Jake, Hazel and Rose were already at the Training Centre Bottle when Poppy arrived that evening.

Jake gave her a puzzled look. ‘What happened to you this morning?’ he asked. ‘You left in a huge hurry. And you looked pretty green.’

Poppy shrugged. ‘I was just keen to get back home,’ she said. She was pretty sure she could trust Jake now, but she didn’t really want to talk about her wish-granting adventures.

‘Ready for your exam, tweenies?’ asked Lexie. ‘It’s tomorrow night, don’t forget!’

‘Yes, Lexie!’ chorused the tweenies.

‘Let’s do some revision then,’ said Lexie. ‘Hopefully you all figured out the proper way to read your Genie textbooks.’

Poppy was glad to see the others all nodding. She didn’t want anyone to fail the exam.

‘Right, who can tell me why genies live in bottles?’ asked Lexie.

Jake’s hand shot up. ‘Originally genies lived in bottles because the normies used to catch us and keep us in them,’ he said. ‘But now genies choose to live in bottles because they are a good way of disguising where we live. We can live in normie houses without them even knowing we’re there.’

Lexie nodded in approval. ‘Good. OK, who can tell me three ways to spot a genie in the normie world?’

Hazel put her hand up. ‘They are always wearing at least one bangle,’ she said. ‘And they are usually wearing one really bright piece of clothing – even if it’s just socks – because genies love bright things.’

‘Going well,’ said Lexie. ‘And one more?’

Hazel thought for a moment. ‘Oh yeah,’ she giggled. ‘Genies never eat sandwich crusts. And I totally understand why. Yuck!’

‘Very good,’ said Lexie. ‘Who can tell me when we’re meant to say your wish is my command?’

‘Trick question!’ responded Rose quickly. ‘We never say that, not any more. Genies said that ages ago, back when we still called normies ‘master’ and ‘mistress’, but we definitely don’t say it these days. It would just make the normie think they were the boss of us.’

‘And aren’t they the boss of us?’ asked Lexie, pretending to look surprised.

‘No way!’ chorused all the tweenies together. ‘We’re the boss of ourselves.’

Lexie laughed, and then she looked at Poppy. ‘One for you now,’ she said. ‘Can you tell me the genie wish-granting motto?’

Poppy thought hard. She remembered reading this motto. What was it again?

‘No swerving, if the normie is deserving,’ she blurted out.

‘What do you think that means, Poppy?’ asked Lexie.

‘Um,’ said Poppy slowly, ‘I guess it means that if the normie really deserves to have their wish granted, then genies shouldn’t try to get out of it.’

Lexie smiled. ‘Yes, exactly,’ she said. ‘We genies have a reputation for being a bit tricksy. This might be true, but genies are also able to recognise a good wish, or an important wish, if we come across it.’

Then Lexie looked around. ‘Time for something a bit more uplifting now,’ she said. ‘Levitation!’

A ripple of excitement ran around the class. Jake nudged Poppy and gave her a cheeky grin. ‘Race you to the ceiling!’ he whispered.

‘You’re on!’ Poppy whispered back confidently. Who knew – maybe levitation would turn out to be her special skill?

When the floor was clear, Lexie got everyone to sit cross-legged on the floor, with their eyes shut and their hands on their knees.

‘Now, the key to levitation is to think light, airy, cheerful thoughts,’ Lexie said. ‘Clouds are a good thing to focus on. So are hot air balloons. In fact, all balloons are good, except popped ones.’

Poppy tried to picture a kite, flying high in the air. But for some annoying reason, her imaginary kite kept getting tangled in an imaginary tree.

‘The second step,’ continued Lexie, ‘is to imagine there’s a piece of string attached to your head that’s pulling you up towards the sky.’

Poppy tried it, but she didn’t feel like she was moving. It felt like there was a rope across her lap, tying her down.

Maybe I’ve moved and I just haven’t noticed, she wondered, opening one eye to check.

No. She was definitely still on the ground. But the rest of the class – including Lexie – had disappeared! Then Poppy looked up. Lexie and the other tweenies were all floating, cross-legged, near the top of the Training Centre Bottle!

Poppy felt a wave of frustration pass over her. Why did she find all the genie stuff so hard?

‘Try wiggling your nose,’ Lexie called down to her. ‘Sometimes that helps.’

So Poppy tried wiggling her nose. Then she wiggled her mouth, her tongue, her toes, even her ears! But nothing helped.

‘I’m never going to get this!’ she said in frustration.

‘OK, back down to the ground, everyone,’ commanded Lexie.

Poppy watched enviously as the other three tweenies descended, laughing and joking with each other. They made it look so easy. Why couldn’t she do it?

‘Well done, tweenies. You can have the rest of the night off,’ said Lexie.

Everyone stared at her in surprise.

‘It’s up to you how you choose to spend this time,’ Lexie continued. ‘Go to the Emerald Bazaar, if you like, and choose an outfit to wear to the Graduation Ball tomorrow night. Your outfits are a gift from the Genie Royal Family, so choose whatever you like. But don’t spend all night there. You should spend at least a little time revising.’

Then Lexie turned to Poppy. ‘Poppy,’ she said. ‘You stay here with me. We’ll work on your levitation.’

