Ben and Werling were not into rings or weddings, and went to look out the front window. Oliver helped his uncle by running samples back and forth, while I admired Nigel’s choice of a design that would have to be hammered into a ring the size of a drain gasket. The two guys were seriously excited about getting hitched, and I couldn’t help but like them. Werling and Ben talked in whispers.
The gloomy mood of a few minutes earlier seemed gone. I joined Ben and Werling and said, “We might as well go before the Bobbsey twins in the alley out back decide to come around front.”
“Wendy, they’re merely watching the back. I suspect we have the larger variety already out front.”
“I don’t see anything,” I said.
Werling ignored me and said, “I thought I saw something strange across the street.”
“Come on, guys. Let’s go. I’m hungry,” I said. My camel suddenly vibrated strangely. The last bits of sawdust drifted to the floor. We watched them settle and Werling looked at Ben. “That can’t be good,” he said.
“Nigel and Bruce are not human,” Ben said, and gave them a glance. “I’m not getting a bad feeling from them, but their being here is no coincidence. Something is up.”
Three somethings was more like it. Across the street, the giant genie from our front yard came out of the laundromat with two friends. He was normal-sized, if one would called the Incredible Hulk normal-sized. At least he was better dressed today, in white pants and a tight t-shirt. With him, on either side, were two similar genies and half a dozen jackals. I was no longer hungry.
“More jackals,” I said, pointing at two scruffy dogs that joined the others. My mouth was parched, and I held my camel tightly. We didn’t stand a chance. Traffic passed right by the genies and jackals without noticing them. I wondered if we were seeing what everyone else was seeing. “Do you think they know we’re in here?”
The biggest genie pointed at us, as if he saw into the dark store. He pulled my burnt marble bag from his pocket and shook it, then smiled directly at me.
“That answers that,” I said. “What are we going to do?”
“I’m open to suggestions. At the moment, there’s nothing we can do,” Ben said. “The question is, what are they going to do?”
“Think they know about the pearls?” Werling asked.
Like he heard Werly from outside and across the street, the big guy passed his brown hand over the marble bag. He’d somehow put my dad’s face there. With a sudden toss, the bag flew up and exploded in blood-red flames. The marbles scattered and broke on the sidewalk.
Werling put his arm around me, but I pushed him away and said, “The pumped-up jerk!” The marbles might as well have exploded in me. I lunged for the door. All the shock and rage came back from the day I found out about my Dad—the sergeant and chaplain in the apartment living room; mom hugging herself, small and crying; the form letter.
Ben and Werling pulled at me. I struggled to break their grip. “Let go of me!”
“Wendy,” Ben gasped, trying to get a better hold on me. “He’s doing something to you. You can’t go out there.”
“I’ll protect you,” Werling said.
With a terrific twist I broke free, knocking Werling down and breaking Ben’s hold. Most of all, I wanted to tear the head off that grinning genie.
Outside, the sun shone, the sky was blue, but the air felt thick and dead. The passing cars turned hazy and moved in slow motion. They sounded far away. I struggled to cross the sidewalk to the street, to get at the genie, but I couldn’t. It was like I was stuck in thick syrup.
In front of the genies, jackals crouched in the gutter, hackles raised along their backs. They snarled. I still held my crumpled camel, trying to catch my breath.
The biggest genie laughed. I hated him.
Behind me I heard Cathal. “Not meaning to slow you down, lass, but I’m afraid the jinn and his ugly friends are not here to play games, you ken? You’ll be wanting to go back inside.”
Eddy, I mean, Her Ladyship and he were on either side of the jewelry store door. They must have done something that kept me from running across the street. “Let me at him,” I screamed.
Old-fashioned swords, axes, and spears leaned against the storefront beside Her Ladyship. They gleamed in the strange sunlight. They were huge weapons; I doubted I could lift one. Her Ladyship was decked out in her flowing white gown over fine golden armor. She looked regal, like a queen, beautiful but indestructible. A sword was at her side.
“Give me a sword,” I cried.
