Gisella Horvath rolled along the highway as the surrounding trees filtered the evening sun. She was fortunate that the decent of light was behind her. Only on the occasion when the road twisted and turned, the sun would manage an animated flicker pelting her face. Gisella despised driving during this portion of day. Her eyes were in synch with her gift of sensitivity and bright lights as such, numbed her clairvoyant abilities.

This gypsy was on a pilgrimage of enlightenment. On the front seat next to her in the dilapidated Ford Granada, a neat stack of newspapers was being held down by a large chunk of crystal onyx that she picked up while on vacation at Mammoth Cave. The crystal was heavy enough that only the corners of the pages flapped in the wind that was spilling into the automobile from the open windows.

A series of photographs were posted in the lifestyle section of the local paper catching Gisella's attention. Something compelled her to collect the issues as the story unfolded each week. According to the report, a beachcomber was suspected to have mixed water, sand and creativity to compose remarkable sculptures during the cover of night at Three Corners.

In recent weeks, the unnamed artist shifted the medium for the creations from sand to crystal. This sparked even further curiosity of Gisella since crystal was of great value to a gypsy.

Gisella could not shake the feeling that there was more to the story then a talented artist looking to be discovered. She somehow sensed this was related to a young woman's necklace, a young woman who was unaware of the magnificent genie hiding within the encasement.

Gisella glanced in the rearview mirror at her red hair flying about. As she neared her fortieth year, she relied on store bought dye to keep her hair from showing the premature gray that she was forced to deal with since her twentieth birthday.

As she continued on her mission, her mind traveled back to the afternoon when the troubled woman stood outside the door of her shop, gazing with curiosity through the draperies into the hidden storefront.

Gisella had inherited the strip mall from her father. Rent from the surrounding businesses kept her financially above ground, although money had never mattered much to the clairvoyant. She lived a simple life, drove an old car, lived in a studio apartment cluttered with treasures she acquired as remembrances of the precious moments throughout her existence.

Gisella often felt the "gift" was a fine balance between a blessing and curse...and there were moments she sensed the connection to the outer realm teetered between goodness and evil. It was as if two beings were peering over her shoulders. Goodness holding claim to the left and the shadowed force was claiming the right. Gisella spent a great portion of her life attempting to find peace with this extra vision she was privileged to utilize.

Growing up as a fortuneteller was not an easy task. Even as a youngster she would always see more than she bargained for. As she bumped into strangers, images clouded her mind. Without choice, past, present and future became displayed as if souls were suddenly stripped naked and projected on a movie screen with her being held as the captive audience.

Going to school was most difficult, since something as simple as passing papers forward gave her insight into the lives of those around her. With grasping a cluster of objects that others had touched, the images became garbled and confused, often times rendering Gisella in a dazed state of overload.

Gisella predicted the week Tammy sitting three seats behind would loose her mother in a freak accident involving a train. Gisella learned this by borrowing a generic number two pencil and taking hold of the object.

By shaking hands in church, she knew that old man Talboon was about to win the lottery and retire in Florida.

Mid-semester during her sophomore year in high school, Gisella opted to quit. The everyday spent among a crowd of people was too overwhelming for someone with a third eye. It was so draining that she needed every minute after school to recuperate. Needless to say, her grades were barely treading above failure since she often nodded off during her attempts at completing homework.

Gisella distanced herself and after she quit school, her father offered her the corner storefront, with the only entrance assessable near the alley. The location was perfect since it limited the amount of people passing through and she theorized that only those who truly needed her service would happen upon the shop.

Her father never understood why Gisella refused to charge money for her vision. "With such a talent, you could make a killing!" He explained over dinner one evening.

"I don't believe in taking money for something that I can see and no one else can." She responded. "Burden is heavy on most and if I can manage to lift some of the clutter from the lives of others, that is payment enough."

"You're being foolish." Her father warned. "How do you expect to survive without money?"

