“Please,” she mouthed.
I ignored the crippling pain that tore through me and—sticking to my scheme—made a set of keys appear in her hand. She stared at them in near revulsion. I pointed toward the street where a getaway car waited for her.
Magic surged directly above me. Wasting no time, I sprang up, flaming like a giant torch, passing straight through the metal rungs. When I felt the essence of the half-djinn who pursued us, I wrapped my energy around it and continued moving up, away from Marielle and Ma’ Gee.
Reaching the top of the building, I untangled myself and hopped to the next building in one long leap. Just as I intended, the half-djinn followed.
“Come back here, you coward,” he called out.
I leaped over five more buildings before turning to face him. He was tall and wore a pair of dirty jeans and a leather vest over an otherwise naked torso. His hair was shoulder-length, matted down his back and balding on the top. There was a deranged quality in his eyes, the sort of insanity that only someone capable of massacring people can possess.
His eyes narrowed and searched around me. He probably had orders from Akeelah to get both Marielle and me. I sprang in his direction, giving him no time to gather his thoughts and guess what I’d done.
Turning into a giant snake, I coiled myself around his neck. He jumped and gasped in panic, too-freshly transformed into a Djinn to be rid of his human fears and understand I couldn’t hurt him. It took him a moment of desperately clawing at his neck, of fighting for air, to finally escape from my grasp. Wishing himself into a thin current of air, he zipped away from me just to regain his human shape at the opposite corner of the roof.
As I fell toward the ground, I relinquished my snake form and reappeared behind my opponent as a tall column of water. His head swiveled from side to side, looking for me. That’s when I realized he was no match for me—not when he didn’t understand how to reach into The Blink to trace my magic and predict where I would appear next, not when he chose his physical shape by default.
Taking advantage of his disoriented state, I gathered into a tight ball, slammed against his side and sent him flying off the building. His arms windmilled as he plummeted toward the street below. His face disfigured with fear. His mouth opened in a silent scream. He’d almost fallen the entire six stories before he realized he could do something about his predicament.
I was amused for a moment, until something like a shiver threaded itself through my essence, alerting me to a considerable surge of magic behind me. I whirled, my being turning to ice.
What looked like Akeelah’s entire army shimmered into existence before me. Every single one of them took their human shape. The one I’d just pushed off the building appeared next to them, chest heaving with anger. I took my human form and faced them.
After fighting one of them, I was sure that maybe even a handful of these untried half-djinn would be no problem for me to handle, but thirty of them?
One in particular caught my attention. “Gallardo?” I said.
He stepped in front of the rest. “Where is your pet?!” he demanded.
“I warned you not to trust her,” I said in answer.
He ignored me and turned to the one who’d chased us out of Ma’ Gee’s house. “Where is she, Mack?”
“He snatched her. I followed them here,” Mack responded, voice shaking with fear. He had failed, and Akeelah would not be happy about that. I wondered what sort of punishment she reserved for those who let her down.
“Here?” Gallardo asked, looking around in an exaggerated manner.
“Well,” Mack scratched his head, “not right here. It was . . .” He looked back at the buildings we’d leaped over.
I tried to remain calm, trusting Marielle and Ma’ Gee had found the car and were well on their way to the safety of Live Oak.
“It seems idiots were all Akeelah was able to recruit,” I said in a taunting voice, determined to keep their attention. “She’s not here. She’s nowhere you can find her.”
“Go look for her!” Gallardo commanded. “You, go with him.” Andy stepped to Mack’s side. We exchanged a quick glance.
“The rest,” Gallardo turned back to me, “get him!”
Two others joined Mack, a man and a woman. They were dressed in a similar fashion reminiscent of members of some motorcycle gang.
Since I wasn’t entirely sure whether or not Marielle had made it to safety, I couldn’t allow them to go anywhere. Magic crackling all around me, I shot straight for Mack. He was the only one who could guide them to the exact spot where I’d left Marielle. I would not give him that chance.
