Will Choose: A Djinn Short

by Laura Catherine

  “Will?” she said, surprised.

  “I love you,” I said, squeezing tighter.

  Mother pulled away, her eyes wide and slightly teary. Had I never told my mother I loved her before? I supposed I hadn’t ever felt love until a few months ago.

  “You’re different,” she said, sitting on the bed. “What happened?”

  “Pyke’s dead,” I said, and felt my chest tighten.

  “Oh.” Mother put her hand over her mouth then let it fall away. “I have to go see Lily. She’ll be so … and Mia … I’d better take them some food. They don’t want to be thinking about anything …” She drifted off and I wondered what she was thinking about.

  She and Pyke’s mother had been friends long before we were born. She had been around when Pyke’s father was killed and Lily had been there for mother when my father was banished.

  “I have to get ready to patrol,” I said, checking the time. I pulled a clean tee over my head and slipped two blades into my belt.

  “What? Of course, of course. I’m going to cook a nice stew for Lily and Mia.” Mother patted my blanket, smoothing it out with her hands before drifting into the kitchen.

  Chapter Three

  Jack and I patrolled the perimeter of the fence while three other Guardjinn used welding torches to make repairs on the hole. We needed to get the fence fixed as soon as possible. There was a light mist of rain and Jack pulled his hood over his head. I did the same and we trudged through the muddy grass surrounding the compound.

  “Repairs are estimated at two days,” Jack said.

  “The sooner the better,” I replied. “It’s too dangerous for us right now.”

  “Agreed. We’re spread thin. We lost a lot of Guardjinn in the fight, a few are still recovering. I’ve advised the Queen that we recruit some of the retired Guardjinn.”

  “Really?” I asked.

  “We need more bodies if we’re going to keep the Djinn safe. The Queen wasn’t too thrilled with the idea and I’m only allowed to ask if they want to help.”

  “If the Queen had her way the Djinn would be helping,” I said and realised I probably should have kept my mouth shut.

  “That’s interesting coming from you,” Jack said. “I didn’t think you believed in the whole equality thing.”

  “I don’t,” I replied.

  “Good. The Queen has some big ideas and I will follow her orders because she is the Queen, but things have been this way for hundreds of years. Guardjinn protect the Djinn, it’s how it’s always been and always will be.”

  “You don’t think things will change?”

  “Change is always happening, Will. I’m sure one day everything will change, but is that a good thing? I don’t know. Someone needs to protect the rest of our people from the Blooders and we’ve been doing a good job of it for centuries. Why change what’s working?” Jack glanced at the hole in the fence. “Then again, I could be wrong. We let the Blooders right into our home …”

  I thought about Jack’s words. I had always known he supported the Guardjinn way of life and yet it wasn’t from a willingness or loyalty to the job, just that someone had to protect our people and why not us?

  “Mia?” I said, spotting her moving toward us.

  She walked across the grounds wearing a thick black coat and furry black boots. Her face was pale and her eyes red as if she’d been crying or hadn’t slept well.

  “Mia, I said you weren’t rostered on for duty,” Jack said.

  “I don’t need time off,” she replied. “We can’t afford to be a Guardjinn down.”

  “You don’t need to be here,” Jack continued.

  “Yes. I do.” Mia gave Jack a hard stare.

  He frowned, then turned his head as if something had caught his attention.

  “What is it?” I asked.

  Jack sniffed the air. “Blooders.”

  “Where?” I asked.

  “Over by that bush.” Jack gestured with a glance. “They’re watching us.”

  “Scouts,” I said.

  “Agreed. We should split up and flank them …”

  Mia let out a roar and charged headfirst at the Blooders.

  “Mia!” I yelled and ran after her.

  “Keep working on the fence,” Jack shouted to the other Guardjinn. “We can handle this.”

  Three Blooders leapt from the bush and targeted Mia. Her skin cracked with blue glowing power as she let out an ear-piercing cry. The three Blooders dropped to their knees and covered their ears which were already beginning to bleed.

