Now, back at the storage unit where we appeared last night, Faris pressed a button by the side of the garage door. The door lowered like a wooden sheet, squeezing Quebec’s Monday morning down toward the ground, its rectangular brightness growing smaller and smaller until it flattened into nothing with a decisive thunk.
Faris walked to my side and gave me the same sullen eyes he’d been wearing since last night. “Ready?”
“No.” I leaned against the car. “Why didn’t we just leave from the apartment?” I hadn’t thought to ask this before. I’d been too busy pleading my head off to think of anything else. “If you’re just going to waltz right into her trap, why do we need to take all these precautions?” If crying and begging didn’t work, maybe sarcasm would.
“It took a great amount of human effort to set up all the safe houses. I think the exact location of this particular one wasn’t compromised, so it could still be used in the future, if needed.” He leaned against the car next to me.
We stared at a scuffed wall in front of us. His arm stretched alongside mine. Tentatively, his fingers brushed the back of my hand. I pulled away and crossed my arms over my new halter top and stared at its embroidered front. I had found it among the clothes Faris had stashed for me in the apartment. I’d paired it with a pair of ripped skinny jeans. It was an outfit I would have bought.
“It sounds like it’ll be a lot of wasted human effort.” My words fell forward, gliding on impotence and sarcasm. “No one’s going to need a hiding place after you join efforts with Akeelah.”
He sighed, his shoulders collapsing onto themselves. We had been over this last night. I knew it wasn’t fair to treat him like this, but I didn’t know what else to say to make him see reason.
“Don’t be unfair. I do not intend to join her. I won’t help her. I just want to protect you. And . . . maybe convince her that, whatever she’s after, I can’t aid her.”
“What if she doesn’t believe you and goes after me anyway? We would end up back at square one.”
At this, he clutched his forehead and cringed, as if his head hurt. I didn’t think he could get headaches, at least he’d never mentioned any, but it certainly looked as if one was about to split him in two.
I thought of saying more, of forcing this new argument in front of him and molding it into a big, logical obstacle that he couldn’t refute, but I was afraid to push too hard. Instead, I held my breath, hoping I’d finally found the right words.
After a moment, his hand dropped to the side and his face relaxed. The creases on his forehead disappeared. “I have to go. I have to try.”
I had only enough time to blink before I found myself transported to a different location. I staggered, disoriented. One second I was staring into a wall inside a claustrophobic garage, and the next I was . . . my eyes danced around . . . I was back in Faris’s home in New Orleans.
All traces of the shattered window were gone. Everything looked normal and harmless.
“Is it safe being here?” I asked.
“Somewhat. I made some modifications. Bullet proof glass, steel doors, reinforced concrete. Akeelah’s henchmen can’t attack from outside. I should have taken these precautions from the beginning.” He shook his head.
“So why can’t we just live here? We can make the car bulletproof!” Why hadn’t I thought of that? I pressed a finger to my temple, wondering if the lack of proper sleep had turned my brain to molasses.
“Like I said, they can’t attack from the outside.”
I knitted my eyebrows together, still slow to grasp his meaning. “But how are they going to get in?” My understanding was slow to come, but when it finally did, it made itself comfortable, sending a sharp fingernail down the length of my spine. “Oh, she can transport them inside,” I said with a squeak. The image of four greasy men, all holding serrated knifes, popped into my mind. They lumbered in my direction and grinned like inmates from an insane asylum, their grimy fingers twitching, while Akeelah cheered them on and called them “my pets.” I shivered.
“Don’t worry.” Faris pulled me into his arms. “Magic, at least, gives me a head start. There’s really no point in going somewhere else, anyway. She knows our location as soon as I use magic.”
“I see,” I murmured, understanding all-too-well that Akeelah could show up right this instant, if she wanted.
