"Hey Vikki?" Jessie Vaughan called from near the front door of the small house. "Are you just about ready to go?"

The raven-haired beauty was still standing in the bathtub as we faced each other in the tiny room. And while she seemed to be mildly amused by the situation, I was feeling a mixture of stress and anxiety. My heart was racing as I tried to imagine how I was going to explain this to Ms. Vaughan, or to my boss.

At the same time I kind of wished I knew more about genies, except I knew enough not to actually make that wish. In fact I made a point of telling myself not to say the 'W' word at all.

Without taking my eyes off the genie I called back, "I'll be there in a moment Jessie!"

"Anything I can help you with, mistress?" the attractive woman in front of me asked.

I grimaced, "Please don't call me that."

She shrugged, "Gotta call you something, boss. If it's not master or mistress, how about chief?"

"How about my name?" I replied quietly. "I'm Vikki. What's your name? And are you really a genie?"

The ravenette nodded, "I really am. And you can call me Jenna."

I couldn't help frowning, "Seriously? Jenna the genie?"

Jenna grinned, "Seriously. So you obviously know at least a little about how this goes, do you want me to give you the whole spiel? Or just the short version?"

I shook my head, "No thank you. I really don't want a genie, sorry. And I don't have time to talk, I actually have to get going now."

"Sorry chief," she shook her head. "You released me from the flask so now I'm yours. That's one of the rules. Are you sure you don't want me to do the spiel? I put on a pretty good show. There's plenty of lasers and fireworks, live music, dancing, it's wild. Excellent choreography too, if I do say so myself."

I found myself staring at her as I tried to figure out if she was serious or just kidding around. Not that I really knew what to expect, but she didn't talk like I'd imagine for an ancient djinn. Then again for all I knew she'd only been sealed in the flask for a couple weeks, since whenever Mr. Kovalenko passed away.

"What are you doing standing here in the bathroom?" Ms. Vaughan asked as she suddenly appeared in the doorway.

I startled so hard I nearly jumped out of my shoes, but the lawyer didn't seem to notice.

She obviously didn't notice the scantily clad genie standing in the tub either, as the only comment she made was "Oh nice find. That flask looks like real silver."

"Anyways," she continued, "I was wondering if you wanted to join me for lunch before you got back to work? Or we can swing by your office and pick up Erin too, then the three of us can grab a bite. What do you think?"

I glanced at Jenna, who was grinning again.

The genie nodded, "You guessed it boss. Nobody can see or hear me, apart from you."

"You'd know all this too if you let me do my spiel," she added.

I sighed as I looked back at Jessie again and nodded, "Lunch sounds great. And yeah, if Erin wants to join us that'd be nice."

The lawyer smiled, "Perfect. Give me a hand closing up the windows, then we'll lock the place up and hit the road."

I nodded quietly as I absently replaced the cap on the silver flask then tucked it into my purse, before following Ms. Vaughan out of the washroom.

It only took us a minute or so to close the windows we'd opened earlier, then Jessie picked up the pitcher and a matching serving bowl she'd grabbed from the kitchen. She gave me the keys to lock up the house while she carefully tucked her prizes away in the back seat of her car, wrapped up in a blanket she had back there. And finally the two of us slipped into the front seats and got back on the road.

As soon as we were moving Jessie called Ms. Rhodes and made lunch arrangements, then she spent the rest of the drive talking to me about hiring an estate liquidator to do a proper assessment of the contents, probably followed by junk removal people who'd empty it out. She also suggested we could get cleaners in to give the walls windows and floors a good scrub down before I started showing the place to buyers.

I mostly just nodded and agreed with whatever she was saying, but my mind was definitely elsewhere. I thought about how I was going to tell Erin about the genie, and also wondered if maybe I should just keep that to myself. Then again for all I knew there was some genie rule about not telling other people about her. That line of thought led me to contemplate the possibility of wishes, and the likelihood of those wishes being misinterpreted and turned against me.

