Bottled Dreams

"C'mon Zoe, we're gonna be late," Henry yelled.

I heard him, but I was completely transfixed on one of the most wondrous sites that I had ever laid eyes on. Humans were throwing some disc-looking thing to each other that seemed to defy the very laws of physics as it floated in the air. It was able to curve in midair and soared higher than I thought possible. How marvelous, how magical! I was obsessed with trying to figure out how they were able to do it.

Suddenly, I felt a hand grab my arm and I was being pulled away with a stern voice saying, "Let's go, you can watch them later. We need to get to class."

"But! But...fine, I guess I can watch them another time," I said sadly while I followed my master into one of the school's buildings.

It had been a week since he released me from the confines of my bottle and since then I have been following him wherever he went. He was so nice, sweet, and funny that it was truly wonderful being constantly around him. Unfortunately, it was also kind of boring. Most of his days involved going to class, and the times that he wasn't in class, he was always studying. Thankfully, we had moments to be intimate with each other, but I had hoped to spend more time doing fun things with him. I knew that one of the keys to getting him to fall in love with me was through doing shared activities.

Walking into a classroom, we sat down next to each other and Henry started to take out various books from his bag. Determined to blend in when I was around him, I got my own bag and took out a new type of scroll that humans invented called a 'notebook'. I also made sure to dress like most of the other girls here, including wearing a form-fitting t-shirt and a pair of denim jeans that these young scholars seemed so fond of. I was confident that I completely blended in.

Soon enough, the professor started to speak and most of the class paid close attention. Taking out a pencil, I acted like I was going to take notes from the lecture, but I had no intention of listening to whatever boring topic the professor was going to speak about today. I discovered a different way to keep myself entertained.

Flipping my notebook to an empty page, I studied my master's face and started to slide my pencil across the paper. Before long, I had outlined his face and started to fill in some of his handsome details. I decided that since I couldn't stop staring at him, I figured I might as well start drawing what I saw. He was startlingly attractive, and there were times I blushed from just looking at my drawings of him. My notebook was filled with portraits of him already, but I thought that this one might be the best one I made yet.

Before I knew it, the lecture was over and most of the students started to gather their things and leave the room. Henry started to pack up as well and when he looked over at me, I made sure to give him a beaming smile. Distracted by his good looks, he was already prepared to leave and I wasn't even close to being ready. Scrambling to stand up, I grabbed my bag that the students referred to as a 'bookbag' and started to walk out of the room with my master next to me.

Once we were outside in the hallway, I turned to him and asked, "So, where to now?"

"I was thinking about--"

"Oh camel spit! I completely forgot to grab my notebook!" I said, interrupting him before continuing, "Do you mind waiting here while I go grab it?"

"Yeah, no problem," he said sweetly.

I smiled at him and his kindness towards me made me feel warm inside. Turning around, I walked back into the classroom and saw that there were still a few students lingering inside. After walking over to my seat and collecting my notebook, I noticed that there was a girl quickly scribbling in her notebook. Curiosity got the better of me and when I walked over to take a peak, I noticed that she was drawing in her notebook like I was. Walking over even closer, I noticed that she was also drawing the face of a man. It looked incredible!

"Your drawing looks amazing!" I complimented her in a soft voice.

She looked up from her notebook and at first seemed surprised to me standing right next to her before her face softened and she replied, "Oh, thanks!"

When I saw her face, I was stunned at how pretty she was. Her blonde hair was practically glowing, her blue eyes were captivating, and her full figure would attract the eyes of almost any man. Someone like her could probably be the favorite concubine of a king. I realized that I was staring at her a little too intently, so I quickly looked away and took another look at her drawing.

"Are you drawing your boyfriend's face?" I asked sweetly.

"Uhh...not quite, but something like that I guess?" she replied hesitantly before she asked a question back, "Are you studying art too? I think I saw you drawing in class earlier."

"No, no, I'm just here with my...umm...," I trailed off awkwardly, realizing I couldn't say the real reason, and quickly pivoted to saying, "with my curiosity!"

