There was chaos in the room.
“This is a crime of the utmost seriousness,” the principal thundered as the genies gasped and stared at Ali. “It is so serious that it can only be dealt with by the Grand Genie himself. And I intend to speak to him about it as soon as he arrives!”
Suddenly Ali felt Genie grab her hand.
“Run, Ali!” she yelled, dragging her over to the door.“Run as fast as you can!”
“After them!” Ali heard the principal yell as she and Genie dashed off down the corridor. “We can't have a human on the loose—the Grand Genie will be here any minute!”
The corridors were empty, as most genies were now in class. Ali and Genie had a clear path ahead of them. But the uproar was attracting attention, and curious genies were popping their heads out of their classrooms to see what was going on.
As she and Genie skidded around a corner, Ali risked a quick glance over her shoulder. It looked like half the school was chasing them.
“This way, Ali!” Little Genie shouted.
She pulled Ali outside through the doors and pointed at a clump of large, leafy bushes near the entrance.
“In there!” she whispered, panting.
Ali and Genie dived into the bushes and waited. Ali was out of breath and trembling. She still had the jewelry box in her hand. She slipped it into her pocket.
The next moment, the principal swept through the doors. A crowd of students and teachers followed. Magico, Lampella, and Genius all looked very concerned. Next to the principal stood Esmeralda, a wicked smile on her face. Ali glared at her through the leaves.
“What do we do now?” Ali whispered, putting her lips close to Genie's ear so that no one else could hear her.
“I don't know,” Genie said. “But we're in big trouble, catch my drift? I can't let the Grand Genie see you, Ali. We'll stay hidden in these bushes forever if we have to!”
Ali didn't like the sound of that. What if she had to stay in Genieland and she never managed to get home? She would never see her mom and dad again. She'd even miss her annoying little brother, Jake!
“They must be hiding somewhere inside,” the principal was saying sternly.“We'll separate into groups and search every inch of this school. I want those two found before the Grand Genie turns up!”
Principal Grant stomped back inside, followed by everyone except Esmeralda. She paced in front of the school, her eyes darting around. Ali's heart sank. How could they get away with Esmeralda standing there, ready to raise the alarm?
A noise close to the bushes made Ali jump. She and Genie peered through the leaves and saw the class of preschool genies who had been finger-painting the welcome banner swoop down on a big magic carpet. It landed gently just outside the nursery school doors, and their teacher started helping them climb off.
A young genie still sitting on the carpet began giggling mischievously.“Listen, I know the magic words!” he bragged to his three little friends.“Kalam, alam, shazam!”
“No, Lampwick!” the teacher called in alarm, but it was too late. The carpet, with four baby genies still on board, rose into the air. The teacher was left behind on the ground, staring helplessly after it. The preschool genies peered over the carpet edge at her and burst out laughing. They obviously thought this was the best game ever!
“Oh no!” Genie gasped. “They're much too young to know how to steer a carpet— they could crash! I must help them, Ali!”
She let out a piercing whistle, and the next moment a hoverboard floated down behind the bushes. Little Genie jumped onto it and zoomed up into the air after the carpet.
“Wait for me, Genie!” Ali yelled. “You might need some help!”
She whistled and another hoverboard arrived seconds later. Ali leapt onto it and flew out of the bushes.
“There's the human!” Ali heard Esmeralda yell triumphantly as she whizzed up into the sky after Genie. “I've got you now!”
Wobbling a little on her hoverboard, Ali glanced down and saw Esmeralda dash into the school to get Principal Grant. But there was no time to worry about that now. They had to save the preschool genies!
Her hair flying in the wind, Ali tried her best to catch up with Genie. But her friend hadn't even realized that Ali was behind her. Little Genie was leaning forward, making her hoverboard fly even faster to draw level with the carpet. The little genies had stopped laughing as the carpet swerved this way and that; now they just looked scared, clinging to the tassels at the edge.