Cathal slowly transformed into his horse shape. If Cathal and Her Ladyship wanted the pearl, too, I was screwed. But they watched the genies, not me. Ben, Oliver, and Werling rushed out, followed by Nigel and Bruce, muscles bulging and eyes narrowed and mean—Nigel and Bruce, that is. Ben, Werling, and Oliver looked tiny and confused, like me. Nigel and Bruce bowed to Eddy. Bruce took a double-bladed axe and Nigel a broadsword. The change in them was amazing. The joking, warm Goliaths were now all business. Nigel swept his sword in tight figure eights and smiled at the genies across the street. Bruce tested the edge of his axe with his thumb.
“Wendy,” Ben said. “Come back in.”
Mr. Abuzzahab pushed past him before I could answer, looked at the swords and genies, and cried, “No. You can’t start a war in front of my store. I forbid it.”
Without taking an eye off the genies, Eddy turned to him and said, “Would you like to ask them to pick a more convenient place?” Eddy pointed her weapon across the street. “Be my guest.”
Swords and axes had appeared in the hands of the boss genie and his pals. He grew another twelve inches.
Mr. Abuzzahab shrank back. “No, Your Ladyship.” He ran back into his shop and slammed the door.
I moved to take a sword nearly as tall as me. Eddy held out a hand to stop me. My anger turned around and around with nowhere to go. My head filled with fury. The eyes of my camel flickered and I knew, somehow, I was not here to fight. All the weapons made me sick.
The biggest genie looked straight at me, then my camel; his eyes widened and his dark face became eager. I remembered now, Eddy had warned us about a battle. The genie raised his thick arms and clapped his hands. Thunder crashed and three of the jackals leapt forward, completely over a passing car. Their enormous fangs glistened, their fur turned to flame. Their shrieks were horrible, and so loud I hardly heard Werling behind me.
“Wendy, look out!”
I was knocked forward into the gutter and only got a glimpse of Werling before the hellish creatures landed on him instead of me. The crash as they hit was terrible and a huge flash blinded me. I was dazed. “Werling!”
I rolled away and saw silhouettes of Nigel and Bruce hacking at two jackals, their Mohawks bristled with rays of light. The world appeared in blurry black and white. I propped myself up on one elbow and rubbed my eyes. My hip hurt where I landed on the curb. The camel was still in my hand.
Cathal trampled the third jackal, and gore covered the sidewalk. From across the street the three other beasts leapt, landing in front of me. I raised my arm in defense. Eddy and Cathal drove two off, but the third sank his flaming teeth into my right arm. Burning razors of pain stabbed my forearm. Eddy cracked the jackal’s head with the pommel of her sword and kicked it away.
My arm was on fire. Eddy kneeled beside me and dowsed my flames with her gown. The evil genies, huge and towering over the cars, now sped across the street to us. A pickup truck hit one and its fender crumpled in slow motion, hardly slowing the genie at all. The truck rolled to a stop and another car banged into it just as slowly. Horns honked from what seemed like miles away. The genies kept coming.
“Benjamin!” Eddy shouted. “Get your humans back into the shop.” She lifted me to my feet.
“It’s my camel they want,” I said to Eddy and held up its remains. It was scorched and smoking. “Its eyes are pearls.”
Her Ladyship’s face lost its steely expression and her eyes widened with awe. My came
l’s fabric fell away in ashes and revealed the pearls.
“You bear Iblis’s bane?” she exclaimed.
One of the evil genies took a swipe at me but Eddy blocked it and deftly swung back. The genie jumped clear. She dragged me to the doorway. “Stay here!”
Two genies fell on her and she parried both blades and drove them back.
Ben helped Oliver pull Werling next to me. Werling was burned and smoking. He looked terrible. Nigel and Bruce joined Cathal and Eddy and fought back. The fight was in the middle of the street now.
It was all wrong. I felt it was all wrong. Anger no longer filled me. Fighting for the pearls, cutting and stabbing—it made me sick. It was stupid. I was stupid for sitting down and doing nothing.
Oliver held Werling’s singed head in his lap and put his crumpled jacket under his head. Ben took Werling’s hand and checked for a pulse. Werling looked dead. I kneeled next to him.
