Once Upon A Time ~ Book 1

Chapter 60 - The Genie

A man with dark skin, dark eyes, a black beard and an Indian patterned head-dress sat in a colourful, round room, staring into a hand mirror.
Suddenly giant stomping feet could be heard in the distance.
The man listened then looked up to see a giant man above him through the holes in the room.
"Here we go." he said calmly.
The room shook as in was raised by the giant.
A king stood by the sea, holding a golden lamp with green rubies he had found washed up on the shore. He rubbed the seaweed off it.
Suddenly black mist came from the lamp. The king watched as it evolved from the little man inside into a human next to him.
"You awakened the Genie of Agrabah!" called the dark shined man.
He wore a small, open shirt and baggy shorts and shoes with pointed ends. His cloves were red and orange and sparkled with rubies.
"You're entitled to three wishes. No more. No less. But you must know that magic has it's limits. You cannot wish for life nor death. You cannot wish for love. You cannot wish for more wishes......" he chanted as the king looked him up and down, smiling. ".........And once spoken, a wish cannot be Undone, no matter what the consequences. So, tell me your first wish."
The king thought and looked around, smiling. He chuckled and kept thinking. "I cannot think of a single thing I desire. I have everything I need. I seek nothing more than the happiness of all who set foot in my Kingdom."
The Genie rowled his eyes and sighed. He then sat down on some fallen tree trunk by the shone.
"You are in my Kingdom. And yet you seem unhappy." the king said sitting down opposite him.
"I have served as Genie of the Lamp for longer then you've been alive. Life as a Genie is not as magical as it may appear."
"Do you wish to be free?"
"More than anything."
"Then u know my first wish." he said getting to his feet. "I wish you to be free."
The Genie looked down at his ringed hands as the golden clutches around his rists disappeared. He stood up staring at his rists. "Can it be? Am I truly free?"
"You are the Genie. You tell me."
"There are two more wishes left in the lamp. What will you do with them?"
"For my second wish......." he thought. ".......I wish to give my third and final wish to you." he handed him the lamp.
The Genie took it and gazed at the lamp. "In my time, I have granted one thousand and one wishes, and I have seen then and poorly one thousand and one times. Making a wish comes with a price. And that is why I will never use this wish." he placed the lamp in a satchel around his shoulder.
"You are a man of wisdom, Genie. Now tell me, what will you do with your freedom?"
"Find the one thing u have always desired, that my prison has kept from me......... True love."
"Then you must come join me at my palace. I am certain you will find it there. Come meet my family." he said guiding him along the shore.

The king walked the Genie through the palace gardens.
"Your palace is as lovely as you are kind." said the Genie.
"Oh, it's more than kindness, my friend." said the king.
They walked towards a girl by some flowers.
"This is my beautiful daughter, Snow." said the king to the Genie.
Snow turned around, a basket of follows in her hand. She curtseyed to the Genie.
"How do you do?" she smiled.
"And Regina, my wife, the Queen." he looked at Regina who stood by an apple tree. The Genie looked around to her.
She picked a red apple from the tree and looked up. "Hello." she smiled at the Genie.
The Genie gazed at her then slowly bowed his head.
The Queen then walked away and he watched her go.

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A diner stood by the seaside playground. Pulling the playhouse from the ground, breaking the wood and dropping it on a pile next to it.
Henry stood by, watching ad they tore apart his beloved castle.
Emma came in the sherifs car and ran towards him. "Hey, what happened? I came as soon as I could." said Emma.
"The castle! She's tearing the whole thing down!" cryed Henry.
He ran closer to the play house and saw a whole dung into the ground where the book had been buryed. "My book! It's gone!" he cryed.
Emma turned away and stomped towards Regina who stood talking to one of the builders.
"Congratulations, Madam Mayor. You destroyed the thing he loves." said Emma.
"A dangerous thing that can only hurt Henry and others...... You see me as a villain, Miss. Swan. But that's just your perception and you're wrong. Learn your place in this town. Or soon enough you won't be in it." Regina walked away.
Emma glared at her as left and took from her pocket her phone and Sidney's info card. She looked at the card and dialed some numbers on her phone. She put the phone to her ear.
"Sidney, hi." said Emma. "I'm in. I want everyone to know who she really is."

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Mary Margaret walked briskly towards David who stood on the toll bridge looking out at the distance.
He turned as he heard footsteps.
"I got your text. What's going on?" asked Mary Margaret.
"Follow me." he said taking her arm and pulling her accross the toll bridge then down beneath it.
"David, you're scaring me. What's wrong?" said Mary Margaret as he pulled her gently along the pebbals by the river.
"What's wrong is you're late." said David. "And the wine is getting warm."
They steped from behind a a few trees and David revealed a small picnic for to on a flat rock. On it was a blue table cloth with two wine glasses and a bottle of white wine. There was a vase of flowers and a basket filled with savory food.
Mary Margaret looked down at the romantic picnic, surprised. Then she turned to look at David and smiled.
Mary Margaret pulled David towards her and kissed him. David put his arms around her.
She chuckled. "We have to stop doing this."
He chuckled too. "We just started doing it."
"We have to figure out what we're doing."
"We will......... Tomorrow."
She smiled. "Okay. Tomorrow." she leaned forward again and they kissed by the river.

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Emma drove in her sherifs car through the outskirts of the town. She then came to a halt below a tunnel and got our of the car. She looked around for a sigh of life. Then Sidney walked towards her from outside the tunnel.
"All right, I'm listening." said Emma. "So what do you know about her?"
Sidney leaned forward and looked around. "Fifty thousand dolars." he said quitely.
"I'm sorry?"
"Fifty grand out of the budget is missing. And Regina is responsible."
"That's it? That's all you have on her?"
"The money is just the tip of the iceberg. We figure out what she's doing and it all falls apart. It all crumbles. And we'll finally learn her secrets." he smiled.
Emma listened carefully but didn't seem to agree.
"You see what she is. I see it. All we need is a crack in the mirror to show everyone. I'm telling you, this is it."
"All right, what's you plan?"
"Tap her phone. GPS her car. Hack into her email. Dip into your bail bondsperson bag of tricks."
"No." she interrupted. "I'm sherif now. I have to responsible. I wanna do this by the book."
"She's gonna know that you're on to her sooner than later. Are you prepared for her wrath?"
"Oh, yeah." she smiled.
"Good. Because I wasn't."
They both turned away from one another and began to walk away. Then Emma stopped and turned to him again.
"If you thought she was so terrifying......how did you allow yourself to end up in her pocket?"
Sidney looked at her. "I used to think she was a different person."

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The Genie In The Lamp ~ Sidney/The Man In The Mirror