Read Online As You Wish by Jackson Pearce - Free Book Online Page A

it.
    Think of Caliban. Every wish gets you closer to Caliban. That’swhat’s important. Not whether she thinks of you as a wish granter or not.
    Think of all the things wrong with humans. The aging. That party. The way they’re always answering phones. Microwave food. Dogs in shirts.
    The way Viola laughs differently around you, the way she’s not afraid to tell you off—
    No, stop. Dogs in shirts. You’re just a jinn—if you weren’t granting Viola’s wishes, it’d be some other random jinn. You’re not special. She’s not different around you.
    â€œOne wish in three days? It’s your worst record yet!” a voice calls out through the early morning fog. I leap from the dirt, my heart racing in surprise.
    Another jinn, a tall, golden-skinned boy with copper hair and bronze eyes, is standing beside the oak tree. I breathe a sigh of relief—he’s a friend. Sort of. As good a friend as jinn typically have, anyway, though I’ll admit that knowing Viola and Lawrence has redefined the term for me—they care for each other far more than this other jinn cares for me, I’m sure.
    â€œStill better than your record was,” I respond. I push him jokingly, and we both laugh. It’s good to see one of my own kind again.
    â€œYeah, yeah. How are things?”
    â€œAre you asking me as an ifrit or a friend?” I ask. He’s wearing his work uniform, a dark blue tunic with a swirly I embroidered on the front. He’s aged—a lot. The ifrit come and go between Caliban and Earth more often than average jinn do—whenever a press is needed—and the aging has started to show on his face. The boy—the man , actually, since he must be physically over twenty—laughs.
    â€œYou should have become an ifrit, my friend, and you wouldn’t be stuck here granting wishes to begin with!” he says, dodging my question.
    I nod and force a smile. Maybe he’s right. The Ancient Jinn wanted me to be an ifrit once, not too long ago. I read mortals especially well, better than most jinn. So pressing came easily for me; I could tell exactly what would make the master snap, exactly what buttons to press to force him to wish.
    â€œIt wasn’t for me,” I answer, hoping to change the subject.My brief stint in ifrit training isn’t something I enjoy reflecting upon.
    The ifrit laughs and shakes his head. “All because you couldn’t complete a simple car wreck press.”
    â€œWhat can I say? I’m a wimp,” I reply with a steely look. I hate it when people bring that up.
    The ifrit realizes he’s pushed too far and holds his hands up. “Sorry, my friend. Didn’t mean to offend you.”
    â€œRight,” I say, shaking my head. “Don’t worry about it.”
    â€œWell, let me know if you need me to press her for the last two,” the ifrit says.
    â€œNo! No…I don’t need a press,” I answer fast as my throat suddenly dries. The idea of Viola in a car wreck makes every muscle in my body tighten.
    The ifrit shrugs. “Right. Anyway. I’ve got to go. There’s a housewife in England trying to hold off on wishing. Thinks the jinn will crack and give her more wishes if she does.”
    I roll my eyes and relax a little. “Where do they get these ideas? I’ll see you later. Don’t worry about it—Viola will wish.”
    The ifrit, who had just turned on his heel to vanish, spins back around in a whirl of royal-blue silk, an eyebrow raised.
    Damn.
    â€œâ€˜Viola’?”
    There’s no way out of this, is there?
    He’s a friend. He won’t care about the protocol. He won’t report me to the Ancients. It’ll be fine.
    â€œMy master. She insisted I call her by her first name,” I explain. Can he tell that I like knowing her as Viola instead of master ?
    â€œBut still…wow. Be careful violating the first protocol like