I’m alone with Henry in his backyard.
“One more?” he says.
“Just one.” I drag my toe along the surface of the water in the Carwyns’ pool. I’ve resisted the urge to heat it.
“And it’s really just the one wish?” He runs his hand through his hair. “Not three?”
In response to my nod, Henry takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. It is at this moment that I wonder if the weight that lifted from my shoulders upon sharing my secret with Henry found a home on his.
He slides his glasses back on. “Even so. That’s what I want.”
And that is how I wind up using my third and final practice ritual to grant Lisa’s wish to be rid of her stutter. In this case, being invested wasn’t a problem. Because his wish was also hers.
* * *
I should … I will … I am … I am going to confess to my mother.
But not today.
When Mr. Carwyn came outside to ask Henry to babysit Lisa and saw the two of us together, tears snuck into his eyes. The same way they filled mine when Henry and I heard Lisa speak without a hint of a stutter for the first time.
After their father left, Henry was reading to Lisa. He prompted her to try a page. Lip trembling, she looked at me and hesitated.
“Remember what your therapist taught you and go slowly,” Henry said.
The mix of astonishment and pride on Lisa’s face when she read the page out loud made my heart stop.
“It worked, Henry! Just like Ms. Denise said!”
Barely holding back his own tears, Henry hugged Lisa and immediately began to cover for me. “Well, we’ve been working hard this summer, haven’t we? Doing all Ms. Denise told us to do. Now, don’t forget, she said it might take time. So don’t worry if it comes back, okay? We’ll just work even harder.”
Lisa vigorously shook her head. “It’s gone. I believed. Just like with Tinker Bell.”
Tinker Bell or a genie. In that moment, I was okay with being either, but proud, and maybe even the tiniest bit grateful, to be the latter.
And that is why today has simply been for floating on a raft in the Carwyns’ pool, for getting to know Lisa, and for opening the door and finally letting Henry in.
From my yellow-and-blue inflatable boat, I watch Henry finish wrapping a waterlogged Lisa in a towel. She curls up on the lounger, clutches her book, and begins to read aloud to herself.
Henry dives back into the pool, rocking my plastic boat as he swims underneath me.
He pokes his head above the water and, with a Cheshire cat grin, says, “Leprechauns?”
“Nope.” I inch away from the water dripping off his unruly mop as he rests his forearms on the side of my raft.
“Mermaids?”
“Please.”
He groans. “Don’t tell me vampires exist.”
“Not as far as I know. But what’s wrong with vampires?”
Henry squints and issues a decent brooding stare. “They’re leeches. I’ll never understand what you girls see in them.” He widens his eyes. “Wait, you are a girl, aren’t you?”
“A Jinn girl.”
“Which means?”
“Same but not. Different species.”
“Really?” He shakes his head and chlorinated water flies at my nose. “Like snakes or baboons? Wild.”
Laughing, I shove him off my boat with so much force I end up capsizing myself.
Henry’s string of questions is so long, I’m convinced he spent all morning preparing them. No one could have this many questions about magical creatures off the top of their head. He thinks being Jinn means I’m plugged into some supernatural hot line.
As I flutter kick my way to the stairs, I realize the high I’m riding must be at least partially due to the effects of invoking the circulus with Lisa. I didn’t recognize it at first because I didn’t feel much (aside from panic) after granting Zoe’s wish. But the pureness of Lisa’s spirit has made me all giggly. Me and giggly are usually more oil and water than chocolate and peanut butter.
Enveloping myself in a beach towel, I place another one over Lisa, who’s fallen asleep, tired out from us double-teaming Henry all afternoon. Not wanting to wake her, I sit in a chair at the opposite end of the pool. The jig is up about my birthday night makeover so I go ahead and pull out my ponytail holder and use my dark purple nails to untangle the knots in my long hair.
Leaving his own trail of wet footprints on the decking next to mine, Henry plops down across from me. “I knew there was something different about you that night.”
Just like a boy to focus on a girl’s looks.
