The Forbidden Wish Read Online Free PDF

prince’s blade.
    There is something of you in him, Habiba. A certain unyielding steel. He took an
arrow
for me.
    And you know I never could resist stirring up trouble.
    I rise on all four paws and brace myself, even as my mind revolts.
What are you doing, you stupid, stupid jinni? You’ve been down this road before—you know this will end in disaster! Remember Roshana? Remember the war?
    But I’m committed now. I roar mightily at the prince, startling him enough that he lets go of Aladdin before he can slice the thief’s veins. Quick as lightning, Aladdin throws himself backward, flinging sand into Darian’s eyes. The prince cries out and stumbles, flailing blindly with the knife. His men shout and dash forward, but not before Aladdin snatches the lamp from Darian, dodging the prince’s swinging blade.
    I feel the power of possession shift from prince to thief, and I go dizzy. Changing masters so quickly is disorienting as my alliances reverse and the connection between master and jinni collapses and re-forms, until Aladdin and I are bound once more.
    As a half dozen swords come swinging at his head, Aladdin cries out, “I wish to go home
now
!”

Chapter Four
    F OR A MOMENT IT ALL FREEZES: The moonlight flashing on the swords swinging at Aladdin’s neck. The prince’s roar of anger. The wide, reckless hope in Aladdin’s eyes.
    In that eternity between heartbeats, I think.
    I dream.
    I create.
    Time slips back into motion, and I rise from tiger to girl, dressed in crimson silk, my face veiled. I lift my hands. The blades deflect off thin air, bouncing away and throwing the men off balance. Ignoring them, I slide seamlessly into the next movement. The will of this boy thief flows in golden streams. It is the thread with which I weave, the colors with which I paint, the element with which I create.
    Sand begins to rise from the ground. It coils and swirls, making Aladdin’s robes flutter. I summon the wind and charm it, sending it spiraling around my astounded master. Into the air I weave theancient songs of the people of Ghedda, who lie buried now beneath the cold ash of the Mountain of Tongues.
    The force of the spiraling wind throws the prince’s men wide, and they go sprawling on the ground. Darian falls to his knees and struggles to stay upright, a hand in front of his face as he snarls in rage.
    I slip inside the whirlwind and stand facing Aladdin, who stares at me with eyes like twin moons. He is half dazed, the lamp clutched tightly in his hands. Blood runs down his neck and from the corner of his mouth.
    Wishes are born in the will of men and women, and it is the true and pure source of power all humans hold. Few realize it is there at all. I remember your will, Habiba: You shone like the moon, a sly gleam in a dark sky, secret and intemperate. Aladdin burns like the sun, driving away every shadow and warming the sands. I draw on his will, holding it up like a torch in the dark, lighting the way. I close my eyes and follow the thread of his thoughts with my mind’s eye.
    I glimpse a dark street, puddles of moonlight on the cobblestones. The smell of salt and smoke, canvas awnings fluttering softly in the midnight wind. Less a point on a map and more a region of the soul, but it is a path I can follow.
    I open my eyes and clap my hands once.
    The desert bends away and the horizon draws near, and in a heartbeat, Darian and his soldiers vanish, left behind as Aladdin and I cross through impossible space. I draw the land up like fabric pinched between my fingers, and thread Aladdin and myself through like a sharp needle. Aladdin’s eyes stay locked on mine, as his hair and cloak whip in the wind. Tiny grains of sand bead his lashes. He holds his breath, his body rigid, his hands clamped tightly around the lamp.
    Without moving, we pass through desert and sky, through sand and stone, through a mountain rising spectrally in the dark. Mount Tissia. When last I