Myra drew closer to Twist, staring around her in grim fascination at the quiet forms. They and Jonas followed Jeffery to one of the sectioned-off spaces, where they found Idris in the same exact state as the other men. He was lying on a divan, his head cradled in the crook of one arm, as his lidded, fully golden eyes stared as if blindly at the flickering light of the candle in the lantern on the small table before him. His snow-white skin looked ghostly in the low light, under the intricate, black, tattooed lines that covered his face, bare scalp, neck, and hands.
His clothes—which matched the local style in a long, robe-like habit of white and an unraveled indigo turban that lay around him on the divan and looped his neck gently—looked rumpled and unkempt, as if he truly hadn’t risen for days. His face and head also seemed to bear a dark stain of the same deep blue of his unraveled turban, which stood out brightly on his white skin. Jeffery took the long silver pipe from Idris’s grasp and then patted at his hand gently, looking into the djinn’s unseeing eyes.
“Idris?” Jeffery asked softly in the quiet space. “Can you hear me? I’ve found our friends.”
Idris didn’t respond at all, as if he were deeply asleep. Jeffery looked up to Jonas worriedly.
“Let’s get him out of here, to start with,” Jonas said, gesturing for the baboon to move away.
Jeffery stepped aside without contest. Jonas reached down to pull the djinn’s arm up around his own shoulders, lifting him from the divan. Twist wished he could help in this endeavor, as Jonas seemed to struggle with Idris’s tall, solidly built, and clearly heavy form, but Twist’s Sight prevented him from doing so. One touch from Idris was all it would take to fill his mind with all the things that were broken in the djinn. Considering the look of him now, Twist shrank from the idea, stepping away unconsciously.
Myra moved to help Jonas instead, supporting Idris’s other arm as best she could on her slight clockwork shoulders. Jeffery and Twist followed after Jonas and Myra as they carried Idris to the door. They dragged him into a plaza that was very nearby and put him down against the short stone wall around the fountain that stood in the center, his head leaning back toward the water and his form lying haphazardly on the ground.
Idris made a tone and moved himself limply, his golden eyes closing tightly against the brighter electric lights in the stone ceiling above. Jonas filled his cupped hands with the water of the fountain and tossed it sharply at Idris’s face. The djinn sputtered and moaned again, raising a hand but saying nothing coherent.
“Come on, Idris,” Jonas said with a sigh. “I know you can snap out of it any time you like.”
“He can?” Jeffery asked, astonished.
“You said it yourself,” Jonas answered with a sigh, crossing his arms. “He’s not human. He could sober himself in an instant, if he wanted to.”
Myra knelt down beside Idris with a determined look on her face. She took his head in her hands and peered into his half-closed eyes intently. “Idris?” she began, her voice soft but her tone firm. “It’s me, Myra.”
Idris seemed to smile slightly, as if only distantly understanding her.
Myra smiled back to him. “Idris, I wish your head was clear.”
Idris’s fully golden eyes blinked suddenly and then opened wide, looking back to her. Then he let out a groan and covered his face in his hands, shaking off her grasp. “Oh hell…” he muttered miserably. “Why did I grant that?”
“Nice work, Myra,” Jonas said, smiling to her as she stood up beside Twist with a pleased look on her face.
“Jonas?” Idris asked, letting his hands fall away as he scowled up at him and then glanced over the others. “Myra? Twist? Where the hell did you three come from?”
“We’re passing through,” Jonas said with a shrug. “What exactly do you think you’re doing?” he asked back, to Idris’s instant sneer. “You know you could get captured, with a head all full of opium.”
“All right, Dad,” Idris grumbled, pushing himself to sit up on the edge of the fountain. He frowned at his hands, which had gone blue after rubbing at his dampened face. He turned to look at his reflection in the surface of the pool of the fountain and gave a sigh.
“Well,” Jeffery began hopefully, patting at Idris’s knee. “I’m very glad that you’re yourself, once again.”
Idris looked back at Jeffery’s thin smile with a sober shade to his expression. “What day is it, Jeffery?” he asked softly.
