CHAPTER FOURTEEN

AN UNLIKELY ALLY

Norm looked around a bit baffled as to why he was here, but he quickly regained his composure. Timmy Turner, his bald brainiac friend, and Cosmo and Wanda were there. Both fairies had their wands trained on him, glowing at full power. They clearly did not like the genie, and seemed ready to zap him with magic if he made one false move. However this did not unnerve him. Norm shook his head and stated,

"Well, if it isn't Wanda McNagNag and her husband Cosmo McClueless. Why have you two floating idiots brought me here?"

Wanda looked disgusted and stated,

"I told you A.J. it was a mistake asking this genie for help. He's still the same jerk now that he was when we first met him." A pause. "Maybe we should encase him in a smoof blanket and hit him with a wrecking ball like he did us at the Fairy Idol contest."

"Wait a minute, Wanda, let me talk to him,"said A.J. A.J. started to approach Norm.

"Be careful A.J. Norm is extremely tricky," said Wanda still eyeing Norm with suspiscion as well as not a little bit of hatred.

A.J. shook off the pink haired fairy's concern and said,

"Wanda, please." He paused. "You must be Norm the Genie."

"Well DUH," said Norm, very sarcastically, "No wonder they call you the town genius. You must have a Doctorate in the Field "Points out the Obvious a Lot."

A.J. shook his head, and stated, "Very funny, Norm, but you're probably wondering why we've brought you here."

"The thought had crossed my mind."

"Well," said A.J., "it has to do with Remy trying to kill Timmy."

"I did not try to get Remy to kill Timmy Turner," said Norm with gritted teeth.

"I know," said A.J. "in fact, you probably want to stop Remy which is why you've escaped from prison."

Norm looked at A.J. somewhat stunned, mostly because he was one of the few people who didn't assume the worst about him. Maybe this particular human was not so bad, after all.

"And Timmy agrees with me," said A.J. The genius of Dimmsdale looked around. "Where is Timmy?"

"I'm behind this shield," said Timmy. His voice came from behind a silver barrier that had a thin window and a red "T" on the top of it.

"I put that shield there," said Wanda, "maybe Norm's not a killer, but I know from personal experience he has no problem inflicting pain on others. I am NOT about to let him hurt Timmy especially in his weak physical condition."

"Wanda," said Timmy, "I wish you'd remove this shield."

"Timmy...."

"Wanda, please," said Timmy, "if we're to get Norm to help us, maybe we should start giving him the benefit of the doubt."

"And the last time, we gave Norm the benefit of the doubt, you almost lost us as your godparents, and Cosmo and I ended up in the Fairy Hospital."

"Wait a minute," said A.J., "Norm, I'm of the belief that this time you're not on earth to hurt my friend, but to help him." He paused. "If we remove that shield you're not going to try to hurt Timmy are you?"

Norm shook his head.

Wanda waved her wand while Cosmo kept his wand trained on Norm. The shield disappeared and revealed Timmy in bed.

It was literally the first time that Norm had laid eyes on Turner since Chester had caused him to be sucked back into his lamp. Weak physical condition was an understatement. Timmy looked terrible. He had lost a considerable amount of weight and he looked drained of energy. His eyes no longer had that bright spark that was such a part of him even when he had battled his enemies. Remy had really put him through the wringer. Norm also sensed that other things had happened to this kid to wear him down. It so disturbed Norm that for the first time in centuries, he actually felt pity for someone else.

"Well, Turner," said Norm, "You look like something that the cat didn't want to drag in."

Timmy smiled very weakly and said,

"I see you haven't lost your way with words."

Then Norm got serious and stated,

"Timmy I want you to know I did NOT want Buxaplenty to murder you; he got out of hand."

"I believe you," said Timmy, "actually A.J. convinced me of that. He was willing to give you the benefit of the doubt."

Norm nodded, and then said,

"Well, this is all well and good, but why did you bring me here? You mentioned something about needing my help?"

"Yes," said A.J., " we need your help to stop Remy Buxaplenty. He's on Mount Doomsdale."

"I know," said Norm, "I was on my way there until Jorgen stopped me and we got into a magic fight."

A.J. smiled, and said,

"You must have won."

"Actually, no one won," said Norm, "you poofed me here before it ended." The genie smiled. "But I would have won; genie magic beats fairy magic any day."

"So does genie trickery," said Cosmo.

"Cosmo, please," said A.J., "that's one of the reasons we brought you here; you can do things that fairies can't with their magic. You are best hope of stopping Remy."

"Well," said Norm, "so why are you keeping me here; the longer we wait the harder it'll be to get Remy."

"Wait a second, Norm," said A.J., "it might be more logical for us to combine forces. Remy wouldn't expect all of us coming after him. And that would give us an element of surprise."

"Perhaps, baldy," said Norm,"but I work alone, and you all would be in greater danger than I would be. My magic is much more powerful than fairies' magic."

"That may be so, Norm," said A.J., "but does Remy know about smoof?"

Norm blinked a bit and shook his head.

"I don't think so."

"But you're not sure are you?"

Norm didn't say anything.

"You see Buxaplenty's a nut but he's not stupid," said A.J., "if he is working with someone, you can bet that he'll research their strengths AND their weaknesses."

Norm thought a minute and then said,

"Not bad thinking, Sir Isaac Baldness. But would these two," and with that he gestured toward Cosmo and Wanda, "be willing to work with me."

A.J. looked at the two fairies. They didn't seem to still trust Norm, but Wanda said,

"If it's to help Timmy, I'll put aside what I feel about Norm." The pink haired fairy paused, and then added, "But this doesn't mean I like you."

"No one's asking you to like Norm," said A.J., "just make an alliance of convience; like Timmy did with Vicky, Crocker and Dark Laser during the Darkness incident."

Cosmo and Wanda nodded.

"I'll go with you, in case your magic is circumvented in someway, and we have to end up using more conventional means." A.J. turned, "And Timmy you know you're going to be staying here."

Timmy nodded, and added "I know. I'd like to go with you, but I guess I'd be a hinderance." He paused. "But I do feel better. I mean we got Norm to help us. So it looks like for a change that nothing could possibly go wrong!"

That's when a huge atomic poof occured and Jorgen Von Strangle and Binky were suddenly standing in the Timmy Cave.

Hope this isn't too wordy! Norm's not easy to write for!