jessica’s eyes widened in horror as she watched her Mother knock her boyfriend onto the floor and slam him against a wall. Her Mother’s eyes glowed - enraged - as she began to spit at Simon as he remained frozen on the floor with his jaw in his hand.

“You stupid! Arrogant! Reckless fool! Do you realize what you’ve done! You say you are helping my daughter! But you have done no such thing!”

Jessica gasped in shock as she rushed to her Master’s side as her Mother continued,

“You mortals are all the same! You’re all incapable of understanding the forces and power which we hold! I have held my tongue because you are close to my daughter! I’ve tried hiding my tongue, but you have done the opposite of what I sought to help her avoid! She could have lived a normal life among you! _She could have become a goddess on her own! _But you have enslaved her! Taken her for your own ends! Now her power is trapped to the whims of a child who thinks he knows the ways of the universe!”

The more enraged her Mother became, the more she spat, and the more Jessica could hear how upset Maridallura truly was.

“I wanted my daughter to be free! Jessica would be the first genie…the first sister…the first among us all to have freedom from our existence! To know something other than our shared destiny! From knowing what fate this would bring her! From having the knife to her throat by another! Shackled! I expected her to make her own choice! You foolish boy! You don’t understand that you are only a mortal! She’ll outlive all of you except our kind, the Masters! You’re only dust and dirt to those that can control us! And you have the arrogance to believe you can know without them finding us! No matter what tricks or sorcery you managed that I have yet to solve, my Master will find out! He will come for her! My dream is already a nightmare because of you, boy! Even among your own kind, how can you be so….”

Jessica had heard enough. Every attack and reminder of what Simon had done filled her Master’s heart with an incredible sense of guilt. A pang of guilt he now admitted to himself was unavoidable. Yet, the young man didn’t respond to her, as his genie witnessed his eyes drift away. In her mind, she relieved the moments when she had screamed at Simon for being an idiot, a stalker, without remembering who he was to her, what they were to each other. He just took it. He took that punishment again and again.

“She’s not wrong….”

If it were anyone else to control her ring, Jessica would have wished her Mother’s wrath had returned sooner to rescue her. The look of absolute horror that she had in seeing that her ring had fallen into someone else’s hands. Jessica couldn’t help but feel the same guilt when she had cried and hugged her Mother only moments before. She knew she fucked up, but the sight of Simon again. Taking his lumps and surviving through it after everything they had been through together. After all the confessions and vows he made for her, it didn’t matter that the woman raging at Simon had given birth to her. The cheerleader rose to her feet and smacked her Mother across the face with the **** of a genie.

Slap.

Maridallura’s eyes widened as the hysterical and angered genie fell silent. Slowly she rose her head to her daughter as Jessica’s teeth clenched, and she moved to help Simon stand up.

“Master, please leave.”

“Jess?”

‘Did I do something wrong?’

There it was again. The same question, in the same room, worry, anxiety as her Master had asked or thought so many times before. Especially on the morning after they woke up to each other. Jessica’s response came in the form of words,

“No. No, you didn’t do anything wrong. I need to do this. I need her to know.”

Maridallura gasped in shock as she watched her daughter kiss and smile at the boy she admonished. Her Master quietly nodded and left his bedroom as Jessica locked the door behind him.

“Jessica. I know you might have familiarity for that mortal, but you must understand I only….”

“Shut up, Mom.”

“J-Jessica….”

The wrathful energy now switched from Mother to daughter as Jessica’s eyes allowed a few tears to escape. The genie’s boots clicked on the wooden floor of her Master’s bedroom as she clenched her fists and now felt the same anger she had those early days after.

“Do you even know what it’s like finding out you aren’t human, Mom? Do you know what he’s done for me after what you did?”

“Jessica, you have to understand. He’s enslaved you. Used your power, used….”

“Only after you revealed that I’m a genie and basically revealed my entire life was a GIANT FARCE! A LIE!”

The shriek of anger was too shocking for the elder genie to be answered.

Maridallura fell silent as Jessica let out a disbelieving laugh as she became increasingly animated,

“Did you even know what my life was before you showed up, Mom? I was the most popular girl in High School? People called me the ‘It’ Girl? That every boy wanted me, and every girl wanted to be me? Do you know what’s expected of that? The slightest idea what that’s like? That for normal humans, their 18th birthday is the celebration of becoming an adult? What that means I’m expected to do, especially when I want validation?”

