Wishful Thinking by Amanda Ashby

color had been, all for the one low price of two hundred dollars.
    â€œTwo hundred dollars?” Sophie widened her eyes before turning to Malik. “That’s a lot of money. Besides, if this Rufus is a djinn
and
a friend of yours, couldn’t we just ask him to do the double helix spell on me. As a favor?”
    Malik pushed back his caramel-colored Zac Efron hair as if to study her better. “Okay, so first thing, I wouldn’t exactly call Rufus a friend. Especially after what happened in Egypt, not that I’m allowed to talk about it due to legal reasons. But more importantly, rule number one about being a djinn is that you should never ask another djinn to do you a favor, because you can guarantee that they will want to collect on that favor when it least suits you. Actually, you should write that down. Oh, and while you’re at it, you should never borrow money from a djinn either, because they will kill you with the interest rates.”
    â€œWhy don’t I just write down that I should never trust anything a djinn says or does since they are all apparently liars and cheats,” Sophie retorted.
    â€œThat actually sums it up pretty well,” Malik instantly agreed, not looking remotely ashamed about it. “You know, for a kid, you really have a good way with words.”
    Sophie glared at him for a moment before realizing that it would be completely useless to keep arguing with him. Instead, she let out a reluctant sigh and transferred the potion into her shopping basket.
    â€œOh, and you might as well get some of that Fruits of the Desert Ring Cleanser as well.” Malik pointed to another thing on the screen. “You can probably buy it locally, but Rufus puts a lovely hint of vanilla in this one, which makes it smell pretty.”
    At thirty dollars a bottle it had better smell pretty, Sophie privately thought as she obediently added it to the basket. Then, when Malik seemed to be done with making her buy stuff, she went to the payment screen.
    Technically, she wasn’t supposed to do any online shopping, but then again, technically she probably wasn’t supposed to be a djinn either, so she figured that the two of them canceled each other out. Besides, she had no intention of her mom finding out about either thing. So instead she went and got her bank details. Her dad, before he disappeared, had been an accountant, and so he had insisted that Sophie start her own junior-saver account when she was three years old.
    Then she realized that now wasn’t such a great time to be thinking about her dad or her old, normal life, so she concentrated on making sure she didn’t muddle the numbers up as she put them in. As she did so, Malik studied the screen with interest.
    â€œSo these digits that you’re putting into this machine will let you buy stuff?” he wanted to know, and Sophie nodded.
    â€œThat’s right. But only if you have enough money in your bank account.” Then she frowned for a moment. “Which delivery do I want? Phoenix or Pigeon?”
    â€œPigeon,” Malik instantly replied. “Unless of course you like to be kept waiting for months while the most arrogant, vain, thick-as-a-plank-of-wood bird in existence lies around in the sun, moaning about what a tough life it has just because it got caught in one measly fire, instead of delivering your mail in a timely fashion.”
    Sophie blinked. “Er, okay, so pigeon it is. By the way, how long will it take?” she asked as she hit Enter and completed the order. However, before Malik could even reply there was rustling of feathers and a pink bird that didn’t look like any sort of pigeon Sophie had ever seen suddenly appeared on the corner of her computer desk with a large parcel in its beak. It squawked twice, and dropped the parcel in her lap, and then studied her expectantly from its wide violet eyes.
    â€œAre you kidding me with this?” Sophie stared at the