"Well, if you like being creative, you should use some of your natural curiosity to check out one of our art classes. The School of Art here is really great and I'm sure you'd love it!"

"Really? That's so nice of you! You know...I always considered myself a bit of an artist," I said a little shyly.

Almost getting lost in the moment, I suddenly realized that Henry was still waiting for me outside and I quickly continued before she could respond, "It was nice meeting you, but I actually have to leave right now. I'm Zoe by the way."

"I'm April. It was nice talking to you and hopefully, I'll see you around."

"Me too, bye!" I said to her while I started to walk away.

She was so nice! I was still surprised by how nice humans seemed to be here. Part of me wondered if there was a permanent spell here to make everyone so pleasant, but after lots of investigation, there didn't appear to be. I don't remember humans ever being this nice before, and I wondered if this new land I found myself in was very different from anywhere I had been before.

Finally stepping back out into the hallway, I noticed it was packed with students. I looked around for my master but I couldn't find him. Craning my neck to further search, I finally found him on the other side of the hallway, a bit further down. However, he didn't seem to be alone. A girl was standing next to him and they appeared to be in deep conversation, but I didn't recognize her at all. She was staring up at him with a sweet smile on her face and I started to feel my heart speed up in my chest. Suddenly, I saw both of them erupt into laughter and watched as she placed a hand tenderly on his arm.

My eyes opened wide and my heart went from beating fast to absolutely pounding in my chest. A sharp anger exploded within me and I felt my body heat up dramatically. I squeezed my hands tightly into fists and I was shocked at how intense this feeling was. Why was my body reacting this way? It wasn't like this was the first time I saw a girl talking to my master.

Ever since I granted him his second wish and transformed his body, girls were constantly drawn to him. He was so cute and handsome that I couldn't blame them, but I never felt this way before. What was weird about this interaction was that Henry usually ignored most of the girls who tried to talk to him. I thought he was just naturally shy, but why was he acting so charming with this one? Unable to ignore my powerful human instincts, I started to march over.

Once I approached them, the girl's hand dropped away from his arm and I had to swallow deeply before I stammered out, "H-Hi, uhh...Henry. Who's this? A n-new friend?"

Why was I having problems talking all of a sudden? Both of them were looking at me, but I was only staring directly at this new girl. Holy shit, she was unbelievably attractive! Her black and red hair fell perfectly around her face and every single one of her features was flawless. She wasn't just traditionally attractive like April, she was practically perfect. Suspiciously too perfect.

Not only did she look immaculate, but she dressed in a way that demanded male attention. Girls in this generation tended to dress more revealing than I was used to, but her outfit was more brazen than most. Her tight shirt had a plunging neckline that showed so much cleavage that it would make most girls blush. Additionally, her pleated skirt was so short that even the slightest movement would reveal her ass. No wonder he was captivated by her.

"Oh, hey Zoe. This is Shauna," Henry said warmly.

She looked at me with a sort of wicked smile and said, "Hi, Zoe."

The way her lips moved and the sound of her voice made my eyes narrow slightly in anger, but still wanting to be polite, I responded, "Hi, nice to meet you, Shauna. I'm Zoe. So what were the two of you talking about?"

My eyes continued to stare at her while I heard my master say awkwardly, "She was just complimenting my fashion sense. According to her, most guys don't know how to dress that well."

"Is that so?" I said, startled at how sharp my tone sounded.

"Absolutely! There are a lot of cute guys in this school, but it's rare to find one who is so handsome and wears clothes that accentuate his muscular body," she said before she gave him a seductive look and then rested her hand against his powerful bicep.

The moment she touched his arm again, it was like something completely snapped in my mind. How...just...how fucking dare her! Unable to control my urges, I reached out my hand, grabbed her wrist, and forcibly pulled her hand off his body. She looked over at me with a hot flash of anger at first but then seemed to quickly calm herself down and looked at me with an arrogant smirk.

"Is there something wrong?" she said hotly.

