Ancient Kings and Shiny Things

"I've had a lot of experience with people smarter than I am." - Gerald Ford

"Once upon a time, in a land long forgotten, in a culture long since committed to legend, magic and mystery ruled the world. In this time, humans and beings known as Jinnee lived together in harmony while each race complimented the other's strengths and weaknesses. Jinnee supplied humans with their raw power and magic while humans assisted with their vast mental prowess and unrivaled adaptability. Their culture flourished; all was perfect.

"Of course, such things never last. Many Jinnies began to resent their human authority figures and made plans to destroy them along with all the Jinnies still on good terms with humans. Fortunately, a wise human king and his best friend, the kindest, most powerful of the Jinnies, uncovered the dark plans of the rebel Jinnies and their dark lord. Humans and Jinnies alike united as the dark plan threatened to destroy them all, and after much struggle, the wise king and great Jinnee triumphed over the offending army of dark Jinnee and overtook the stronghold of their dark lord. However, before they had the chance to deliver the final blow, the dark Jinnee unleashed a blast of power that annihilated everything outside his stronghold for many miles, eliminating both the good and the bad in one huge explosion.

"The wise king's heart was stricken by the sight and he fell to his knees in anguish. All his human subjects and family had been destroyed in the blast and only a few random Jinnies inside the castle survived. Blinded by rage, he raised his sword to destroy the dark Jinnee who had caused this, but his best friend stopped him. As the kindest of the Jinnies, he proposed that their magic was too powerful, and that instead they should all be contained in pots and jars separately and scattered throughout the desert that used to be their home. He said this even though he knew he was sealing his own fate as well. The king asked what if someone might by chance open one of these containers. The kind Jinnee told him that Jinnies released would then be required to grant their liberator three wishes before being drawn inescapably back into their container and scattered again.

"The king was saddened by his friend's words, but the Jinnee convinced him that it was much kinder to them all. The king finally agreed and it was done, the Jinnies scattered all over the desert and buried in the sand. Afterward, the king left his vacant kingdom and joined a tribe of nomads, then told this story to keep its memory alive."

"Very good, Cassidy. Step down here, I'll give you your grade sheet." A young, exuberant female teacher with dainty glasses and a horse-toothed smile cheered. Members of Ms. Viva's class rolled their eyes; they had given up groaning at her every word near the beginning of the year, and with summer vacation only a few weeks away, no one wanted to risk demerits and possible summer school.

The teenage blonde who had just given her oral report shuffled wearily down the isle, pulling on the sleeve of her red pullover with suppressed boredom. The assignment had been to read one myth or legend from their Literature textbook and present a 1-½-page summary of the story to the class orally using some of the vocabulary words that they had learned earlier in the week. The assignment had been graded more on the presence of new vocabulary, not on accuracy, yet Cassidy Stiles's father wouldn't have allowed her to B.S. this one even if he'd suddenly been struck by lightning.

Cassidy's father worked at the local history museum and was very interested in myths of literature, especially because it was his job to put together displays depicting these ancient stories.

The youthful girl, normally so full of enthusiasm, practically oozed across the floor, dark rings still showing under her eyes no matter how much makeup she tried to hide them with. She merely nodded to her overly enthusiastic teacher as she retrieved the filled grading rubric and slumped back into her seat. Another unlucky student took the podium.

Cassidy wouldn't have cared if her classmate had done so to announce that some gigantic reptilian monster was tearing up the school and surrounding area. Despite her knowledge that Ms. Viva would dock participation points for her following action, Cassidy decided that a few measly points weren't worth the half hour of dreamland bliss that awaited her once she laid her head down on her desk.

***

"Ms. Stiles? …WAKE UP!"

Cassidy practically jumped out of her seat. "Huh? What?" she turned her gaze slowly toward the glaring face at her side.

"Need I remind you again," Ms. Viva spat venomously, "that there is absolutely NO sleeping in class?" Ms. Viva's voice virtually growled out the words.

"Er… No?" Cassidy replied, still half under the lingering effects of sleep, face blank and shocked.

"Good, then I believe that a detention notice for tomorrow night will serve as a suitable souvenir for your lack of recollection."

Cassidy's jaw dropped. Detention! What happened to participation points?

As if on cue, Ms. Viva continued, "And you will be receiving zero participation points for today for that little stunt of yours."

