Chapter 9: High Flying Lessons
It was the crack of dawn and Lapis was still asleep in your bed, but not peacefully. She was tossing and turning with sweat trickling down her face. There was clearly a nightmare brewing in her subconscious.
"Mommy. Daddy." the hybrid muttered in her sleep. "I'm going to save you."
In her dream, Lapis could see her mom and dad in a cage made of smoke. They were stretching their hands out for their daughter to grab.
"Lapis!" Blue Diamond cried. "Please help us!"
"Get us out of here, kiddo!" Greg added.
"I'm coming!" the young girl panted as she tried to reach her parents. "I'm almost there!"
Just as Lapis' fingertips were about to touch her parents', a white hand grabbed one of her arms and the genie hybrid found herself face to face with a white face and ghostly gray eyes.
"You will never reach your parents." a masculine, manipulative voice said as a ball of black magic was created. "And now, my child. You will die."
Almost instantly, the black magic ball fell upon Lapis, leaving her screaming.
She awoke from her nightmare in a cold sweat, hyperventilating. She hugged her blanketed knees in fear. The young girl tried her best to shake the memory of her nightmare out of her head.
Afterwards, she got dressed and joined her brother and friends for breakfast.
"Good morning, Lapis." Steven said. "Did you sleep well last night?"
"Sort of." his sister ducked the question and turned to her three mentors. "So, what are you guys going to teach me today?"
"Today, you're going to learn how to fly a magic carpet." Bismuth responded.
"Oh no, I can't do that." Lapis gasped. "I don't have my carpet flying license. I'm not even old enough to drive a car yet."
"Don't worry." Amethyst said coolly. "Learning to ride a magic carpet is easy to grasp at a young age for genies."
The young genie hybrid felt uncomfortable at first, but she gave a small smile; showing that she was willing a shot.
Later that morning, the group of eight gathered on the roof of the hideout for the flying carpet lesson.
"Okay." Lapis asked. "So what should I do first?"
"Summon your carpet." Garnet told her.
"Do what now?" the blue haired hybrid questioned.
"You have a physic connection to your flying carpet." the magenta genie explained. "All genies do. Just call your carpet with your mind and it will come to you."
Lapis squeezed her eyes shut and held her head as she mentally called out, "Magic carpet, come to me."
Suddenly in a swirl of blue magic, an Arabian style carpet appeared before her. The carpet had a mix of blue and gold patterns and of course, was hovering in front of the hybrid genie.
"Whoa!" she gasped. "I really did it!"
"Yeah, Lapis." Spinel cheered. "Not bad for a first-timer."
Meanwhile, a pair of genie criminals were spying on Lapis from a higher building.
The taller genie named Emerald had mint green skin, deep green eyes, and wild green hair. She wore a green top, a tropical green vest, long green fingerless gloves, a translucent lime green skirt that showed her green panties, a gold necklace, and dark green heels.
The short genie was called Bluebird Azurite (Bluebird for short). He had burgundy hair, navy blue eyes, and blue skin with mint green and red patches. He wore a robin egg blue; long-sleeved shirt, a denim colored vest held up by a brown belt, maroon harem pants, and golden yellow curly toed slippers.
"There's our target." Emerald stated. "Now, how do we catch her?"
"Hey, I just had an idea." Bluebird said. "Let's see if we can snatch the Lapis girl while she's flying on her carpet."
"Excellent." the evil green genie sneered. "Since she's just learning to fly a magic carpet, she'll have no idea how to help herself."
"Quick, to the rooftops." her partner urged as the two baddies scurried into place.
"It's safest to start learning to ride the carpet on your knees." Pearl advised. "We'll get to learning to ride while standing up when you're a little more experienced."
"Learning to fly the carpet in general is already scary for me." Lapis replied, quivering fearfully. "How do I even make it go?"
"You have to coax it." Garnet answered. "Flying carpets have a habit of making their own choices. Maintain the bond you have with yours."
"Okay, uh, hi; carpet." the young hybrid said, stroking the fabric of the carpet as if it were cat fur. "I'm Lapis and this is the first time I've ever rode one of these so I am very nervous. But, I know that you're kind of in charge here. So, whatever way we fly; I hope you go easy on me."
The girl squeezed her eyes shut, bracing herself to be taken on a crazy ride until she was delirious from dizziness. But to Lapis' surprise, the front of the carpet started nuzzling her knees. One of the tassels in the back even lightly tickled one of her feet.