  She focused her attack, screaming louder, the Blooders’ faces twisted in pain. One Blooder shakily released a hand from the side of his face and thrust it towards Mia. She flew backwards, sliding through the mud on her back.

  The Blooders regained composure and split up. Jack tackled one to the ground on my left; the one of my right was going after Mia, but I couldn’t help because the psychic Blooder was unsteadily moving my way. He flicked his wrist and I lost my balance, falling on my side.

  Mia screamed in pain. The other Blooder was using ice spikes and stabbing them into her shoulder.

  “Mia!” I dragged myself through the mud only to be flipped over by an unseen force. The psychic Blooder laughed, flicking his wrist again, I slammed into a nearby tree; whatever leaves still remained fell free and scattered on the ground.

  The ice Blooder shot icicles at Mia and she screeched them into snow. She pulled the spike from her shoulder and lunged at her attacker

  I needed to take care of my Blooder, I couldn’t waste anymore time. I pulled a knife from my belt and launched myself at the psychic Blooder. He flicked his hand and I shot off course, but I still had time to throw my knife and while his attention was on me, the knife flew through the air unhindered, hitting its mark.

  The psychic Blooder staggered, hands trembling above his chest where my knife was sticking out. He didn’t know what to do and fell to his knees. I got to my feet, pulling a second knife from my belt. The Blooder placed his hands on the hilt of the blade in his chest as if to pull it out. With one swift slash I cut his throat and watched him topple into a puddle of blood and mud.

  Jack had killed his Blooder, but Mia was not done with hers. She sat on top of the ice Blooder, her fists punching his face over and over.

  “Mia!” I shouted and ran to her side.

  “You monster!” she yelled, landing another punch. “Did you kill him? Did you take his power? You disgusting monster!”

  The Blooder’s face was unrecognisable, swollen and bruised. His hands were limp at the sides of his body and I realised he was dead.

  “Mia, stop,” I said and grabbed her wrists before she could hit him again. “He’s dead. Stop.”

  She struggled against my hold as I dragged her off the corpse.

  “It had Pyke’s ability,” she said. “It stole it. It killed him.”

  Even though I couldn’t make out what the Blooder had looked like before, I knew that one had not killed Pyke. “It wasn’t him,” I said. “The Blooder who killed Pyke died during the fight. He’s dead, Mia. He’s not coming back.”

  Mia’s gaze was hollow. She stopped fighting against me and her wrists went limp.

  “What the hell was that?” Jack yelled at her. His coat had a sleeve ripped off and blood speckled his face. “You can’t go into a situation like that head-on. You could have got yourself killed, Mia. You could have put the rest of us in danger.”

  Mia remained silent.

  “This is why I didn’t want you back on patrol. You’re not ready and I don’t want you around.”

  “I’ll take her home,” I said, lifting Mia to her feet.

  “Good. Andre is working on the fence. Get him to heal that shoulder wound, Mia, and then go home. Meet me back here, Will.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Chapter Four

  I pulled Mia along to the front gates of the compound and through the lower ring streets. She followed like a child, not resisting but not comp
lying either. Mia’s house wasn’t too far from the front gate and I spotted her jagged tin door at the end of the street.

  I stopped in my tracks, swung Mia around and slammed her back into a wall.

  “Will! What the hell?” she said, snapping back to reality.

  “I should be asking you that,” I said. “What were you thinking, Mia? Going after those Blooders on your own like that without a plan? Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

  “They deserve to die,” she snapped. “Painful deaths.”

  “And that justifies your actions?”

  “I don’t have to justify anything!” she shouted. “They’re Blooders and I killed them. I did my job.”

  She tried to push me away, but I pressed my arm against her chest and pinned her in place. She growled at me, baring her teeth.

  “Are you going to pick fights with everyone now?” I asked.

  “Of course not,” she replied.

  “Oh, really? Because you looked about a second away from punching me like you did that Blooder.”

  Mia flinched and her expression softened. “I would never hit you, Will.”

