“I can’t tonight,” I say, looking past them.
Yasmin follows my line of sight that ends at Henry. She shoves her black-tinted sunglasses on her narrow nose and nabs Farrah, whose energetic good-bye wave I can’t help but return.
“Another time,” Hana says, to which Mina adds, “We’ll check our calendar and be in touch.”
Our calendar. As if they move as one.
And they do.
My four Zar sisters parade down the path to the beach like it’s a catwalk. What I thought were individual mismatched bikinis actually add up to a whole. Hana’s polka-dot top matches Farrah’s dotted behind. Mina’s red hipster matches Farrah’s top. Yasmin’s overflowing yellow halter matches Hana’s toned bottom. Mina’s black strapless matches Yasmin’s black boy shorts. And underneath my beige shirt and white shorts I’m wearing a one-piece.
“You okay, Azra?”
The concern in Henry’s eyes as he quietly slips back through the door makes me cling to the devil in my pocket. The gate key.
Suddenly what I should do is no match for what I want to do.
17
I’m alone with Henry in his backyard.
“One more?” he says.
“Just one.” I drag my toe along the surface of the water in the Carwyns’ pool. I’ve resisted the urge to heat it.
“And it’s really just the one wish?” He runs his hand through his hair. “Not three?”
In response to my nod, Henry takes off his glasses and rubs his eyes. It is at this moment that I wonder if the weight that lifted from my shoulders upon sharing my secret with Henry found a home on his.
He slides his glasses back on. “Even so. That’s what I want.”
And that is how I wind up using my third and final practice ritual to grant Lisa’s wish to be rid of her stutter. In this case, being invested wasn’t a problem. Because his wish was also hers.
*
I should … I will … I am … I am going to confess to my mother.
But not today.
When Mr. Carwyn came outside to ask Henry to babysit Lisa and saw the two of us together, tears snuck into his eyes. The same way they filled mine when Henry and I heard Lisa speak without a hint of a stutter for the first time.
After their father left, Henry was reading to Lisa. He prompted her to try a page. Lip trembling, she looked at me and hesitated.
“Remember what your therapist taught you and go slowly,” Henry said.
The mix of astonishment and pride on Lisa’s face when she read the page out loud made my heart stop.
“It worked, Henry! Just like Ms. Denise said!”
Barely holding back his own tears, Henry hugged Lisa and immediately began to cover for me. “Well, we’ve been working hard this summer, haven’t we? Doing all Ms. Denise told us to do. Now, don’t forget, she said it might take time. So don’t worry if it comes back, okay? We’ll just work even harder.”
Lisa vigorously shook her head. “It’s gone. I believed. Just like with Tinker Bell.”
Tinker Bell or a genie. In that moment, I was okay with being either, but proud, and maybe even the tiniest bit grateful, to be the latter.
And that is why today has simply been for floating on a raft in the Carwyns’ pool, for getting to know Lisa, and for opening the door and finally letting Henry in.
From my yellow-and-blue inflatable boat, I watch Henry finish wrapping a waterlogged Lisa in a towel. She curls up on the lounger, clutches her book, and begins to read aloud to herself.
Henry dives back into the pool, rocking my plastic boat as he swims underneath me.
He pokes his head above the water and, with a Cheshire cat grin, says, “Leprechauns?”
“Nope.” I inch away from the water dripping off his unruly mop as he rests his forearms on the side of my raft.
“Mermaids?”
“Please.”
He groans. “Don’t tell me vampires exist.”
“Not as far as I know. But what’s wrong with vampires?”
Henry squints and issues a decent brooding stare. “They’re leeches. I’ll never understand what you girls see in them.” He widens his eyes. “Wait, you are a girl, aren’t you?”
“A Jinn girl.”
“Which means?”
“Same but not. Different species.”
“Really?” He shakes his head and chlorinated water flies at my nose. “Like snakes or baboons? Wild.”
Laughing, I shove him off my boat with so much force I end up capsizing myself.
Henry’s string of questions is so long, I’m convinced he spent all morning preparing them. No one could have this many questions about magical creatures off the top of their head. He thinks being Jinn means I’m plugged into some supernatural hot line.
As I flutter kick my way to the stairs, I realize the high I’m riding must be at least partially due to the effects of invoking the circulus with Lisa. I didn’t recognize it at first because I didn’t feel much (aside from panic) after granting Zoe’s wish. But the pureness of Lisa’s spirit has made me all giggly. Me and giggly are usually more oil and water than chocolate and peanut butter.
Enveloping myself in a beach towel, I place another one over Lisa, who’s fallen asleep, tired out from us double-teaming Henry all afternoon. Not wanting to wake her, I sit in a chair at the opposite end of the pool. The jig is up about my birthday night makeover so I go ahead and pull out my ponytail holder and use my dark purple nails to untangle the knots in my long hair.
Leaving his own trail of wet footprints on the decking next to mine, Henry plops down across from me. “I knew there was something different about you that night.”
Just like a boy to focus on a girl’s looks.
“You exuded this … this confidence,” he says.
Just like Henry to not be a normal boy. He’s so honest it scares me a little—and not because I think he’d out me. Because my entire life has been one of deception. Being open feels wrong. How’s that for a warped lesson to have learned?