Free The Girl and the Genie by E. M. Lilly Page B

into his own hands and had her clubbed to death. But enough of such matters. How did you figure out that Lawrence Willoughby had been my previous master?”
    “It wasn’t difficult,” Emily said, distracted, her brow furrowed. “First though, I’d like to ask you about something you’ve just said. About how you made at least six of Nero’s wishes fail disastrously. So you’re admitting that you do distort a person’s wishes?”
    “Miss Mignon, these were evil wishes, each of them wishes to commit murder. Of course I would make sure wishes of that sort didn’t work out as planned. At least if the wish wasn’t specific enough. In fact, in the emperor’s case, I was able to make all nine of his wishes useless, as they were all equally evil.”
    “I see,” Emily murmured, her brow furrowing even more deeply. “I can understand you intentionally distorting murderous and other evil wishes so that they don’t work out. But I don’t believe Lawrence Willoughby’s wishes could’ve been thought of as evil. I was able to find out about him by searching through editions of The Times from January 1890 to October of that year, and I came across stories about different calamities that the man suffered. A new fleet of ships sinking in calm weather. A grand and newly built mansion being struck by lightning and burning down. A goldmine flooding. Willoughby being arrested and having his wealth confiscated for failure to pay adequate taxes. While his wishes may have been motivated by greed, none of them appear to be of the evil variety. And yet they all ended badly. Which brings up the issue I asked when we first met of whether I would be able to trust you. Or if you’ll make sure all your masters’ wishes end disastrously.”
    “I can see your point regarding Willoughby,” Jack said stroking his chin, his eyes dimming as if he were deep in thought. “You must take into account that he was not a nice person. Small-minded and self-centered, and lacking even a shred of empathy and charity, but even so, I didn’t cleverly devise for his wishes to fail. Sometimes it’s simply bad luck. Or fate, as I believe it was in his case. He simply wasn’t meant to have what he wished for, and I believe it was fate that made sure he didn’t get them. Or at the very least, keep his wealth for very long. But Miss Mignon, not all of the masters that I have served have ended up seeing their wishes fall apart as Willoughby did. You’re enjoying these living arrangements, isn’t that correct?”
    “I am,” Emily agreed. “But as you remarked at the time, this was only a modest wish on my part.”
    “True, but Miss Mignon, to put it bluntly, Willoughby was a dolt. If you, for example, were to wish for great wealth, I am sure that you possess the vision and foresight to be able to do so in a way that would leave you fully protected from the law and other potential catastrophes, something that Willoughby was unable to accomplish. I have full confidence in you and that all of your wishes will end up as splendidly as your first wish did.”
    “Or you could be tricking me,” Emily said. “Allowing my modest wish regarding this apartment to work out to encourage me to make further wishes.”
    “Of course that is possible, but I would suggest that you have faith, Miss Mignon,” the genie said. “Or don’t. It is purely up to you whether or not you make another wish. But I certainly don’t have any interest in tricking you.”
    Jack smiled wickedly as he said that.
    He’s toying with me , Emily thought. But what else could I have expected?
    She understood that discussing the matter further would be pointless. She didn’t believe Jack was evil or malicious. Of course, even though he was once a man thousands of years ago and still looked like one, or at least presented himself to her as one, he was now something entirely different, and exactly what a genie really was she wasn’t sure, nor would she ever be. Maybe it was something