Drivers from the two damaged cars wobbled away from the fight in a daze. The genies ignored them. Cars and a bus had stopped at the border of a misty bubble that formed around us. Others tried to speed around but crashed and added to the pile-up. Stupid. The people outside the bubble looked totally confused.
Ben took out his cell and called 911.
I shouted to Eddy, “Werling’s hurt. You have to stop this.” I didn’t know if she heard me. My pearls glowed and the fiery pain of my arm eased. Cool waves flowed over my skin. Eddy and Cathal were being pushed back and stood between the genies and us at the sidewalk’s edge. Nigel and Bruce took up positions on either side of them.
“If I could stop it, I would,” Eddy shouted over her shoulder to me. “It is you who brought this. Your treasure.”
“Me!” I wiped my eyes clear. “I didn’t do anything. My dad gave me the camel. I didn’t know about the pearls!”
Eddy shouted, “You know now.”
The biggest genie cupped his hands over his head and they filled with orange fire. Cathal charged and reared, slapping with his mane. The ball of flame exploded into steam, and sent the genie howling and staggering back.
Eddy fended off another attack and pushed two genies back into the street. “The pearls were meant for you,” she bellowed. “They have power only the bearer controls. Don’t you feel it?” She ducked a massive fist and sliced into the owner’s shoulder. A howl like an air-raid siren filled the street.
“I don’t know about power,” I replied. Since Dad gave me the camel I had always held it when I was afraid or angry. I felt something when I did, a lightness. I thought it came from him, the thought of him. I unclasped my scorched hand as cautiously as possible and looked at the pearls. Pain shot up my right arm. There was a bloody tear below my elbow and my skin was raw. It made me queasy, and I thought I’d throw up. The pearls glinted in my fingers. Just looking at them eased my pain. “Could they kill the jinn?” The second I said it I knew that wasn’t their purpose.
“Oh, no!” Oliver pointed down the street to where the remaining jackals had regrouped. They charged Cathal’s left side. Nigel raced forward to protect him.
The Doublemint genies from the alley appeared down the street in the opposite direction and crept up the sidewalk toward us. Each held an axe.
Ben looked their way. “This is it!” He tried to lift an enormous broadsword from the wall, but it was too heavy.
I stood and reached out. The sword jumped to my good left hand, light as a feather.
Eddy fought her way back to us and took a spear from the wall. “Wendy, you are the bearer. You must act,” Eddy said. She sighted down the spear, ready to throw.
“I don’t know what to do!” I fought back tears. I was sick to my soul. Werling was dying! I hefted my sword and tried to make up my mind.
“Use your head and your heart, not a sword,” she said.
Eddy threw her spear and caught one twin in the thigh. He twisted and screamed and the other reached for him. I wished my dad were here to help. Werling looked unspeakably burned. Dad was a medic. He’d know what to do. I hated myself for not knowing what to do.
Her Ladyship placed her mouth next to my ear, her long, blood-spattered hair draped over me. Her breath smelled of the morning woods. “You can be bigger and stronger than all of this. Think. The power to stop this is not in swords.”
I knew my dad was braver for fighting without a gun. Some of my friends laughed at that, but I thought he was the bravest soldier of all. “Don’t talk to your friends to stop a war,” he’d said. “Talk to your enemies.” He hated war.
“Wendy, it is said the pearls’ strength lies in doing good,” Eddy said. “It is why Iblis hates them—why he would destroy them.”
“Give us the pearls!” roared the largest genie.
Cathal neighed in panic and Nigel and Bruce cried in pain. I wanted to hide, but the pearls were cool in my burned hand. They took away my fear.
Werling moaned and coughed. He was alive! I filled with hope. I clutched the pearls to my chest.
“Hey, genie,” I shouted at the big one. “Do you want these?” I held the pearls up.
“What are you doing?” Ben cried.
“I’m going to talk to them.”
“Wendy, you might want to think about that.”
“I have to.” I stepped under Eddy’s arm. Ben grabbed my T-shirt but I pulled away.
“You’re hurt,” he said. He hesitated and added, “What do you think you can do?”
“I don’t know.”
“Give them to me. I’ll do it. I’ll talk to them.”
I took back every snarky thought I’d ever had about him. “No. I have to do this.”