The woman shook her head and nodded depending on the question, but it was clear that the genie was falling back only on what she had learned,

“Your father told me how the 18th birthday is considered the human day of maturation, so that’s why I….”

Jessica didn’t let her finish as she yelled in exasperated disbelief,

“Yes, but that’s not everything, Mom! That’s not explaining relationships! Friends! Obligations! Expectations! Status! I practically invited the entire school over to my house, Mom! Everyone! My best friends! My cheerleading squad! Every club! My asshole of a boyfriend! Even people I genuinely didn’t want to be there, but I was pressured into inviting them anyway! I wanted to please everyone by throwing the biggest party of the year! So big that even the one person that I didn’t want to be there was hiding in the one place I thought was safest!”

Maridallura became more confused, “J-Jessica, I don’t understand. You s-said this mutual acquaintance hiding in your room….”

The cheerleader growled as she felt the urge to rip her hair out and paced angrily around her Mother again,

“Simon and I were only trying to keep you from freaking out more! Kevin hates my guts! He’s always hated my guts! He’s a weak, vengeful, psychopathic pervert because my friends and I bullied and isolated him since grade school! So he was there to sabotage my party when he got stuck in my closet because YOU POPPED BACK INTO MY LIFE TO TELL ME I WAS A FUCKING GENIE!”

Jessica’s tears flowed as she continued to hound her Mother,

“Do you not get it yet, Mom! You basically revealed my secret to my biggest enemy in high school! He’s always sought power and ****, and the moment you left, he acted like he won the fucking jackpot! Jessica Edwards, Personal ****! That was all he cared about! About getting **** on me, using me, controlling me! I had nightmares about him controlling me! All I wished for at that moment was for my ring not to fall into the wrong hands! No one else had a fucking clue what was going on when the binding of an all-powerful genie flew out my window!”

In shock, her Mother collapsed onto Simon’s bed, pale and silent. Jessica not letting up,

“It turned into a fucking race! Then when I saw Master with it, I thought my life was over! Kevin and I scared him away fighting, and he just taunted me about not being human! Even without the ring, that asshole reminded me that I’d be nothing more in life than a ****! Not human! Not normal! I became so upset I put him in the hospital. Everyone recorded me doing it! If it wasn’t for Master wishing everything to be fixed, I’d be worse off! My normal life ended the moment you showed up, Mom!”

The daughter continued to fight through tears as her Mother bowed her head in shame and began to shake at the admission.

“I…I only wanted you to be safe…without your magic….”

A pained laugh came from the cheerleader’s mouth as she shook her head and rubbed her arm,

“Yeah, well! It’s hard to do that when you find out there’s no way to wish not to be a genie anymore when you’ve always been one. That everything you thought you knew about yourself was bullshit, and you’ve been granting wishes since you were a toddler!”

Maridallura gasped as she finally revealed her own eyes becoming red from building tears. The paled state of her skin nearly turned her face paper white at her daughter’s admission,

“W-What?”

Jessica nodded as her nostrils made an ugly sound to clear the mucus from them, her tears stinging her eyes until they were red as her cheeks,

“Yeah, Mom! That illusion wish to view old memories? Simon and I used it to find out how to assemble some missing pieces! For a genie explaining her heritage to her daughter, maybe don’t forget to mention that she could use magic when she was four! That every person that makes a wish around her could make her do something to grant it? That I’ve never felt in control of my own fucking life until I was fucking enslaved?”

The bitterness was hard to swallow back down as the teenager continued to cry and tell her Mother what she had learned,

“I’ve been a genie the whole time, Mom! I could never be human! I could never be normal! No matter what I told you or how much I wanted to! It broke me! I was so angry with you! Until Master talked me off the edge. Until he showed me, convinced me, that I was still me! That I was always still me!”

The thought of her Master made a smile break through Jessica’s face as she held her hands over her heart,

“Don’t you ever hurt him like that! You don’t understand the hell that I put him through. That he put himself through for me. Of all the people in my life, more than my teacher, Miss Littlewood, people I thought were friends like Tiffany, my actual friends like Sammy, more than Stephanie, more than Daddy, I needed Master the most! He needed me! And I lost him once because I didn’t know I was magic. But it’s because of magic that him finding that ring that I finally have him back! After everything that’s happened because of that, I won’t lose him again! Master is too important to me, Mom!”