"Hehehe, that tickles." the young genie giggled.
"My carpet never acted like that around me." Amethyst commented.
"Yeah, there we go." Lapis smiled, feeling proud that she and carpet had developed a mutualism. "I think you and I are going to get along just fine."
And soon, the carpet started flying forward, slow and steady, of course. Since again, Lapis was a beginner. The young girl learned how to maintain her balance on the carpet as well as how to turn and stop on cue.
Meanwhile, Emerald and Bluebird were hiding in wake to capture the hybrid girl when she came their way.
"Do you have the net ready, Emerald?" the shorter genie asked his partner.
"What do you think, short stack?" the dark green genie replied offensively, tossing him one side of an itchy looking mesh net. "Here she comes."
Lapis was starting to get comfortable riding her carpet as it started to accelerate a little. But then, the carpet started reacting strangely almost like it sensed danger nearby.
"What's the matter?" she asked, noticing this change in behavior.
"Gotcha, little girl!" Emerald cried as she and Bluebird threw the net to ensnare the genie hybrid off her carpet.
Lapis screamed, but luckily; the carpet dodged the net, saving her. It quickly got the hybrid girl out of that situation.
"After her!" Emerald yelled as she and Bluebird pursued their quarry on their own flying carpets.
It was an all out chase. And no matter how hard she tried, Lapis just couldn't shake the two criminals off get tail.
"Save me!" the hybrid girl cried to her magic carpet. "Don't let them get me!"
Just then, a cloud of blue smoke coiled around her like a snake and Lapis vanished before her pursuers' eyes (at least that was what they believed).
"Drat!" Bluebird cursed. "Lost her!"
Having lost track of their quarry, he and Emerald decided to double back. Once the two criminals were gone, the young girl became visible again.
"An invisibility feature?" she said. "Wow. You're just full of surprises, aren't you?"
"There you are." Bismuth said as Lapis returned from her flight. "We lost track of you and started to get worried."
That was the group noticed how out of breath the blue-haired hybrid looked.
"What happened?" Steven asked. "You look so winded."
"I was ambushed on the rooftops." Lapis panted.
"What!?" Pearl exclaimed. "By who?"
"A pair of bad genies." her student answered in tears. "They had this net and they tried to snare me and take me away. It all happened so fast. But, my carpet saved me."
"Let's get out of here." Amethyst declared as everyone left. "It's too dangerous to be alone in the open."
"Hmm, capturing this princess for Jasper is going to be tougher than we thought." Bluebird said, deep in thought as he and partner flew off.
"Oh, come on." Emerald rolled her eyes. "She's a naive girl who's inexperienced in genie magic. How hard is it to capture somebody like that?"
"It's her bothersome brother and friends that are the problem." the shorter genie shot back. "They're always with her."
"Then we need to find a way to separate her from them." his partner scowled. "Let's see if Jasper might have any ideas."
Back at the outlaws' secret hideaway, the two criminals reported back to their leader. And he was not satisfied with their failure.
"You have returned to me empty-handed?" Jasper said, his voice full of venom. "Why?"
"Our apologies, boss." Bluebird atoned as he and Emerald cowered before the evil prince.
"Kidnapping Lapis as you requested of us is proving to be a bit of a challenge." the dark green added. "There's an obstacle standing in our way. Seven obstacles, actually."
"And what I may ask, might those obstacles be?" the leader of the outlaws asked.
"The princess has befriended six other genies and has a human for a brother." Bluebird answered. "They're always right by her side and never let her out of their sight."
"I see." Jasper smirked. "You may not have captured the princess, but at least you have provided me some valuable information. I know a way that we can kidnap the girl, but it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of conjuring."
Meanwhile at the emperor's palace, Blue Diamond and Greg were sitting in the cage they were imprisoned in. When all of a sudden, Blue gasped as she felt a chill down her spine.
"What's wrong, Blue?" her husband asked with concern.
"I felt something." the blue genie answered. "A presence. It feels like... Lapis."
"Lapis is here!?" Greg said in surprise.
"In Zanaraha, yes." his wife answered. "She must've found her way to this world."
"And all those bad genies are after her." the human dad added. "She has no idea that she's being hunted."
"We must find a way to warn our daughter." Blue said solemnly.
"Can you use your magic to get us out of this cage?" Greg inquired.
"No." his wife responded. "But if I can reach her through her dreams, it just might be enough."
"I hope so." the human said solemnly.