Instead of heading all the way back into town to pick up my boss we only made it about halfway before Jessie pulled off the road and into the parking lot of a fancy little restaurant that was nestled on the edge of some woods. A few moments later Erin arrived in her SUV, and the three of us went inside together. It was a nice little out of the way spot, I'd never eaten there before but it had a good reputation.

With my boss there I was finally able to push the supernatural stuff out of my mind, at least for the time being. Instead I focused on lunch, and the ongoing conversation as the three of us discussed Mr. Kovalenko's estate and the disposal thereof.

Jessie and Erin did most of the talking, and I couldn't help blushing as Ms. Vaughan told my boss about how professional I was and how well-prepared and capable I'd been during the client meeting and at the property.

Once we were all finished eating Jessie insisted on paying for all three of us, then when we left I rode back to the office with Erin while Ms. Vaughan headed back to her own practice.

Back behind my desk at work I was able to forget about genies and silver flasks entirely, as I focused on setting up Mr. Kovalenko's property on our computer. I listed it as 'coming soon' since we had a lot of work to do before it was ready to go on the market, but that would help gauge interest in the place in the meantime.

In fact the only distraction I had at work came around mid-afternoon, when I overheard Jason complaining to Erin that he should have got the estate job instead of me. According to him the fact that he had seniority meant the boss ought to be giving him more of those 'easy' commissions.

I also got to hear Erin shoot him down pretty quickly, as she reminded him that she did in fact help him out quite a bit when he first started working for her. And now that I was the junior agent she was doing the same thing for me. He looked grumpy when he emerged from her office, but I pretended not to notice. And I made sure not to smile either, since I really didn't want to contribute to any kind of office drama.

At long last the workday came to an end, and after bidding my boss and coworker a good evening I set out on foot for home.

I lived in a one-bedroom unit on the ground floor of an older low-rise apartment building. The best thing it had going for it was location, it was almost in the centre of the older part of town. That meant the best part of Main Street was only a short walk away, and it wasn't too far to walk to work either. About the only drawback was the nearest grocery store was a bit of a hike, especially in the winter. Yet another reason I really needed to get myself a car soon.

The moment I was inside I left my purse on the sofa then headed into my bedroom to get changed out of my work clothes. I stripped down completely, before pulling on a pair of dark purple leggings and a loose grey t-shirt.

Finally I headed into my little kitchenette to figure out what I wanted for dinner. After a minute or two I settled on my old standby. I got a big pot of water heating on the stove, and pulled out a bag of dry pasta and a jar of sauce.

Then I opened the fridge and grabbed a can of soda, but before I could open it I was startled by the sudden appearance of a certain genie in the kitchen doorway. Except there was no smoke this time, and instead of her translucent gown she was wearing normal clothes.

Jenna was dressed in a pair of tight black jeans and a dark red scoop-neck t-shirt, but she remained barefoot. Her outfit didn't show off as much skin, but it sure highlighted all her curves. She'd also got a hair-cut, her jet black locks were now in a short messy bob. And now that she was standing on the floor instead of in a bathtub, I could see she was a bit shorter than myself. I'd guess her height at between one-fifty-five and one-sixty centimetres.

"Hi chief!" she greeted me with a wide smile. "Can I give you my spiel now?"

It took me a second to recover from the shock, then I shook my head. "No thank you. I still don't really want or need a genie."

"Aw," she pouted. "The thing is you're stuck with me until you use up all your wishes."

I sighed, "So I don't have any choice? I have to make three wishes then you'll leave me alone?"

Jenna nodded, "More or less? Except it's five, not three."

"I thought it was supposed to be three?" I asked with a frown.

The genie shrugged, "It varies. Three's pretty common, but you seem nice? Like you didn't immediately start making greed- or revenge-based wishes. And you're cute. So you get five."

I felt my cheeks heating up at the compliment, but I tried to ignore it and focus on something else. "You get to decide how many wishes people get? What if someone wished for more wishes? Or is that against the rules?"

