The Blazing Glass

by Kimberly Loth

  “Maybe later.” I dropped my eyes to my phone. I wasn’t ready for this. Especially now when not even two minutes passed without a thought of that onion breath. I popped my knuckles and cracked my neck. Was I being mean? Probably.

  She shrunk in her seat and didn’t say anything. A twinge of guilt pricked at me, but I ignored it. By lunch I was feeling particularly grumpy and sick of looking over my shoulder.

  “Would you stop sulking,” Penny demanded. She shivered in her skimpy blue and bronze quidditch uniform. Of course it didn’t look anything like the ones in the movies. This was more like a sexy basketball uniform. I tried to respond, but I had just taken a big bite of my salad. “I know you’re worried about where he is, but I’m sure he’s fine.” She thought I was upset because Gabe wasn’t here. It wasn’t like I could tell her I almost died the night before. She stopped talking abruptly and scowled. “You’re not welcome here. Go back to your cheating boyfriend.”

  I jerked my head around, certain I was about to come face-to-face with Samir. Which was stupid because we all knew only one cheating boyfriend. Nora sat next to me anyway. I kind of wanted to say something mean, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it, even though Penny was now miraculously silent.

  Nora pulled out her lunch in with shaking hands, but didn’t say a word. I clenched my fists. If she’d waited until I wasn’t afraid I was going to die, she might’ve had a shot, but my fear translated into bitchy for everyone else. Including her.

  She peeled an orange and handed me a slice. I could accept it or ignore her. I met her eyes and for a second and saw the girl who had been my best friend for the last seven years. She made a mistake. A big one, but still a mistake. And life was short. It could be over tomorrow.

  I took the orange. “Thank you,” I said.

  Her entire body relaxed. “I’m really, really sorry.” She fidgeted with the orange peel as the words rushed out. “I messed up, and you have every right to hate me. I don’t know what I was thinking. Kole’s a jerk, and I should’ve never let it happen. I miss you so much. Can we be friends again?” she pleaded.

  It took a lot more energy to hate her than to love her.

  “No. I don’t think so. Not yet. But I forgive you.”

  She exhaled. “It’s a start.”

  I looked at Penny, who still glared at Nora like she should die a thousand deaths. Scarlett showed up and collapsed dramatically next to Nora.

  “I got a ninety-five on my econ paper. Mr. Foreman refused to listen when I told him I deserved a hundred, and now I’ve missed half of lunch. I’m starving.” She snatched an orange slice from Nora. “If you don’t start eating that, I’m going to eat it all.”

  Penny’s face split into a grin. “I got a hundred.”

  “What?” Scarlett screeched.

  Nora kept quiet, but things were almost normal. I was surprised by how much I liked it. This wouldn’t be easy for a while, but at least we weren’t mortal enemies anymore. Maybe friends would come faster than I thought.

  “What’s up with your hair?” I asked taking another orange slice and still keeping an eye on the people around me. Every once in a while I would rub at my palms, shocked that there wasn’t a scar.

  She flicked it and groaned. “Another reminder of my foolishness. Do you know, it’s super hard to dye hair back from black? The lady at the salon said I needed to wait at least three weeks before even attempting.”

  “That doesn’t explain why.”

  She rolled her wide eyes. “You’re going to think I’m such an idiot. Kole asked me to. When I looked in the mirror and realized I looked just like you, reality finally dawned on me. I dumped him this morning.” Her words died as she looked over my shoulder.

  I spun around, but it was just Dylan Fletcher. He sat down on my other side, his back to the table and elbows on the surface. I took deep breaths, calming my heart. We hadn’t really spoken since that disastrous date.

  “Where’s your boyfriend?” he asked, giving me his signature smirk.

  “Not sure,” I replied, trying very hard not look at Scarlett, who was mouthing all sorts of exclamations. I was positive I didn’t want to know what she was saying. In the process, I looked over at Kole who was staring daggers at Dylan.

  “What’s up?” I asked. He had a reason for sitting down, and now I was curious.