Cassidy's chin hit her desk as she slumped back down upon it. She immediately straightened, rubbing the sore spot disappointedly.

The last bell of the day rang that moment and before her mind caught up with her feet, Cassidy was being swept along in the torrent of students flooding out into the hallway. "Great," she thought, "how am I going to break it to Dad? Knowing him, I'll end up with a week being grounded on top of everything…" Sighing despondently, she slammed a fist onto her locker before twirling the silver combination lock. As she placed the books she would need that night in her backpack one by one, an ominous shadow crept up behind her.

Cassidy zipped up the bag and flung it over her shoulder then slammed the locker door shut. As she twirled around to go, she was forced to jump back and yelp for the face that caught her unaware.

"Brian!" she screeched. The peppery boy she addressed laughed at her expression. "Don't do that!"

"Sorry, Cass!" he apologized sarcastically through his fading giggles, then abruptly changed the subject. "Hey, everyone's getting together after school to hang out. 'Wanna come? Free pizza!"

Cassidy's face lit up, then, remembering her father's note this morning, she groaned disappointedly. "Can't, gotta help Dad at the museum, sorry. Maybe," she paused to think, "Friday?"

Brian shook his head. "Nah, I gotta work. So do Marie and Joe."

Cassidy sighed. "Maybe some other time."

"Yeah, see ya."

"See ya."

Brian spun on a heel and took off down the hall, no doubt to play some latent practical joke or ask around for quarters to get food from the vending machine. Sure enough, he soon skittered to a stop, picking up a shiny quarter, a wide smile spreading across his sugary face.

Cassidy, meanwhile, trudged down the hallway and out to the city bus stop like a soldier in anticipation of battle. With her last thought as she dropped several jingling coins in the bin aboard it, she reminded herself that she might just scrape off with only one week of being grounded if she played her cards right.

***

"Dad, I'm here!" Cassidy's voice echoed down the marble hallways, causing many heads to turn and command a sharp "shhh!" Cassidy ducked and smiled, a vermilion hue creeping across her face. From an unmarked doorway to the side of the hallway came her father's voice, beckoning her inside. She quickly entered and shut the door behind her with a soft "click".

"Cassidy," her father began readily, "glad you're here. Now just wait there while I-…" The phone in the next room gave a shrill ring, interrupting Mr. Stiles in mid sentence. "Hold on dear, phone call. Just stand there and don't touch anything…" With that, the lanky man swiftly exited through another door. A moment later, a soft "hello" told Cassidy that her father had indeed answered the phone. The youthful girl sighed knowing it would be a while until he returned to relieve her of impending boredom.

She allowed her eyes to wander, scanning the room and taking in the earthen tones and textures. There were several large, old pots on the table with a layer or two of dirt and sand caked on them. Other than that, the only meaningful features of the room were two chairs, a fake plant in the corner, several magnifying tools, and her father's otherwise vacant desk.

Cassidy slumped into her father's chair and spun it around, attempting in vain to banish the monotony of the room from her mind. Her father's voice still rose and fell melodically in the next room, irritating her further.

Her eyes strayed again to the clay pots, the only things out of place in this dull, spotless office. It couldn't hurt to just take a peak, could it? Cassidy leaned over, studying the rough, ancient texture and the fiery desert tones. "I wonder what's inside," she thought curiously, lifting a hand and brushing the gritty surface with her long, pale fingers.

Curiosity got the better of her, as curiosity often does. Unable to banish her boredom to the back of her mind any longer, she gripped the large stone stopper on the top of the ancient basin and wrenched it out with one firm tug, scraping caked on dirt from the sides and letting the debris fall on the undefiled desk. She fell back as the stopper gave way, being much lighter than she originally thought. Regaining her composure, she ventured to peer inside.

A blast of smoke and wind hit her face, stinging her eyes and causing her to recoil back, falling into the leather office chair. The wind and smoke swirled around the room, opening drawers and scattering paperwork around the hardwood floor. Cassidy's mouth hung open. "Oh man, oh man! I'm in really deep trouble now…" she worried as the smoke condensed and changed colors. She ducked under the desk, not so much worried as to what the smoke could be, but more so of how long her father would ground her for this…

Suddenly the sound stopped. Papers stopped rustling, things stopped flying, and all Cassidy could hear was the sound of her father's voice in the next room, still involved in a spirited conversation.

