Sarah kept as close an eye on Jon as she could, following him from the school lawns to the west hall decorated in its science peculiarities. She couldn't just rummage through Jon's backpack while he wore it. But, thankfully, students couldn't bring their backpacks into class, so he had to stash it in his locker.
He actually put his backpack, filled with that strange rock and the newly Geniefied Karyn, into the locker and closed it up. Jon lingered there for a moment, and then shouldered his books and left for class. Sara ducked into a nook as he passed by her. And once Jon had turned the corner, she sauntered over to his locker, guarded by a simple rotating lock.
If only Sara hadn't learned long ago how to unlock one of those. She waited for the crowd to thin, and then set to work to breaking in . . .
Karyn, meanwhile, paced like a tiger in her cage, disbelieving that Jon had done this to her. He turned her into a Genie! A slave to some mystical lamp, bound to obey whomever claimed it. How could he do this to his best friend, especially when he had his own wishing stone already.
A calmer portion of the Genie tried to tell herself that Jon must have a plan. That the wish was left intentionally vague, that the stone could still free her from the lamp. But Karyn ignored that calm voice. She wanted to be mad.
And then she stopped pacing. A pit formed in her stomach and Karyn's mouth went dry. She couldn't explain how, but she knew someone had taken hold of her lamp. She had a Master. A moment after she realized this, her body billowed into a cloud of smoke and dust, racing to meet her new owner and Master . . .