  I loosened my grip on her. “I know Pyke is gone and that’s hard …”

  “Hard?” Mia gave a harsh laugh. “Learning to use your ability is hard. Taking orders from the Djinn is hard. Pyke was my family, Will. He was like a brother to me and he was murdered. There isn’t even a word to describe how I feel. I can’t sleep, I can’t breathe, I can’t think. I’m so full of anger that it’s blinding me.”

  “Pyke wouldn’t want you to act this way.”

  Mia’s eyes turned cold. “Pyke doesn’t want anything anymore and that’s the problem.”

  Why wasn’t I having the same reaction to Pyke’s death as Mia? I cared about Pyke like a brother too, but I was functioning just fine. Even with my feeling turned on I didn’t hurt as much as her. Was something wrong with me? If my mother died would I react that way? If something happened to Kyra?

  “Dammit!” I shouted and punched the wall.

  Mia jumped. “Will?”

  I placed a hand against the wall on either side of Mia’s face and hung my head, staring at her mud-covered boots. “What’s wrong with me?” I whispered.

  Mia’s hand touched my chin and lifted my face to hers. “Nothing is wrong with you,” she said.

  “Then why don’t I feel the same way you do? Why doesn’t Pyke’s death hurt more?”

  “Maybe because you already got your revenge,” Mia said. “You killed the Blooder who murdered Pyke.”

  Mia’s gaze traced the circumference of my face ending on my eyes. “There is nothing wrong with you,” she said again and pressed her mouth to mine.

  Mia’s lips were warm as she slipped a hand around my neck, her fingers softly brushing my hair. I’d known how Mia felt about me for years but this was the first time she had actually outright shown it. Her lips moved and mine followed as our kiss deepened.

  Yet even as I kissed her back I didn’t feel the same spark as when I kissed Kyra. With Kyra, it was like white hot flames that craved more and more fuel. This wasn’t the same. Kissing Mia was warm like a hot drink on a cold day; nice, but not something I craved.

  Still, I couldn’t help but think how easy it would be with Mia rather than Kyra. There would be no complications, no one to judge us – but how was that fair to Mia? I didn’t like her that way. My heart could only think of Kyra.

  I broke off the kiss and pulled away. “Mia …”

  “Don’t …” she said. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes downcast.

  “I’m sorry, but I can’t.”

  “It’s her, isn’t it?” Mia said, clenching her jaw. “I don’t understand why you like her, it’s not like you can ever be together. She’s just some Djinn girl. I just don’t get it. You’re obsessed with her. You and Pyke …”

  Pyke liked Kyra too? I had never realised. He never said anything and usually he would tell me which girl he was looking to date next. Why keep it a secret? Because he knew how I felt about Kyra? Because he was smart enough to not get involved with a Djinn?

  Pyke was a better friend and Guardjinn than I could ever be.

  I stepped back from Mia and that familiar feeling of uncertainty filled my chest. What was wrong with me?

  “Mia …”

  “Please don’t talk about it anymore,” she said. “I’d rather not hear about your twisted relationship with her.”

  “I didn’t kill the Blooder who murdered Pyke,” I said.

  “What?”

  “You said maybe I didn’t feel Pyke’s death as much because I avenged him, but I didn’t. It wasn’t me. After Pyke was killed I tried to take out the Blooder, but he was strong and I couldn’t get the upper hand. He shoved me out of the way and then she was there. She was so powerful; beautiful and scary at the same time as she stabbed the Blooder and threw him out a window.” I locked eyes with Mia. “It was Kyra who killed the Blooder.”

  Mia paused for a moment, staring into my eyes. The soft, embarrassed look faded and was once more replaced with a burning anger.

  “This is all her fault,” she breathed. “Pyke was only there because of Kyra. He shouldn’t have been there and maybe if you hadn’t been so concerned with your stupid Djinn girlfriend then maybe you could have saved him!”

  Mia pushed me out of the way and ran into her house leaving me standing in the rain. Was Mia right? Was Pyke’s death my fault?

  Chapter Five

  “William Aaron Farthing,” came the voice of my mother from behind me.