Slowly, carefully, she rose up and peered over the desk…

…And found a pair of emerald eyes peering right back at her.

Cassidy's face blanched and she jumped back, landing in her father's office chair and tipping it over accompanied by her own startled shriek. Legs flailing in the air and head throbbing from the impact, Cassidy strove futilely to escape her prone position as an ominous shadow crept over her…

"Hiya!" the young, cheerful, male voice greeted her, accompanied by a large, innocent grin. "My name's Ashmire! Who are you?" The boy's tanned cherubic face stretched into a questioning glance, his fiery red hair flopping over one side of his head, sticking up haphazardly on the other. A tiny braid of stray hairs hung lazily over his right shoulder and his impossibly large, lime-colored eyes glittered with youthful enthusiasm. His boyish features caused the now silent Cassidy to stare on with her own questioning gaze. The boy tilted his head at her silence, his mouth now widened in an animated o. "Can't you talk?" he asked innocently, then glanced quickly around the room. As he turned, Cassidy caught sight of his elongated ears, quite elfin in shape. "This place is kinda dark. Where are we?"

Cassidy stared on incredulously. "We're in my dad's office, in the Museum of Cultural History." Her reply came slowly as her mind struggled to register the situation.

Ashmire nodded animatedly. "So kinda like a house? I know houses… So you can talk? What's your name?"

"…Cassidy…" she replied slowly. Ashmire smiled and offered her a hand, which she reluctantly took. He pulled her up, and for the first time Cassidy noticed that, despite his childish nature, he was at least a good six inches taller than her.

"So, …Cassidy," Ashmire stumbled over the word. "That's a funny name!"

Cassidy rolled her eyes, frowning. "Not as funny as Ashmire…" she mumbled irritably.

Ashmire laughed self-consciously.

That moment, a soft click sounded from the next room and approaching footsteps signaled Mr. Stiles's return.

"Oh God, oh God! He's going to ground me for life! Ohhh…! I wish that kid wouldn't have made such a mess…" Cassidy worried frantically, clutching her hair and pacing.

Ashmire, however, just shrugged and snapped his fingers. A tiny ball of flame appeared in his hand and he blew over it, scattering shimmering dust everywhere. In an instant, everything in the room was back in perfect order, spotless.

As Mr. Stiles walked in, he faced a young red-haired man and his daughter, who was staring at the young man, her jawbone nearly grazing the floor.

"Cassidy? Is everything all right? Who is this young man?" Cassidy's lanky father asked, mildly concerned at his daughter's strange expression and the unexpected visitor in the room.

"Dah… I um, uh…" Cassidy stuttered, torn from her state of shock by her father's words. "I was just… Uh… Me and, er… Alex, yeah! I forgot to tell you!" she yelled, suddenly with renewed enthusiasm. "We're working on a project, a project about…" her eyes scanned the room and came to rest on the fern decorating one lonely corner of her father's nearly bare office. She quickly stepped over to it and touched a leaf for emphasis. "Plants! Tropical plants! Aren't we, Alex?"

Ashmire, meanwhile, was studying the ceiling, watching a fly that was caught in the ceiling light, tilting his head this way and that, seemingly completely oblivious to the situation at hand.

Cassidy, spying his elongated ears, quickly dashed over and cupped the sides of his head, awkwardly covering them. She laughed, and without allowing Ashmire a chance to retaliate, opened the back door and shoved him out into the back hallway. "Oops, gotta get going, you know how these school projects are. They just sneak up out of no where, heh heh…" she laughed nervously. Silence stretched between her and her father until Cassidy decided it was time to make a hasty exit.

She shut the door behind her and slumped against it, sighing exasperatedly.

Ashmire stared at her questioningly, asking with his gaze what the problem was.

"I just saved your ass back there, Ashmire. You owe me one." Cassidy informed her childish friend.

This statement only confused the fiery haired young man further. "I don't know what you are talking about. I do not own a donkey for you to save, and I certainly don't believe I owe you any domesticated animals currently…"

Cassidy groaned in annoyance. She stood up and grasped the odd boy by the wrist, dragging him along behind her as she marched down the vacant hallway. "You," she snapped, angling her neck to face him, "have some major explaining to do."

