He blinks, his black eyebrows wiggling as he thinks. “I don’t know.”
“Have you ever had a name?”
“No.”
“Okay, well, when you think of what you would like to be known as, let me know. In the meantime, for the sake of clarity, I’ll continue to call you Genie, since you are the only one.”
“That’s right. I am the only one,” he whispers. Wait, is he actually the only genie? That would make himthegenie. I havethesword,themirror man, and nowthegenie? That seems like one too manythesto be a coincidence.
Theo shoves his hand through the genie’s body and flings the door open.
The genie glares at him. “That was rude.”
“We have places to be while you have an existential genie crisis,” Theo drawls.
“You could have asked me to move,” Genie points out.
Theo shrugs, grabs my hand, and drags me from the room before shutting the door behind us. Sir Sweeps-A-Lot makes it out of the room and hovers at our side like a faithful dog.
Theo keeps hold of my hand as he leads us through the castle to wherever they keep things such as pink feathers, gold threads, and bunkum hides. Are these things all in one place? Seems like an odd collection.
Trusting Theo to keep me upright, I glance at the list to see they added to it.
A long stand? A snowball? Striped paint?
My frown deepens as I suspect we are being sent on an impossible task. Still, they are the ones stuck doing boring research while I am roaming the castle on an actual adventure.
“You want to go via the kitchen?” Theo asks.
I snort. “I’m not always thinking about sausages. Just fifty percent of the time.” He raises an eyebrow. “Okay, eighty percent. But no, I don’t want to go via the kitchen.”
I avoid the curious gazes of the Hallowed as we pass. I have enough narratives going on and don’t need to be involved in any more.
We duck under a low archway into a long stone corridor, then head down some wonky steps. The air grows cooler around us, making me shiver.
“Not much farther,” he mutters as we pass a couple of guards who nod at Theo and frown at me. I’m a nobody here, and that can only be a good thing. If they had any idea of the chaos in their midst, they would grab me, throw me in the closest dungeon, and toss the key into the nearest abyss.
Theo throws open a door and pulls me inside a dark room. Fire torches ignite along the walls, bringing into view a vast room with thousands of shelves. I can’t even see the opposite end of the impossible space.
“This is where we find everything we need,” Theo says. “What’s first on your list?”
I glance at the parchment. “Two pink feathers.”
He releases my hand and strolls down the center of the room, twisting his head left and right. How in the Blazes would he know which row to examine? I follow him with my magical broom, a faithful companion. Ah, there are symbols on the ends, giving a clue what to expect on the tall shelves.
A giggle erupts in the room, and a short, shadowy figure runs along the edge of the wall. Theo freezes, his body tensing, and I sense his dragon close to the surface, ready to wreck the room if he deems whatever creature lurking as a threat.
Something else moves on the opposite side. Another giggle. Nasty nefarious things don’t giggle like children. At least, I hope they don’t, because if they do, that’s an extra level of creepy I am not ready for. Sir Sweeps-A-Lot hides behind my back.
“Show yourselves,” Theo snarls.
I huff as I walk to his side. “Growling at them will not give them the confidence to approach us.” I crouch to make myself smaller. “Hey, we won’t hurt you.” Two more of the figures stumble against the wall, but stay hidden in the shadows. They must be wearing clogs, as the unmistakable sound of wood taps against the stone floor.
“Is it she?” a high-pitched boy’s voice asks.
“It is,” another answers.
“But is ittheshe?” a similar one from the opposite side of the room asks.
