A quick note:
It might be helpful to remind you of what Tara wished for (especially if you haven’t read the previous two books).
1) That she was the most popular girl in school and not Megan.
2) That no one believes/likes Greg (Jen’s boyfriend/Jake’s friend) when she thinks he’s getting suspicious.
3) That their friend Stacey would break up with her boyfriend (an accidental wish when the two were fighting).
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Jake walked into the restaurant behind Megan and Jen, trying his best to act as if everything was fine. After all, Megan was right – it would probably be better to act like a normal kid instead of a jinn. Tara might not have liked it, but she’d been trying to hide all the things she’d done. At least Jen wouldn’t be worrying about that. And if it didn’t work, he could always go back to acting like a jinn later.
Jake carefully studied the menu. He was pretty sure he already knew what he would get, but he wanted a few minutes to collect his thoughts. This seemed like as good a time as any. But once they’d ordered their food, Jen spoke up.
“So, about my first wish…” she said slowly.
Jake raised his eyebrows but kept quiet. She sure wasn’t wasting time. Although, most of them usually didn’t waste much time with the first one. It was the second and third that tended to take longer – especially if he’d done something that they didn’t like.
“So if we’re going to undo Tara’s mess, we should probably know what she did, shouldn’t we?” she asked when no one else spoke.
“That would be ideal,” Jake said. Megan gave him a look. Was that too formal?
“Ideal?” she asked. So, yes – too formal.
“It’d be great,” he said, smirking. Was that better? Megan rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything, so he figured it was fine.
“So what exactly should I be wishing for then? Like, specifically.”
“Just wish that Tara had never stolen it in the first place,” Megan shrugged.
But Jake shook his head.
“If she never stole it, then she never would have made those wishes, right?” Megan asked.
“True,” Jake told her. “But it means she could very well also have three wishes left. And she may try to steal it again.”
“She could do that?” Megan asked, sounding horrified.
“Depending on how you worded it,” he nodded. “If you phrased it like that, then she would have never wished for anything at all.”
“Yeah, I’m not really interested in giving Tara a possible do-over.” Jen chimed in.
Jake looked over at her. He couldn’t help but think that another possible reason that Jen wouldn’t like that idea was because it would also mean Jen would lose out on wishes of her own; if Tara had never stolen it, then the bottle would still be safely in Megan’s room. But maybe he was just being overly suspicious.
“So? What do we do?” Megan asked. “Especially since we don’t actually know what she wished for.”
“Well…” Jake said, thinking.
“Can I just wish to undo Tara’s wishes?” Jen broke in.
“You could,” Jake confirmed.
“And then I’d go back to being annoyingly, ridiculously popular?” Megan asked.
“Yes, you would,” Jake told her. He tried to hide his grin, but it was hard. Watching Megan suffer through that in class had been one of his favorite things about school.
“Well that sounds super,” Megan grumbled.
Jake just snickered.
“Is there any way we could make it just a little less over-the-top?”
“Not if Jen wishes to merely undo what Tara wished for,” he told her.
“Well… what if I just wished for you to undo them to the level that you saw fit?” Jen asked.
Jake thought about it for a minute. It would mean he could at least makes sure Megan’s friends weren’t in absolute awe of everything she did. And maybe he’d get her classmates to stop interrupting class to ask what Megan thought about every subject. As fun as that was to watch, he did feel like it was getting in the way of her actually learning something. And she was having enough trouble in school as it was. It would also mean he could completely undo the wish that made everyone hate Greg.
“...That could work,” he said. And he slowly started nodding. “What about Stacey?”
“What do you mean?” Megan asked. “She’d be back with Heath.”
“Is that actually a good idea though?” Jake asked.
Stacey seemed to be miserable most of the time in that relationship anyway. And Jake didn’t really think much of Heath – especially the way he always seemed to sneer at Greg.
“Heath is pretty lame,” Jen conceded.
“Yeah, but it should be Stacey’s decision, not ours,” Megan insisted.
Jen just shrugged.
“Either way, I guess,” she said, turning back to Jake.
“And Tara?” he asked.
“…What about her?” Megan asked.
Jake could tell she didn’t really like the question, and he wondered why. Surely she didn’t still consider Tara a friend, did she?
“Well, we probably should do something about her, too,” Jen said.
Jake was glad he didn’t have to actually say it. Megan had been eyeing him strangely when he’d mentioned Tara. It occurred to him that she’d had a similar look when they’d all been hiding and Tara had called his name. Had he done something to make her worried?
“Should we? I mean, we did just steal the bottle…” Megan had a look on her face like she thought that should be punishment enough. “I mean, it’s not like she can steal it again, right? She doesn’t know where it is.”
“She doesn’t really have to steal it though, does she?” Jake asked, shrugging.
