Noel was fifteen minutes from heading into court when she received the message from the lamp.
She set aside the documents she’d been reviewing, closed the door of her penthouse corner office, and instructed her assistant to hold her calls. Noel was one of London’s top litigators, but lamp business took precedence over everything. Careers on Earth came and went, but matters of the lamp were eternal.
Most likely, it would be Goldie sharing a new shortbread recipe. And yet, even casual correspondence took priority. She owed everything she was to the lamp and its masters.
She unrolled the parchment. As she watched the message, the blood drained from her face.
As was her nature, she responded immediately by snapping into action. She unlocked a secret drawer in her desk, extracted a cell phone reserved exclusively for lamp affairs, and dialed her best friend.
“Oh my God!” Tabitha exploded when she answered. “Can you believe this? I’m in shock!”
The message must have gone to all loyal alumni. “Pull yourself together,” Noel said tersely. “We have to act quickly and intelligently.”
“An escape from the lamp!” Tabitha marveled. “I never thought I’d see the day. That’s one gutsy little genie.”
Noel had to agree. After granting for mortals like Christopher Columbus and then spending more than five hundred years on Earth, she thought she’d seen it all. But this—this was truly inconceivable. “Tab, I think we’ve got to go to San Diego.”
“I think you’re right. Gosh, it’s sort of exciting, isn’t it?”
“You could say that.” Noel’s phone beeped with an incoming call. “I’ve got Genevieve coming in on the other line.”
“And I’ve got Ivy,” Tabitha said.
“Let’s take them. Call you back.”
In the sitting room of her home in South Africa, Tabitha switched over to Ivy’s call. “Can you believe it?”
“Hardly.” Ivy’s voice always sounded far away, like she was phoning from another planet.
“What do we do?”
“Bola’s got a plan.”
“Of course she does.”
“But we all need to get there—and fast.”
“I’ll book a ticket.” Tabitha paused. “Do you think they know?”
“There’s no telling,” Ivy said.
“Because if they do…”
“Let’s not even think about it.”
They hung up, and Ivy sat in silence for a moment. She looked out toward the Gullfoss waterfall, one of Iceland’s most well-known natural wonders. She’d been at her favorite café, drinking tea and working on a sonnet, when the message arrived from the lamp. Ivy had been living in Iceland for the past twelve years, enjoying the stunning landscape and dabbling in poetry and painting. The news from Xavier and Goldie had been the first interruption in her peaceful life for quite some time.
Ivy’s phone rang. It was Bola. She was taking the lead, as usual.
“Talk to me,” Ivy said. She sipped her tea and listened to the plan.