“Wednesday,” Jeffery answered, his smile straining to remain on his face.
Idris gave another sigh and shook his head. “Damn it…” he muttered to himself, before looking back to the monkey sadly. “I didn’t mean to stay so long. I’m sorry, Jeffery.”
“Oh, now, there’s no need for that,” Jeffery responded quickly, looking away.
“No, there is,” Idris countered, placing a hand on the baboon’s shoulder and drawing his attention again. “I shouldn’t leave you alone like that. I told you I wouldn’t do it again, after Hong Kong. I wasn’t thinking. I am sorry.”
Jeffery’s smile turned genuine as he listened to Idris, and he gave a nod. “It’s quite all right, my friend,” he said, finally sounding like he meant it. “Thank you for saying so.”
Idris smiled back to him and looked up to Twist and the others again. “Good grief, I must look a mess,” he said with a light laugh, looking over himself.
As he stood up, his image seemed to ripple like the surface of a pond, changing drastically in the blink of an eye before it solidified once again. He still wore the same sort of clothing as he had, but his robes now looked as crisp and white as his skin, and his turban was tied neatly in place atop his head, with only a small part of it hanging loosely around his neck, revealing a now clean, white, black-tattooed face.
“As much as I would have liked to stay,” he said, tucking the unwrapped end of his turban up to loosely cover his nose and mouth, mimicking the local style, “I feel I should thank you for bringing me to my senses.”
“I’m just glad it was so easy,” Myra mentioned, while Twist only smiled.
“Oh, you are a trickster,” Idris said to Myra, his golden eyes clearly showing the smile that was hidden beneath the indigo swath over his face. “I should be careful of you and your crafty wishes.”
“I thought you liked my wishes,” Myra said, as innocent as a kitten in an empty canary cage. “I wished for Jeffery, didn’t I?”
“Yes, and thank you for that,” Jeffery said instantly.
Idris laughed lightly and shook his head. “That you did,” he conceded to Myra. “But you know, I don’t think I have ever failed to grant you a wish, sweet little princess,” he said, his tone turning into sateen as he drifted closer. “I fear I can’t refuse you anything. Remind me again why you won’t let me take you away to the moon, or Atlantis, or wherever in the world you would like.”
Myra smiled back to him and stepped closer to Twist, taking his hand as her pride spilled over his Sight like a warm wave. “I shan’t go anywhere without my fiancé. Not even the moon.”
Twist was utterly helpless to hold back his smile at hearing her speak with such pride and devotion. Idris’s eyes took on a look of amazement as he stared at Twist, while Jeffery’s jaw dropped open slightly in shock.
“Fiancé?” Idris echoed. “Do you mean to tell me that you plan to marry this…this…” He faltered, waving his hand at Twist in dismay.
Myra’s expression turned colder. “This daring, honorable, and devilishly handsome adventurer? Yes. I rather do,” she said, holding up her left hand to show Idris the diamond ring.
Twist felt his face flush with heat at such compliments and glanced away while Idris shook his head in disbelief. Jonas chuckled to himself, not meeting Twist’s eyes when he shot him a glare. Jeffery’s face had taken on a wide smile, and he stepped closer to them.
“Well, this is a fine thing,” he declared with a nod. “My congratulations to you both!”
Myra and Twist thanked him, and Idris gave a s
igh.
“Well, I suppose I should congratulate you as well,” Idris declared, sounding more resigned to the news than happy about it. He shook his head again, looking at Twist. “And here I thought she was the trickster. You, sir, are clearly far more devious than I gave you credit for, to so thoroughly entrap such a charming and beautiful bride.”
“Oh, it wasn’t I who did the trapping at all,” Twist countered quickly, fearful of the flash of disdain that he felt in Myra’s touch at the accusation. He smiled back at her surprised confusion. “And I’ve never been happier than the day I realized that I’d been captured by you, my dear.”
Myra smiled back at him warmly, sending a wave of her delight through his Sight. Jeffery chuckled quietly, watching them fondly, while Jonas rolled his eyes.
Idris looked at Twist suspiciously. “Perhaps I should be more careful of you, Twist.”