  “Word on the street is Harding is assigning a group project for the end of year. Do you want to be my partner?”

  “You know I’m close to failing chem, right?” He could’ve waited until chemistry to ask me.

  “I know. I want to help you save your grade.”

  “Why?” I asked. He probably had a solid B. Maybe even an A. He had no reason to want to partner up with me.

  He shrugged. “Mostly cause I don’t want to get stuck with McMillan, and if we wait until chem, Harding’ll assume we’re partners. You were the one I knew wouldn’t have a partner since it’s usually Kole.”

  “Sure.” I wouldn’t want to be partnered with Jeff McMillian either.

  He flicked my nose as he stood. “I’ve missed you, Liv. Is your new boyfriend as unreasonable as the last?”

  “No. He’s not.”

  “Good. You deserve someone better.”

  He walked away, and I wasn’t sure what to think. It’d been a long time since I had a friend that was a guy. Dylan would be a nice change. Scarlett gripped my arm.

  “What the hell was that?” she hissed.

  “What was what?”

  “Hello. Dylan?”

  “I don’t know. You heard the whole conversation.”

  “But…but…Dylan Fletcher.”

  “Scar, we’re just going to be chem partners. Don’t make a big deal out of this.” My stomach twisted in knots. Maybe I shouldn’t have agreed. It was just Dylan though. It wasn’t as if we’d never talked before.

  She raised her eyebrows. “Anything involving Dylan Fletcher is a big deal.”

  “Why?”

  “Hello. Hot.” Scarlett waved a hand in front of her face.

  “Hello. Gabe.”

  “I’d be careful if I were you. I think that boy likes you.”

  She flounced off to her photography class. Maybe I really had made a mistake. But I could talk to other boys. It didn’t have to mean anything. Besides, in the entire time he was talking to me, I hadn’t thought about Samir even once. Now that Dylan was gone, I was back to looking around for the stringy-haired asshole.

  Harding did indeed assign a group project in chemistry, and Kole scowled when he realized he had to partner up with Jeff. My smirk probably didn’t help.

  Chapter 10

  Gabe

  I spent most of the day researching everything I could about Djinn. I started with Ali’s book, but it only mentioned a Djinn once.

  If a Djinn commands a Jinn to do something, it must be done without hesitation.

  Sure. That helped a lot. Ali had a stack of other books, but they were mostly histories of our kind. Samir was mentioned, but nothing about his abilities or how to kill him.

  Samir had always been the only Djinn, and he kept his secrets close to him. Now if I could get my hands on his book, then I’d have all the information I needed. But surely he kept that on him; though Bast stole my book, so maybe she took his as well.

  The only other knowledge of Djinn I had was that it was possible to use magic outside of our mistresses, but I didn’t know the extent of our abilities. I threw the book across the room and cursed. I didn’t actually have that much time. As soon as the goddesses knew who I was, they would summon me, and I would have to obey them.

  Samir didn’t, but that was because he’d found out how to evade them. I couldn’t ask him how he did it. Even if he told me, I suspected it was something dark that I wouldn’t feel comfortable doing.

  Every part of me ached to go to Liv, but I wasn’t going to put her in danger. If Samir saw us together, he’d make her life a living hell. I was surprised she hadn’t summoned me yet. Though th
at wasn’t something she’d ever done. She didn’t have to. I was always around. I trusted Ali to keep her safe, but he wasn’t as vested in her safety as I was.

  After school, I tried appearing in her room but couldn’t. When I asked Ali about it, he explained the witches had put a protective spell on her house so Samir couldn’t get to her.

  The hours dragged by. I skipped dinner and hid in my room. Liv was probably getting ready for bed and furious with me. My phone. I could message her. I searched all over but didn’t find it.

  I felt a tug. She was summoning me, and I couldn’t ignore it. Finally. My heart soared as I disappeared and reappeared in front of her. She stood in the middle of the room wearing a tank top and short shorts. Her arms were crossed, and she glared at me with those gorgeous blue eyes. I inhaled her ever-present cinnamon scent.

