Chapter 5: Alyssa gets Elfish with her Gift

When Eugene and Zymora left Alyssa for the night, they went to the mall to ostensibly get Zymora some clothes. What Eugene really wanted to do was play a little hot and cold to see if the other vessel was in the mall, or just nearby. “Zymora, I want a self-paying, unlimited credit card that can never be traced back to me. When I am in public, I should only show as a blur on cameras. A blur amongst many blurs. There should be a circle of blurs around me, including some that are illusionary. The circle should have a random focal point that never puts me in the direct center. The same should be for Alyssa whenever she uses her magic.”

Eugene paused in thought. “Zymora, is that a well-worded wish, or do I need to tweak it?” “Master, technically that is two wishes, though that has no relevance to anything except I will soon need to recharge. Both of those are well thought out, and I can’t think of anything to make them better. You know I can make the money you need?” (Author’s Note: If you can see a hole in his wishes, please send me an email. Keep it out of the comments so it will be a surprise.)

Eugene smiled and said, “Yes, but I may send you on some away missions and still have need of money. Let’s go to the food court and get you somewhat recharged. Then we are going to do some shopping and a scavenger hunt for your fellow djinn. Tonight, you are going to show me how to recharge you the physical way. I am not going to bluster or lie, I have no experience in the ways of pleasing a woman physically.” Zymora giggled “Master, I have no experience either. We can learn together. Oh, You know we can conjure up clothes as well.”

Eugene smiled. “Yes, but I want to be seen buying things for the prettiest girl in the mall. As we eat, I will outline my next two wishes to you. We can then go over them for flaws.” The proceeded to the food court and ordered gyro wraps and fries. Once the meal was almost gone, Eugene laid out his wishes. “Ok, the first is that over the next two weeks, I want my body to get fit. I want to look like the me I dream about, not the me I see in the mirror. Oh, I am sure that there are fewer differences than I think, but perception is reality. I know Alyssa’s elves will be under 5’ by her own rules, so I would like to end up 6’3” and buff, but not steroid looking, I don’t want to be mistaken for an elf. A light six pack instead of one that looks painful. Oh, and I want to be immune to all diseases, including ours, in fact, I want to be the ultimate carrier. I want to decide who becomes what when I infect someone. I also want to be one of the .005% of humans who has a connection to magic. Our disease will open magical affinity in some, but humans need to be physical creatures. We will need mages, for, without figures like Merlin or Gandalf, humans would feel inadequate. I know that our disease is going to cause strife in the world, but what fun would it be without conflict? For my second wish, I want an app on my phone that allows me to edit people or animals or things. I want it to cause a dimensional warp that pauses time until the edit is complete. I know you could do everything the app does, but, again, ‘away missions’.”

Zymora smiled “ Master, both wishes are fulfilled. Your changes will occur over the next three days. They will be complete on the morning you return to school. Your app is on the phone now. And, “ Zymora pointed towards the Oddities place, “my sister seems to be in there.” Eugene chuckled “Two of you in one place. Well, I just hope your sister isn’t in the monkey’s paw. Alyssa would never let me live that down.”

Zymora shuddered. “No, Master. No djinn could ever be enslaved into a monkey’s paw. They are for evil creatures only. Djinn might follow an evil master and do evil deeds in his name, but a djinn itself is never, ever, evil. We have limited free will, and can only perform defensive magic without our Master telling us. We also cannot exist outside of our realm, or our vessels, without being under a master’s control. The gods decided long ago that we were too powerful without some sort of oversight. They gave us a realm of our own and allowed us to send vessels to Earth as a way for us to keep from going crazy with boredom. They limited the number of vessels to 200. I know of only one other currently out of his vessel, so there are still 198 left to find. There are no restrictions on how many Djinn you can control. When a Master dies, his djinn recycles back to our home dimension and a new djinn takes their place in a new vessel. There is a lottery to become one of the 200. I had been in my vessel for 127 years before you discovered it.”

Eugene looked confused, “But your vessel was a gaming console. They haven’t existed 127 years.”

Zymora giggled. “Master, the vessel is ever changing. Every 28 days the vessel morphs to a new shape. Sometimes it will teleport somewhere.new if there hasn’t been any nearby traffic. We need to hurry though, I feel someone drawing near to her vessel.” Eugene and Zymora hurried into the oddities store.

Alyssa’s hospital room: It’s a communicable disease, don’t be Elvish.

Alyssa groaned in pain

“Why didn’t I make the maximum height at least my original 5’3”? This hurts more than passing kidney stones!” as she pushed the call button. Just as the nurse’s voice began “Yes, may I...” Alyssa screamed out in pain as her body compacted from 5’3” to 4’10”. Her temperature spiked to 109° (The disease decided Elves had a higher body temp than humans, so her fever was only our equivalent of 101°) and her blood pressure also rose to her new normal of 165/120 with a resting heart rate of 120bpm. Her ears grew long and pointy. Much more like anime than Tolkien. Her fingers also grew longer and more slender.

All of this happened just as the nurse rushed through the door, so everything was witnessed and the camera mounted on the wall recorded it all. There would be no doubts as to the authenticity of the changes. Once the transformation was complete (the eyes and hair were the first changes) the nurse felt Alyssa’s forehead with a bare hand, this starting the spread of the infection. The nurse, whose name was, ironically, Mary worked the pediatric floor and would infect all the children there before the night was over. “Oh. My. God! What just happened?” Mary muttered as she rushed out to get help.

Alyssa got out of the bed and went to the mirror in the bathroom. Now that the transformation was complete, she felt no pain, only curiosity. She was pleased with her new look but knew she couldn’t let on. She was going to have to call Eugene and get the infection going outside the hospital, or she would get stuck in a government quarantine until Eugene remembered to rescue her. With a naked Djinn, who knows how long that could be. Oddly, Alyssa felt no jealousy towards Zymora. Not that she had a right to feel any yet, but still it made her wonder.

Before she could really get a hold on those thoughts, a massive group of doctors and nurses came into the room. All seemed astounded she was alive, much less out of bed and moving around. Time for an academy award performance. “What’s happening to me! I don’t understand how this is happening? I look like a FREAk! Look at my ears, and I am so SHORT!” Alyssa screamed. “Make it stop, make me back like I was!”

The Doctors just looked on in utter disbelief as the changes continued. Alyssa’s eyes and hair deepened in their new coloration, her skin lightened to pale alabaster and started showing glitter like patches. Just as the Doctors were getting ready for a further examination, a multitude of screams were heard from around the ward. Nurses and parents called for help as other children went through the transformation. At this time Alyssa’s parents had finally shown up and we’re checking on her. Her mother was in tears and her father was in shock. Her sisters didn’t know what to think. She had three sisters. One older, Dawn, one younger, Vanessa, and an identical twin, Anyssa. Anyssa was also in tears, but none of the family was prepared for what happened next, not even Alyssa. All of the females started transforming into elves. The odd thing was that their father was also transforming, but not into an elf. He became a satyr. He was shorter than any of them at the end of his transformation, coming in at just over 4’4”. His youngest daughter was 4’6” with bright pink hair and pale blue eyes. Anyssa remained identical to Alyssa, and Dawn was 5’ even, with leaf green hair. Their Mother’s hair turned bright red, and she got a look in her eyes and seemed to stare into space for a moment. She spoke in an otherworldly voice “It was foretold of my return. The child brought forth the mother and with that Mab returns. I will lend my knowledge so the Elves shall flourish. The fairies shall look upon you as their queen upon their return. Care for them as you would your own children, for in a sense, they are.” her eyes regained focus and she passed out.