It was all so complicated. Every time I thought I had an answer, there was something to invalidate it. That monster really had us over a barrel. There seemed to be no foolproof solution to our situation. If only I’d seen reason in Faris’s offer last night. If only I’d thought things through before I let my temper flare. Now it was too late. I’d made Faris feel selfish and guilty for asking me to go away with him. Why had I thought I couldn’t abandon my life here? Only last year I would have jumped at the opportunity to leave New Orleans behind. Why had I been so stupid?!
Still in his arms, I inhaled his scent and pressed my body against his, tightening my trembling arms around his waist. He’d made my world better, helped me rediscover how wonderful life could be, made me happy.
Life without him? I couldn’t imagine it.
It hardly seemed worth it.
He pressed his warm cheek to my forehead. He’s still here, I thought, and that meant I could still make him see we needed to stay together. But what else could I do when crying, pleading, and anger hadn’t worked?
I opened my eyes to the sight of his cluttered desk. A thrill ran to me as I remembered him on top of me, lost in the passion of our heated bodies. He’d been fully mine then, and now he was about to slip through my fingers. If only my kisses were enough to keep him from leaving, to hold him at my side forever?
And what if they were?
I shifted gently, wondering, feeling terribly manipulative, but not caring. I laid a lingering kiss on his neck.
“We have to stay together,” I whispered against his skin.
He sighed heavily and seemed to sway in my direction, as if weak. I kissed him again, my lips silky against the hollow beneath his earlobe. My arms wrapped around his neck and held on tightly, as my kisses traced a feverish pattern along his jaw.
Faris placed his hands on my waist and feebly tried to push me away. I kissed him harder, pressed my body against his. When my lips brushed the corner of his mouth, his breath caught and he seized me in his arms.
Losing all composure, he kissed me desperately. I steered him toward the couch and pulled him down. We sat, perched at the very edge. His hands were at each side of my face, his anxious manner more worrisome than reassuring.
That’s when I realized he was kissing me goodbye.
A roiling sickness gripped my stomach. While I was trying to keep him from leaving, he was saying farewell.
I pulled away as tears threatened to spill onto my cheeks. Faris tried to stop me in place, just as feebly as he’d tried to push me away when I started kissing him.
Holding my breath, I stared into his dark eyes until he blinked in slow motion and switched his attention to a spot on the rug. The black fringe of his eyelashes hid his gaze. Still, his expression told me everything I needed to know.
He was leaving me. Really leaving me.
“Don’t,” I whispered.
Faris squared his shoulders and stood.
“So you’re going to leave just like that. It’s that easy, huh?” The instant the words left my mouth, I knew how unfair they were. This was anything but easy for either of us.
“Now that you ask . . .” Faris thought for a few seconds. “Yes. It’s that easy.”
The words felt like a blunt object slamming against my chest.
“When one does what is right, one finds strength in conviction.” His hands clenched at his sides. “If I stay with you, you will live in fear, away from those you love. You deserve better. You deserve a normal life and I have no right to take that away from you. Like right now, you should be back in class, learning all those languages you’ve always wanted to learn.”
<
br /> “I don’t care about school. Besides, I would learn faster traveling with you.”
“But that’s not exactly what you want. There’s the college experience, a diploma you earn.”
I cursed inwardly, wishing I’d never told him those things, even if they were true.
“This is my fault,” he said, “and it’s been a long time coming. Akeelah is just . . . another way fate has found to get back at me.”
“Don’t say it’s easy.” I stood, ran a shaky hand across my eyes. “Say anything you like, but not that. I know it isn’t. I know.” My heart ached, and I couldn’t imagine it being any different for Faris. If his love was at least a fraction of the love I felt for him, it couldn’t be easy. No matter what.
He pressed his lips into a tight line.
I knew I’d pushed him to say this, pushed him into this decision. It was all my fault. My stupid temper and immaturity had done this. I squeezed my eyes shut and rifled through my mind for the right thing to say, the words that would make him stay. I searched desperately.
Nothing.