***

Meanwhile, in Mr. Stiles's office, the middle aged man sat down slowly into his comfortable chair, angling the magnifying glass over his eye to begin work. "Strange young fellow," he commented to no one, "He's dressed as though just returning from the desert. I wonder if there was a school play today? I'll have to ask Cass later…"

Choosing his tools carefully from a box inside his desk's top left drawer, Mr. Stiles sought to begin his work without the assistance of his daughter. Unfortunately, he dropped a tool on the floor as he brought his hand out of the drawer. As he bent to pick it up, a light tapping sounded from on top of his desk, then a hollow bang. He sat up again quickly only to discover the still sealed clay pot on its side, rolling toward the edge of the desk. Mr. Stiles dove for it and caught it just before it dropped and placed it on the mat in front of his chair. "Close one." He mumbled to no one, glad for the moment that he caught it. "Come here, you bugger. Let's see what's inside…" Mr. Stiles carefully brushed away a few grains of loose sand and dirt at a time from the dark, earthen pot, noting as he did so the vast tone difference between this pot and the other. The other pot was full of bright, fiery colors and bold patterns while this pot was decorated with swirling patterns of blacks and earthen browns.

Nevertheless, Mr. Stiles continued working diligently until all the caked-on sand had been removed from the lip of the pot and the large stopper lay bare. Mr. Stiles grasped hold of it carefully and pulled slowly, the stopper making a light grating sound as it slowly exited the orifice…

Suddenly, smoke began to steam from the mouth of the pot, even before Mr. Stiles had finished removing the stopper. It flew from his hand and into his gut, knocking him into the chair and the chair into the wall. Mr. Stiles was knocked over again and onto the floor as smoke and wind swirled around the room, the howl and rustle accompanied only by haunting, malicious, maniacal laughter. Leaving the middle aged man windblown and disheveled, the smoke slowly compressed itself into a pitch-black tornado in the center of the room before solidifying into a dark, smirking figure.

Mr. Stiles grasped the edge of his desk quickly and shakily, striving with his other hand to center his spectacles back onto his face. He pulled himself up and peered over the desk…

…Only to discover a malicious face smirking right back at him.

The owner of the face laughed impishly, eyes as red as blood, glinting as if he harbored some knowledge unknown to the frail man staring on with a mix of wonder and horror. "…Boo." The chaotic being merely said, and so it should have merely been. However, the wind from his voice seemed to solidify into a ghostly tendril, knocking Mr. Stiles back and into the wall, tossing his glasses far from sight. The raven-haired manifestation laughed evilly with glee at the old man's plight as he groped around for his missing spectacles. Mr. Stiles stuck his finger upon a sharp shard of wood, recoiling back and earning him a fresh round of guffaws from his ill-wishing company.

"Who are you? How dare you!" Mr. Stiles yelled at the magic user, trying in vain to discern the raven-like man from the rest of his blurry surroundings.

"Who am I?" the other man repeated in mock horror at Mr. Stiles's non-recognition of him. "Who am I?" He jumped upon the desk and posed proudly, his thin, lithe body drawn taught and his lean chest puffed out in mock self-regard. "I am the great Abia!" he yelled into the air as if expecting it to applaud.

This confused Mr. Stiles, believing it to be a young man that had gained entry into his office. "Abia? If I remember correctly, that is a girl's name in the Arabic language…"

Abia jumped down and stared into the old man's face with playful, mock disgust. "Oh, shut up, you! I've had enough of people telling me that. It's not like I don't know!" His whiny, screechy, impish voice rose and fell with the statement, causing Mr. Stiles to wonder just where he was being sarcastic and where he was being serious. Abia smirked at Mr. Stiles's silence. Picking up his earlier haughty air, Abia danced toward the door, apparently much more adaptable to his new surroundings than the other young man who had entered the room earlier in a similar fashion. "Abia bids you adieu, good sir!" He gripped the door handle's smooth, cold surface, and abruptly halted his antics. Looking down, his ever-present impish smirk widened into a gleeful grin. "Shiny…" he mumbled to no one as he proceeded in removing the object from the door in one swift tug. He successfully yanked the door off its hinges in the same swift movement, therefore avoiding the mild shame of being unable to exit via that entrance. "Toodles!" he waved his pinky finger as he left, dancing down the hallway, Mr. Stiles's brass door handle in arm.

