Zach was a older than Janie or Nate, being a fifth year junior at college was less fun than he had thought it would be. He had slipped into the auditorium's storage closet next to the prop room to jack off. He hadn't expected that anyone would be there. He peered through the crack in the door as the rabbit that was pulled out of the hat became human, and Nate turned into a dog. After they left, he jacked of again. He had always had fantasies of transforming people into animals. He cleaned himself out, and decided to head to Starbucks in a couple hours. He knew Nate had a part-time gig there as a barista, and wanted to see how he'd react when Zach ordered, "I'd like a In Canis Corpore Transmuto."
In the meantime, Zach decided to go rabbit hunting. He walked over toward the library across the quad scanning for Janie, Nate and Xander. The top hat was visible going into the Physics Building, so Zach changed course. He stopped to peek in the door windows of each room until he spotted a familiar top hat.
PARTICLE PHYSICS, read the sign next to the door. Cautiously, Zach tried the knob, he opened the door a crack and listened.
"Alright, Malcolm, you thought you got rid of me with the Reality Altering Generator, didn't you? Well, I'm back," said Xander.
"I liked you better with longer ears," said the young man tinkering over some equipment with a screwdriver. He added, "I take it you're still a wish-granting genie, Xan?"
Xander's face looked uncertain for the first time, what was Malcolm up to?
"What of it?"
"Well, I've got this tiny thermos of liquid nitrogen here, and I bet you cannot shrink small enough to fit in there," he said. He watched Xander's face contort as he resisted the urge to demonstrate his powers. How could a mortal think that a genie couldn't fit in there? He knew it was a trap. Xander bit his lip. Malcolm grinned, "You know, Xan, I wish you'd show me that you could fit in that bottle."
It was too much, Xander said, "Alright!"
A cloud of blue smoke replaced where Xander had been standing and flowed into the smoking open thermos of liquid nitrogen. As soon as all the blue smoke was inside, Malcolm screwed the lid on securely. He shook his head, and laughed, "Too predictable. Well, Xan, I'm glad I had this liquid nitrogen handy, now you just chill, while I decide what to do with you. You know you'll have to grant a wish to whoever releases you. Can you guess what I'll wish for, Xander?"
Malcolm's cell phone rang, and he answered, "Hi Professor, cool, I'm in the running for this year's Nobel Prize, and if I win I'd be the youngest Physics recipient? Grea- oh, yeah, I guess I can come over now for some photos."
He wrote on the thermos. "PROPERTY OF MALCOLM STILES, DO NOT OPEN, EXPERIMENT XAN2", and locked it in a cupboard.
Zach tore off a bit of duck tape from the roll he always carried in his pocket. He slipped it into the doorjamb to block the catch opening for the lock. Then he darted around the corner.
Malcolm dutifully turned the key to lock the door, but didn't pull on the handle when he left. Zach watched him disappear from sight, then he entered the Particle Physics lab, and headed to the locked cabinet. It took all of two seconds for Zach to jimmy the lock and retrieve the thermos. He shook it. It made a clinking sound.
"You in there, Xander? Hm? Hope I didn't break you? Guess liquid nitrogen probably even freezes genies. Well, I better get out of here before your buddy gets back."
Using a bottle of rubbing alcohol, Zach washed off the writing on the thermos. Then he shoved it in one of his cargo pants pockets. Closed the cabinet, jimmied it locked again. Then he exited, after removing the duck tape.