They watched a few more episodes before Betty left, saying she felt much better. Kyle thought that was probably true. She was acting less like a normal person and more like her normal self. She promised to see them all in the morning and accepted Jenny's enthusiastic hug. By then, it was late enough that Kyle could barely keep his eyes open.

“I'm going to bed,” Kyle said.

“Great!” Jenny said. “I'll come along!”

Oh no, Kyle thought.

“Jenny you have your own room,” Kyle pointed out.

“I like yours better!” Jenny said. “Besides I was alone and cold in that lamp for such a long time, it feels better sleeping in bed with someone!”

“That's manipulating,” Kyle said. “That's what that was, it was you manipulating. You're trying to manipulate me.”

“A little bit,” Jenny admitted.

“Well stop it,” Kyle said. He'd had enough stress pressed up close to her today, he just wanted to go to bed and not think about what happened this afternoon.

“I want to talk about what happened this afternoon,” Jenny said, following him into the bedroom.

“I don't,” Kyle said, pulling a bottle of juice out of his drawer. “It was a stupid thing that happened because Betty's great but she's a ditz and we were watching an ecchi.”

He sat on the edge of a bed and took a drink. This had turned into an incredible complicated afternoon. Jenny didn't make it simply by leaning way, way over to rest her hands on his mattress, staring himself in the face and almost daring him to stare down her top.

“Why didn't we have a threesome earlier?” Jenny demanded.

Well there was only one reaction to that. Kyle could only hope he'd spit the drink out so hard it came down in little droplets and didn't cause any stains.

“What the hell, Jenny?” Kyle said.

“I wanted to have sex with you!” Jenny pouted.

“You....what...I....”

“Well I did!”

“Betty was there,” Kyle pointed out.

“I want to have sex with Betty too!”

“Okay this conversation is getting rapidly out of control.”

“At least something is!” Jenny threw up her arms in frustration. “I was literally on top of you! And Betty didn't seem interested in moving, either! You were in a position men have dreamed about for...forever!”

“Betty probably just forgot to move,” Kyle said. “Don't get mad that's a very real option with her.”

“Not the point!” Jenny tangled her fingers in her hair. “Do you know how long I've been inside the lamp, Kyle? A long time! And that's all I know, because no one can even figure out what year it was the last time I was here! There aren't a lot of guys in the lamp, Kyle!”

“I didn't even know you wanted...” Kyle voice faded off. “I mean, you just come off as kind of oblivious.”

“I am,” Jenny said. “I've always been like that. And there's a lot I don't know about the world right now, so I miss things and mix things up a lot. And say dirty things when I don't mean to. But I know what I want. And I'm not so oblivious I don't know what I'm doing when I crawl into a guy's bed naked. The only one that oblivious around here is you!”

“Alright so you're lonely after four thousand years,” Kyle said. “Fine! This town is full of guys who'd give up anything to sleep with you!”

“But I don't want to sleep with them,” Jenny said. “I want to sleep with you.”

“And Betty?”

“She's more of a bonus,” Jenny said.

“Jenny...”

“And you want to have sex with me too!” Jenny insisted. “You with your cramp. So why won't you Master?”

Looking at her standing there, Kyle had to admit it was a damn good question. But he had good answers to it, too.

“Did you hear what you just called me?” Kyle said.

“Master?” Jenny sat down on the bed beside him, looking confused. “Yes of course. You're my Master.”

“And that's the first problem,” Kyle said. “I have power over you. If I wanted to, I could banish you back to the lamp. Couldn't I? I mean I wouldn't, but I could. We're bound together that way, and from what everyone is saying we can't change that. I'd be taking advantage of you. Way, way worse than the thing where I couldn't stop grabbing you the first couple of days, and I still feel bad about that. And besides, listen, if you think you have to sleep with me to stay out of the lamp you don't. I'll sign a magical oath, or something, I don't know but you don't need to do this just so...”

“That isn't it!” Jenny gasped, her eyes wide. “Is that what you really think?”

“I think it makes more sense than anything else,” Kyle told her. “I'm just not that guy, Jenny. Things like this don't really happen to me. Nothing really does. If I see someone waving in the street they're always waving to someone else, and I feel stupid responding. The only people who ever spend any time with me are Betty and Evan. Well at least they were. Girls don't notice me, guys only notice me to discount me as a threat.