***

"Let me get this straight," Cassidy addressed Ashmire, massaging her temples as a result of an impending headache, "You're a Jinnee, and I released you from that pot by opening it. Now I have three wishes…"

"Two wishes!" Ashmire quickly corrected her playfully, curiously prodding the pink, fuzzy earmuffs Cassidy had hastily shoved over his ears as they left the museum.

Cassidy rolled her eyes, "…Two wishes, and then you return to the pot and it flies off somewhere else?"

Ashmire nodded. "Skipping some major details, yes."

"…And you just spent the last half an hour explaining this fact to me?" Cassidy asked, her level of remaining patience nearly depleted.

Ashmire considered this for a few seconds, then nodded spiritedly. "Yeah, that's right."

Cassidy slumped over in the booth they sat at inside Antoine's Pizza Parlor, allowing her forehead to roughly strike the surface of the table. She let out an exasperated groan, then voiced a muffled, "Ow."

Ashmire looked concerned, his fiery hair flopping over to one side as he cocked his head and laid one ear on the table, looking at Cassidy with a confused expression. "Why'd you do that? You hurt yourself."

Cassidy looked up momentarily and shook her head, then let it land back onto the table, earning Ashmire another muffled, "Ow."

The childish Jinnee shrugged and leaned back into the padded booth, sighing. "In all my thousands of years and any to come, I doubt I'll ever understand you humans…" he mused, beginning to busy himself with counting the little dots on the tiled ceiling.

As if that wasn't enough, Brian chose that moment to glance over and spot Cassidy. A wondering look dominating his face, he got up from his seat among his laughing, joking peers and walked swiftly over to Cassidy. "Hey, Cass! …Excuse me if I heard wrong, but I thought you weren't coming."

This only granted him a garbled, "Hn" from Cassidy.

"…Sooo…" Brian drew the syllable out, unnerved by Cassidy's unusual unresponsiveness. "Who's your new friend? Is he the reason you're ditching us?"

"…Hn." Cassidy only gave him another inconclusive answer.

"Who is he?" Brian asked again.

"Hi! I'm Ashmire! Nice to meet you! What's your name?" Ashmire greeted Brian, acting so much like a five-year-old.

Brian blinked at the cherubic boy, mouth widened in perplexity. "Er… I'm Brian…"

Ashmire practically jumped out of his seat and nearly shook Brian's arm off his shoulders, grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of making another new friend.

Cassidy groaned without looking up. "Stop it, Ashmire." She tiredly ordered him as if he was a disobedient younger brother.

Ashmire promptly halted his assault. Lip quivering, he said, "But… I saw other people shake hands while we were walking down that long strip of stone…"

"It's called a sidewalk, Ashmire." Cassidy reminded him, lifting her head, face sagging as if she hadn't gotten sleep in weeks. "And when shaking someone's hand, it isn't very polite to attempt to rip it off their shoulders."

Ashmire hastily let go, causing Brian to lose his balance and fall onto the hard linoleum. "Oops, heh…" the boyish Jinnee laughed self consciously, turning scarlet with embarrassment. He suddenly noticed Brian on the floor. "How'd you get down there, Brian?" he asked innocently.

Brian pushed himself up and stood, exchanging looks with Cassidy. The blonde girl sighed. "No, I did not nor would I ever ditch you to hang around with this clown."

Brian smirked. "I can see why… Is he your little brother or something? Are you babysitting him?" he asked cluelessly.

Cassidy sighed with exasperation and allowed her head to hit the table again. "No, he's not my little brother, and yes, I may as well be babysitting him."

Brian nodded as Cassidy rose from her seat. They walked toward Brian's table, Ashmire toddling along behind. As soon as they got there, Brian offered Ashmire a slice of pizza. "Here, kid. Just don't choke on it."

Ashmire nodded, taking the cheesy slice and sniffing it. After deducing that it wasn't poisonous, he shoved the whole thing in his mouth and began to chew with great difficulty, his cheeks bulging out and greatly resembling those of a chipmunk whose cheeks are full of peanuts.

"Woah! Jeeze, kid! I told you not to choke!" Brian gasped, eyes going wide at the spectacle before him.

Ashmire raised an eyebrow at his new friend's worry, then swallowed the entire piece. "I didn't choke…" he defended himself, then immediately changed his tune. "Mmmm! That was yummy! Can I have sommore?"

