The Epic Crush of Genie Lo (The Epic Crush of Genie Lo 1)

“Witnesses are calling it a CGI marketing stunt, most likely for an unannounced reboot of Attack of the 50 Foot Woman,” the news anchor said. “Which begs the important question—is Hollywood out of ideas?”

I groaned into my palms. I would have to burn that outfit and pray Yunie didn’t have my wardrobe catalogued in her head. I didn’t want her suddenly remembering the magical crap she’d been exposed to.

Not before I could tell her about it.

I had decided. Yunie was going learn everything that had happened to me regarding gods and demons, down to the last tooth and claw, and she was going to hear it from me, face-to-face. Quentin’s long-lasting forgetfulness spell had given me the chance to make a proper confession to my friend, and I wasn’t going to waste it.

There was a tapping at my window. I ignored it. Quentin could let himself in.

“The Colossus of the Headlands,” he said. “You have so many likes.”

“You’re going to have to cast another spell on my mother. Being online famous is her worst nightmare for me. More so than being eaten by demons.”

“How’s your arm?” he asked. “No one else thinks you have a new tattoo?”

I raised my wrist. “I haven’t taken off this sweatband in three days,” I said. “I’m going to be known as Sweatband Girl. You’ve cursed me to that existence. I hope you’re happy.”

I heard Quentin sit on my bed, the springs creaking up and down. The pages of a book riffled open. He’d probably helped himself to the contents of my shelves.

“What are you going to do now?” I asked.

“What do you mean?”

“You cleaned up the worst of the demonic incursion. You beat your oldest enemy. There’s no reason for you to stick around.”

“Of course there’s a reason. The yaoguai could always go back on their promise to stay out of trouble. New ones might arrive. I’ll have to remain on Earth to keep watch over the whole situation.”

I’d been biting my lip the entire time in anticipation of his response. But he said he was staying. I could stop chewing on myself now.

“I’ll flesh out my background,” he said. “Set up clones for my parents on a long-term basis. I sort of miss having them around. Even if they were overly strict.”

“Don’t change their personalities,” I said. “I like your parents. In fact, I have them penciled in for dinner with my mom next week.”

“Sure,” Quentin said. “What about you, though? What are your plans now that Heaven and Hell are out of your hair?”

“It’s back to the grind. I’ll be a junior soon. Application season is going to start for real.”

“Still aiming for the promised land, huh?”

“I’ve got no reason not to. I don’t care what Anna said. I’m gunning for every top-tier school out there. If they want to say no to me, I’ll make them go through the effort.”

“Bash on the gates and see what happens,” Quentin concurred. “I can’t argue with that logic.”

“And in the meantime, I’m hitting the programming books. I’ll learn what I can on my own, and Rutsuo offered to mentor me for the rest. My goal is to make my own app by the end of the year.”

“I thought you weren’t into computers.”

“I’ve recently learned that what I am into is having skills,” I said. “Skills that no one can deny or take away from me. People can always say I don’t look impressive enough, but they can’t argue over how strong I am once I punch them in the face.”

Quentin chuckled.

“With an app,” I corrected. “Once I metaphorically punch them in the face with a really slick, well-made app.”

“You should be careful,” Quentin said. “If you go too far down that route, you could end up making a life in the Bay Area.”

I let the statement hang as I went back to my notes. Sometimes you just had to accept that you might never change as much as you want to.

Quentin smiled, flipped a page, and began reading.