Lexie gathered the newly styled tweenie genies around her.

‘Good work, guys,’ she said, smiling. ‘Time to take a break in your genie bottles. But be back at the training centre in an hour. We’ve got heaps more to get through tonight.’

Poppy was very glad to hear they were having a break. She was very tired and even an hour’s rest would be good. She said goodbye to the others and used her lamp to get back to her genie bottle. And this time she didn’t even fall over when she landed!

Before she climbed into bed, Poppy checked the clothes that Madame di Silver had given her. Sure enough, she found a pair of white, fluffy pyjamas, soft as a cloud.

As she pulled her blanket up, Poppy noticed a dial on the headboard with different settings, including Magic Carpet and Waterbed.

I’ve had enough riding on magic carpets for one evening, Poppy smiled to herself, so she changed the setting to Waterbed. Instantly, the green carpet seemed to disappear and was replaced by what looked like gently rolling waves. The sound of a sea breeze rose up around her, and it felt for all the world like the bed was a snug little boat, rocking to and fro on the sea.

Poppy woke feeling refreshed and alert. But to her surprise, the clock said that it was only an hour later. Poppy got changed back into her uniform and grabbed her Location Lamp.

When she arrived at the Training Centre, she saw that it had been set up for a feast. In the middle of the room were large carpets, laden with food. As soon as Poppy sat down, one of the carpets floated over to her, waiting patiently while she picked something to eat. She chose a bowl of pink yoghurt sprinkled with bright green pistachios and a plate of mini blueberry pikelets, each with a blob of strawberry jam on top.

Across the other side of the Training Centre Bottle, Poppy saw Jake drinking a bottle of juice through a very curly straw. As the juice travelled up the straw it changed colour. It started off orange, then changed to pink half way up, and was purple by the time it reached the top!

When snack time was finished, and the carpets had whisked the dirty plates away, there was a puff of purple smoke and Lexie appeared.

‘Grab your jotters, everyone,’ she said. ‘I’m going to teach you about wish twisting.’

Poppy’s jotter fell open to a blank page. But as Poppy watched, words appeared.

‘I don’t understand Step 3,’ said Poppy. ‘What does add a twist mean?’

Jake’s hand shot up. ‘I bet it means that if the normie wishes to be tall, you make them mega-tall – like a skyscraper or something. Or if they wish to be rich you turn them into a gooey chocolate cake, covered in cream. Or if they wish –’

‘OK, I get it!’ said Poppy, laughing. ‘So, if they wish they could fly I give them a plane ticket.’

Lexie nodded approvingly. ‘Exactly,’ she said. ‘Genies are bound by ancient genie law to grant wishes. But that doesn’t mean we can’t do it in our own way.’

Then Lexie clapped her hands. ‘OK, now that we’ve covered the basics of Wish Twisting, let’s move onto Wish Granting.’

Poppy felt a shiver of excitement. Now this sounded more like it!

‘Why are you teaching us Wish Granting at all,’ asked Jake, ‘if we’re supposed to just try and get out of it?’

‘Well, there are some normies who make good wishes that you want to grant,’ explained Lexie. ‘And there are other times when you have no option but to grant a wish, regardless of how silly it is. And to do that, you’ll need to come up with your own personal wish routine. No-one can teach it to you. It’s something you have to discover for yourself. All I can do is show you some basic wish moves. Then it’s up to you.’

‘How will we know when we’ve worked it out?’ asked Hazel.

‘If your routine is correct, you’ll see a puff of smoke rise up from the ground around your feet,’ replied Lexie.

Lexie double-clapped her hands and some very fast, very fun music began playing. ‘Most tweenies find it easier to learn these wish movements to music,’ she said.

Poppy could understand why. You couldn’t help but dance to the genie music. Even Jake was tapping his foot!

Lexie started by showing them some simple moves. There was one where their hands twisted around like snakes. And there was another tricky one where they pointed one foot at their knee and spun around with their hands held above their heads. Once they mastered a move, Lexie quickly went onto another one. Poppy had to really concentrate to keep up.

When they knew about twenty moves, Lexie said, ‘OK, it’s over to you guys now. Play around with the steps and see if you can come up with anything. Usually, these basic moves will be enough. But sometimes you have to add a special movement all of your own to get your routine right. That’s when things can get tricky.’

The tweenies all found their own space, and started practising the moves. It seemed like they’d only been practising for five minutes when Jake gave an excited shout.

‘I’ve worked mine out!’ he said.

Poppy frowned. There’s no way he could’ve come up with one so quickly, she thought. He doesn’t even like dancing!

Everyone crowded around Jake. He folded his arms and tapped his foot in and out. Then he did a funny hip-wiggle. Everyone laughed. Poppy knew they were all thinking the same thing. There was no way that Jake’s routine could be right. It was way too simple!

Jake finished the routine by jumping down onto one knee and bowing his head. Then, to Poppy’s astonishment, a puff of yellow smoke shot up from the ground beneath him.

‘Nice work, Jake,’ smiled Lexie, giving him a pat on the back.

Even though she and Jake were friends now, Poppy felt a tiny bit jealous. She would’ve loved to be the first one to work out their routine. Then Lexie would be patting her on the back and smiling.

I’ll be the next to finish, Poppy told herself determinedly. Her routine felt like it was fairly close to completion. It started with a snake hands move, followed by a double spin and a slide. All she needed was a way to wrap it up.

But Poppy wasn’t the next to finish. Hazel was next, then Rose. Then finally Lexie ended the class.

‘Nice work tweenies,’ she said. ‘I’ve never had a group that got their routines down so quickly. And don’t worry, Poppy, you’ll get yours, too. Just work on it in your spare time.’

Poppy wanted to say, ‘What spare time?’ But instead she asked, ‘What happens if I can’t work it out?’

Lexie hesitated, and then said, ‘You won’t graduate. But that’s not even the worse thing that could happen. What would be far worse is if a normie found your bottle and tried to make a wish. That’s why we made sure your bottle was hidden somewhere safe before we left the normie world.’

Lexie turned back to the rest of the class. ‘That’s it for today,’ she said. ‘You can all head back to your normie families now.’

The other tweenies started packing up their things. But Poppy stood still, fixed to the spot. She knew perfectly well that her closet wasn’t a safe hiding spot at all! Just the thought of it made her feel queasy. She had to get back there before Astrid walked in.

‘Hey, you look really strange,’ said Jake, watching her curiously. ‘Stranger than you usually do, I mean!’

Poppy shook her head. She felt strange. Too strange even to come up with a smart comeback to Jake. Her fingers and toes had pins and needles. She saw Jake mouthing something, but she couldn’t hear him. And then she felt like she had turned into an icy cold milkshake and someone was sucking her up through a straw. It was most unpleasant. Poppy shut her eyes and hoped the feeling would pass quickly …

WHOOSH! Poppy suddenly felt like she’d fallen out of bed onto the floor. She opened her eyes and looked around. She was back in her bedroom. And standing in front of her was Astrid.

‘Oh my gosh!’ said Astrid, her eyes wide. ‘You’re a genie! And I am so telling Mum and Dad!’