I’d tried everything. There was nothing else I could say. All I had left was . . . honesty.
“I did this,” I started. “It’s my fault you’ve decided to leave. When you asked me to go with you, I just reacted. I didn’t think things through. Now you think you see clearer. You think you understand what I want, but you’re not listening. I don’t want to live without you. I’ve had time to think, and I want to go with you. I want us to disappear and then I want you to tell me you love me. Do you understand?”
“I—I’ve thought about it, too. When you grow older, you may come to regret it, and I don’t want to be responsible for that. You shouldn’t be forced to choose this way. This isn’t how it’s meant to happen.” He shook his head. He looked confused, and it seemed his resolve might be wavering.
“We decide what is meant to be. No one else. I choose you. Djinn or human, you will always be the one I choose. And you will, without a doubt, be more than anything I could ever wish for.”
Faris looked up to the ceiling, clearly struggling with indecision. I felt the balance tip slightly in my favor. I bit my lower lip, unsure of whether to say more or remain quiet. If I uttered the wrong words, he might leave me. But what if I didn’t say enough?
“If I become human and she finds us . . .” Faris didn’t seem to know how to finish the sentence.
I seized his hands in mine. “She won’t. You said you would make it impossible for her to do that.”
“What about your father?”
“We’ll tell him everything. He’ll come with us.”
He took me by the shoulders and squeezed, his eyes a deep brown, drilling into mine with searing intensity. “Swear you won’t regret it later. Swear you won’t miss Maven, Abby, Javier, Anita, the nursery, New Orleans. Swear to me you won’t hold it against me when all your roots are gone and you have to build a new life. Swear!”
“I swear,” I said without hesitation. I didn’t want to give him any reason to doubt me. I could do this, even as intimidating as it seemed.
People started over all the time. Javier and Anita had left Mexico to come to the United States, and they had done so without any money or documentation. Faris and I had absolutely nothing to worry about. We had documents for multiple identities, plenty of money, and most importantly, we had each other.
He took my hands and gave me a small smile. “I need to be sure you’ve thought this through.” His expression looked strained, uncertain.
“I’ve never been more certain of anything in my life. I’d do anything to keep you.”
His gaze softened, and I almost crumpled in relief.
“Okay, let’s go get Dad,” I said, springing into action before he changed his mind.
11
Marielle
I blinked, confused.
Being transported by magic to a place I was familiar with was disorienting enough, but suddenly appearing somewhere I’d never visited—and in the dark to boot—was downright baffling.
“Where are we?” I whispered.
“Closet,” Faris said to my left. He cracked a door open. A sliver of light broke through, illuminating stacks of blue sheets on a metal shelf.
Feeling suddenly heavy and encumbered, I tugged at something under my shirt.
What in the world?
Faris pulled me out into a sterile, brightly lit hall. I walked forward, barely able to bend my knees for some reason. He shut the closet door behind us. I squirmed at the strange feeling constricting my ribs and, freeing my hand from Faris’s, patted my chest down.
“Kevlar,” he said when he noticed my confusion.
Kevlar? As in a bulletproof vest? Well, more like bulletproof armor. I could feel it wrapping around my entire body.
“C’mon, Robert’s room is this way.” He grabbed my hand again and pulled me along a few steps.
I yanked him to a stop. “Faris, this is too heavy. Couldn’t you just build a force field around us or something?”
“I already did. The Kevlar is backup.”
Two middle-aged men in white coats walked by. I smiled politely, leaned closer to Faris and whispered, “Backup? Why?”
“In case we get separated. I wouldn’t be able to keep it working if I’m too far from you.” He sounded a bit irritated, as if I should know this already. But when it came to his magic and exactly how it worked, there seemed to be something new every day.
“Normally people wear just a vest. Can you get rid of the stuff around my legs? I’m stiff. I’m walking like a robot.”
He frowned, not at all buying my idea of removing the full-body armor.
“Um, if I need to run for some reason, I won’t be able to,” I put in.