Brian, still in shock, hesitantly offered him another. "Sure, kid…"

Ashmire wolfed it down as quickly as the first, then licked his fingers one by one, savoring the greasy goodness.

"Hey, Cass!" one of her friends addressed her, "Who's your friend?"

"Yeah," continued another teenager at the large, round table, "Man, I never seen anyone eat pizza like that!"

Cassidy sighed. "I know…"

So far, Cassidy's day had been one stressful mishap after another. First she fell asleep in class, then she had to turn down an invitation to pizza, then she released an ancient Jinnee that turned out to be on a maturity level no further advanced than a five year old, next being explained by him all the rules and regulations to wishing and not remembering more than a single sentence of it, and now the incident with Brian and her friends in the pizza parlor. What will happen next, a pink elephant come crashing through the parlor window?

At that precise moment, a plastic, pink elephant from the Midway's merry-go-round came crashing through the front window of Antoine's Pizza Parlor, shattering the glass and scattering it around the room. Every human in the parlor ducked as glass rained down upon them. Ashmire just stood there, getting ready to wolf another slice of pizza. As he was opening his mouth, a gigantic glass shard landed on top of his slice.

"Awww. That's not going to taste good…" he wined.

Maniacal laughter followed the rain of glass as the parlor's patrons began to slowly lift themselves back up from below their tables. Cassidy barely glimpsed the impish boy who had thrown the offending elephant as he ran off down the street, pausing only to pick up and pocket a shiny bead off the sidewalk.

"Shoot! Who's that!?" Cassidy yelled, frightened by what had just taken place.

Ashmire finally looked up from mourning over his ruined pizza, his attitude changing in a flash. "Oh, him? Probably Abia. He's the only one I've ever known to throw pink elephants. I saw his pot on that nice man's desk, your father you said that man was…?"

Cassidy quickly interrupted Ashmire, "Wait a second, you know this guy? You mean he's another Jinnee or something?"

Ashmire continued as if it was as obvious as the sky is blue on a clear day. "Of course, he always used to pick on me back in The Kingdom, when I was only about a thousand years old."

Cassidy blinked in surprise.

Brian took this moment to stand in question. "Woah, what is he saying, Cass? This is just too unreal."

Cassidy nodded and sighed. "Brian, we've got a bigger problem right now. Ashmire, what about this Abia guy? What does he do?"

"Abia's not too much trouble, at least not when there are older Jinnee's to keep him in line, but he likes a little chaos and calamity to spice things up. He'll probably only do a few minor things: take the supports out of buildings, throw sharp objects at people, pour boiling water out windows, the usual little things."

Cassidy's mouth hung open. "…And these are… minor things…?"

Ashmire nodded as if they didn't really matter. "Yeah, but after he gets bored, he'll probably just set a few fires, maybe start a tornado or two. Last time he did that near the palace, he was put in solitary for five hundred years…"

Cassidy poked Ashmire's shoulder to get his attention. "Ashmire? I don't know if you've noticed this or not, but currently, there are no other Jinnees!" Cassidy hissed, stressed by her companion's lack of common sense.

Ashmire seemed to immediately comprehend the situation. "…Oh…" he said, face suddenly vacant of his usual cheerful smile. "That can't be good… I suppose we should find some way of stopping him, shouldn't we?"

Cassidy and Brian nodded in unison. The people around them were too busy worrying over the immediate matter to care about three teenagers and their nonsensical conversation.

Ashmire laughed in embarrassment. "I suppose we should be going then?"

Cassidy and Brian nodded again, Cassidy leading the way out through the ruined front window and onto the equally chaotic street. Ashmire, of course, couldn't follow along without snatching one more slice of pizza from an un-ruined pan.

***

"There he goes!" Brian yelled, dodging flying peas and carrots as the waxen-skinned imp they pursued pelted them with frozen mixed vegetables.

"Fuahahaha!" Abia laughed insanely, dodging in and out between the twisted metal of parked cars and jets of water from ruined fire hydrants. Nearby, a butcher lay unconscious where he had fainted after having his own knife hurled at him. "Squee!" he shouted, spotting the shiny glint of a parked car's hubcap. He stopped abruptly to stand triumphantly over his query, then yanked the hubcap clear off the wheel. While he proceeded to the other wheel on the same side, Cassidy, Ashmire, and Brian surrounded the car.

