27. Jasmine

Boshun's eyes closed, and he released a shudder. As for me, I vaguely sensed something was different inside me . . .

"Did it work?" I asked.

"You wished. Assuming the magic of the lamp still works, I can do nothing except grant that wish." Why did he sound stunned?

"How do we test it?"

"Close your eyes and think of shifting the book from your lap to the bed. It's a very simple spell and doesn't require you to pull in power first."

"Just like that? Think about it and it happens?"

"Try and see."

With my eyes closed, I willed the book to go to the bed. It wiggled and flopped over onto the blankets.

My heart came to a halt. "It looks like your lamp magic still works."

"And you, my lovely one, are now a witch."

"It's a good use of my second wish."

He rose and started pacing. "But it could create problems."

"If I'm a witch, can I use my power to heal my sister? If the healer can't do it, I'll certainly try."

"You don't want to use your powers indiscriminately, though yes, you could learn how to craft a spell to heal her."

Then I was already better off than before.

"I don't like this," Boshun stopped near the footboard and snarled, though I assumed in frustration about the situation, not irritation with me.

"You're a witch," I said. "This is the perfect solution."

"I was a wizard before I was forced to be the genie in the lamp."

"Same thing."

"Not really." He raked both hands through his hair.

I shrunk, realizing there was probably more to this than giving me the ability to craft spells.

"With power," I said in my own defense, "I can make a difference, not just for my village and my sister, but for everyone. That's all I've ever wanted. I don't want to flatten kingdoms or make anyone do something they'll hate. I just want to make life better for me, my sister, and those in the village who've had to live in squalor like us."

"The thing is, you don't know how to use your power," he said. "It takes years of training to cast a simple spell. I was in wizard college when Cardia cursed me, sending me to the lamp. My magic was decent before that time, but I've spent all the years in between then and now perfecting my skills."

Ugh. "What good is being a witch if I can't do what I want with the power?"

"The point is, if you could do what you wanted with it now, the odds are you could do more harm than good. Not you, specifically, but witches in general."

That made sense. I sighed.

"I'll teach you, of course, but you won't want to draw power in and do much with it tonight. It would be too dangerous."

I grumbled. "I don't regret using my wish this way, but I'll be patient." Except . . . No, I wasn't going to ask how I'd learn after he was dragged back inside the lamp. We were going to end this spell and start a new life together. He could teach me then.

"Magic is a wonderful thing, but also the most dangerous thing in our world. You don't want to play with it."

"I don't know how to use it, so the odds of that are nonexistent." I slid off the bed and went to him, making him stop pacing and give me a hug. "We're going to make this work. We'll keep studying the books and find a way." And we'd make sure Cardia paid for what she'd done to him. "Cardia uses her power to remain young. If we could find a way to keep her from using her own magic, would she die?"

He frowned, thinking. "She might. If we could negate her power, I believe she'd age to where she would've been by now."

I wasn't a person who hated easily, but she'd brought that feeling to the surface. "If she died, would the curse she placed on you end?"

"Probably." He shrugged. "I hope so."

"Then we need a spell that will take away her power." I hurried to the bed and continued scrolling through the spellcasting book. "If only I'd asked to take her power instead of gaining my own." I tapped my chin, staring into space. "I do have one wish left."

"I don't know if you can use a wish to take someone else's power."

"You didn't state I couldn't in the rules."

"Magic needs balance."

"If that's the case, where did my supposedly new witch power come from?"

"The lamp drew it from the ether."

A chill shot through me. Behave, or you'll be sent to the ether, we're told when we're young, and believe me, the thought of wandering around in the dank fog while beasts hunted me was enough to make me do as I was told.

Yet adults who misbehaved—to put it lightly—continued to thrive. That was the way of the world. They weren't sent to the ether.

"Is there random power within the ether?" I carefully asked, unsure I really wanted to know.

"Since witches or wizards are born with dormant power, it"s inherent in their makeup. You're not a born witch, so to gain the power, the lamp would have to take it from someone else."

"Someone who was sent to the ether." Someone who would probably die now that I'd stolen their power. "I need to give it back with my third wish." I couldn't do anything mean like that to another person.

"If they were sent to the ether, it was because they'd murdered with their power or did something so horrible that they could no longer exist in this world. Look at it as a blessing. You'll use their power for good, not evil."

"Cardia was going to send me there for disobeying her. Has she ever sent others there?"

"I don't know."

I'd try to do as he suggested yet my first "use" of this power had been to take it from someone else. "Whoever I took power from will die."

"They were dead already." He tilted his head. "Didn't you know? When a person enters the ether, their soul is stripped from their body. All that's left is a shell that wanders through the fog until it's killed by one of the beasts."