Little Genie's hoverboard caught up with the carpet, and she shifted so that she was facing the preschool genies. Ali's heart jumped as she guessed what Genie was planning. She was going to leap through the air from her hoverboard onto the carpet!
Ali could hardly bear to watch. It was extra dangerous because the carpet was out of control, zipping in all different directions.
“Be careful, Genie!” Ali yelled, but the wind whipped her words away.
Little Genie launched herself from the hoverboard. There was a moment when she seemed to hang in midair, and Ali's stomach churned with fear. But then Genie landed safely on the carpet. Struggling to keep her balance, Genie smiled at the little genies, who let go of the tassels and scrambled over to her.
“Way to go, Genie!” Ali shouted, her knees wobbly with relief. She was so proud of her best friend!
As she hugged the little genies, Little Genie glanced up and saw Ali for the first time. “What are you doing, Ali?” she yelled, looking surprised.
“Helping you!” Ali answered, panting. “You didn't think I was going to let you do something this dangerous on your own, did you?”
“Come on, then!” Genie encouraged her, her arms still around the little genies. “Just make sure you're as close as you can get before you jump!”
Ali managed to get her hoverboard level with the carpet. She took a deep breath, trying to get the courage to jump.
“You can do it!” Genie cheered.
Ali pushed off from the hoverboard and flew through the air. A second later she felt the carpet dip slightly under her feet. She had made it! She let out a big sigh of relief.
“You're a real cool cat, Ali!” Genie yelled above the noise of the wind. “Now keep the kids away from the edge while I steer!”
Ali gathered the frightened little genies into the middle of the carpet.“Stay still and hold on tight,” she told them, putting her arms around them.
Meanwhile, Genie had crawled over to sit down cross-legged at the front of the carpet.“Now, remember your flying theory,” Little Genie muttered.“Keep to the front of the carpet and lean back!”
The carpet quivered, and with a sinking heart Ali remembered that Little Genie had said she wasn't very good at flying magic carpets. But Genie sat very still, and Ali could tell from the way her back and shoulders were held rigid that she was concentrating very hard. Suddenly the carpet settled down and began to fly in a straight line.
They were safe! Ali could hardly believe it. She looked down at the ground and saw everyone—Principal Grant, Esmeralda, Magico, Genius, Lampella, and Mr. Ticktock— standing outside the school staring up at them.
“Look!” Lampwick shouted, pointing high into the sky. “Look at the big carpet!”
Directly above them Ali saw another, much bigger carpet with long golden fringes. Because it was right over their heads, it was impossible to see the genies on top—and whoever was up there couldn't see Ali and Little Genie either. As Ali watched, the carpet began to head downward. She gasped in horror. The other carpet was coming in to land—right on top of them!
“Genie!” Ali shrieked.“Look up!”
Genie looked up, then grabbed a corner of their carpet and twisted it. Their carpet veered away, swerving bumpily out of the flight path of the carpet above them.
As Little Genie struggled to regain control of their carpet, Ali realized that they were heading straight for one of the huge glass walls of the school!
“We're going to crash!” Lampwick shouted. All the little genies sobbed even louder, burying their heads in their arms.
Genie grabbed the other corner of the carpet, pulling it as hard as she could. Ali held her breath as the carpet bucked and jolted underneath them. Suddenly it swerved again, almost turning in circles as it whizzed away from the glass wall, missing it by inches.
“Hooray for Little Genie!” shouted the little genies.
“But we're still going to crash!” Genie yelled as the carpet hurtled down toward the ground. “Quick, Ali! Make sure everyone keeps still and brace yourself for impact!”
Taking a deep breath, Ali hugged the little genies even more tightly.
“Brace, brace!” Genie hollered as the ground rushed toward them at incredible speed. They were heading for a crash landing!
Ali saw Little Genie lean straight back, her hands pulling up on the front corners of the carpet. She was doing everything she could to slow the carpet down, but it was too late. The ground was too near!
Her heart pounding, Ali closed her eyes.