"Alright, Abia. It's time for you to stop now." Cassidy stated commandingly.

Abia smirked. "No, I don't think so. I'm still having sooo much fun!" he giggled, removing the other hubcap and placing it in his large sack of other miscellaneous shiny items. Then he stood straight, shaking with suppressed giggles. "Are you implying that you might be the one to… terminate the action of my pranks?" He walked toward the young blonde, towering over her by the same six inches Ashmire advertised much less threateningly.

Cassidy sat back onto the car's hood submissively, at a loss for words in the face of the malicious Jinnee. "Ashmire…" she hissed toward the fiery haired Jinnee she had released earlier.

Ashmire, meanwhile, had discovered a frog and was busily mimicking its hops around the littered street. How the frog had come to be in the middle of this calamity remained to be heard.

Brian had taken this moment to duck underneath the car and out of sight.

Cassidy massaged her temples, her earlier headache returning to full strength.

"Well now!" Abia gasped in mock horror, "Looks like you're all alone, little girl. So what are you going to do?" he asked maliciously, pale, pointy ears lowered in a vicious gesture.

Cassidy's breath came short and quick as her mind struggled for something to do in the face of her aggressor. Though she abhorred the use of violence, this seemed like the perfect time to exercise her one major advantage over the dark Jinnee.

She kneed him where it hurts.

Howling in pain and doubled over on the debris-ridden street, Abia was in no condition to directly pursue the three teenagers as they made their hasty exit. More like as Cassidy wrenched Brian out from under the car, then threatened that Ashmire wouldn't get any more pizza if he didn't follow that instant.

They rounded the corner of a random tall building and slid into a narrow alleyway. Cassidy slumped against the dirty wall, panting from the adrenaline rush.

"Apparently, the direct assault isn't very effective…" Brian commented, stating the obvious.

Cassidy gave him a look. "No duh…"

Ashmire, meanwhile, had his legs crossed and was floating three feet above the ground and three inches from Cassidy's face. As she turned to face him, she gasped and jumped back, grasping onto the chipping brick wall for support. "Ashmire, I hate it when you do that!"

"Eh… Sorry…" he quickly apologized. "I was just wondering why we just spent the last hour chasing Abia through the city. Of course, the direct assault won't work. The only way to stop Jinnies is to put them back into their pots or bottles. Abia's no exception. If I was older, maybe I could make him stop all by myself. Abia might not seem very powerful, but try getting cornered by him sometime. That's something you'll never forget…"

Cassidy interrupted Ashmire once again. "Do you know that you have a bad habit of rambling off on subjects?" That moment, what Ashmire had said clicked in Cassidy's mind. "Wait a minute, are you saying that we have to stuff the class clown from hell back into a pot?"

Ashmire tilted his head in an animated gesture. "Well, we have to get him back in there somehow, but we don't have to physically push him in. That would be impossible. The only ways to get him in would be for the person that released him to make three wishes that Abia decides to fulfill, or to make him choose to go in there, then trap him. Abia's not honest enough to fulfill one wish, let alone three of them. Even so, I don't think he'd ever choose freely to go back in his pot. Last time he got out, it took three other Jinnies to get him back in. He burnt Rome down that time…"

"Ashmire, stop." Cassidy demanded him.

"Ok." Ashmire agreed.

"So, Abia would never freely choose to go back into his pot… How did they do it last time, Ashmire?" she asked.

"I don't know for sure, it had something to do with a shiny bracelet though." The playful Jinnee replied.

A slow smile crept across Cassidy's lips as scenes from earlier that day flashed through her mind. The shiny bead, the hubcaps, and the bag full of jewelry and tin cans all had one thing in common. Cassidy's gaze shifted from Ashmire to Brian, then back again. "I think I have a plan…"

***

"Is everything ready in there?" Cassidy called through the double doors leading into the school gymnasium.

Inside, the floors and ceiling were draped and covered with tin foil, soda cans, garland, and sequins. "All set in here!" Ashmire called from inside, tossing the last roll of garland over a rafter, then ducking out of sight.

"Great, now for the finishing touch…" she pushed her way through the doors backwards, carrying Abia's large, black and brown basin in and placing it among the soda cans, hiding it expertly. She carried the gigantic stopper in the other arm and set it nearby underneath the pile, then stood back and inspected her handiwork.