I was about to respond when I suddenly felt a wave of heat emanating from her arm into my hand. This wasn't just any type of heat, this was incredibly intense heat. Way, way hotter than a human should ever get. Wait...I knew what this was. This was infernal, hellish heat! Bewildered, I looked deep into her eyes. They seemed normal at first, but once I used some of my magic, I saw a swirling fire within them. By the stars! A succubus! I couldn't believe it. Here? At this school? That must have been why I was so angry when I saw them earlier, right? That had to explain it. I must have subconsciously sensed it. Definitely.

"Oh...oh wow. I haven't encountered one of your kind in so long," I said, tightening my grip on her demonic arm.

She gave me a wary look and then tried to pull her arm out of my grasp. Failing to break free, she flashed a hostile look at me. She tried again, this time using her demonic powers and when she failed again to break free, her face turned to that of complete shock. That's right you succubus bitch, you might be powerful, but you were nowhere near as strong as me.

"Trying to steal yet another man's soul? Leave us and never talk to him again, succubus," I said in a nasty and bitter tone before releasing her arm and flung it back.

She rubbed the part of her arm that I grasped and shot me a look of such hot anger that I almost took a step back. After initially glaring at me, she glanced over at Henry, before she briskly walked away from us. Watching her as she retreated, I imagined that if I could see her demonic tail, I was confident that it would be hiding between her legs. Good riddance. I hated demons so, so much.

"Uhh...what just happened?" Henry said, pulling my attention back to him before he continued, "You didn't have to be so mean to her and call her a succubus and all that."

"But she is a succubus!" I said with strong inflection in my tone as my eyes finally looked into his for the first time since I walked over.

He looked at me skeptically before saying, "C'mon, let's just forget about it and get going."

Walking down the hallway together, I asked, "So, where are we off to now?"

"The Library. I have so much studying to do."

"Oh...great, the library," I said in a defeated tone.

It wasn't that I didn't like the library, it was a truly beautiful room! The problem was that I saw the room a little bit too often. My master often had to study and he seemed to like to do it here rather than almost...well, anywhere else. I could understand why; it was quiet and cozy. But it was so very boring. I loved staring at Henry's face, but even I couldn't stare at him for several hours without getting a bit restless.

Entering the library, we found a large empty table and we both placed our bags on top of it. He started to take out several books and I sighed softly, knowing that we were probably going to be here for a while. I longed to explore this world more with him, but I couldn't take him away from his studies. Besides, since he was my master, his needs always came before my own. Settling down into our chairs, it wasn't long until he was quickly scribbling some notes onto some paper and starting interacting with some crazy human invention called a 'laptop'.

Just before I was getting ready to count how many threads of hairs made up his eyebrow, I heard him say, "Oh...dammit, I thought I got that already."

"Huh? What's wrong?" I asked, eager to help out if I could.

"I was supposed to check out this one book but I guess I forgot. Actually, could you help get it for me? Here's the name of it," he said before handing me a piece of paper which I happily took from him.

"Of course--", I started to say but realized I was a little too excited and too loud before I substantially lowered my voice and continued, "I'll be right back."

Walking away from the table, I immediately went to the tall bookcases and started to look for it. Realizing I was in the completely wrong section, I turned a corner and glanced at Henry still sitting at the table. Only now, he wasn't alone. A cute girl was standing next to him and seemed to be asking him something while pointing at her own notebook. I felt my heart begin to speed up in my chest again, but I tried to ignore it. I had to remind myself that there was nothing wrong with him helping out a fellow university scholar and surely this one could not be yet another succubus.

Continuing to search for his book, I still wasn't able to find it even in this new section. I started to walk deeper into the library, but before I did, I took another look at his table and my eyes opened wide in shock. Not only was that original girl now sitting next to him, but two other girls were now standing around him and they all looked like they were asking him questions. My heart started to pound harder and I started to feel my skin burn a little. What was with these girls? Was my master the only guy in this place they could ask for help or something?

I really wanted to go back to the table and see what they were talking to him about, but I couldn't return empty-handed. Clenching the piece of paper tightly in my hand, I snapped my fingers and the book magically appeared in my hand. I know he said not to use magic inside the University, but this was most definitely an emergency. With the book now in hand, I quickly started to walk back. Turning a corner, his desk came into view and I stopped dead in my tracks while my mouth hung open slightly out of surprise.