“Look at you!” he said. “You’re hurt, in no shape to do this.”
“I know.”
The clang of steel, the fire, and now the police sirens were a mash of sound. The huge genie pushed past Nigel and Bruce like they were nothing and strode toward me. No one could stop him.
Eddy raised her sword, but I dropped my sword and raised the pearls high. I stepped into the street. “Hey! No more fighting!”
That stopped him in his tracks. He looked down on me. There was no way I could threaten him. He could squash me with his thumb.
“You wish to parley?” He threw his head back and thundered with triumphant laughter. His cohorts stopped fighting. It was a good thing, since I didn’t think Cathal could survive another minute. Nigel and Bruce weren’t much better off. The genie towered over me.
I smiled weakly and glanced back at Eddy. She looked grim but bowed for me to continue.
“Well, daughter of Eve,” the monster genie roared, “Will you give us what is ours, or stand there all day?”
My hair fluttered back at his breath. He could use a gallon of Listerine. I saw that Cathal had landed some good kicks. The genie looked like Mr. Clean after a freight train hit him.
I didn’t know what to say, and looked around. Everyone’s injuries were horrible, on both sides. The big genie stretched out his catcher’s mitt of a hand for the pearls.
“What’s your name?” I asked. The pearls vibrated and I got a rush that tingled from head to toe. My arm still pulsed with pain, but I could think clearly and I withheld the pearls, waiting for his answer.
A quick, puzzled look flashed over the genie’s messed-up face. Then he growled, “The pearls.” He shook his open hand.
“I’m Wendy. That’s Cathal, Nigel, and Bruce.” I pointed to them in turn. “That’s Ben, Oliver, Werling, and Eddy . . . Her Ladyship of Minnehaha Creek.”
“I do not care to waste time talking to you, little human girl. Give me the pearls or I will take them.”
I tilted my hand to show him the pearls better. They flashed and seemed to grow. He leaned back slightly, like the sight of them somehow amazed him. They were more beautiful than I recalled, transparent and filled with shapes that flowed and swirled with images. Pictures filled my head: the last time my dad held me, my grandma’s smile, Mom singing as she tucked me in—and my Aunt Mary hugging me.
I saw Werling in his dumb suit of leaves. The visions shot through my brain in an instant. My eyes teared up, but the thoughts made me smile.
I squeezed the pearls tight, then reopened my hand. They were now creamy blue! Dazzlingly blue, so bright and beautiful they were hard to look at. But it was impossible not to. The genie shielded his eyes. I wondered if he saw anything, any visions?
“What is your name?” I asked him again.
The genie rocked back and adjusted his feet like he was braced against a wind. “My name is Kalil,” he said with surprise. He didn’t shout this time.
I was not sure if the change in the pearls amazed him or if suddenly telling me his name did. His eyes fixed on the pearls. He had seen something! He lost his frown.
“My Lord Iblis commanded me to find these pearls.” This he said in a lowered voice. “They are to be broken and crushed.” He now sounded like he was trying to reason with me. He relaxed a bit. His voice was deep and made my chest vibrate.
What I was going to do next was a big, big mistake. Still, it felt right. I held up the pearls and offered them to him. “Kalil. That’s a very good name. I like it. It fits you. I figure if I’m going to give you the pearls, I should at least know who I’m giving them to.”
“You would give me the pearls, freely?” His bloodied forehead wrinkled up and he reached for them.
“You are free to take them or leave them,” I said.
His hand hesitated and he looked from me to the brilliant pearls. They were like stars, shining, casting light everywhere.
“I am ordered to destroy them.” It now sounded more like a warning than a desire. His fingers touched the pearls and then his hand slipped, wavered, and dropped to his side.
“They are more beautiful than the legend,” he stated and stared at them, transfixed. He leaned closer and tried taking them again, but his hand failed to close on them. “You would let that happen? Let me crush them?”
I was a midget next to him. “‘Let’ might not be the word.” I looked around at the wreckage. Words came to mind and I didn’t know from where. “Killing me wouldn’t take much strength, Kalil. I know that. You’re strong. But you have other strength, greater strength.”
Bearer of the Pearls Page 9