"I'm so glad you asked about rules!" Jenna exclaimed as she smiled brightly. "There aren't many, but please pay attention because they are important. First off, no messing with life or love. That means you can't wish for someone's death, nor can you wish a dead person back to life. And you can't wish for someone to fall in love, nor can you wish someone out of love."

She continued, "Next up, no time travel. That's just too damn messy and complicated, and it always breaks things. Honestly it's a huge pain in the rear and I refuse to do it anymore."

"Third thing," she said as she opened my fridge and helped herself to a can of cola, "No really big numbers. I don't care if it's money, kittens or snowflakes, I'm not doing infinity of anything. Even counting to ten million is annoying as heck."

She opened the soda then had a gulp of it before finishing her little speech, "And finally, I reserve the right to reject any wishes that I deem to be profoundly stupid or otherwise idiotic. I know that might seem unfair that I can veto your wishes, so to make it up to you I also provide free wish counselling services. I want you to be happy and satisfied with your wishes, and between the two of us I'm obviously the expert on this subject."

I stared at her for a few more seconds before asking, "How can I be sure you won't twist my wishes around and use them against me? There's plenty of stories out there about genies who use their wishes to torment their masters."

"Ouch," she pouted. "You have my word I'd never do that to you, ok? Tell you what, how about I give you a freebie to start with? One wish that doesn't count against the five, just to try it out? So you know I'm not going to mess with you."

By that point the water I'd put on the stove was starting to boil, so I dumped enough pasta in there for two servings then set the timer over the stove. While I was doing that Jenna jumped up and sat on the kitchen counter next to the sink.

Then she asked, "So what do you think boss? I know I kind of made it sound like revenge and greed were bad, but those are actually pretty popular choices for a first wish. Other top hits include health and fame. Or a personal make-over, get the body of your dreams? Or catch the eye of any girl you want? Or any guy, if that's how you swing. I'm not here to judge, I'm all about inclusivity."

I finally opened my own soda and had a sip of it, then asked "What do you get out of all this? Calling people master and granting wishes? And what happens to you if I use all five?"

"After your last wish I go away," she shrugged. "Basically back into that flask, or another suitable container. Then I end up back in the wild, waiting for the next person to free me and get their wishes."

"So you never get properly free?" I asked. "Like you're doomed to do this over and over for different people forever? Why?"

Jenna shrugged again, "I'm a genie. That's what I do. Like this soda can? Its job is to hold soda, until someone opens it and drinks it. Then the can goes into recycling, gets melted down and turned into something else. Or another soda can."

I frowned, "You're not an inanimate object though. You're a person. Don't you want to be actually free? Don't you have your own goals and dreams and things? Don't you ever wish for things for yourself?"

The genie grimaced then bit her lower lip. She shrugged yet again and sounded almost embarrassed as she replied, "I mean, maybe? Once in a while, especially when I've had a particularly foolish or unimaginative master. But it's not like that's ever going to happen, right? So I just make the most of it, and do my best to make my current master happy. Or my current mistress."

That didn't sit right with me, and I really didn't like the idea of this young woman spending her entire existence having to serve people. Or that between granting strangers' wishes she'd be trapped in some tiny bottle or flask or whatever.

If I'd put any real thought into it I probably would have been a lot more careful, and I definitely should have taken some time to do some research. But I let my emotions get the better of me, and in the spur of the moment I said out loud the next five words that jumped into my mind.

"I wish you were free," I told the genie in my kitchen.

She stared back at me with an expression of surprise on her face, then responded with just one word of her own.

"Granted."

PurpleCatGirl

This is a commissioned story, so updates only happen when patrons commission a new chapter. Patrons always get chapters one or two weeks before anyone else, so if you're eager to get caught-up join are Patreon and you'll get all the latest chapters and new stories! And if you'd like to help move this story along, think about sponsoring a chapter!
This chapter comes courtesy of Meg, who commissioned it!
https://www.patreon.com/purplecatgirl