  I crossed the room in two strides and wrapped my arm around her waist, pulling her into me. Her folded arms dug into my chest, but I hugged her tightly.

  I looked down and brushed her hair out of her face, meeting her furious eyes.

  “I don’t like this,” she said, venom in her voice.

  “I know. You understand that I am who Samir is looking for, right?”

  She sank on her bed. “Yes. I know, but it doesn’t make this easier. Maybe I should hide out at home with you.”

  “No. You need to go to school and make sure he thinks Ali is your Jinn.” I joined her on the bed, sitting as close as I thought I could get away with. I rested my head on her headboard. I wanted to take her hand in my own, but she seemed a little angry still.

  She groaned. “I know, but seriously. I kept thinking he’d show up at school. I’m pretty sure I jumped out of my skin at least five times today.”

  “If it makes you feel any better, it’s only been a day, and I’m already itching to go out.” She had no idea how many times I nearly showed up to school, but her safety stopped me.

  She took my hand in hers. “How long are we going to have to do this?”

  “Until Ali and I figure out how to kill him.” Which would be sooner rather than later if I had anything to do with it.

  “I thought you couldn’t kill genies.”

  “I’ll find a way. I won’t let him hurt you.” I’d search the end of the Earth until I found a solution.

  She was quiet for a minute. “I don’t like this.”

  “Neither do I. But right now there are no other solutions.”

  “How can you keep me safe when you’re not around?”

  “Ali can keep an eye on you while you’re at school. Also, he had witches spell your house to keep Samir out.”

  She jerked her head up, confusion on her face. “Witches? Next thing I know, you’ll be telling me that vampires, ghosts, and mermaids are things too.”

  I grinned at her. “Don’t be silly. Ghosts aren’t real.” I scooted closer to her. “Now that we’re alone in your room, I can think of loads of things we can do to take your mind off of evil Jinn and witches.”

  She giggled. “Don’t forget vampires and mermaids too. Now tell me, what did you have in mind?”

  I pulled out her missing shoe. “I think I’ll collect on that kiss.”

  She took the shoe from me and dropped her eyes. I placed my finger on her chin and stared into those beautiful blue eyes of hers. She wrapped her arms around my neck and pulled my face close.

  A loud rapping came from the door, and Liv jumped. “Coming,” she called and whispered sorry to me.

  The door handle turned, and I caught a slight glimpse of her grandmother’s pant suit before I disappeared.

  Thwarted once again.

  Chapter 11

  Liv

  “Do you think any of this is actually going to make it into the oven?” Nora asked, taking another spoonful of the cookie dough. We avoided the topic of Kole, but aside from that, nothing had changed. She was still my bestie.

  Before spring break she was almost always here, or I was there. Kole didn’t even mind that she was with us all the time. Though, now I realized that he had other reasons for wanting her around. My hand clenched the spoon I was holding. Kole was an ass.

  I looked down at the bowl. What were we talking about? Oh yeah, cookies. “That was the point, wasn’t it? Cookie dough. That doesn’t need to be cooked.”

  She giggled. “I guess. Tell me more about Gabe.” She shoved another bite in and stared at me.

  I blushed thinking of last night.

  “Look at you go all red. Come, tell me.”

  We’d almost kissed again, but then Gran barged in. She just came into the room, looked around, and left. I didn’t ask what she was looking for because I wanted to summon Gabe back. But really, he should be focused on Samir, not me.

  I shuddered at the thought of those fingers curling around my arm. He was out there looking for me. Fear crawled up my spine as I remembered the sharp sting of the knife.

  I shouldn’t be worried though. Gabe said witches were protecting my house. Witches! What had my life come to?

  Gabe. Nora wanted to know about Gabe.

  “I don’t know what there is to tell. You’ve met him.”

  She rolled her eyes. “Yes. I know he’s a hottie, and every girl died the day he whipped off his shirt in the cafeteria, but I’ve never talked to him. No one does, really. He only talks to you and his brother.”

  “They’re cousins actually, but yeah, I know. He’s really sweet and considerate. Way more than Kole ever was.” I didn’t mean to bring Kole up.

