The Girl and the Genie by E. M. Lilly

going to be leaving soon so that she could bring Winston back to his owner. She had to say that since Mitch had seen her bring Winston into her room.
    “That’s a shame. I really enjoyed having that adorable little guy around.”
    Emily nodded and smiled bitterly to herself as she looked at Mitch and thought about how she could’ve had him turned into a pig, or a slug, or anything else. Jack was right. A slug would’ve been appropriate for Mitch. She found herself detesting him more than ever as she watched the way he sat pretending to be absorbed with what was on TV, all the while sweating over whether she would tell Sally about the nasty and insulting stunt he had pulled. Turning him into a slug would’ve also been the best thing Emily could’ve done for Sally; her friend deserved so much better! But it wasn’t her place to decide this for Sally, or to convince her how rotten the guy was.
    Emily went to the kitchen, spent a minute acting as if she was searching for something inside the refrigerator, then went back to her room. Once the door was closed behind her, she summoned Jack. When he appeared, he raised an eyebrow, curious.
    “Miss Mignon, have you thought of another wish so soon?” he asked. “Or perhaps you would like to change your first wish into something more substantial and worthy of a genie?”
    Emily shook her head. “I need to borrow Winston for a few more minutes,” she said, and then she explained her reason. The genie’s lips tightened as if he had swallowed something bitter.
    “It would be so much easier if you’d simply wish for me to turn him into a bug of some sort. You wouldn’t even need to squash him. You could open a window and let him fly out.”
    “I’m not going to do that,” Emily said.
    “Very well,” Jack said with no effort to hide his disappointment. A second later Winston reappeared with Jack instantaneously disappearing. Emily kneeled down and gave Winston one last hug. “Sorry to have to disturb you like this,” she said. Winston didn’t seem to mind as he panted happily and licked her face, nor several minutes later when Emily led him out of her room and Sally made a big fuss over him. Mitch had left the living room, probably so he could hide out in Sally’s room until Winston was gone. What a coward , Emily thought. Her guess was confirmed when Winston started growling and baring his fangs as he got within a few feet of Sally’s closed bedroom door, and he tried to bull his way toward it.
    “Why do you suppose he’s acting like that?” Sally asked, concerned.
    Emily swallowed back what she wanted to say—that Winston must be smelling a rodent of some sort, and instead muttered something innocuous and pulled the dog away and out of the apartment. When they were heading down the staircase and no one was in sight, Winston disappeared as she had arranged with Jack. She rolled the empty leash up, put it in her pocketbook, and continued on out so she could meet Theodore Anderson at his condo.

Chapter 6
     
    Emily was very pleased with the condo on Wooster Street. If Jack had worked a hidden problem into her wish, she couldn’t figure out what it could be. The building was an attractive stone structure that had been fully modernized inside. Wooster Street turned out to be unusual for Manhattan in that it was made up of old bricks instead of pavement, which acted to discourage car traffic—at least to discourage traffic from cars that didn’t want to damage their wheels or alignment. It still would’ve been a quiet apartment even if Wooster carried normal Manhattan traffic since the condo was set back into the building.
    The apartment itself was large and with more amenities than Emily would’ve expected. The furnishings, while maybe more for a single man than a young woman, still had a comfortable and homey feel. The kitchen was modern and more than four times the size of the kitchen that she shared with Sally, and the bathroom was bigger than her current