The determination once again burned and lit aflame inside Jessica Edwards as she looked down at her Mother’s shocked and fearful face as she spoke,

“I want Simon to be my Master! I need him to be! He’s the only one I want to be!”

Maridallura weakly and meekly managed to utter a rebuttal to her daughter,

“Jessica, he’s mortal, he’s….”

“I don’t fucking care, Mom! I’m his genie! Because that’s what I am! And because I am, I’ll become the greatest genie that’s ever lived if I have to! That’s what I’ll have to be if I’m going to protect him and rescue you!”

The genie on the bed fell silent as she tried to absorb everything that her daughter had unleashed on her. The blonde woman shook and then held her palms over her eyes.

“I…I didn’t know…I…I thought that….”

Jessica’s eyes widened as her Mother collapsed off the bed onto the floor. Her golden hair covered her face as she shook. The teenager lowered herself and pulled the hair away from her Mother’s face to reveal that her eyes were wide open, her mouth biting down on her lip to suppress the urge to wail and scream as she hiccupped. Instead of the image of an all-powerful genie, the mysterious woman that appeared on her birthday, there was a broken seemingly-young woman on her knees trying to process the truth that her daughter told.

“I…I…I failed…I failed….”

The teenager felt her heart sink at the sight of her Mother’s cries. The elder genie was now in a familiar state of profound grief as her daughter curled beside her. Jessica wrapped an arm around her to comfort her. The denial still sank in,

“It…It’s not possible…you were only an infant…I…I should have known then…I…I didn’t…I thought you would appear normal…you would be normal…you wanted to be normal…I wanted…I wanted you to….”

Jessica hugged her Mother tightly as they curled at the foot of Simon’s bed as she continued to process,

“You…you’re more powerful than I realized…that…that’s not possible…you have so much magic…I don’t understand….”

“It’s okay, Mom.”

“No, no, no, no…no, it’s not…I expected things to go so much differently…I didn’t expect to see you again…I…you wished to be normal…you wished…..”

Power, Normal, Expectations. The exact words came back to Jessica over and over again because of Simon. A smile crossed her face as she realized how much those exact words, ideas, and actions shackled her Mother as they had once shackled her. Only in another way, in another form, but as always, the same.

“Shhh. It’s okay, Mom. It’s okay….”

“Jessica….”

At an inopportune moment, the genie’s stomach announced its presence with a growl. The blonde Mother reacted by breaking from her daughter’s embrace and putting herself on guard,

“What was that?”

“It’s just my stomach. Master and I skipped dinner to make sure you would show up. I’m just hungry.”

Maridallura sat on her knees, looking away for a moment, “Oh. You’re hungry….”

“Yeah.”

Jessica watched as her Mother’s demeanor changed again as she began to pull Simon’s robe from her shoulders and revealed the swollen state of her breasts, a **** but resolved response in her voice to her daughter’s admission,

“Then…shall I feed you?”

Feed her?

Jessica watched as her Mother sat before her and held up her swollen mammaries in front of her face. The teenager was caught off guard as the elder genie admitted something,

“When a genie gives birth, because of the harshness of our diets, those that have had a child can produce milk whenever necessary. Master has had me feed my sisters routinely because of this.”

A happy memory seemed to awaken inside her Mother’s eyes,

“But before that, I used to feed you every day. I still remember holding you every moment. You were always so hungry, I’d let you drink to your heart’s content. I always pictured feeding you when feeding the sisters. I dreamed of it for so long….”

Suddenly, Jessica found her throat running dry from thirst. As if an instinct had suddenly switched on as the dream she had replayed in her head. Her Mother’s teet called to her, but the teenager shook her head and resisted as long as she could.

“Mom, I’m not a baby anymore…people don’t…I mean….”

“Neither are they, Jessica. When I was your age and owned by my Mistress, I did something similar. But, please, let me take care of you. I’ve wished only for that for so long….”