“And that's who I am. And now here you are looking like...like you...and saying you want to sleep with me. So yes, it makes a lot more sense to me you're scared of ending up back in the lamp again. And you're not going, so you don't have to anymore. You can stop.”

“But Mast-Kyle, it's got nothing to do with that!” Jenny insisted. “I promise! But do you know how many of my Masters wanted to have sex with me over the centuries? Most of them!”

Stolen novel; please report.

“And that was wrong,” Kyle said.

“It was different back then,” Jenny said. “It was more about...there was a lot more of a sale, to it. I'm trying to pull up the word from your memories when I cast the knowledge charm. Tran....actional? Transactional. That's the word. It was something you could offer up in a deal. I know, I know, it's not like that now. Or at least it's not supposed to be.

“But I'm a magical creature, Kyle. If someone touches me and I don't want them to I can deal with it. And I almost never wanted them to, because they were all creepy old men who licked their lips at me or these big arrogant conqueror types who assumed I wanted to climb in bed with them just because they were so perfect. Thousands of years, teaching guys like that to keep their hands to themselves.

“And then I get summoned again after all this time, and it's different. My new master is sweet, and nice, and cute in an awkward kind of way. And he gropes my tits and he apologizes. Last time I was out of the lamp if a guy grabbed you everyone expected you to apologize for getting in his way. So I've finally got a Master who I want to have lusting over me and he won't! Do you have any idea how frustrating that is?”

“I have an idea how low your standards must be by now,” Kyle said dryly.

“Master!” Jenny stamped her foot. “I mean Kyle!” she corrected, ruining the effect by acting out the foot stomp again.

“Alright alright,” Kyle reached out and took her hand. “I mean...I guess you have a point. I didn't really think of things from your perspective. Or when I did, I got it all wrong. But Jenny I don't know...”

He shook his head.

“I can't just do this, you know? Forget being a virgin, Jenny. I've never even kissed a girl before. Never even been on a date. And I'm not so manly I can step in and be the super stud hero, alright? You're the one with all the experience here. It would be great to respond the way you want me to, Jenny. But I've lived the life I've lived so far, you know? It doesn't change overnight. If anything like that happens between us...I'm gonna need to go a little slow.”

Jenny sat in silence for a moment. Then she started giggling.

“I was just thinking what Evan would say if he heard you say that,” she laughed.

“Oh god!” Kyle laughed back. “He'd kill me! I think he'd actually try to murder me!”

Jenny fell over, lying in Kyle lap, and the two of them laughed together until it felt like the laughter had flowed out of them, and with it had gone the uncomfortable tension they'd felt a moment before.

“You're right,” Jenny said, when they both had quieted down. “I was pushing a little too hard. And I really wasn't thinking how complicated this must be for you. But I just don't want you to ignore me anymore.”

“So maybe we start small,” Kyle said. “Little steps. Like...do you want to go to the dance? I don't normally go to those things, but...it could be a place to start.”

“Yes!” Jenny said. “I want to see it! And see what kind of music people dance too now! I saw some stuff on the internet thing but you said it wasn't trustworthy.”

“So you'll go?” Kyle couldn't help but smile a little.

“Of course!” Jenny grabbed him and hugged him. “I don't know exactly how it is in this century, but I bet there's not too many guys who'd start out getting offered a threesome and wind up being happy they asked a girl to dance.”

“I was never normal,” Kyle said.

“Okay!” Jenny said. “This means we're officially together now.”

“I don't think that's how it works,” Kyle said.

“I'm going to issue a proclamation,” Jenny said seriously.

“I think they just call that “social media” these days,” Kyle laughed.

“But we're fixing one thing first,” Jenny said.

Kyle was about to ask what it was but before he could she slid into his lap, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him into a kiss. Their lips met and hers parted, his responding in kind. It was a cliché to say she tasted like strawberries, but she really did taste sweet. Like spiced cherries, maybe. The world around Kyle seemed to slow down. Muscles he hadn't even known were tense relaxed, and he found himself wrapped in a comforting warmth he hadn't even really thought possible.

They stayed like that for quite a while before Jenny finally broke the kiss. Kyle probably wouldn't have been capable.