The entire table was now filled with girls, each one cuter than the last. They all seemed like they were vying for his attention and he honestly looked a little stressed out trying to answer all of them. I felt one of my eyeballs twitch in response. I was unmistakably angry, but I wasn't sure why. Out of caution, I tried to sense if any of them were a succubus but they were all perfectly human. Why was I reacting so emotionally? Maybe I was upset because they were distracting him while he tried to study. Yeah, that had to be it.

Walking briskly over to his table, I heard a near-constant commotion of talking and giggling, but all in hushed tones, of course. Once I was standing right over his shoulder, I tapped him until he turned around and looked at me. His eyes lit up the moment he saw me and I couldn't help but smile widely at him. All of the other girls fell quiet and I could feel them all staring at me. Don't worry master, I'm here to help!

"Hi Henry, weren't we supposed to meet here and work on our project together? Remember? Just the two of us?" I said while flashing him a knowing look.

"Oh...oh yeah! Yes. Sorry. Let's find somewhere quiet to work on it. Sorry everyone, I wish I could help out more," he said innocently to the rest of the girls.

They all replied sweetly and told him in various different ways that they understood, but I could feel each one of them glaring at me at the same time. Flatly ignoring them, I grabbed my bag and waited until he gathered all of his belongings before we walked away. My heart was still beating hard in my chest, but now that I was alone with him again I could feel myself becoming calmer and calmer.

"Thanks for getting me out of there. I had no idea how I was going to get all my studying done if I was helping them all out," he said sincerely.

Knowing human men, I knew that the majority of them would be very upset to leave a table full of beautiful girls. However, Henry truly seemed different. He didn't seem to care about them at all and it was easy to see how genuine he was being. If we didn't have such a physical relationship, I would have wondered if he liked girls at all, but I knew how ravenous he was.

"Of course, master," I whispered to him before continuing, "I'm here to help, wish or not!"

Walking up a flight of stairs, we reached the second level, which was much less busy than the first. We soon found a small table in an isolated corner of the library. Dropping his bag on the table, we both sat down and he once again took out all of his books along with the laptop. He looked like he was ready to dive right back into studying, but he instead sighed and rubbed his eyes heavily. I looked on in concern, but I wasn't sure how else I could help him.

"I have no idea how I'm going to get all my studying done. I guess I can't wish for you to pause time or something, can I?" he asked me optimistically.

"Unfortunately master...time is something that even djinn like me can't manipulate or control," I replied sadly.

"That's ok, I didn't really thi--"

"But..."

"But? There's a but?" Henry asked me excitedly.

"I can't slow down time, but...I can speed you up and make you move super quickly. That should let you study even faster!" I said proudly, happy that I thought of the idea.

"Really? That sounds...kind of cool actually," he said before he stood up and continued, "Ok, I guess it's time for my next wish. Zoe, I wish for you to make me super fast," he said energetically.

Standing up too, I nodded to him and said, "Your wish is my command!"

Snapping my fingers, magical energies began to swirl around my master. Within a moment, all of his movements became blurred and he seemed startled by his newly bestowed power. He started to move, but he was so fast that I could barely make out his movements. He disappeared and reappeared almost in an instant and I wondered if he just did a quick lap around the library. Thankfully this area was so isolated, otherwise, I would be worried about some human fainting at the sight. He soon settled back down into his chair and book pages started to fly by like he was quickly scrolling through it. Happy that he appeared pleased with his wish, I settled back down into my chair as well.

I continued to watch him and I was fascinated by how quickly he moved. I never granted someone speed like this before, so this was a first for me to watch as well. Several thick books were piled onto one side of him and slowly but surely, the books were flipped through and were soon placed on the other side. His pen was moving so fast that it barely looked like it was moving and when his fingers touched the laptop, it let out a flurry of sounds. The wish was really working out and I felt so proud that I was able to help him.