TEN 

Julia drove to work, keeping Kim inside her purse. Kim slept on a package of kleenex, resting comfortably after her long long night. Julia watched the people go by and she drove; children running to catch school buses, people juggling cups of coffee and briefcases, getting into thier cars. Julia smiled, realising all these people belonged to her, and didn't know it. The power Kim offered could make all of these people into ants at her feet, crushed under her sexy shoes. Or she could make it so they would fight to the death for the right to even sniff those same shoes. She daydreamed briefly about being hundreds of feet tall, and demanding the whole state amass at her feet and bow down to her. But she decided that she'd wait on that. No point in using Kim up needlessly. She had to figure out what she really wanted before that happened. Not only that, but making sure she GOT it all first. After all, she deserved it. She watched the peasents rush about thier buissness. 'Soon', she thought, 'soon all of you will realise you were in the presence of a God'. 

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Getting to work, Julia did in fact deside to wish for an idle daydream to come true. She woke Kim with a harsh command, and Kim immedietly stood at attention, trying to rub sleepiness from her eyes. "I HAVE A WISH." Julia said,simply. Kim felt a twang of fear. She had no idea how much longer she had before she turned to stone for Julias' whims. 

"Yes, Goddess? Y-your wish is my command." Kim whimpered. 

"A CLASSIC! I'M GLAD TO HEAR IT. NOW...I'VE ALWAYS WANTED SOMETHING. I WISH EVERYONE WHO WORKS IN THIS BUILDING WORSHIPS ME AS A GODDESS...BUT THEY ALL WANT TO KEEP IT SECRET FROM EACH OTHER!" Julia grinned wickedly. 

"Granted." Kim said, wincing. She opened her eyes to see she was still her, and breathed a sigh of relief. Julia gripped her and dumped her unceremoneously back into her purse. Kim laid down again, hoping to catch up on some more sleep while Julia reveled in this new world she'd created. 

Julia stepped into the work, and the security guard at the front desk couldn't keep his eyes off her. She almost laughed at the desperate look of devotion in his eyes, especially when she saw his wedding ring. 'Won't she be surprised when he screams my name in bed tonight!'Julia thought. He wasn't worth her time, however, and she didn't even respond to his stuttered greetings. She allowed her eyes to rest on him a moment, however, knowing that it would make his life worth living. She was right. 

She sat in her chair and looked over today's news reports and pretended to be unaware of the quiet hush that came over all the other people in the news room. Her other reporters tried not to stare at her in reverence and jealousy. She smiled to herself as she saw the lead male anchor, Robert, an arrogant forty-something with hair faker than his 'pleasing baratone' voice, and nonchalantly said, "Robert, get me a coffee." Robert nearly lept into the air. 

"Right away, Julia." He said, and practically ran over a few editors, who had crept nearby for a glimpse of the object of thier worship, on his way to obey her command. A peice of paper dropped in front of her by 'accident' by the female anchor, Jillian, a pretty enough woman with curly hair, who then knelt to pick it up. Julia, deciding to play, stretched out her foot and touched it to the woman's chin, who looked like she might feint. She froze, afraid to let this moment end. Julia looked down from the scripts to see her toes right under Jillians' chin. 

"Oh my! I'm sorry, Jillian, I didn't see you down there." Julia lied, moving her foot away. Jillian looked like she might cry. 

"I-i-it's okay....Ms.Har-I mean, Julia." She glanced around the office, paranoid. Julia grinned. 

"Jillian," she whispered before Jillian could get up, "My foot itches. My arch." Jillian flushed deep red. 

"M-May I?" she whispered back. The rest of the office pretended not to watch, but each one swelled with jealousy. 

"Yes." Julia whispered back, grinning wickedly. She'd hated Jillian with a fiery vengence, but Jillian had woken up this morning much more agreeable, it seemed. Jillian debased herself by scratching Julias' itch for her. "Enough. Hey, Jillian...do you think I'd make a good anchor?" 

"Oh, yes, Julia." Jillian replied quietly. 

"Better than you?" 

"By far." 

"Then tell the producers. You want me to be happy right?" 

"More than anything!" 

"Than I want your job." 

"Of course! I'll see to it." Jillian said, happily. 

"Now say thank you." Julia said. 