“There,” Jenny said. “Now you've kissed a girl.”

“Yeah,” Kyle breathed.

“And I'm sleeping in here tonight again,” Jenny said, heading for the doorway. “No arguments Master!”

“Why do you keep calling me Master if you're never going to listen to me?” Kyle asked.

“Tradition!”

Kyle woke up the next morning and slid out from under Jenny. He was getting used to that, although now he knew she wasn't just oblivious to her nudity the feel of things was a little different. He put on some clothes and headed to the kitchen, where his grandfather was waiting.

“Let's get one thing out of the way first,” the old man said. “These floors are very thin. I heard everything last night.”

“Oh god of course you did,” Kyle groaned.

“Are you an idiot boy?” His grandfather demanded. “Are you out of your ever loving mind?”

“How about you let me do me and stay the hell out of it?” Kyle grabbed serial out of a cabinet. “Why were you even here to eavesdrop in the first place? You have a house.”

“Because now that I've given you time off to focus on learning magic somebody's gotta handle the stocking,” the old man said gruffly. “Besides, maybe I'll find another genie in there. You never know.”

“I feel like any genie who saw you leering at them would hide right back down inside the lamp,” Kyle sighed.

“Well that's not really what I wanted to talk to you about boy,” his grandfather shook his head. “I just got word this morning. The trial's in a couple of weeks.”

Danny shook his head. A trial. For Danny O'Brien. It still felt surreal.

“You know I'd almost managed to forget about it?” Kyle asked. “Even with people staring at me in the halls at school.”

“Bad news has a bad habit of cropping up at bad times,” the old man said sympathetically. “Still, after the trial it'll be all over.”

“I hope so,” Kyle said. “I still don't understand it.”

“Can't always understand the world,” his grandfather laughed. “I'd think a young man with a genie in his bed would know that as well as anyone.”

“You've got a point,” Kyle smiled.

“I'm surprised the Uzbedis haven't gotten involved,” the old man said. “Normally they'd be all over a trial after a magical duel. I guess it's because the kid didn't show any powers of his own.”

“That or Tanya's family is keeping it quiet,” Kyle suggested.

“That's a thought. Dammit I can't keep this all straight.”

“Me either,” Kyle said. “But you know what? To hell with it. I'm going to get myself together, have a good day, and once the trial is over never think about Danny O'Brien again for the rest of my life.”

Danny was leaning back against the wall of his cell. He did that a lot these days, leaning back with his eyes closed. The guards liked that about him. It meant he was quiet.

The old jail was just outside town. And it was a jail, not a prison. Danny hadn't known there was a difference, but there was. A prison was where you got sent to get punished. A jail was where they locked you up until your trial. This was a jail, and everyone here was waiting for their trial, just like Danny.

Danny wondered if Kyle would show up to the trial or not. He'd have to, right? As a witness or something. Or as the victim? Danny didn't know how that worked. It didn't matter though, because Danny had no intention of being at the trial. He'd spent most of the past few weeks sitting quietly in his cell not bothering anybody, but that didn't mean he hadn't been doing anything. He'd been thinking. And that could be pretty dangerous, especially when you had a demon in your head teaching you magic.

Sure, it sounded crazy. But so was the fact that Danny could flick his fingers and light a fire. It was just a tiny little birthday candle flame at the tip of his finger, but it was really there. Other people could see it. One of the other inmates had asked him how he did it, and Danny had just laughed. The the guards had searched his cell the next day looking for “contraband,” which Danny took to mean the lighter or whatever they thought he'd used to make the fire. He was a little more careful with the fire after that.

Leaning back against the wall of his cell, with his eyes closed, Danny was practicing.

That's good, that's good, the efreet whispered in his mind. You're getting better at feeling it. Soon you'll be able to handle a little bit more of my power. Then all you've got to do is bust out and get to me.

“And then I get the whole thing?” Danny asked quietly, barely moving his lips.

And some of my mind, too. You won't be the same person after this. Don't say I didn't warn you.

“Will I be stronger?”

Yes.

“Will I still want to kill Kyle Anderman?”

Hell yes.

“Then good enough. What's the next lesson?”

You're gonna like this one. How to burn out of handcuffs.