Chapter 11: Chapter 10

Fifteen minutes had passed already, and Poppy was still alone. Her mind was running wild. 

What if Ius had followed the group thinking she was with them and continued with the tour? Or worst, that awful Selma lady was maybe stopping him from coming back for her to teach her a lesson.

"Ius, please come back, I am scared, please come back," she said while pacing around the empty room, tears slowly running down her cheeks.

She heard a noise, jumped, and turned around. Her heart was pounding. Her body started shaking. Shiny reflections were clouding the ceiling, making it look like a constellation. She dried her tears and started taking big breaths.

"What the hell is that?" she whispered to herself while staring at the ceiling. She would have found it beautiful any other time, but not today; she was too scared to enjoy anything.

She walked toward the rays of light.

Come on, Poppy, it's too late to run, so you may as well just find out what it is. 

She slowly approached the stone block in the King's Chamber's room, took a peep inside the rectangular hollow stone and furrowed her brows.

Inside the stone was what looked like an ancient oil lamp.

"Where do you come from? I swear I looked inside, and you weren't in the stone earlier," she said to the lamp. 

She played nervously with her fingers. I shouldn't touch it, I shouldn't touch it, I shouldn't touch it, but the temptation was too strong.

What's the worst that can happen? She leaned forward and picked it up.

She was still frowning when an idea started forming in her head. Could that be a magical object? Could I be your Aladdin?

She chuckled to herself, then started rubbing the lamp. "What do I have to lose?"

Immediately after, the lamp shook, and Poppy screamed, dropping it in the process. A colossal noise came out of it.

Poppy got scared and hid behind the rectangular, hollow stone. She wanted to run away, but her curiosity was taking over her fear.

While she was debating if she should approach it or not, a filet of smoke poured out of the lamp, getting bigger and bigger and yet not escaping the room.

What is happening?

The lamp was now shaking uncontrollably, and Poppy remained in her hideout, too scared to go near it.

Eventually, the smoke materialised, and a stretching humanoid-like form took shape.

Oh, my God! That cannot possibly be happening!

A middle-eastern-looking man now stood in the room. He was wearing a golden-brown turban, gold bracelets, a gold collar, and a pair of gold earrings encrusted with emerald and sapphires.

He bellowed with pleasure and screamed, "Free at last! Thank the heavens and the master who took pity on a poor jinn and freed me. Who has released me from my prison?" the Jinn asked, looking around.

Poppy lifted her head; her heart was pounding so hard that she thought it would jump out of her body.

Her hands were shaking as well, and it took a lot of courage for her to come out from behind the rectangular, hollow stone.

She carefully took a few steps toward the man, lifted her left hand slowly and said under her breath, "Me!"

The Jinn bowed in front of a terrified Poppy. "I salute you, Milady. A thousand thanks! I am Mokhtar, the jinn of the lamp," said the apparition in an Egyptian accent.

"As the new owner of the lamp, I can grant you three wishes."

She stared at him. He had grown again, transformed, and had filled the room with his smoke.

She slowly started walking backwards until an invisible force stopped her.

"Do not be afraid of me. I will not hurt you, "he said while shrinking back to average human size and returning to a human form.

"Are you alone, my child?"

Taking a big breath, she nodded.

Then, remembering the tour, she swiftly responded in a loud voice, glancing at the doorway, "No, I'm not! My friend and my group are just outside this room!"

She then smiled nervously.

Mokhtar was listening to her, his arms crossed across his chest.

He smiled, "No need to shout, Milady, no one can hear you! And I know that because I froze the time."

Poppy wrinkled her forehead. "You froze time? Like, Father Christmas?" she said in a sarcastic tone.

Mokhtar nodded. "Exactly. The power children bestowed on him is actually a real power all jinns possess. Milady, you have nothing to fear; you can leave this room; I will not stop you. Your wishes are my command, and I am granting you three wishes to show you my gratitude."