"Oh, thank you for letting me touch you...and for taking my job. Is there something else I can do for you?" Jillian asked. 

"Nah. Go away." Julia said, still reading her script. Robert came with her coffee. In fact, he came with three. 

"I forgot how you liked it, so I got the three most popular kinds." Robert sniveled. 

"Fine. Just give me one," Julia commanded, taking her coffee, "Now go into the bathroom and pour the other two on your crotch for being such an asshole to me the past few years. And then go wash my car. Later I'll think of more you can do to make it up to me." Robert nodded and rushed to carry out her instructions. Jillian got up and hurried away. 

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By the end of the day, Julia Harmon was lead anchor, had an obscene salary, and the editors put together a montage of her best work to air every hour on the hour, proclaiming her greatness. To further humiliate Robert, she made him lick Jillians feet for the entire broadcast, which both accepted eagerly, even though neither of them wanted to job. Jillians' feet stunk to high heaven, but Robert obeyed Julia, even though the job was horrible. The attention tickled Jillian, but she was a pro, and didn't change her newscaster expression once. 

Many viewers thought it was odd that every reporter slipped up in saying Julia Harmons' name as they sent it back to the newsroom when finishing thier reports, each one saying what sounded like 'Goddess' or 'Mistress', or 'My queen', but covering by saying Julia. They wondered why the only time Jillian cracked an expression was one of pure pleasure when Julia mindlessly bantered between stories with her. They watched no less than three homages to Julia during commercial breaks, and the scrolling 'breaking news' graphic calling Julia Harmon the single greatest human being on the entire planet' confounded them. To Julia, however, it was the greatest day of her life. When she left for the day, she had over eighteen anonymous letters dropped on the desk of her new office, each one devoting themselves to her forever, worshipping her from afar, yadda yadda yadda. Robert was sufficiently humbled and wounded by the end of the day. Julia had Jillian tie him up in the closet of her office, where he served as her coat rack. She left him there overnight for fun. 

She made another reporter, a young college girl named Linda, act like a dog for a donut, and allowed a cute mailroom boy to have sex with her in her office, because she felt like getting laid. Afterwards, she had Kim turn him into a new cushion for her chair, which was amazingly comfortable. Kim got to sleep most of the day, which she was grateful for. Julia enjoyed her new reign of terror far too much to be bothered with her tiny genie. The producers gave her all the money in thier wallets to say thank you for coming into work, and almost every person in the building found a way to kneel at her feet for just a second, the few boldest asking outright, which Julia allowed, but only for five seconds. And when they asked to kiss her feet, she made them kiss each others. A single whistle made the entire place at her beck and call. Julia laughed to herself and said aloud, "I love my job." 

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The rescue party arrived at the store bright and early, apparently just as it opened. The old woman was there, dusting the shop. Sarah led the way, anger already on her face. In fact, the expression had hardly left her face since she woke up that morning. "Now, Sarah...we're going to be diplomatic about this, yes?" Amy asked. 

"No fucking way. I'm going to break this bitch into peices, and feed her to stray cats. And then I'm gonna burn the cats shit." Sarah said, moving quickly ahead of the other two girls. 

"I like her so much." Melodie said with a smile. 

"Don't you start." Amy said. Sarah strode up to the Old woman. 

"Hey, you." 

"Oh, good morning young lady..." The woman began, but Sarah slapped her palms down on top of the counter. 

"You gave my best friend a statue that made her tiny! And now she's been kidnapped!" Sarah roared. The old woman at first seemed taken aback, and then smiled, just a little. 

"Shrank her? Well, she had an odd wish." 

"What the hell is it? How did this happen?!" Sarah yelled. 

"The wish giver is an ancient totem. A djinn. Unfortunetly, it's also cursed." 

"And you left that out from Kim, you old hag?!" 

"Yes, I did. See, the statue grants a wish from a user. But than that user becomes the Djinn. And then anyone who wishes on the statue and it's new host gets thier wishes granted, until the power runs out. This is what happened to your friend. She wished for something, and became the djinn. Every wish uttered in her presence now comes true. Until the power runs out." The old woman explained, grinning. 

"And then?" Amy asked. 

"She turns into the new statue. The old crumbles and she becomes a statue until the next person comes along." The three girls stood in silence. Then, Sarah seemed about to say something, but Melodie cut her off. 

