I was amused Saturday when Amazon noted The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine was No. 1 in Alchemy. Well, that was unexpected. But turning metal into gold is one of the talents of the magical beings I created for this series for middle grade readers.

Jute and Fina Jinn can fly, be invisible, shrink, and cast spells. But sometimes the best magic they do is to help humans change for the better. That’s what happens when they attend school in a small town in The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine.

In the first, The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries, the twins and their parents perform a magic act in a traveling carnival after escaping from their power-hungry master. In that book, Jute and Fina help a new friend, Jonathan, overcome his shyness.

In The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine, their parents, Elwin and Mira, move to a small town where hopefully they will not be discovered. They live in an apple orchard and the twins attend fifth grade in a local school. Elwin and Mira also feel it’s a good way for their children to learn more about humans although they are supposed to keep their magic hidden. (Good luck with that.)

One of their lessons about humans is dealing with a boy named Brian Morgan, a bully who picks on his classmates. He makes fun of the twins because they look and dress differently. He calls them names like Hoot and Greener, Cute and Cleaner,  and Toot and Weiner.

Here’s a scene from the first chapter, when at recess Brian makes fun of the clothes Jute and Fina wear.

Fina jabbed a finger against the boy’s chest so hard and fast he hopped backward.

“Be careful or I will put a spell on you,” she said.

Brian’s eyes locked on Fina’s.“Go ahead and try, Fina. I dare you.”

“Oh, yeah?” she said. “How would you like it if I turned you into a little pink pig? Or a big, hairy bug?”

Fina could make either of those two spells happen. She was thinking about which one would be better when Jute tapped her shoulder.

“No, Fina,” he whispered. “Don’t do it.”

Fina nodded. If she changed Brian into a pig or a bug, she wouldn’t be able to turn him back into a boy. Humans can’t handle that kind of change. Neither can animals. Fina found that out after she shrunk a goat to only a few inches. She thought she was saving the animal from an unhappy life. Fina planned to make the goat full-sized when she found a good home, but her mother told her it was impossible. Resa the goat would be tiny forever. Fina learned a lesson although she loved the goat that was now her pet.

Fina made a low laugh.

“Well, Brian, I guess I will let you go for now. Besides, recess is over.”

Jute and Fina do get into trouble when they use a magic spell to stick Brian to his seat and the floor. No matter what he tries he can’t get himself free. Eventually they let him go. Their teacher suspects they are responsible although he can’t figure out how. Because jinn can’t lie, they admit to doing it. Fina tells him, “We used magic.” That earns them a visit to the principal’s office.

Then there is the scene in which they are waiting outside the principal’s office when their class walks past them to the library.

Brian was in back of the line. He mouthed the words, “Crook and Steamer.”

Fina stuck out her tongue, but Jute had a better idea. He made a spider appear on the back of the boy’s shirt. The spider was as large as a stone good for throwing. It wasn’t poisonous, and it wouldn’t bite. But the spider would give the boy a scare. Jute watched Brian follow the others to the library. So far, the boy hadn’t noticed, but Fina did. She covered her mouth as she squealed.

“Oh, Jute, good one,” she whispered.

“I wonder when Brian will see the spider,” Jute whispered back.

“I think we’ll hear all about it, don’t you?” Fina said.

“Uh-huh.”

But after their parents are called to the school, they insist the twins find another way to help Brian be a better human than the ways they were using. They succeed, but I will let readers find that out for themselves.

By the way, Brian never knows the family’s true identities as jinn or genies. But there are two humans who do — Alice, who owns the orchard where the family lives, and Winston Moody, who has a farm next door and cleans their school —  naturally with good reason. More about them soon.

Here are the links to The Twin Jinn at Happy Jack’s Carnival of Mysteries and The Twin Jinn and the Alchemy Machine.