“What’s that mean?” Megan wanted to know. But Jen was nodding along like she already knew.
“Well, she doesn’t have to actually take it, right? What if she just says something to someone?”
“Someone like who?” Megan seemed incredulous. “She’d have to admit that she broke into my room and stole something.”
“Yeah, stole a genie,” Jen reminded her, glancing quickly over at Jake before continuing. She looked slightly apologetic. “And I think that little piece of information could overshadow the fact that Tara’s a thief.”
Jake nodded. He’d had a similar thought himself, and it had been a part of why he’d brought it up. But there was something even more important to him. At the moment, Jake was more focused on revenge.
He knew in his heart that what Tara had done wasn’t actually that bad. After all, he’d had to deal with much, much worse. She hadn’t actually hurt him – he was physically fine. Really, the problem he had with Tara was twofold. First, he was annoyed that she could have so easily gone from being almost a friend to treating him like nothing more than a servant. And second was the fact that once she’d decided that, she’d tried to take away the friends – the life – he’d managed to finally have. He didn’t think he could let that kind of thing go.
“So, what would you want to do?” Megan asked. She looked first at Jen, then at Jake.
“Get rid of her,” Jen shrugged.
Jake wondered vaguely what Jen meant by get rid of, but he was pretty sure he could work within whatever framework she had in mind.
“I could do that,” he nodded. But Megan wasn’t looking quite so convinced.
“Get rid of her how?” she asked, eyes narrowed.
For an instant, Jake was mildly insulted that she clearly didn’t trust him. Then, the feeling passed. In this particular instance, she might possibly have had a reason to be worried.
“Just send her away somewhere,” Jake shrugged. He knew that would be more likely to gain approval anyway – from both Megan and Jen.
“Like where?” Megan asked.
“Alaska,” Jen said instantly.
“That could work…” Jake said slowly. He was thinking more like Mars, but he guessed Alaska could be almost as good. Maybe she’d get eaten by a moose.
“Well… I guess…” Megan said finally. Then she looked at Jen and added, “So, is that going to be your second wish then? To send Tara to Alaska?”
“Does it have to be a second wish?” Jen asked Jake. “I mean, can’t I just make it all one wish?”
“Well, that depends,” Jake grinned. “If it’s one simple sentence, you’ll probably be fine.”
“What’s probably mean?” Jen asked.
“Well… if you ask for spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, that would probably be one thing – they go together,” he explained. “But if you wished for a cake for your birthday and a pony for Christmas, those would almost definitely be two separate wishes.”
But if they asked for spaghetti and a pony for their birthday, that kind of thing would be almost completely up to Jake. Still, he didn’t mention that part.
Of course, most wishes tended to fall into that third category – the one where Jake could make the decision on how to count them. They were usually vague enough that he could interpret them either way. It almost always came down to the particular person who was in charge. If it was someone who didn’t treat him too bad, he’d try to make it one wish. He was nice like that. It was only for particularly horrible people – or very poorly worded wishes – that he really ever granted it as two. It was one of the very few places in his life where he actually had more power than he usually let on.
“So that would count as two?” Jen asked. “I mean, getting rid of Tara and undoing her wishes?”
“Depends on how you ask,” Jake grinned. Jen rolled her eyes.
“Seriously? Can you be at least a little helpful?” she asked.
Jake shrugged. He guessed he could give her a little bit of help. It was to aid in his revenge, after all.
“Why don’t you make it seem more like one thing – Tara’s wishes and her life?” he suggested.
Megan winced when he said her life. He decided to rephrase it.
“Lifestyle, then. Or housing situation. Or however you want to say it,” he shrugged. That was more advice than he’d given anyone in years. He figured he’d done his job.
“Yeah… ok…” Jen said slowly. Jake could see she was thinking, trying to make sure she phrased it right. After a few minutes, she spoke up again.
“So what about wishing for Tara’s wishes and lifestyle to be undone?” she asked finally.
Jake thought about it. He could definitely see how that could be thought of as either one wish or two. So, he could make it one. And lifestyle was a pretty vague word – he could do a lot with that. He could definitely get Tara to move away with a wish like that. And maybe he could have a little extra fun too. He wouldn’t hurt her of course; he didn’t want Megan or Jen to ever find out he’d done that. But he could probably manage to get her assigned to heavy labor on a farm or something. That would definitely be a lifestyle change.
“Yes. I think that would work out very well,” Jake grinned. “So are you ready then?”
“Yeah, I guess,” Jen said. “But you better not try to pull anything.”
“I won’t – I promise,” he told her.
She didn’t look particularly convinced, but she decided to let it go.
“Ok… I wish that all of Tara’s wishes and current lifestyle would be undone – however you see fit.” Then she quickly added, “Within reason.”
“Of course,” Jake said. He grinned and waved his hand.
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and then Add to home screen.