“Cursed,” I echoed. “If memory serves, that’s the legend I’ve heard. You were cursed, given your powers and forced to grant three wishes, to live your life a prisoner of the bottle, all for doing something to someone also of great power.”
He nodded. “It is as good a story as any, Paul. But it is only a story, and one we do not know the beginning or ending of, only middle. Always middle.”
I thought to grab his hand. I thought the better of it. Though what harm could anybody do to us? Or at least to him? Then again, someone clearly had. He said he was all-powerful, but he wasn’t, not really.
“Qadar,” I said. “Perhaps it was my fate to help you and not yours to help me.” I placed my finger beneath his chin and lifted his face my way. “We’re here, Genie. Let’s at least ask around, see if th
