51
nately, I can’t seem to say the right thing
to Rhiannon. “Did that not leave room for
exceptions?” she asks.
My face flushes. “Yeah, I guess it did,” I
admit.
“Hold up,” Rafael says. “Are you saying you
already got called away on a genie assignment?”
“Uh-huh.”
“No way,” Athena says.
“Yes, way,” I tell her.
“Before you got your genie suit?” Moe asks.
“Is that what I’m wearing? Yeah, I was in my
regular clothes.”
“But how’d you get in the bottle?”
“I was sucked in,” I say.
The three other kids are murmuring to one
another, and Rhiannon claps again. “I didn’t say
you
needed
the genie suit provided here in the fifth
parallel. I said it’s advised. It’s more aerodynamic.
Like swimming with all your clothes on versus
swimming in a bathing suit. The water would