Gisella knew the future… she had known it since she was four years old. The reality that she understood was how her father didn't have a long future. Her destiny was to inherit the strip mall and the surrounding farmland that had been in the family for five generations and she didn't have the heart to tell him. She never felt it was her place to announce when fate was leading a person to the other side.

A bout with pneumonia took him just as she knew it would. She did not manage tears at his funeral and this was not because of a deficit of love, but simply because she had come to terms with his death and had prepared herself long before it had actually happened. Since her mother had died during childbirth, this had left her on her own.

The necklace was not the first time Gisella realized that genies existed. Her Aunt Helena told a tale of how a woman appeared to her and offered a wish just after she realized her son Richard was missing in action during battle in Vietnam.

Helena Rolands brought the chunks of glass into the storefront and presented them as if they were precious diamonds. They were rolled in a silk cloth and she placed the slivers of the bottle on the table before Gisella.

"What do you make of this?" Helena asked, knowing her young niece to have the gift of vision.

Gisella gently placed her fingers about the broken encasement that carried medicine many years ago. The sensation was breathtaking, the enlightenment amazing.

Everything she digested from that moment was as clear as a person trying on a new eyeglass prescription after struggling with a lifelong impairment. Gisella became privy to a secret society of the spirit world. Genies, hundreds...thousands of genies, armed with a single wish and a simple desire to help humans in need.

Gisella sensed the woman who resided in that particular bottle was unlike all others. She was raised in privilege, she was inexperienced in the trade of giving and yet, there was something remarkable about her. Elizabeth Fenmore stood out for a variety of reasons. The genie appeared to be innovative, intuitive, and although unaware while inhabiting the medicine bottle, there was an intense connection to a man named Wright. Gisella could sense the genie Elizabeth was not yet in tune with her human experiences and how this Wright fellow was stowed away within the history of her human heart. This particular man was her one true love and this connection to him made her power unstoppable. Gisella also knew Elizabeth was destined to realize these feelings, allowing her great advantages in the future as a wish giver.

"I don't understand." Gisella whispered to her Aunt Helena. After Helena explained the plight of Richard and the wish from the woman in the bottle she named Jeanne, Gisella became determined to learn more about the secret world of the genies.

It wasn't until Jade entered her storefront with the enchanted necklace that she caught a second glimpse into the secret society of wish givers.

Gisella soon realized being a wish-giver wasn't an easy existence. There was an evil force headed by Lucas and a team of Demons. They were out to destroy anything and everything good in both the human world and the great beyond. It became apparent that Lucas was dreaded and with obvious reason.

The genie within the necklace, Robert, lost his beloved to the evil realm. This enlightenment to the dark realm brought flickers of the unimaginable, disturbing visions of suffering and the knowledge of an entire collection of spent genies displayed within a huge cellar of wine bottles. It was perplexing since Gisella was not only sensing the knowledge of Robert, but somehow tuned into the history embedded in his surrounding realm.

Gisella did not let on what she was experiencing, as she never did. She believed in maintaining a sense of professionalism. Having this great skill was often a challenge, but most importantly, knowing what to reveal and what to keep to herself made her an admired gypsy.

Gisella would have benefited by confiscating the necklace, she even sensed that it was somehow connected directly to the bottle that her Aunt had presented on that fateful afternoon. The right thing to do however, was explain the presence of the genie and allow the troubled woman, Jade, her allotted wish...and Gisella did just that.

As Gisella neared the main parking lot at Three Corners, a sudden chill fell across her skin. Uncertain what she was about to face, she gazed about the surrounding beach.

Droves of people, who had enjoyed their day at the lake, trickled into the parking lot. Cars trailed away, the drivers exhausted after a day of swimming at the beach.

While the adventure was over for most, it was just beginning for Gisella. She took hold of the chunk of crystal and exited the car. Just outside the vehicle, images poured forth from all directions. The gypsy prepared herself to realize the great secrets of the genie world, as they were certain to be presented to her along the magnificent shores of Three Corners. With her third eye open, she braced herself for the storm of wisdom.