"The other thing that freaks me out about it is the timing," I commented between bites of my pasta.

  Jenna frowned, "What do you mean?"

  I expined, "We found the card because there was a mysterious knock at the door, except nobody was there. And that knock came right while you were talking about maybe revealing yourself at college. Remember?"

  "Oh," my genie girlfriend lowered her fork to her pte as the implications of that sank in. "You're right. I was telling you how there's all those other supernaturals at school. And I thought if it was ok for the pnt nymph or the wolfgirl to be open about being supernatural then maybe I could too."

  I nodded, "Yeah. And that's when you got a strange greeting card that specifically asked you not to reveal yourself."

  She shuddered slightly, "It's like whoever sent the card was actually listening to us. Maybe they're still watching us now?"

  "Whoever you are, stop eavesdropping!" she added loudly as she gnced around the living-room. "It's rude, and it's creepy! And you'd better not be spying on Vikki and I in our bedroom! Or the bathroom, you sick perv!"

  As much as I agreed with her, I couldn't help smiling a little at her reaction. I slipped an arm around her shoulders and gave her a side-hug before asking, "Could you sense other magic if someone was spying on us? Or do you have to see them to know what they're up to? Actually how do you recognize other supernaturals when they're disguised as humans? You knew what Miss Underwood was as soon as you saw her, and that was from halfway across a parking lot."

  My girlfriend sighed as she leaned into the hug, and ended up cuddling a little closer against my side. The two of us were sitting together on the sofa with our ptes on our ps. It was just comfort food, I'd made my world famous 'pasta from a package' with 'sauce from a jar'. Jenna poofed up a basket of delicious cheesy garlic bread to go with it, and we'd opened a bottle of cheap red wine to help wash it all down.

  "If someone was using a scrying spell or some other kind of magic to spy on us I should know about it," she finally responded. "Like back at the open house, I could tell that guy had lots of wizard magic on him? I haven't sensed anything here though, either before the card or since. That's why I didn't really think about it, until you pointed out the thing with the timing?"

  She continued, "As for recognizing other supernaturals, that's just a genie thing. I never really thought about it before, but I guess it's so we don't accidentally try and use our magic against goddesses or demons or other really powerful supernaturals."

  "I guess your magic wouldn't work on a God?" I asked.

  Jenna shrugged slightly as she remained cuddled close against my side, "Maybe? But probably not. I just know it's not safe to try. Same with demons, or other powerful beings. It's not safe to mess with anything that's strong enough to change reality."

  "Other supernaturals might not be as dangerous to genies, but they still might notice my magic if I use it around them. Or tried to use it on them," she added, anticipating my next question.

  "Ah," I nodded slowly as I continued holding her.

  We stayed cuddled like that for another minute or two, then I leaned forward to move my pte from my p onto the coffee table. I picked up my wine gss instead, before settling back on the sofa again. Jenna must have been finished with her pasta as well, a few seconds ter she set her pte down next to mine.

  We ended up cuddling quietly for a while longer, but eventually I came up with more questions. Mostly because I couldn't stop thinking about that strange card and its mysterious message.

  "Sorry if this is getting too personal Jenna," I began, "But now I'm wondering about something else. The st line in the card addressed you as if you were the sender's child. Is that... Could it have come from one of your parents? Do genies have families?"

  Before she could respond I added in a guilty voice, "I feel like there's so much I still don't know about you, and that makes me feel like I'm a bad girlfriend for not asking more about your past..."

  Jenna turned and pnted a kiss on my cheek, "You're not a bad girlfriend Vikki. You're awesome!"

  Then she rexed again and let her head rest against my shoulder as she continued, "As far as I know, I don't have parents. Or brothers or sisters. Not the way humans do, anyways. I guess depending on how you look at it, maybe you could consider all genies to be reted? But no, I don't have a family and I wasn't raised like human children are."

  "Then where do you come from?" I asked. "Did you have a childhood? Or did you just appear fully formed one day?"