Her Mother just revealed that her current Master treated her like a fucking cow. Maridallura’s breasts were swollen because she was **** to produce the same milk that she had once given to her infant daughter,

“No, I can’t, Mom. You deserve better than….”

An embarrassed look revealed her Mother’s conflicted feelings, “Jessica, please. I want to, and…if I do it this way, you won’t have to see me when I…when I can’t hold it in and lose control…what Master has me do when I cannot control it, to amuse him….”

That monster, the cheerleader declared of her Mother’s current owner. How many other tortures had he put her through for his own amusement? Flustered and letting out a growl, Jessica scowled as she scooted herself forward and shot an embarrassed look at the floor. The pain she must’ve been holding onto was unbearable,

“Fine, fuck it.”

With a slow breath, Jessica reached out and placed her mouth over her Mother’s right nipple and began to suck on it. Her Mother gasped and moaned before something familiar began to squirt inside the cheerleader’s mouth.

It was warm, it was familiar, and it tasted heavenly as it did in her dream. If anyone had been in the room to see them, Jessica would have resisted more, but then her Mother’s pain would’ve continued. Instead, it was the price of embarrassment as she felt her Mother lay back on the floor while a hand cradled the back of her head.

Her Mother’s body began to relax as she sighed contently. The discomfort she had shown during her entire time back in their world was put at ease by a familiar feeling she had craved once before.

The sound of Maridallura’s pleasurable sounds put Jessica somewhat at ease.

Her Mother had been through so much for her. She needed to feel good. That same instinctive urge rolled through her mind that Jessica let herself continue until both of the genie’s swollen breasts reduced to their usual but ample size once more.

Once finished, her Mother sat up and placed herself back in the safety of Simon’s robe, a soft smile as the shameful look in her eyes remained, “Thank you, Jessica….”

The genie noticed a milk dribble that had escaped her daughter’s lips and quickly rubbed it away with the long dark blue sleeve. She smiled at Jessica as another memory must’ve passed through her mind,

“You…you always were a bit messy….”

The tears formed in her Mother’s eyes as the sadness from before overtook her again. The blonde woman moved back against the bed again as her daughter scooted back to sit beside her. Jessica waited for her Mother to speak as she smiled at her, the genie unable to fully absorb her emotional state as she sat next to her daughter.

As she stared back into Jessica’s emerald eyes, Maridallura began to confess,

“W-When I was a young one…the sisters took me to the Mistress to show her my power. I can still remember when she wished for my sisters to indoctrinate me. My body was the same age as yours, but my mind had not changed. I had not been away from them before, and Mistress saw something inside me. She’d pet my head and my body and look down on me. Doted on me as a favored pup over my sisters, and she said, ‘You’re a special one, genie, a special one. Now do as I say, my faithful ****, and remember now, you always obey.’ That was when I began my service to her….”

“They made you do that?”

Jessica’s eyes widened as her Mother nodded and smiled sadly, “When I returned to my sisters, they sent me away. When the Masters wish for it, our kind is able to change. I once saw young genies age or transform into whatever they pleased. I was born among my sisters there. Some live through their whole maturation before being noticed by our Mistress. I never understood until later when our Mistress lost a challenge, and my first binding was broken that it was because of the magic I possessed….”

Maridallura’s eyes widened as she looked guilt-ridden at her daughter,

“I did not expect you to be so powerful, Jessica. I only feared that they would have done to you what was done to my sisters or countless others if they had found you with me. I couldn’t bear that thought. To have such magic without control…unbound…I can’t begin to think what I’ve put you through…the way mortals utter wishes was something I could only overcome with control…the Masters always seek out powerful Djinn Sisters first for the purity of their magic.”

Jessica looked away and down at her feet as she nodded quietly as her Mother came to grips with her daughter’s power being used at such an early age.

“And to have that power in the hands of someone as irresponsible as that boy. From what I’ve seen, I know you care deeply for him, Jessica, but he’s only a mortal. Mortals cannot be trusted with that kind of power. They’re unworthy of it. The Masters loved to taunt us by sending some of our lamps into their realm. To give our power to their kind, the power to control their own reality, is to give a weapon to a child. By summoning me, I’m endangering your life. However valuable he is to you, I cannot forgive that….”