"You dirty old MONSTER!" she screamed, and tackled the old woman to the floor, hurling fists into her face. Amy looked shocked, and Sarah grinned. 

"Get her!" Sarah cheered. Amy groaned and pulled Melodie off of her.

"How do we stop this?" Amy asked. 

"You can't! It keeps going until someone stops wishing." The old woman sputtered, short of breath. 

"So if we find Kim and the statue, we can wish it to end? Wish her back to normal and wish for the curse to end?" Amy asked, kneeling beside the old woman. 

"I'm not telling you any more, you barbarians." Amy sighed. 

"Hit her!" Melodie demanded. 

"Please...we just want to help my sister." Amy pleaded. The old woman remained silent, staring into Amy's eyes. Amy shook her head, and punched her, hard. The old woman cried out in pain. Melodie cheered. "Talk. Now. Please and thank you." Amy said. 

"You can't just end the curse. The curse is forever, just as the power is. I got the statue from an old friend who used it. The power ran out. I knew what would happen if I tried to use it, it would work on me! So..." 

"So you gave it to Kim." Sarah finished. The Old Woman nodded. 

"I have nothing against this Kim...but my friend is trapped as that statue! When the power runs out, Kim will take her place, and she'll be free!" The old woman cackled, "Out with the old and so forth." Amy shook her head. 

"How do we locate the statue?" Amy asked. 

"You can't. Unless you just find Kim." 

"Aunt Julia." Melodie said, with a sad sigh. 

"Who, of course, can do anything now. Including turning us into slugs if she wants to." Sarah said. 

"Well...we have to try, right? For Kim?" Melodie asked. Amy looked back at them. 

"We'll need a plan." Sarah said. 

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Julia returned home and dumped Kim onto the coffee table. "THAT WAS THE BEST DAY OF MY LIFE, SLAVE! AND TO THINK, YOU'RE RESPONSIBLE. I WONDER HOW CLOSE YOU ARE TO BEING A LITTLE STONE?" Kim said nothing, just kneeled helplessly. Julia reached down and patted her on the head with her index finger. "THAT'S A GOOD SLAVE. I ENJOYED THAT SO MUCH! Y'KNOW WHAT, I WISH THAT EVERYONE I MEET WORSHIPS ME." She grinned. Kim granted the wish, worried that this was it. It wasn't, but it was close. She knew it. "SO NOW EVERYONE WHO EVER SEES ME WILL SEE ME AS THIER GODDESS?" 

"Yes, Goddess." 

"DO YOU?" 

"No." Julia picked Kim up and squeezed hard. 

"WHY THE HELL NOT?" 

"I do and I don't. I worship Sarah more. No wishing can ever take that away from me." Kim said, definetly. 'Besides,' Kim thought, 'you didn't include people who had already met you.' 

Julia had fun with this new wish, going to a local bar and having the entire place kneel before her. She got incredibly drunk, and it cost her nothing. Every man and woman in the bar bought her drinks, gave her thier money, thier devotion and love. She left the first bar to another, and soon five or six bars full of patrons worshipped thier new Goddess. They gathered with her in town square, and all knelt as one. She was giddy. Hundreds of men and women, completley devoted to her. She sent them home, except for a pair of male models, who she took home with her. She used them and had Kim shrink them. One she ate, the other she stepped on barefoot, giggling with drink, enjoying both sensations. Julia then retired, dreaming of world domination. 

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"Okay, so we sneak in?" Sarah asked. 

"I don't think we can...unless she's home. Clearly she'd take Kim everywhere she goes." Amy nodded with a shake of her head. 

"Well, maybe I could visit her? Maybe my wish still works and Kim would come when I call?" Melodie asked. 

"Maybe....look, Melodie....no offense but....you're going to recind the wish when you get her, right? You're not going to...wish for anything else?" Sarah asked, not looking at the girl in the rear view. 

"Of course! I wouldn't. I'm sorry for what happened to Kim, what's still happening to Kim. Please believe me, Sarah?" Melodie asked. Sarah nodded. 

"I guess I trust you. But we all go together. Amy?" 

"I don't trust anyone as a rule. But I believe her. And yes. We do this together." Amy replied. There was silence for a moment. 

"Okay. How do I get to Julias' Mel?" 

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