  "Sorry if that's too personal," I quickly added.

  She shrugged again, "That second thing. I already told you a little bit right? My first master found me near Toledo in Spain, some time around the year seven-fifty CE? I guess that's sort of when I was born? Or when I was created, or when I started to exist."

  "It was like your stereotypical genie story," she continued softly. "My first prison was an old oil mp, and it was found in a cave. I still remember it clearly. The cave was nestled in a rocky hillside overlooking the Tagus river. My first master was a mercenary, he'd been wounded in a battle and was looking for somewhere to hide so he could recover from his injuries. He found my mp and released me, so I granted him three wishes."

  After a sip of wine I asked, "If that's your very first memory, how did you know what to do? How did you know about the wishes, or that you're a genie? Did you look like you did when you first appeared to me, with the long hair and the silky red robes and everything? Where'd all that knowledge come from?"

  Rather than respond immediately my genie girlfriend was quiet for the next several seconds. She eventually replied, "I don't know how I knew what I was, or what I was supposed to do? Maybe it's something like instinct, like how fishes know how to swim or snakes know how to slither?"

  She continued, "So I've always known I was a genie, and that I could grant wishes. And I've always known what the rules are. I mean the rules for me, the ones I have to follow. Like every time I'm freed I have to grant the person who freed me some number of wishes, and that number has to be more than zero. And I knew that after I granted those wishes I'd return to my mp to await my next master."

  "Other stuff I figured out along the way? Like I discovered that I could refuse to grant specific wishes, but that didn't count against the total number. So if I refused a wish then my master could just wish again, or wish for something else, until they'd received all the wishes they were due."

  Her voice got a bit softer as she admitted, "Eventually I taught myself a few other tricks, to make things easier on me. Like how to read minds, so whenever I was freed I could quickly catch up on current events. That also meant I was a lot less naive about things, so I wouldn't blindly accept or believe everything my masters told me. And that meant I also learned how to twist wishes and manipute masters, which was useful when I ended up with evil creeps like Mike Kovalenko."

  Jenna stopped there for a bit, like maybe she expected me to comment or react to that st admission. But I was still processing everything she'd said before that, so after a couple seconds she spoke up again. Except this time her voice was even quieter than before.

  "I looked very different back then," she added softly. "I didn't look anything like the way I did when you and I first met. It took me a long time to find the right style that worked best for me. That was around my eighty-fifth master, or about the middle of the twelfth century CE, when I finally figured myself out. Although it took me another dozen or so masters before I settled on a look that I was really comfortable with."

  I nodded slowly again as thought that through, and of course it led me to yet another question. "So if the long hair and translucent red gown was so comfortable, why did you change your look when you appeared in my kitchen ter that day? You'd cut your hair, and if I remember right you were wearing jeans and a t-shirt."

  My girlfriend sat up and turned so she could give me a quizzical look, "I wasn't talking about my clothes or my hair, silly!"

  "What did you mean then?" I asked, while I felt my cheeks start heating up. "Sorry Jenna, I feel like I'm missing something obvious again but I don't know what it is."

  She stared at me for another couple seconds before smiling, "I almost forgot how oblivious you were when I kept dropping hints about being interested in you. I shouldn't be surprised you've completely missed this as well."

  At that point I was pouting as I asked, "What is it? What have I missed?"

  Her smile faded and her expression became more serious again, but she continued watching me. And her voice was quiet again when she finally expined, "I'm trans. I thought maybe you'd guessed already, or at least you'd figure it out with what I was just saying about how I looked so different at first?"

  "That's also why I had a rough time with my st master," she added. "He was a transmisic jerk who tried to mess with his niece. And that's why I was so excited when you wished we could make it up to her. And we did, she's living her dream now."