“Yeah, that’s true.”
Immediately, the heaviness around my legs disappeared. I breathed a sigh of relief and decided I could have never been a knight. Armor wasn’t for me. I wanted the vest gone too, but I can be reasonable sometimes.
With the stiffness gone from my legs, I marched down the corridor headed for the room at the end of the hall. Faris knocked, then pushed the door open. The room was tidy, the bed made.
“What the . . . ? Where is he?” I asked in a sudden panic.
Faris stood stone-still for a second, then blinked. “The computer records say he checked out early this morning.” There was no secure computer system with Faris around. Magic allowed him to connect to any nearby hotspot and retrieve whatever information he wanted.
“Checked out? But he was . . .”
“All better,” Faris put in. “He should be one hundred percent healed by now.”
“I’ll get a hold of him.” I pulled out my cell phone and dialed. After three rings Dad answered. “Where are you?” I asked without preamble.
“At the Treasure Chest Casino. I have that job interview, remember?” Dad said.
“What? You just left the hospital, and you decided to go to the interview?!” I knew about it. It was all he’d been talking about for days, how he wished he could get back into being a gaming surveillance manager, like when he was younger. But I never thought he would still go after what happened.
“Well, I feel great. I don’t see a reason to skip it. You know how hard it was to get it. Besides, we’ll need the extra money. The home insurance will pay next to nothing—mostly for the land, the house was so old and decrepit—and the nursery’s revenue won’t be enough to afford us a new house. We need this.” Dad sounded extremely gung ho for someone who’d just been through such an awful experience. Was this normal? Or was it some kind of post-traumatic stress?
“Um, don’t you think you should be resting? How did you even get there? You had no money.” He didn’t even have an ID. All he had left after the fire were his scorched pajamas.
“I called Javier. He brought me some clothes and money from the register. I had time to stop by the mall to buy a suit.” He gave a short laugh. “You should see me. I look sharp. I feel li
ke I’ve been given yet another chance, and I’m ready to make the best of it.”
Dad’s enthusiasm was like a ray of sun shining through the eye of a storm, a storm that had turned my life upside down and would do the same for his. A twang of remorse ran through me. My plans would get in the way of Dad’s aspirations. In the past few days, he’d been very excited about his job search prospects. When I was little, he’d worked in gaming surveillance, a job he enjoyed and performed extremely well. He knew Javier and Anita could run the nursery without problems, and he was ready to do more than just “raise saplings.”
“You see,” he continued, “I’ve decided to make this a new beginning. It’s very sad what happened to Dad’s house. All those memories just gone.” The spark in his voice dimmed a little. “I can choose to let it bring me down. Or I can use it as the kick in the butt I’ve needed for a long time.”
A minute ago, the conversation I needed to have with Dad wouldn’t have been easy. Now, considering his excitement and ideas about a new beginning, I suspected it would be much worse.
“Sounds good, Dad. But listen, I need to talk to you. Now. It’s important.” I tried to make it sound as urgent as possible.
“I’m sure it can wait, kiddo.”
“No, Dad this is—”
“Look, they’re calling my name. I gotta go.”
“Dad, wait!”
“We’ll talk later. Meet me at the nursery after lunch.”
I pulled the phone away from my ear. “He hung up.”
“Where is he? We’ll go there,” Faris said.
“He’s at Treasure Chest Casino.”
“All right, we’ll find him.”
He took my hand. I blinked and everything changed.
An open blue sky shone brightly where a plain hospital wall had been. I took two deep breaths and looked around to regain my bearings. We were standing on a narrow deck, fenced in by a white, ornate railing overlooking a large expanse of water. I had to assume we were on board the Treasure Chest Casino, a gambling riverboat docked ashore Lake Pontchartrain. It never left the dock and had a permanent ramp attached to it so gamblers could get on and off.
Two Hearts Asunder (Djinn Empire Book 2) Page 7
