Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

He looked hurt, and then annoyed. Richard shoved his hands into his jean pockets. “You’re coming and I don’t want to hear boo about it.”


“Boo about what?” Todd planted a peck on Richard’s cheek.

The effect was instantaneous. Richard smiled, leaning back into Todd’s large chest.

“Mmm, popcorn.” Paz reached with greedy fingers for the steaming brown paper sack Todd handed her. “Yummy, yummy, yummy. Love,” she plopped a warm, buttery kernel in her mouth and groaned, “love, love, popcorn.”

Richard grabbed one out of her bag and tossed it at her nose. She swatted at it.

“And you say I’m weird. At least I’ve never written an ode to my food before.”

She stuck out her tongue.

“So are we going?” Todd asked, taking a bite out of his fried Twinkie.

White cream oozed out the side and Richard moaned. “Fried Twinkie, Todd? Cruel.”

Todd laughed.

Richard rolled his eyes. “My baby sister insists Madam Pandora is a quack.”

“You know what,” Todd said, and then took another bite, Richard swallowed hard, brown eyes wide as he stared at that Twinkie like it was his lover.

Paz knew her brother was drooling, Twinkies were his kryptonite. Todd was cruel. Which was probably why she loved him so much; he made her brother suffer. As he should.

“I totally thought so too, but then when Luke told me what she said, you can’t fake that.”

Wrinkling her nose, Paz nibbled on a piece of popcorn. That’d gotten her attention. “What happened?”

Growling, Richard stole the last bite of Twinkie from Todd’s fingers and popped into his mouth with a so-there look.

Smirking, Todd licked his lips. “She told him that he’d forgotten to pay his electric bill and that when they got home the power would be off.”

Snorting, feeling pieces of kernel jam in her throat, Paz coughed and then chuckled, wheezing around the bits still caught in there. So lame, she’d expected maybe Madam Quack would have said they’d be struck by lightning, or their dog would be run over. Electric bill? Get serious. She wiped tears from her eyes, the ghost of a laugh still on her tongue. “Duh, she works for the power company after hours. Totally doable.”

Richard rolled his eyes. “Paz, I came to your art show. Now you’re coming with us.”

Shoulders slumping, she licked the buttery goodness off her tongue. “Richard, seriously, that sounds so lame and I don’t want to blow ten bucks on something like that.”

Todd and Richard shared a glance. A wordless conversation passing between them that always made her both jealous and happy. She wanted that so bad, it was a desperate yearning in the pit of her gut, the depths of her heart. But she couldn’t deny how happy it made her to know her brother now had it. He deserved it. Though she’d die before ever telling him that.

“We’ll pay,” they said at the same time.

One dark hand and one light hand gripped her elbows, steering her (willing or not) toward Madam Quack’s tent.

“Ugh,” she groaned.

Ten minutes later she was staring into the deep lavender eyes of the most gorgeous woman she’d ever seen. Midnight oil black hair, smooth alabaster skin, and the plumpest red lips that would have made even Steven Tyler green with envy.

Add to that that Madam Quack wasn’t wearing a gold lamay turban, purple silk robe, or looking into a crystal ball. Paz felt totally out of her element-- hard to laugh at someone when they looked as sane and gorgeous as Madam Pandora did.

The tent was low lit a dark red, casting strange undulations upon the tarp walls. Paz gripped the wooden arms of the plush, floral patterned chair she sat on.

Pandora (because Paz refused to think of her as Madam Pandora any longer) sat in front of her, long legs crossed. Sparkling black cocktail dress draping like bats wings to either side of her. Red lips pursed and staring at Paz with an intense gleam in her strange colored eyes.

“Your brothers want you to be happy.”

Paz licked her lips. Didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure that out, especially considering Pandora had very likely seen them drag her inside, ordering Paz to stay put or the popcorn got it.

“But you’re successful, you made a lot of money tonight.”

Paz narrowed her eyes.

“Paintings, was it?” Pandora cocked her head, feathers on top of her tiny hat flopped forward.

“Oh please, this is insane,” Paz shook her head, “you probably heard one of them mention it. Why do you waste people’s money this way?”

Pandora smiled. “Because you’ll come. Though,” she cocked her head, “I’m very good at what I do.”

“I’m sure you are.”

What a waste of her time and Todd’s money. Paz stood, ready to head back out.

“Sit down,” Pandora’s voice brooked no argument, a shiver of heat zipped down Paz’s spine. Not fear, not exactly, but wariness.

She sat.

Pandora tapped blood red fingernails on her knee. “Go to Alaska.”

“What?” Paz snorted. “Alaska? Are you nuts? What’s in Alaska?”

“He is.”