  By the time she was done I found myself completely lost for words. Once again I'd completely missed all the hints and clues. One memory that stood out was when I asked if her name was made up, and she got kind of defensive about it. And she made a comment about me not having any trans friends. In retrospect those things all made sense, but I felt like a dope for needing to have it all expined to me. From there it took me another half minute before I even knew how to respond.

  "I'm so happy you were able to figure yourself out Jenna," I finally replied. Then I leaned closer and gave her a kiss, "And I'm gd you're happy and comfortable with yourself. I'm gd we were able to make Sophie Kovalenko happy too."

  A wide smile appeared on my genie's face as she seemed to let go of some tension she'd been holding onto. She let out a little sigh of relief as she kissed me back.

  "Thank you for not making a big deal out of it now that you know," she added as she cuddled up against me again.

  I gave her another kiss as I responded, "I may be dense, but I'm no terf or bigot."

  "And speaking of, thank you for not being upset with me for being so clueless," I added.

  Jenna just smiled, and the two of us ended up exchanging a few more kisses while we cuddled together on the sofa for the next few minutes. I almost felt guilty when I eventually spoke up again.

  "So it's my fault but we got well off topic there," I grimaced. "We were originally talking about the card and its mysterious message. Which I guess we're no closer to figuring out, considering you don't have any family that you're aware of."

  My girlfriend frowned and shook her head, "Not unless all genies are actually reted? Maybe we're all brothers and sisters with each other? I honestly don't know about that though, I've never met another of my kind. I have a feeling we must be pretty rare."

  "So it's unlikely, but we can't rule it out?" I asked. "And we also don't know where you come from? I mean, apart from a mp in a cave."

  "Nope," she said as she shook her head again. Then she shrugged, "Maybe it's better not to worry about this stuff? The message said to rex and have fun, right? Apart from some creepy magical perv possibly spying on us, the only vaguely threatening thing was it said not to reveal myself in public. So I guess I can just keep on doing what I'm doing, as long as I do it in secret."

  That made me grimace, "The creepy magical pervy spy is kind of worrying? And beyond that, it said two other free genies ran into trouble. But you're right, it does seem to suggest that you'll be ok if you stay under cover."

  "On the other hand," I added, "You said you spent your lunch break hiding in the bathroom, and that doesn't sound like fun. Plus the card said not to be afraid of Miss Underwood, remember?"

  Jenna looked thoughtful as her eyes drifted over to where we'd left the card. "It's kind of confusing actually? I'm supposed to stay hidden, but not be afraid of the scariest person in the whole town? I can't show myself to the public, but I'm supposed to make friends? It said that right, ughs and love and friendship are important."

  "Maybe it's like I was asking earlier?" I suggested tentatively. "You can make friends with humans like you wanted, as long as they don't know you're a genie, but you can also make friends with supernaturals too? And if they know there's something special about you, that's probably not as big a deal right? Because they're not human either. They probably don't count as 'the public' because they're hiding their true nature same as you are."

  "Huh," my girlfriend looked thoughtful again for the next few seconds.

  Then she smiled, "Ok Vikki. I think I'm going to continue trying to avoid the demonic goddess anyways, because honestly she really is the scariest thing in town? But maybe tomorrow I won't hide in the washroom at lunch time. Maybe I'll even start meeting people. Maybe I'll make some friends."

  I smiled back, "I know you will. You're kind, and generous, and caring, and fun. Not to mention gorgeous. I'm sure you'll have no trouble at all making friends. You just have to rex and be yourself."

  "Er, I mean be yourself pretending to be human that is," I added with a grimace.

  She cuddled up against my side again as she responded, "I know what you meant Vikki."

  "It's like some giants once said," she added with another smile. "'Just be you. Be what you're like. Be like yourself.' So that's what I'll do. I'll be like myself, and I'll have a wonderful time even if I don't use my magic."

  I had no idea what she was talking about with the giants reference, but the way she spoke the quote made me think it came from a song. It didn't matter though, what counted was the sentiment and I couldn't argue with that.

  So I just nodded, "Exactly."

  PurpleCatGirl