Poppy’s heart sank. She didn’t want to miss out on going to the Emerald Bazaar with the others!

‘Um, Lexie?’ said Jake. ‘I really think Poppy should come to the Bazaar with me. You see, I only ever wear jeans or my footy gear. If I don’t get some help, I’m going to turn up to the Ball in something shocking.’

‘Well, that’s a risk we’ll have to take,’ said Lexie drily. ‘Poppy has work to do.’

Jake shrugged. ‘Fine,’ he said. ‘But if I end up wearing something dumb it’s not my fault!’

Once everyone was gone, Lexie went through levitating with Poppy again. But try as she might, Poppy just couldn’t get off the ground. Not even a centimetre.

Lexie watched her silently. Poppy kept waiting for Lexie to tell her that she wasn’t trying hard enough. But Lexie didn’t say that. In fact when she finally spoke, she said, ‘Get out your Location Lamp and let’s go.’

‘Go where?’ asked Poppy, astonished.

‘You need something to wear to your graduation,’ declared Lexie. ‘And besides, you’d be amazed what a change of scenery can do when you’re trying to work something out.’

Lexie took Poppy back to Madame di Silver’s shop. She greeted Lexie and Poppy warmly.

‘Madame,’ said Lexie. ‘Poppy needs something to wear for the Graduation Ball tomorrow night. Something from the Special Collection, I think.’

Madame looked at Lexie in astonishment. ‘Really?’ she said. ‘The Special Collection?’

Lexie nodded. ‘Yes,’ she said.

Madame put her hand on the wall of the shop and a panel slid back, revealing a secret room. Lexie stepped through the opening, and Poppy followed.

The room was filled with clothes. But these weren’t ordinary clothes. They were the most beautiful and unusual garments Poppy had ever seen. For instance, one top was decorated with birds. When Poppy touched the material, the birds stretched open their wings and began to sing. Hanging next to the top was a pair of genie pants, dotted with tightly-closed flower buds. But when Poppy came close, the flowers burst into bloom. Poppy could see why these clothes were part of a Special Collection.

‘What about this?’ suggested Madame, handing Poppy an outfit made out of material the colour of the ocean. It had tiny starfish and shells embroidered across it, and as Poppy watched, a school of sapphire-coloured fish flashed across the surface and then disappeared from view.

‘Do you like it?’ asked Madame.

‘It’s incredible,’ gulped Poppy.

‘Well, try it on then!’ urged Madame, smiling.

Poppy didn’t need any further encouragement. And the outfit was a perfect fit!

‘It’s like it was made for you!’ exclaimed Madame. ‘Which is funny, because of course it was actually made for … ’

But then a strange thing happened. Poppy saw Lexie frown and shake her head slightly at Madame, and Madame stopped midway through her sentence.

‘Why don’t you try levitating again, Poppy?’ said Lexie, smiling brightly as if nothing weird had just happened. ‘Let’s see if the new clothes make a difference.’

Poppy nodded. These special new clothes did somehow make her feel light and floaty. She sat down, with her eyes closed, and tried to let the levitation just happen by itself. A second passed. Poppy could feel Lexie and Madame holding their breaths. Another second passed. Then another. And still Poppy was no closer to rising off the floor.

Then Poppy did something that she never, ever did. She burst into tears!

‘It’s hopeless!’ she cried. ‘I’m never going to get this!’

Madame quickly fetched her a cup of tea (which was the colour of roses but smelt like chocolate). Lexie came and sat down beside her while she drank it.

‘Have you worked out your wish routine?’ she asked quietly.

Poppy wiped her nose and nodded.

‘Well then, there’s no reason to think you won’t work this out, too,’ said Lexie in a surprisingly kind voice.

‘But maybe I’m not cut out to be a genie,’ Poppy burst out. She hadn’t meant to say it, but the words had come out from deep within her.

But Lexie shook her head. ‘No, that’s not the problem here,’ she said softly. ‘You’ll probably be surprised to hear this, but I believe you could be a great genie one day – maybe even one of the best. You remind me a lot of Princess Alexandria.’

Poppy looked up and wiped her nose. ‘Do you know the Princess?’ she asked, impressed.

‘Well, sort of,’ replied Lexie, looking a little embarrassed. ‘What I know about her is that she had a lot of trouble when she was in tweenie training. But it wasn’t because she lacked talent. She just needed to learn how to control it. I have a feeling you’re the same.’

It was nice to hear Lexie say these things, but Poppy didn’t really think they could be true. ‘If I’m so talented, why can’t I levitate?’ she asked.

‘Well, I can think of a reason,’ said Lexie, looking carefully at Poppy. ‘Sometimes genies can’t levitate if there is something weighing them down. Like a secret. Or because they feel guilty about a rule they’ve broken.’

Poppy felt sick. She’d broken heaps of rules by granting Astrid’s three wishes. And she hadn’t told anyone about it, so it was definitely a secret. Was that stopping her from levitating?

‘The Graduation Ball is tomorrow night,’ said Lexie seriously. ‘You need to work out what’s weighing you down by then.’

Poppy bit her lip. ‘And if I don’t work it out?’ she asked nervously.

Lexie sighed. ‘Then I’m afraid you won’t pass.’