I looked out the window of my vessel but it was pitch black for now.

I paced back and forth in the study, tried calling Dad with the phone a few times, and just generally freaked out.

Well, my next Master is supposed to be malicious, I thought.

I tried my best to calm down over the next few hours. I also used Variable Wishes to reduce hers to one, actually two thanks to Samson. Hopefully that would reduce the damage of whatever she was planning on doing.

"Come on out Tristan," the woman said in a smoky voice.

I coalesced in some sort of greenhouse. Various tropical looking plants and flowers bloomed all over the aisles.

The woman sat in a plush chair next to a small table holding a French press along with a pitcher of cream and a bowl of sugar cubes. She waved her hands towards a less plush, but still elegant stool.

"It's an authentic Saint Helena blend, I assume you like coffee?" She said, offering me a mug.

I took it without thinking, just because I'm mad doesn't mean I'm missing out on something that expensive.

"Why did you threaten Sam?" I asked, "what'd you even threaten him with?"

"His family, of course." She replied as if that was obvious. "He has a beautiful niece and nephew. As to why I threatened him, that should also be apparent: he had something I wanted."

"Me."

"You," she nodded, "sorry I blocked your vessel for so long, I had to perform a very complex ritual to view the terms of your Contract."

She's seen my Contract? I wonder what kind of ritual that took. As if reading my mind, she kept talking.

"Luckily you are a very young genie, so it only took five sacrifices. It was catch and release for the others," she smiled at me like she didn't just mention killing multiple people and continued, "but I must be boring you, perhaps we shall get to business, and then I'll tell you why you are here."

"I wish you would use your abilities to maximize the number of wishes I have."

"As you wish."

"I wish for you to align my wishes as closely to my intentions as possible."

"As you wish."

"And finally, I wish I had joint ownership over your Contract."

"As. You. Wish." I choked out.

"Excellent! That should leave me three wishes to start with then!" She clapped her hands together and downed her drink. "You need not know my name yet, just call me Master. Any other questions?"

The weight of what she said began to sink in. She read my Contract, she knows everything I can do, all of my stats,Breaks, and Anathemas. She beat me.

"What do you want, Master?"

"Let's go for a walk, Tristan."

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---

The greenhouse sat near a birch forest that marked the edge of a massive lawn. The centerpiece was a huge colonial home with marble pillars.

It was early morning and the fog was lit by the rising sun, promising a dreary overcast day once it gets up past the clouds.

I was thankful that I didn't have a real stomach to puke with once the woman started gently stepping over the corpses. They littered the manicured lawn haphazardly, dessicated as if they had been dead a long time.

"They had family over, very annoying making sure I cleaned up them all. Do you know who manages this property Tristan?" She said, turning to walk backwards while talking.

"I have no idea, Master."

"MacLennan Properties. Your father sure came into a lot of property recently." She adopted a false, thoughtful pose, "I wonder how that happened."

We stared at each other for a second, I wasn't sure if the evil woman wanted me to point out the obvious or not.

"Your grandmother, Agatha, was the owner of this locket, you know? She died before ever using it and it sat up in that attic for years. Her husband was supposed to clean it up at some point, but he was busy with his new family wasn't he?"

"Gramps had another family?" I replied.

"Has Tristan, has another family. Though he himself is long dead." She stopped us on the front steps of the house. "Follow the cliches Tris, where am I going with this?"

I only had to think for a moment, the answer was obvious.

"So you're my cousin or something?"

"Correct," she said with a smile full of nothing but anger. "Your disowned cousin. The one who was supposed to inherit the locket you found. My name was Fulton, but I'm taking every birthright starting today. I'm Jessica MacLennan."

She then led us into the house. She opened the door with telekinesis, and started the fire in the fireplace with a wave of her hand. I had to wonder what sort of Gift she possessed that could do both without any casting that I could see.

After unceremoniously kicking a dead body off the couch she sat down and patted the seat next to her. I sat warily.

"You still haven't told me what you want me to do, Master," I said. "You have my locket, and there is no MacLennan birthright to claim anymore."

"I thought of that myself. It might actually surprise you to know that I've only been Gifted a few months myself. What a strange world we now live in, millions of tiny factions all just running around willy-nilly. There's no police in this new life, no one in charge, nothing to be afraid of but everything."

"I may have been mortal before, but they disgust me the most. My grandfather was a sick man and so was my father. My mother and sisters kept their eyes shut and their ears covered for both of them. No one came to help then, either. No one will, yet."

"You want to protect the mortals?" I asked hopefully.

"No, I simply want the life I deserve and I have a plan to get it. What this world needs is order, rules, a standard of living above the disgusting mortal men."

"Are you saying you're founding a police force?" I asked incredulously.

"I'm saying, Tristan, that we're founding a government."

She sat back on the couch, clearly pleased with herself. I set down the cup of coffee I had been carrying. This woman is completely insane, not to mention she barely looks five years older than me

"What, you're going to wish to rule the world?"

"Unfortunately you don't have near the Power for that, and even if you could, how would I keep my position? No, we're going to have to get our hands dirty and do this one step at a time. The question is where to start? In fact-"

"I wish I had all of the knowledge I needed to found a working, lasting dictatorship, with me as the leader."

"As you wish," I sighed, "couldn't you have just like, read a book?"

She shuddered as knowledge infected her brain, much in the same way Terese had.

"I know where to start! It's so obvious! Power!"

I got ready for her to wish she was an immortal god or something but instead she looked at me with greed.

"Tristan, how would you like to get much stronger?"