Twist smiled back at him innocently. “I’m sure I don’t know what you mean,” he said, hardly able to contain his own pride and delight, aided as it was by Myra’s mirrored emotions wafting playfully about in his mind.
As the morning moved along, the tarp that covered the airship cavern opening continued to pull violently at its restraints. The storm clearly wasn’t planing to stop anytime soon. After having been roused from the opium den, Idris insisted on finding breakfast. Although they had already eaten, Twist, Myra, and Jonas went along with Idris and Jeffery to a cafe. Twist and Jonas sipped at tiny cups of strong coffee while Idris and Jeffery ordered themselves something to eat.
Since it had been so long since they had seen each other, they all found that they had quite a lot to say about their recent travels. Twist marveled at the fantastic adventures that Jeffery and Idris related to them—the wish of a young woman took them to the Moon where she fell in love with one of the mysterious men who lived there; they traveled to Japan for the hot springs only to wind up meeting Jeffery's uneducated kinsmen; Jeffery was once captured by poachers in the Amazon before he and Idris found escape through a lost city hidden in the jungle—while they in turn listened with rapt attention to Myra’s and Jonas’s tales of dragons, vampires, and kitsunes.
“Well, I must say,” Idris mentioned with a sigh, “I underestimated you three terribly. You’re frightfully entertaining.”
“And you haven’t met our friendly circus clown,” Twist mentioned.
“Oh yes, she does sound quite fascinating,” Jeffery said with a smile. “I think I would like to meet a clown. I do like circus folk. Did we already tell you about the ice circus Idris took me to in Norway?”
Myra was instantly enthralled as Jeffery began to relate the tale, while Twist and Jonas listened with silent and languid fascination. Before long, Twist noticed that the electric lights over the underground city had all been switched on to full brightness, over a thicker population.
“The day is getting on nicely,” Twist mentioned, having checked his watch to find midday swiftly approaching.
Twist noticed Myra open Skye’s watch to peer at the time curiously. Twist silently wondered if Myra actually knew how to read the time on a clock face but decided to ask another time. “Should we go find our shipmates and see how they are all getting on?” he asked the others.
“Why not?” Jonas responded with a shrug.
Jeffery muttered something softly to Idris, who closed an empty hand and then opened it to reveal a small stack of gold coins suddenly on his snowy-white palm. Idris placed the gold on the table as they all got up to leave. Jonas shook his head as they began to stroll away from the cafe together.
“Blimey,” Jonas began conspicuously, looking toward Idris, “I wish I could pull gold out of thin air like that.”
Idris smirked at him knowingly. “Nice try, pirate.”
Jonas cursed, looking cross. “What’s wrong with that wish?”
“It’s unimaginative,” Idris said while he offered a hand to Jeffery, who took it and climbed easily up to sit atop Idris’s shoulder. “If you want me to grant a wish for you, then come up with something original.”
Jonas grumbled to himself but didn’t go for a second attempt.
Myra put on a thoughtful face and fell silent for a moment as they continued to walk. “Idris?” she asked suddenly, drawing his attention. “I wish that I always had exact change in my purse, for anything I wanted to buy.”
Idris stopped, stilling them all, as he looked at her in surprise. “Exact change? You mean, not a predetermined sum?”
“Oh, no,” Myra said, shaking her head. “That could be rather heavy, I imagine, and it would someday run out. I want to have just enough each time I open my purse, and no more.”
Idris smiled to her and glanced at Jonas. “You see? Now that is a new one.”
“You just like her better than me,” Jonas grumbled.
“True,” Idris answered with a nod.
He then gestured for Myra to step closer and asked her to hold out her hands. Myra complied, looking quite pleased. Idris reached up his own open sleeve and withdrew a small pink silk purse—with a delicate design of colorful birds embroidered on its surface and accented with gold—that had a golden clasp on the top of it and a thin string of gold attached to the clasp, by which it could clearly hang. He placed the purse in Myra’s hands with a proud smile.
“There you are, my dear,” he said sweetly to her. “You may consider it a wedding present, if you like.”
