"Daphne, darling! It's so nice of you to drop by," said Frank Freeman, as he gave Daphne a fond peck on the cheek, after she entered Frank's office, closely followed by Sam, Clover and Alex. Frank was a handsome man of about thirty years, with sharp blue eyes and short tidy brown hair, and the way he and Daphne looked at one another made Clover wonder if there used to be something rather more than simple friendship between them.
"Thanks, Frank," said Daphne with a smile. "I just recently moved to Beverly Hills, and I was out shopping with my sister and her friends, when I heard about what happened here on Twitter. Just figured I ought to come and make sure you were okay, since, you know, I was in the neighbourhood."
"That's sweet of you, Daph," said Frank as he indicated his visitors to sit down on some really comfy plush chairs, while he poured out some drinks from a cabinet. "Though there's nothing to worry about, really. The police have gone all over this place, and they reckon that whoever broke in here seems to have been a simple prankster or thrill seeker."
"What makes you say that, Mr Freeman?" asked Sam, as she and the other gratefully accepted the glasses that Freeman handed out.
"Well, the way he broke in here seemed like the work of a professional thief," said Frank, as he gestured to the small hole still left in the window overlooking the city. "He had suction cups, glass cutters and everything. If he wanted to, he could have broken into the safe, and made off with a large number of valuable items we were planning to donate."
"Only he didn't, did he?" said Clover as she sipped her drink.
"Nope. Instead he grabbed an old lamp on my desk. It was just a souvenir that I got at a stall in Egypt. Bit of a nuisance it being stolen, but I can't see it being that valuable to anyone else."
"Mr Freeman, you don't happen to have a photo of your lamp by any chance, do you?" asked Sam. "Only, I'm studying to be a journalist and I could perhaps try to check out the background of your lamp, see if there's any history behind it all."
"Sure, no problemo," said Frank as he crossed to his laptop on the desk, quickly checked through his files and found a photo of the lamp, which he had taken to send to his folks whilst he was in Egypt. Printing the photo off, he handed the picture over to Sam.
"Hope that helps with any articles you're thinking of writing," said Frank. "Though why that old lamp should attract so much attention from a thief who goes around dressed in a tuxedo and cape escapes me."
Alex's ears pricked up at this. "A tuxedo?"
"Yeah, crazy isn't it? According to eyewitnesses on the ground, they saw this guy leap off the side of the building and turn his cape into some kind of glider. Whoever this thief was, he sure had style."
After finishing their drinks and chatting for a few more minutes, the girls made their goodbyes to Frank and exited the building, making their way to Clover's car, which was parked a short distance.
"A thief in a tuxedo and a cape?" mused Clover out loud as she started the car ignition and they started to head back to Beverly Hills. "You guys thinking what I'm thinking?"
Sam nodded. "Dash Dawson."
"Who?" asked Daphne.
"Professional thief," explained Alex. "Pretty good looking, but pretty obsessed with stealing valuable jewels, especially ones with magical properties."
Her eyes widened as she realised what she had just said. "Hey, you don't suppose that the lamp he stole is magical too, do you?"
"It would make sense," said Sam thoughtfully. "Why else would he go to so much trouble to obtain it in the first place?"
"Sounds like this guy watches too much 'Aladdin'," said Daphne skeptically. "I mean, what does he expect to do? Rub the lamp and summon a genie?"
Daphne had no way of knowing it, but back at the student dorm, a genie had indeed been summoned by the unsuspecting Trent. Upon recovering from his faint, he collapsed in a chair, feeling completely rattled, while his unexpected guest had formed a glass of water from out of thin air, which she then sent hovering over to him.
"I am so terribly sorry to have startled you," said the girl with a look of concern. "I assume you weren't expecting to find a genie in that lamp of yours."
Still feeling disorientated, Trent took the floating glass and drank the water, still trying to take all this in.
"I must be dreaming," he finally managed to say. "Yeah, that's it! I'm hallucinating!"
The girl shook her hear a little wearily. "Sorry, but I'm afraid you are very much awake."
Trent stared at the beautiful girl smiling back at him. She looked about nineteen years old physically, but her eyes... There was something almost ancient in those dazzling eyes.
"You mean... this is for real?" he said slowly. "You're a real-life genie?"
"That's right," confirmed the girl as she started hovering in the air. "I am the guardian of this lamp, from the forgotten kingdom of Suruka, and it is my purpose to grant three wishes to whoever possesses this lamp."
"Suruka? I've heard of it."
"Hardly surprising," laughed the genie. "The kingdom fell many thousands of years ago! Since then, the lamp has passed from owner to owner and from continent to continent. Most of those who possessed the lamp had no idea of what they held, while the others, fearing the power I possess, kept the lamp hidden away from prying eyes."
"Wow," breathed Trent. "And you're saying... I'm your new master?"
"Right again!" said the genie. "I can give a total of three wishes, but there's a 2 hour gap between when each wish can be granted, and my power cannot be used to cause fatal harm to other mortals."
"Oh, well, I don't know what to do," said Trent, scratching the back of his head. "This is all quite a shock. What would you suggest if you had the choice?"
The genie's expression took on a more sombre and longing countenance. "Well, I would kinda... like to be mortal myself. I think I used to be an ordinary human myself, but since being imprisoned in the lamp... I have no memory of who I used to be."
Trent looked sympathetically at the sad genie. "Oh, that's terrible. Well, why don't I wish for your freedom straightaway?"
"Oh no, that wish is not allowed! Sorry, no can do," said the genie with a little alarm.
"Oh-kay," said Trent, raising an eyebrow. "Well, how about... a billion dollars in my bank account?"
"Granted!" said the genie, as she snapped her fingers, which gave off a slight flash of light before Trent's eyes. No sooner had the genie done this, Trent's phone pinged, and as he checked his messages, he was amazed to see that one billion dollars had just materialised in his bank account!
"Wow! I mean... wow!" gaped Trent in astonishment. "You really are a genie, aren't you?"
"Yep," smiled the genie. "And in two hours, you can get your second wish."
Staggering to his feet, Trent began to make for the door. "I need to get some air, take all this in..."
He was just about to exit the room, when he stopped and turned back to the genie. "Say, um, do you have to go back into that lamp?"
"Not immediately," said the genie. "But I cannot move more than 50 feet away from it."
"Then, why don't you come with me?" suggested Trent as he put the lamp in his trouser pocket, which he buttoned up for security. "I can take you to the Groove, and maybe, we can talk a bit more?"
The genie looked surprised by the courtesy of her new master. "Oh! That would be nice! I'll just change into something more akin to the fashion of this place."
And in a flash, the genie's twharb was transformed into a t-shirt and jeans, that matched modern fashion perfectly.
"Gosh, that's amazing," breathed Trent. "By the way, do you have a name?"
The genie smiled. "Well, I can't remember my original name, so I've taken to calling myself... Jenny."