  She took another bite of the cookie dough, sighed, and sank into her chair. “It doesn’t take much to be better than Kole, though.”

  Ty barged into the kitchen, and Nora beamed. “Hey, Ty.”

  “Hey, Nora. How are things?” he asked with a grin.

  I lowered my gaze. I didn’t want to look at him. I still hadn’t talked to him since we had our fight.

  “Good. Liv and I were just getting some homework done.”

  “That doesn’t look like homework.” He chuckled, and I glanced up. I missed talking to him. He met my eyes for a second and left the room.

  “You should talk to him. You’re not being very nice,” Nora scolded.

  “I can take care of myself.” No one else could see that. I ground my teeth. This was absurd.

  “Acting like a child doesn’t prove to him that you’re mature enough to take care of yourself.” She nibbled on a chocolate chip.

  My cheeks burned. I hated to admit it, but she was right. Ty would never leave me alone if I was behaving like this. But now, I had no other plan. If she was able to call me out on my crap, maybe we could talk about what happened with her.

  “How are you doing with the breakup with Kole?”

  Nora’s eyes went wide. “I have you. What else do I need?”

  “Yeah, but would you have been okay if we weren’t friends?”

  “Even if you never spoke to me again, I had to end it.”

  At least she had the wherewithal to end it faster than I had.

  He’d screwed us both over. I’d been avoiding dealing with him, but now that Nora would no longer get caught in the crosshairs, maybe we should exact a little revenge. A genie was good for that.

  I pulled the bowl closer to me. “I think it’s time for revenge.”

  “You sound like the twins. What do you want to do?” She raised her eyebrows.

  “I don’t know. That’s up to you.”

  “I’m not the one he cheated on.”

  “Still. I’m not good at this sort of thing.” If I was, he would’ve had way more than a broken leg, because the broken leg was a complete accident.

  “True. I am more bitchy than you. I have no idea what would be good, but I can tell you this, anything that prevents him from getting laid would be pure torture.”

  How far had they gone? I thought they hadn’t slept together, but then she said stuff like this.

  I chewed on my bottom lip. She also didn’t know I had a way of making it happen
. This was the sort of thing I could wish for, right? Though, I wasn’t mean enough to wish it for the rest of his life. Until he graduated though? That wasn’t too bad. Was it?

  “I could start a rumor,” Nora said. “You could reinforce it.”

  “Maybe,” I said.

  The doorbell rang, and we both jumped up to answer it. We fought over the door handle, and both us were laughing when we finally pulled it open. I missed this. Nora and I had fun together.

  Dylan grinned at us, chem book in hand. His hair hung in his eyes, and he looked like he was ready to go to the beach in his shorts and flip-flops.

  “Hey, ladies,” he said, taking off his headphones.

  “Come on in. I forgot we were going to work on the project today.”

  “I should go,” Nora said. “Thanks for the cookie dough.”

  Ooh, they would be cute together. I’d have to ask her if she was interested. “You can stay.”

  “And listen to you talk about boring chemistry stuff? No thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow.”

  She grabbed her bag and gave me a one-armed hug.

  “Bye, Dylan,” she said with a smile.

  Dylan followed me into the kitchen. Gran stood next to the sink staring at the messy bowls and the flour still covering the counter. She had her hands on her hips and a frown on her lips. “Sorry, Gran, I’ll clean it up.”

  She eyed Dylan.

  “Um, Gran, this is Dylan. Dylan, this is my Grandma Bea. She’s mute.” She wasn’t throwing soup on him, so this was an improvement.

  Dylan gave her a smile and an awkward wave. She stepped over to Dylan and patted both his cheeks. Then she turned around and wiggled her eyebrows at me before she sauntered out of the kitchen. Okay, that was even weirder than her throwing soup all over Gabe.

  I sighed. “I need to clean up. Nora and I were making cookies.”

  “I like cookies.” Dylan relaxed in a kitchen chair like he belonged there. I swear, he and Ty could be twins.