John stood before Claire, the girl she had had a crush on since the second grade. The girl she had never dared to ask out. The girl who moved on and now lived with her fiancee, as happenstance in the same building as John. And now she stood in front of the Genie, holding John's lamp. Claire was a stunning girl of medium height and cherry blonde hair and black framed glasses. She always wore sandals, if the weather allowed, and clothes that seemed to defy in all the rules in that they were 1) comfortable, and 2) totally sexy. She looked at John with wild, amazed eyes and her mouth hung open, as she didn't believe what she had just seen.
And then John started to speak, but not because she wanted to. Instead, she had an unstoppable urge to speak, and she did so with a quiet feminine voice and made slow arm gestures as she spoke.
"Thank you, oh generous and wise Master, I am the Genie of the lamp you hold in your hands. I am bound to it and the servant to whomever holds it. Oh great Master, for releasing me from my lamp, I shall grant you whatever your heart desires."
The speech surprised John, startled her, even. She had no control over what she said or how she said it. The words were just there and needed to be spoken, as if to further affirm that John was a slave. Not just to her Masters, but to the Lamp, and her own Genie instincts. For she did feel grateful to Claire, even though she had only been in the lamp for scant seconds. The speech, too, seemed to have a calming effect on the woman, who now looked between the lamp and Genie with curious eyes.
"Anything I want?"
"There are a few small restrictions to my powers, Master. For instance, I cannot bring things that have died back to life, nor may I grant knowledge that has not been discovered, nor cast spells upon multiple people with a single wish. Lastly, my wishes cannot affect another Genie or their Lamp."
"Interesting," Claire said. "Can you go back into your lamp for me, Genie?" The way her Master said Genie told John that she did not recognize him. Moreover, in her own way, Claire just told John that she did not care to know anything about her Genie, not even her name.
"Of course, Master." Genie said, nodding and turning back into smoke and dust, swirling back into her lamp. Back again in the curved golden walls and pillows, Genie could not understand why her Master would do that to her, but such thoughts not for Genie's to have. She was to serve and obey, not command and question. It was truly frightening to Genie how much she was becoming a Genie. And then, while pondering these thoughts, she felt another urge. Her Master called again, after just seconds. And Genie obliged her Master, returning to the world and bowing before her.
"Hello again, O Gracious and Wise Master, how might I serve you?"
"That's so cool!" Claire said with a giggle.
"Now, about those wishes. How many do I get . . . what counts as a wish. . . what happens when I'm out of wishes . . . " she said, rattling off questions as quickly as she could think of them, and Genie began to answer them automatically, and she started to learn exactly what being a Genie would be like.
"As for your first question, Master, I shall grant you . . ."