“You exuded this … this confidence,” he says.
Just like Henry to not be a normal boy. He’s so honest it scares me a little—and not because I think he’d out me. Because my entire life has been one of deception. Being open feels wrong. How’s that for a warped lesson to have learned?
“I should probably go,” I say even though it’s the last thing I want to do. Going home, thinking about what I have to do at home, erases the joy of Lisa’s residual anima.
I’ve told Henry enough to satisfy him for now. Though he probably won’t get the chance to find out more. I have no idea if my mother can fix this, but if she can and does, I’m pretty sure that’ll mean I’ll lose another Carwyn because of being Jinn.
“Wait, not yet.” Henry gestures toward his sleeping sister. “Should I be worried about her? I know you said most genie lore is pure myth, but she’s not going to wake up without her vocal cords or something, is she?”
I cock my head. “I’m not following.”
“You know, like in the movies. One of those genie tricks. Like a girl gets her wish to be stick thin but the cost is puking her guts out every morning.”
I’d laugh but Henry’s too worried. “No, she’ll be fine.” To reassure him, I add, “I promise, no tricks with this one, even though a lot of the myths do seem to have a kernel of truth in them. Like my mom thinks the whole idea of wishes coming with strings attached is because our magic has its limits. A lazy or an untalented or even a mischievous Jinn might go the literal route. Way back when, people knew they had a wish granted. We didn’t have to make them forget like we do now. If they spilled the beans, the wish was reversed.”
Henry relaxes back into his chair. “So if someone’s wish wasn’t granted the way they wanted, it probably seemed like the wish came with a cost.”
I nod. “That’s not an issue anymore since wishees don’t remember the experience. The hardest part now is covering our tracks and making sure the wish is believable to them and to everyone else. Like with Zoe. She wanted to be tall, but if I left her bumping the ceiling, she’d—”
“Totally go viral.”
“Be dissected by your human doctors.”
“Military.”
This time, I do laugh. A little. “Either way, it’d raise suspicion.”
“Viral.” Henry slaps his leg. “Damn. Can you imagine if we could put this on the Internet? Make a documentary? Real-life paranormal? We’d be rich.”
My heart leaps to my throat. “You can’t. What I said about the Afrit wasn’t an exaggeration.” Though I kept the specifics vague, I had to tell Henry the consequences of him not keeping my secret. “If you hint to anyone, even your mom or dad—”
Henry grabs both of my hands and looks at me with such intensity, I break out in goose bumps.
“It was only a stupid joke, I swear, Azra. I swear on—”
“It’s okay.” I don’t want him swearing on anyone’s life again. “It’s only jail.” Granted, if my mom isn’t exaggerating, it’s a perverse, living nightmare kind of jail, but Henry doesn’t need to know that.
He squeezes his eyes shut as he shakes his head. “No, it’s not okay. You’re trusting me with all this. With … with your life.”
But only for today. A rush of sadness and guilt overwhelms me. Henry must mistake this for fear because he clenches my hands so hard, my bones feel as though they might break.
“And if they found out, you’d be taken away. From … all of us. For good.” He gently touches my silver bangle. “I’d never let that happen, Azra.”
Henry’s honesty is never more on display than in his light green eyes. One look, and I’m positive nothing has ever been more true.
“Thank you, Henry,” I say. “For today. It’s been a long time since … well, since I’ve had a day like today.”
A cloud comes over his eyes. “Did you tell her? Did you ever tell Jenny?”
It’s all I can do to shake my head no.
Our awkward silence is interrupted by Lisa, who barrels into me and hugs my legs. I’m momentarily panicked, thinking the cloaking enchantment didn’t work. But it did. To Lisa, I’m just the girl from across the street who gave her french fries.
The gratitude in Henry’s smile guts me. To him, I’m the girl from across the street, the best friend to the sister he lost, and the genie who helped the sister he clings to and puts before everything, including himself.
I should … I will … I am going to confess to my mother.
But not today.