Oops! I Caught a Genie!

Chapter 12

Mangoo put a hand on my shoulder and squeezed.

“Hang on to my arm.” He said, extending the arm that wasn't holding on to me.He had rolled up his sleeve, exposing his pale thin arm.

“You need to get out in the sun more…” I said, grabbing his arm.

He didn't answer, he simply closed his eyes.

Abruptly I felt as if the floor and the rest of my room had been ripped away from me. It was replaced by a swirl or reds and purples, there was no roof or floor above or below me, just the sensation of floating among brightly colored swirls of light. There were no sounds, it felt like I had been submerged suddenly in a deep pool of water.

Just as quickly as the feeling had come, I was shocked back into reality. I landed flat on my back in a moist, spongy field of grass. I looked up at the sky, there were rainclouds on the distant horizon but the sky was still light blue. I felt the moisture from the grass soak into my cotton t-shirt. I groaned and sat up.

“Hello sleepin’ human.” Mangoo said, he was standing over me with Fritz. Both were grinning, but I thought I saw a worried expression behind their grins.

“What happened?” I asked, rubbing my eyes. There was a small headache forming behind my eyes.

“Humans are not equipped for traveling this way.” Fritz said apologetically.

“What makes you guys different? An extra liver or something?”

“No,” Fritz said with a chuckle, “Our energy insulates us.”

Fritz offered me a hand and I took it, thankful for the help getting to my feet. I looked around, we were in the middle of a lush green field for as far as I could see. The grass seemed unnaturally green.

“Where are we?” I asked, finally.

“Northern Ireland.” Mangoo said.

“Why here?”

“Mangoo almost crashed, this was an emergency landing. That is why it didn't go as smoothly for you.”
“What?!”

“Hey. Carrying someone that far requires a lot of energy, don't be ungrateful.” Mangoo grumbled.

“Anyway…” Fritz interrupted, “Lets find an inn or a hotel or something. Mangoo needs time to regain his energy.”

“I don't see anything near here.” I observed.

“Thank you captain obvious.” Mangoo snorted.

Fritz chortled and told us that he was going to search nearby for a place to stay the night.

“Don't leave me alone with him/her!” Mangoo and I whined at the same time.

At this, Fritz snorted back a laugh and waved goodbye. He vanished, leaving me alone with Mangoo.

I thought about sitting down, but I felt the dampness on my back and thought better of it. Mangoo stood for a while and then cursed softly.

“What is it?” I asked.

“I don't have enough energy to bring a chair or a mat here so we could sit down.” He grumbled.

“I’ve been wondering… Do you make things appear out of thin air or do you take them from somewhere?”

“Both. Creating them drains more energy though.” He said automatically.

“Energy? Fritz hasn't explained that.” I said.

“We have a certain amount of energy and it replenishes over time, we can do basically an unlimited number of small things because it fills back up almost instantly. Big things, like me teleporting you all the way to Ireland, take a ton more. I’m running on empty because it took so much energy. You are not an easy person to transport.”

I frowned and looked off into the distance, I guessed that we were in a large pasture or farm. The view was breathtaking, I still hadn't really processed the fact that I was now hundreds of miles from my home. We stood there in silence for what felt like hours, in reality it was probably only forty minutes until Fritz came back. We saw what had taken him so long, he’d walked back.

“Its about a thirty minute walk to the next city,” He said, puffing slightly like he was out of breath. Mangoo sighed and we started off in the direction that Fritz had come from.

Fritz had been right, it was about a thirty five minute walk. It took a little longer than the estimate because, even though he wouldn't admit it, Mangoo was exhausted. I felt guilty because it appeared that the only reason he was tired was because he’d had to carry me through whatever they use to travel. Both Djinn drug their feet, They tried to outdo each other though, neither complained.

Once in the city, we made a beeline for the nearest hotel. It was then that I realized, we don't have American currency, let alone Pounds*.

“Guys… We don't have money…” I pointed out.

Fritz waved a stack of pound notes in front of me.

“I came prepared.” He said.

“Please tell me you obtained that legally…”

“ ‘Course I did, well… Not me, we have human operatives and we get an allowance. We don't get much, more like one of your dollars per month, but since I was trapped for so long, the money added up. I also had worked a bit a long time ago…”

“Geez. You make yourself sound ancient.” I said.

“Shhhhhh.” He hissed with a pout.

“Yep. He’s pretty old.” Mangoo added.

“Shut up! You’re older than I am!”

“By five years!” Mangoo protested.

I let them argue until another problem crossed my mind.

“Do either of you speak Irish? I don't.”

“I can, but I think most people here know english.” Mangoo said.

We walked into the hotel, Mangoo was right, the desk clerk did know  English. We managed to get a room without a reservation and went upstairs to the third floor to room 307 where we encountered our next problem.

“I’ll take the couch.” I said, noticing that there were only two beds.

“Have fun with that.” Mangoo said, crawling into the bed closest to the window.

“Take the bed, you’ll wake up sore on the couch.” Fritz mumbled, taking the jacket he had put on on the way here off and tossing it on the couch.

I wanted to argue, but I was tired and a bed sounded really nice right about now. I put my head on the pillow and Fritz turned out the light. Falling asleep was easy on the surprisingly soft bed.

 Picture of Ireland in the media thingamaboger... I don't own it...)