Already familiar with the feel of his magic, I followed him into The Blink as he prepared to magically reappear by the dumpster. Quicker and more adept in this mode of transportation, I lashed at the fabric between the realms and created an opening right in front of Mack. Tangling my essence with his, I pushed him through the hole and forced him back into the human world.
We reappear midair between two of the buildings and started plummeting toward the ground. I let go of him, cut another portal and transported myself to the intersection where I had left a car for Marielle. The vehicle was gone. She was gone. Relief washed over me, though it didn’t last.
Akeelah’s army appeared across the street. I turned and watched as each half-djinn cut a portal into the veil. They poured out as if from thin air, and hit the ground running. Their magic crackled through the air like static electricity.
I erected a force field around myself, bracing for the onslaught.
My mind raced as I tried to figure a way out of this one.
21
Marielle
“Child, I already told you no one’s following us. Breathe, breathe,” Ma’ Gee said. “You can also go easy on the steering wheel.”
I relaxed my grip on the leather-covered wheel of the rocket-ship car Faris had left for our escape. It was a sporty Porsche, compact and fast.
“He promised not to let them separate us again,” I said. “He promised.” I sounded like a kid whose mother had promised her a lollipop and had given her a piece of fruit instead.
Ma’ Gee pressed her nose to the window to look at the passing highway, the way she’d been doing since we left the city and took to the small highways.
“I’m willing to bet you didn’t believe that promise, not even for a minute,” she said.
I wasn’t sure if it was her psychic ability talking or I was that easy to read, but it was true. Even though Faris had promised never to leave me like this again, I’d known that, if it came down to protecting me, he wouldn’t hesitate to take me out of the equation.
But what now? What would we do without him? Would he be able to get back to Live Oak without Akeelah on his tail?
“Where you takin’ me, child?” Ma’ Gee asked.
“Somewhere safe.”
“Pshaw, I don’t know if there’s such a place anymore. Oh, my poor house. They destroyed it. I loved that house.”
“At least you’re alive,” I snapped at her, my frustration getting the better of me.
“Ain’t that the truth.” Ma’ Gee’s calm answer to my outburst embarrassed me and made me realize I was taking out my anger on the wrong person.
“I’m sorry . . . . I’m just worried about Faris.”
“Faris,” she repeated in a worried tone. “Let me get my head around this, child. He took us out of harm’s way like . . .” She snapped her fingers to indicate he’d done it in the blink of an eye, then looked at me sideways.
“You know he’s a Djinn, right?” I asked. “A half-djinn actually, but a Djinn nonetheless.”
“Bondye, a Djinn.” She worried at her beads. “And where did he go after he dumped us?”
“I don’t know. We never discussed doing anything like that. He promised to stay with me!” I took a deep breath to calm my rising anger. “I guess he was just trying to draw the threat away from us.”
Ma’ Gee nodded her approval. “Well, w
hen he escapes this individual’s notice, he will get back to you, right?”
I nodded, trying to hold on to the idea. “They can’t hurt him anyway.”
“No?”
I shook my head. “No, I don’t think so. They can pit their magic against his, but it’s like fire fighting fire. At least that’s what he told me when he fought his brother.” I wanted to believe that desperately, except . . . “But now there are more of them and Akeelah is so powerful.”
“Hmm, he doesn’t seem like the lying kind, so why don’t you trust him on that?”
“They can’t capture him either,” I said to reassure myself. “Akeelah can block his physical form and overpower his magic, but even then, all he has to do is go to the Djinn realm to be entirely safe.”
“Then it sounds to me like you have nothing to worry about,” Ma’ Gee said in a very logical tone that should have gotten through to me. It didn’t.
All the logic in the world can give no assurances when the one you love is at risk. Only Faris’s presence would calm the restlessness that had invaded me. He was the only hope to stopping this, to finding Dad, to have a chance at happiness.
But I was good at hiding my true feelings, so I gave Ma’ Gee a smile, let her believe she had soothed me with the logic of those who have nothing at risk.