"Brian should be back soon, shouldn't he?" Ashmire asked innocently.

Cassidy nodded, "Yeah, he should."

That instant, Brian came bolting through the double doors, turned, slammed against the wall, and panted for several seconds. The frightened look in his eyes and the now thawed mixture of carrots and peas stuck in his hair told Cassidy and Ashmire one thing.

"Abia's coming!" Brian yelled with urgency not heard from him since he forgot to study for his final exam.

Cassidy and Ashmire nodded, and all three ducked and hid behind piles of tinfoil and cans.

Abia entered the room in a flurry of wind and debris. "Oh, Briiiiaaaaaaaaaaan!" he taunted in a singsong tone. "I've come to plaaaaaa-aaaaay! …Oooh! Shiny!" he paused for a moment to allow the vast glitter of the room to reflect off his retinas, calming him like music would calm a savage beast. The moment didn't last long, however, and soon he was jumping and dashing between piles, rolling in the shiny bits, not caring about their material worth.

"Yes! It's working!" Cassidy thought, then suddenly gasped, remembering the one piece of her plan she had forgotten. She was supposed to drop some special shiny object into the pot. She had not remembered to.

Making several swift, swiping motions with her hands, she sought to attract Brian's attention, alerting him of the presence of a problem. Brian, seeing her plight, questioned her with a look. Cassidy motioned placing an object in a pot, and mouthed the words, "I forgot."

Brian shrugged his shoulders, not understanding what she sought to communicate.

Cassidy rolled her eyes in irritation, then whispered tersely, "I forgot to put something in the pot!"

Brian's eyes went wide, then quickly scanned back and forth searching desperately for something they might use to remedy this situation. Finding nothing but the usual, he bent his head back in a silent groan.

…And saw General Washington, their school mascot, painted on the ceiling, which reminded him of…

…Quarters.

Brian thrust his hand into his pocket, desperately willing the shiny hunk of metal to be there, and his eyes lit up as his fingers brushed the cool metal surface. He held the quarter high in triumph, making sure Cassidy saw it. She grinned widely, making a swift "Yes!" motion with one arm. Brian gulped, knowing that in order to gain the Jinnee's attention, he would have to put himself directly in the path of the demonic sprite's assault.

Brian, shaking with fear, jumped out into the center of the gym, sliding on ripping tinfoil. Abia immediately stopped rolling in tin foil and stood, staring at Brian, then grinned mischievously. "Oh, there you are, Brian! I was looking for you; honestly, I was… Now we can have some real fun!" He stood and began to walk toward the quaking teen, but Brian lifted his shiny quarter into the air, allowing light to glint off it like a beacon.

"Ooh!" the Jinnee shouted, "What a shiny round thing you have there… Is it a gift?"

Brian smirked, then replied, "Come and get it," then tossed the quarter into the large black hole which indicated Abia's pot's location.

Overwhelmed with the thrill of a new shiny object to add to his growing collection, Abia immediately whirled into smoke and disappeared inside the basin.

"Now!" Brian shouted, and Cassidy plowed through the cans, snatched the stone stopper, and thrust it into the pot's mouth. The pot shook and rolled around for a few seconds, then came to a stop on its side.

"Yeah!" Brian and Cassidy shouted in unison then ran around, tossing things in the air and celebrating. Ashmire appeared instantly near them, grinning more than usual.

Suddenly, Brian stopped celebrating. "Er, Cass?"

Cassidy calmed down long enough to say, "Yeah?"

Brian looked around and scratched the back of his head. "How are we going to return all this stuff?"

Cassidy shrugged. "I have two wishes left, we can use one to undo all the mess of today and the other to…" She thought for a moment. "Actually, I don't know what I'd use the other for."

Ashmire grinned. "That's good, I don't have to go back until you make all three wishes."

Cassidy sighed. "Which might not be a good thing…"

Ashmire just sat in the air, grinning. Somehow he had acquired a slice of pizza in the midst of the chaos and was proceeding to inhale it, munching happily. Cassidy sighed, looking forward to going home and taking two Tylenol (tm).

Suddenly, her head snapped up. "Oh jeeze! And I still have to tell Dad about tomorrow's detention…"

"Finir en quere de poisson" - French Proverb