  I was still standing a little way away from Mia’s house under the shelter of another building. The light, misty rain had grown heavy and it drummed on the tin sheet metal above my head.

  My mother held an arm over her head to deflect the rain. She carried a woven basket covered with a cloth in her other hand. She had obviously been heading to Pyke’s house to give more food to Lily and Mia.

  She darted through the rain to my sheltered spot. She gazed at me for a moment then flicked her wrist, backhanding me across the face.

  My mother had never hit me before, probably because she knew I couldn’t feel it and wouldn’t learn any lessons, but I felt this slap. A sharp, warm pain prickled under my skin and for a moment I was stunned.

  “You’ve been dating a Djinn?” she shouted.

  I looked down at my mother and watched her shake slightly with either fury or cold from the rain, I wasn’t sure.

  “I’m not dating anyone,” I replied, but that didn’t ease my mother’s mood.

  “I don’t care!” she snapped. “I heard you talking to Mia. You and the Greenwood girl! Have you lost your mind? What if you were caught?”

  I didn’t dare tell her Ivan had already caught me with Kyra, and I could be punished at any moment.

  “You know the rules. How could you do this? You’ve worked so hard for your career. The Queen respects you, the other Guardjinn trust you, and you betray them like this?” My mother started to whimper.

  Betrayal? I’d never thought of my actions as a betrayal. I was still a good Guardjinn, wasn’t I?

  “I’ve saved people, mother. I’ve fought Blooders. I’ve been doing my job.”

  “Having feelings for that … girl is not part of your job. I thought I raised you better. I thought you knew your place. You’re acting exactly like your father.”

  “Don’t compare me to him,” I growled.

  “You think what you’re doing is any different,” she snapped. “It’s the same. You’re the same. I thought you were different, but I was wrong. You’ll break my heart just like him and you’ll be punished like him too if you don’t see sense.”

  Mother’s face was red with tears streaking her cheeks. Her eyes were wide and her teeth gritted together. I’d never seen her this angry before and it worried me.

  “I’m nothing like him,” I said.

  My mother set down her basket. “Then prove it to me,” she said, staring into my eyes.
“Promise you’ll stop this foolishness.”

  She squeezed my hands tight. I wasn’t like my father – he was a betrayer. Then what did that make me? I knew what I was doing with Kyra was wrong and I still broke the rules. Even if I made that promise, could I keep it? Ivan would surely have me punished and everyone would know. I’d be shunned from the community and worse …

  “I will do my best to fix my mistakes,” I replied and my mother smiled.

  I hadn’t promised anything because I wasn’t sure I could keep it and I prided myself on coming through on promises. What I said wasn’t a lie either. I would do whatever I could to make things right.

  My mother stroked my cheek where she had slapped me. “That’s my boy,” she said, her face softening. “Oh, I almost forgot. A Guardjinn came by with a note from the Queen. She wishes to see you.” Mother picked up her basket of cupcakes and strolled over to Lily’s house, leaving me feeling terrible.

  Chapter Six

  My feet carried me to the one place I shouldn’t have been. I crouched like a stalker in the bushes and peered into Kyra’s backyard. The grass was freshly mowed. Keisuke sniffed the ground, taking in all the new scents. Kyra sat on the back steps, her head in her hands. I could hear her crying from across the yard and her sobs broke my heart.

  My instincts were to leap from the bushes and wrap her up in a hug. I wanted to comfort Kyra more than anything and that scared me. I shouldn’t want that. I should be concerned for a Djinn in distress but I should keep my distance. Was I insane? I had just had a huge argument with my mother about seeing Kyra and now here I was spying on her from the bushes.

  Keisuke licked Kyra’s hand and, she looked up, her eyes and nose red from crying. What was wrong? Was she crying over me? Or was she crying over Pyke? Did Kyra know Pyke had had feelings for her? Did she feel the same way?

  No, I couldn’t think about those things. None of it was supposed to matter. Kyra could be in love with either of us but we had to be strong and loyal. Pyke knew this. He would have hidden his feelings while I foolishly acted on them.