About two hours later, I turned into the dirt road that led to Live Oak. Coming to an abrupt stop, I threw the car into park and ran out. I bounded up the porch steps and tried to pull the door open, but it was locked. I cursed and fumbled for the key in my pocket, but as my clumsy fingers fought to take it out, I came to my senses. Faris wouldn’t here. He couldn’t have returned before me—not unless he’d used magic, and he would never give this location away like that.
I turned back to Ma’ Gee. She had gotten out of the Porsche and was looking at the house and surrounding trees. “A beautiful place,” she said to herself.
The night was crisp and the stars and the moon shone against the perfect darkness of the universe. It was one of those nights city people think are only possible in movies.
I joined Ma’ Gee’s side and stared at the full moon. The air smelled like grass and magnolia trees, which made me realize our clothes reeked of garbage.
Darn you, Faris.
“We stink,” I said.
“Speak for yourself.” Ma’ Gee chuckled.
I looked at my watch. It was almost midnight. “Everyone’s sleeping.”
“Everyone?”
“Friends. You’ll meet them tomorrow, I guess.” Just as I said this, the front door opened and Abby cautiously stepped out of the house. She walked to the edge of the porch and frowned down at us. She rubbed her eyes and blinked under a mass of spiked hair.
“Elle?”
I squared my shoulders to fully face Abby while Ma’ Gee continued to look at the stars as if in a trance. Maven appeared behind Abby. I took a step in their direction. They took two steps back. It took me a puzzled moment to realize what I must look like. Not to mention Faris’s absence and Ma’ Gee’s presence.
“It’s me, guys.” I put my hands up for some stupid reason. It’s not like they were worried about guns, not when magic was what we were hiding from.
Abby and Maven exchanged a glance and seemed to decide it was really me. They came down the porch steps, away from the shadows and into the moonlight.
“What happened?” Maven’s eyes went from the parked car to Ma’ Gee, who still hadn’t turned to face my friends. “Where’s Faris?”
“We got separated.”
“Separated?!” Abby exclaimed.
I nodded. I didn’t want to go into the details right now. All I wanted was to curl up inside Faris’s sleeping bag and inhale his scent.
“Is this . . . ?” Maven stared at Ma’ Gee’s back.
“The witch?!” Ma’ Gee finally peeled her attention from the stars and turned around. “Yep, I’m the witch,” she said, her expression so menacing and her eyes so wild that we all jumped back.
I shook my head sadly. We’d gotten the witch but had lost the Djinn. At this rate, we’d never get anywhere.
22
Faris
One, two, three half-Djinn hit my protective shield, driving me back a few feet. I leaned forward, releasing all my magic into the invisible walls, boots sliding backward on the sidewalk.
The rest surrounded the shield too and uselessly beat on it with their fists. A split second passed before one of them remembered her magic. She looked me in the eye with wicked anger and slowly curled her fingers against my barrier. Its surface crackled as the half-djinn’s white energy flowed into it, revealing the dome shape that shrouded me.
My shield held, proving that my magic was stronger than hers. The problem: she wasn’t here alone, and my magic would never be strong enough to hold my defenses against the lot of them.
Noticing her efforts, the others prepared to do the same. But I wasn’t about to sit here waiting for the onslaught. I’d already decided what my next move should be.
I was going to Akeelah’s lair.
I had an important errand there, after all.
She knew where I was already. Her determination had paid off. There was no use in hiding. At least I’d managed to keep Marielle from her clutches. Judging by Gallardo’s insistent questions about her whereabouts, it was safe to assume Akeelah was also bent on capturing her. It made sense, Marielle was the only person who gave the evil Djinn the leverage to hurt me.
Regardless, here I was: found.
Time to take advantage of the occasion.
Pulling my magic inwardly, I went out of existence from the physical world and, once in The Blink, sped toward that place I knew well. In and out in an instant, I reappeared right in the middle of Akeelah’s warehouse.