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He then clicked his fingers. "Go ahead, Milady, try to leave; you see that the invisible wall is now down. I promise you; you'll be able to do so anytime you want."

She stared at him longer, turned around and left the King's Chamber room just to make sure he was telling the truth.

Outside of the King's Chamber, she could hear voices coming from both sides of the corridor. She took a big breath, smiled, then turned back and found Mokhtar waiting for her.

"Alright, I believe you. But why did you freeze the time in the first place?" Poppy asked Mokhtar.

Now that she knew it was real, her confidence returned, and she spoke to him with more assurance.

He answered, "You were terrified when I came out of my lamp. Imagine what would have happened if you had screamed and others have heard you. It is more to protect you than I did it. Please think of the panic that seeing me will cause. We are in an ancient structure. You don't want people to run and stomp on each other, trying to flee such a small and enclosed space."

He clicked his fingers again, and the outside noises went away.

"Now that we have dealt with that, let's go back to your wishes, shall we?" he said while bowing.

Poppy's eyes grew, and she gasped, "Are you serious?"

Mokhtar nodded, so she asked eagerly, "I get three wishes? Anything I want?"

Mokhtar nodded.

Poppy screamed and started jumping around.

She finally stopped and paced around the room. Wishes, wishes, wishes; I have to be careful; I shouldn't waste them on some ridiculous things.

She eventually stopped in front of him. "I want you to bring my parents back to life."

Mokhtar rubbed the back of his neck and then put his hand on Poppy's shoulder. "I am sorry, Milady, even a Jinn as powerful as I cannot revive the dead."

Her bottom lip trembled, and tears began filling her eyes.

She took a big breath, nodded, and then said in a cracked voice, "It's ok, I understand.''

She stared at the hard floor, then added, '' I am too rattled to decide. Can I cast my wishes later?"

Mokhtar bowed again. "Of course, Milady, just rub the lamp when you feel ready, and I will appear."

Poppy looked at him and smiled. "Okay. I will see you soon. Goodbye, Mokhtar!"

Mokhtar turned back into smoke and returned to the lamp, which was lying on the floor. Poppy then bent down to pick it up and made her way out to join the rest of her group in the other chambers when she heard a stifled voice coming from inside the lamp.

Mokhtar cleared his throat, "Not so fast, milady! Before you leave, I should address a small issue."

Poppy looked at the lamp and frowned.

Mokhtar continued, "Even though you can take as much time as you need to make your wishes, the rules of the lamp clearly state that for me to grant wishes outside of the Pyramid, accept me as your jinn first and invite me back to your house before I can do anything. If you don't believe me, check the bottom of the lamp for the instructions."

Poppy raised her eyebrows and turned the lamp over. There was a tiny inscription at the bottom. She then read aloud, "to take possession of this lamp and its content, you have to officially accept the gift you received into your home by repeating these words."

The last words were not in English, so she squinted a bit and tried her best to read them. "Ambula slilot makalula seisei li hu lak asani mak."

She shook Mokhtar's lamp. "It doesn't sound like Arabic."

"Yes, Milady, it's not. It is Frakalic, the jinn dialect,"

"Oh!" said Poppy.

"I didn't know that you had a different language. I always assumed that all jinns were speaking Arabic."

"Common mistake, Milady. Our language is called Frakal."

Poppy asked, "So, what does the message mean?"

Mokhtar quickly answered, "It means I accept the lamp occupier as my wish granter, and I willingly accept him as a member of my household."

Poppy suddenly felt a warmth in her heart after hearing the meaning of the inscription.

She looked at the lamp and the Jinn with tenderness. "Welcome to the family, Mokhtar. And stop calling me Milady; Poppy will do."

"Very well, Mil... I mean Poppy. Keep the lamp with you and go home. You can call upon me anytime you wish now."

Poppy quickly mumbled a yes, then put the lamp in her crossbody bag and left.

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