Maridallura’s daughter frowned at her as she once again reiterated her opposition to Simon. Jessica felt that urge to fight stubbornly boil up again as she kept herself calm, rhetorically asking her Mother,

“Did you know that one of Master’s first wishes was to ensure no one could take the ring from him? It terrified me because I didn’t know why he did that.”

“He did what?”

Aside from the obvious horror and outrage by her Mother’s reaction, Jessica simply nodded, “When his sister brought me home to hide from the fallout of my birthday, I lashed out at him because I knew he didn’t understand sarcasm. Then, I told him how scared I was. He could see it.”

She turned to her Mother to make sure she was listening as intently,

“The first words out of his mouth were that he would protect me. It made no sense at first because I had lost memory of my childhood, so I laughed at it, even though I felt something from that…I mean, it didn’t make sense. So why was my best friend’s weirdo stalker dork of a brother saying that instead of wishing for anything he wanted? He could have wished for anything, and I couldn’t do anything about it! According to my Mother - who I never met - I was his **** and could grant any wish that made me orgasm any time he did so! I was a hysterical mess, I couldn’t sleep, and I was terrified about what he would do to me. Especially when I found out he had been secretly giving me gifts for my birthday every year for seemingly no reason that night!”

Jessica couldn’t help but smile at the moment that brought her life full circle in a way she hadn’t known, “I lashed out at him and told him I wished I knew what was happening in his stupid head. Then he breaks down and wishes that I could, that I could feel what he did because he was so bad at showing it, and that I remembered what he had….”

The teenager laughed at her predicament, “Simon kept the ring because he didn’t trust anyone else with it. He didn’t want me to be a **** or have that hanging over me; in fact, the only thing he ever really wanted was for us to be together again because, according to everyone else that knew except for me, was that as a kid, I needed him as much as he needed me. If I didn’t want him to make a wish, he’d nod and go okay; if I wanted to live my life as usual, he would do that. He loves me. I know he does because I’ve felt it. I know it’s real. I know it’s there. He would do anything for me if I asked him to. The flip side, though, was, he pointed out, I’m an all-powerful genie, and he and I were basically the only ones that knew and could do what we wanted. So that a simple wish to not be a genie anymore was impossible without repercussions because it turns out I have so much magic, it would have to go somewhere else or nowhere at all. If there was a way to stop it, why wouldn’t my own mom have done that when I asked?”

Maridallura ducked her head as the last comment stung her like one-hundred wasps. Her hands gripped her knees as her daughter’s point was made. Jessica sighed,

“You lied to me, Mom. And even if it was something you believed, it was wrong because you knew I would never be normal from the moment you came and bound me to that stupid ring. I lived in denial a bit longer, but I’ve had to accept that I will never be a normal person with a normal life. And I’m okay with that. I’m not okay with having to live a life where I’m not myself. Where I can’t be with those I care about. Where I have no clue what’s happening to me or why I have these impulses, urges, and mantras in my head that compel me to act a certain way.”

The genie reached and grabbed her Mother’s hand tightly as both looked into each other’s eyes,

“Mom. I need you. I can’t do any of this without you. I need to learn what it means to be a genie, so I can protect myself, my friends, my family, and most of all, my Master. Please, Mom….”

The girl hugged her Mother tightly as she waited for her to reply. The genie in her arms remained silent as she tried to process her daughter’s words and requests.

“I failed you…Jessica….”

Jessica gripped onto her tighter and more determined, reacting as she knew Simon would encourage her to,

“Then don’t fail me again, Mom. I need you. Please….”

Her Mother’s voice sounded drained and defeated as she spoke, confessing her hesitance,

“Jessica, I wanted you to learn, but I don’t know if I’m capable of teaching you properly. My Master will use this against me once he finds out. It’ll only put you in more danger if I don’t go back….”

Maridallura sighed, “But all I can do now is make you happy. If this is your wish, I will do my best…even if I disagree with you and your mortal.”

Jessica felt an arm over hers as she embraced the woman and said the words she had never gotten to say to her before,

“I love you, Mom.”

The genie froze up at her daughter’s confession, then melted into her embrace of her only child. Jessica felt her shoulder grow soggy as her Mother let out a hiccup as she nuzzled the younger genie close to her.

Jessica hadn’t known it from her Mother then. However, for the first time since her return, Maridallura felt joy.