Free Wish For Me (The Djinn Order #1) by A. Star Page B

it to be real, and so it was. It was just that easy.
    Glamour was a strange sensation that kind of freaked me out a bit, though. It felt so unnatural, like being inside a bubble, and through the murky walls of the practically transparent membrane, I could see Irving on the other side, gaping at me in horror.
    I felt my glamour fade away, knowing that I’d fucked up really bad this time.
    Irving grabbed my arms. “You’re an illusionist now.”
    “A what? ”
    “An illusionist. A human with magic. The League of the Black Cloud will want you now. They will want to use you, Glory. Against us. Against me. They will make you their weapon. I cannot stop them from coming for you.” He let me go and backed up. “You need to make your last two wishes now and release me back to my kingdom. They will use you to get to me and I cannot let that happen.”
    My heart dropped into my shoes. Irving was trying to get rid of me. He didn’t want me to be his master anymore. “Irving,” I said. “Think about what you’re saying.”
    “I have made up my mind, Glory. You must release me and hide the Chronolier. I cannot take it back to Shrinelyn with me, but if you wish to protect me and my kind, then please, please, do this for me. Hide it where no one will find it, where they would never think to look. If they ever locate it—” He dragged his hands through his hair, knocking his goggles to the ground. “They must not claim possession of my Chronolier. It will be the end of my kind.”
    My mind raced. Irving was desperate and I knew I had to do something to fix this. But I didn’t know what to wish for. I could have wished for anything, but I wanted to help Irving. It was the only way I could express what I was feeling without saying the actual words. If Irving and I never saw one another again, at least I wouldn’t be remembered as a burden and that I’d done everything in my power to help his people.
    I thought some more and after a moment, something came to me. I wasn’t sure if it would work, but if it did then it might protect Irving and make it possible for us to see each other again.
    I reached into my bag and pulled out Irving’s Chronolier. Here goes nothing. “I wish—”
    “Glory! Watch out!” I barely had time to brace myself as Irving tackled me to the ground and rolled us away.
    An explosion went off right where we had been standing, leaving a crater-sized hole in the grass.
    “What the fuck is that ?” I shouted. I glanced at Irving to find that the utter terror I felt was splashed all across Irving’s face.
    “It cannot be!” he exclaimed. He scrambled to his feet, pulling me with him.
    Even standing at full height, which was incredibly tall, Irving was practically dwarfed by the three plus tons of steel robot that had just tried to obliterate us.
    “Oh, fuck me!” I cursed. Irving shot me a look before tossing me aside as the hollow-eyed automaton leapt through the air at us. It swung a massive arm at Irving, intent on crushing him, but the Djinn thwarted the attempt by thrusting his hands up in front of him and conjuring up some sort of invisible shield. The automaton’s steel fist slammed into the shield and bounced off, throwing the bot onto its back. I was sure the impact could be felt all the way to the Earth’s core.
    “This way, Glory!” Before I could even wrap my mind around what was happening, Irving was pulling me to my feet, and then we were running, only stopping for Irving to scoop up his goggles.
    Irving dragged us behind the nearest dumpster in the small expanse behind the Music building. We fell into crouches and Irving slid his goggles onto his head and over his eyes. Using a tiny lever on the side, he switched out the lenses for the ones that were behind them. I was pretty sure I knew why. Night vision.
    “What the fuck is that thing?” I hissed. I was knocked on my ass as the ground shook from the automaton stomping toward us.
    “It is something that should not exist,”