Immediately, her magic flared to life, its bitter, burned taste permeating everything. With no time to waste, I shifted into a beam of light and sped through the large space until I found him.
He was here as we’d suspected.
Robert!
He lay in the middle of a hanging cage, legs pressed to his chest, sleeping. Hoping for the impossible, I rushed in his direction. If I could get to him, if I could snatch him out of there and free him.
I made the air around him whisper in his ear. “Robert, it’s me, Faris.”
His eyes sprang open.
When I reached the cage, my weight unbalanced it, made it swing like a pendulum. Wasting no time, I stretched toward Robert, hoping to take him away from this place, from this jail.
But I wasn’t fast enough.
Akeelah’s magic crashed against my nearly insubstantial form and drove me out of the cage, quickly enveloping me in shadows. I morphed into a strong wind and pierced through the darkness.
Robert’s cage swung from side to side as I swirled around it, trying to touch him with my magic. Hair blowing in all directions, he clung to the bars and frowned at the invisible fight raging around him. He stuck a hand out, blindly grasping at the air. I fought to get to him, but Akeelah was much stronger, and my power found no path to Robert.
In frustration, I turned away, shot down toward a large wooden crate, and crashed against the array of bottles stacked on top. They clattered to the floor but didn’t break. They were indestructible prisons, immune to physical damage, time, and magic.
What now? What now?!
I had failed to rescue Robert. Staying here served no purpose, but leaving was cowardice.
Not knowing what else to do, I took my preferred physical form in the middle of the scattered bottles. Magic rushed all around me, a violent chaos that I immediately recognized.
Akeelah’s army had arrived.
They took a moment to regain their bearings, then charged in my direction. I prepared to disappear, but the surge of Akeelah’s magic made me hesitate.
“Be gone!” she said.
There was a brief sucking sound, then every single half-djinn vanished. The bottles at my feet spun or rolled away, cli
nking against the concrete floor.
Akeelah’s seven-foot frame took shape before me. Her obsidian, polished skin gleamed under a short toga dress that barely managed to cover her. Its white fabric hung from one shoulder and was held in place by a round, golden brooch. The dress stopped scarcely twelve inches down the matching belt that circled her waist.
She regarded me down her hooked nose and protruding chin, eyes glowing red in their depths. She was angry, though not the angriest I’d ever seen her. It seemed having the upper hand suited her ill temper.
“Such a pathetic effort,” she said. “Did you really think you could come here and take what is mine?”
My gaze flicked upward and met Robert’s pleading one. I looked down, the weight of shame and impotence heavy on my essence.
“Let him go, Akeelah.”
“I will, in exchange for your pet. I’m sure she would be delighted to see her dear father. Where is she?” She made a show of searching around the warehouse. “I’ve thought of a million ways to make her suffer, make her beg for a swift death.” Her large teeth sparkled as she smiled in satisfaction.
“She’s not here,” I said, doing my best to ignore her taunt. “Your pets are useless. All they managed to get was me, but I doubt I’ll be of any use. Do contradict me, if I’m wrong.”
Slowly, her satisfied smile went flat and the glowing ember behind her eyes shone brighter.
“Gallardo!” she barked.
The once-doctor shimmered to existence before Akeelah. He stood, shoulders hunched, head lowered. She grabbed him by the neck. Her magic snaked down his body, twisting around every limb, contorting his face in pain.
“Where is the girl?” Akeelah asked the man.
“Sh-she wasn’t with him b-by the time I got there.” Gallardo’s voice shook and broke with every syllable. “It’s Mack’s fault, not mine.”
“You were in charge,” she screamed. He convulsed, the whites of his eyes flashing.
Akeelah growled like an animal and slammed Gallardo to the floor. She stomped a large, bare foot on his chest and snapped her fingers. A blood-red bottle slid to his feet and began to suck him in. The process was excruciatingly slow and painful, judging by Gallardo’s pained cries.
One Wish Away: Djinn Empire Complete Series Page 62