Myra smiled up to him brilliantly and put one arm around his neck to give him a swift hug as she thanked him. Idris smiled back at her, clearly happy to accept her embrace, while Jeffery kept his balance on Idris’s shoulder with expert ease.
“Can I see that?” Jonas asked, peering at the purse Myra clutched in her hand.
“It’s not for you,” Idris grumbled.
“I just want to look at it,” Jonas sighed.
“Here, I don’t mind,” Myra said with a light laugh, and handed it to Jonas.
Jonas opened the purse and confirmed Twist’s own suspicion that the purse was indeed empty, the pink silk inside utterly bare. Jonas glanced toward Idris suspiciously, though not quite catching his eyes.
“You’re not going to buy anything right now,” Idris explained easily. “I made it to only contain the money she needs,” he added, smiling to Myra.
Myra nodded back to him, clearly not at all surprised to find the purse empty at the moment.
Intrigued by the concept and curious to test it out, Twist glanced up and down the street around them until he found a suitable subject for an experiment. Having found one, he asked Jonas for the purse. Jonas handed it to him, still wearing a skeptical expression. Twist then hurried away to a nearby merchant, while the others follow behind him curiously.
Twist stopped before a tiny flower seller’s shop—really just an alcove at the corner of a building, which was full to bursting with fresh blooms of all sorts—and asked the elderly woman who sat on a simple stool among her flowers for a single pink rose. The woman smiled to him politely and plucked a dainty flower from a bunch beside her, casually saying something in a language Twist couldn’t follow. He assumed by her tone, however, that she had simply named a price for the rose.
Twist looked down to the closed purse in his hand and was somewhat surprised to feel a lump inside of it now. He hadn’t noticed anything happen while he’d held it, even with his Sight. It seemed to him to be the same as any ordinary fabric purse. Even so, there was clearly something inside it now. He opened it and found a single coin. He tipped the coin out onto his hand, emptying the purse once again. Seeing the coin, the woman smiled and nodded, handing Twist the rose. Twist smiled back and gave her the coin. He turned around to find his companions close behind him.
“Holy hell, it works,” Jonas said, astonished.
“It certainly seems to,” Twist said. He smiled warmly to Myra and handed her the rose with a shallow but showy bow.
Myra let out a delighted tone as she took the flower and sniffed at it with a deeply pleased smile.
“Oh, how lovely! Thank you, darling,” she said, taking his arm and spilling sunny joy into his Sight.
Idris chuckled and shook his head, looking at the pair of them. “He could suddenly buy anything in the world, and he buys her a flower.”
“How charming,” Jeffery said, looking pleased.
“Yeah, real sweet…” Jonas said, his eyes aflame with ambition as he looked at the purse Twist still held.
“I didn’t make it for you,” Idris snapped at him again, calling a glare from Jonas.
Twist eyed Jonas carefully and gave the purse back to Myra. Myra laughed at the two of them, both staring at each other suspiciously, and took the purse back from Twist. She then attached it to the silver chain that hung around her hips like a sash, and let the purse hang as if forgotten under the flowing folds of her purple sari.
“Thank you ever so much, Idris,” she said. “I’m sure this gift will come in very handy.”
“Thank you for coming up with such an interesting wish,” Idris responded.
Jonas gave a huff and crossed his arms. Twist tried not to chuckle at him.
After roaming through the city for a while, Twist and his companions eventually found the gypsies preforming for tips once again, beside a fountain in the center of an open plaza. This time, Harman played a concertina and stamped his foot in time, while Luca did acrobatic tricks. Myra wanted to watch rather than disturb them, so Twist, Jonas, Idris, and Jeffery all sat with her on one of the long benches that surrounded the plaza. Myra clapped in time to the music, smiling throughout, along with the light crowd of passersby that had gathered to watch as well. When Harman changed the song, and Luca took to dancing, Twist was struck with inspiration.
“Would you like to dance with Luca?” Twist asked her softly. “I’m sure he wouldn’t mind.”
“Oh!” Myra said brightly. “Do you really think I could?”
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