Jinn and Juice

by Nicole Peeler

  “I’m going to start healing you,” I said. “I can’t do much when we’re moving like this, but I can start. It’s going to hurt.”

  “It hurts now,” he said, his face pale and sweating.

  “I know, Master,” I said, genuinely worried for him.

  “Jesus, call me Oz,” he snapped, the pain making him lose patience.

  I rolled my eyes, but did as he said. “Bear down, Oz,” I said. “I’m going to start…”

  When I opened myself to the Node, its power almost overwhelmed me. It was right under our feet in Pittsburgh, but here the magic was all around us, saturating the air. I carefully grounded myself, keeping a tight grip on my magical channels so they didn’t flood, and sent a tendril of magic out to Ozan.

  “Shit,” he hissed, as the magic hit him. I needed to concentrate to do any real healing, but I could at least stabilize him as we moved, to keep that rib from puncturing his lung.

  “None of this is going to feel good,” I told him, grimly, as we ducked through a series of low doors leading through small stone rooms, the purpose of which was completely obscure.

  “It’s fine,” he said, but his gritted teeth said otherwise.

  Without thinking I gave him a squeeze with the arm I had wrapped around his waist. “I know it hurts,” I said, then “Sorry,” when he hissed. Not the best time for a motivational hug.

  “No one seems to be following,” I said, as we paused in another long hallway to catch our breath and listen. Oz nodded grimly, his eyes shut. I needed to get him healed, stat.

  I knew we’d found the right place when we entered what looked like a medieval tennis court, although there were low stone walls instead of nets. But there was a gallery looming above the court, accessible from a winding staircase at either end. I could see a door in the center of the gallery, leading into a dark room behind.

  “Let’s go up there,” I said. Oz nodded, although he eyed the staircase with more than a little dismay.

  “You can do it. Just tell me you need help. Don’t forget you’re a Magi.”

  The look he gave me was dark, but he didn’t argue. “I’ll need help,” he said shortly. It wasn’t much of a command, but it would do.

  Without my commanding it, my Fire blossomed, cocooning him in its swirling darkness. I carried him like that, up the stairs, my magic cushioning our ascent.

  When we got to the top, I swore. The dark lintel off the gallery did not lead into the rest of the palace, as I’d assumed, but into a small, windowless room. I considered taking Oz back down, but listening to his rattling breath I knew we were running out of time.

  “Tell me to heal you,” I said as I laid him on the floor.

  “Do I have to?”

  I rolled my eyes. “My power works better that way. I’d do it myself, if that’s what you’re asking. But if you command me the jinni in me does it automatically, and better than I can by myself.”

  His concentration wrinkle formed and I knew he was filing away what I’d just told him, but before I could admonish him he said, “Heal me, please,” and I thought the please was a nice touch.

  My jinni went to work, seeking out his injuries. They were worse than I’d first assessed—stuff had been scraping around and there was some internal bleeding I quickly stanched. The soft tissue was easy, however, and quick to manipulate. It was the bones that would be a bitch.

  I took Oz’s hand as I started on his ribs, and he squeezed mine gratefully. His eyes were large, full of pain as he stared into mine. I smiled encouragingly at him as the bones were pulled into place.

  My smile faltered, however, when we heard the shouts from down below. There were children in the court.

  I ceased my healing as we listened. What had begun as a few quiet footfalls was now the sounds of quite a few feet, pattering around the court.

  “I can smell them,” said a snarling voice. One of the half-vamps. “They were here.”

  We were stock-still, our eyes still glued on each other’s as we listened. We heard footsteps beneath us, then a voice saying, “Didn’t go this way.”

  The footsteps came back into the room below. “What’s up there?” a voice asked.

  “Nuffin’,” said a girl’s voice. “Just a room.”

  “They don’t know that,” said the snarling voice.

  And we knew we were fucked. Someone shouted and other kids responded, more voices and feet piling into the court. We heard shuffling at either end of our gallery—children waiting to ascend and find us, trapped.

  “They can’t get you,” Oz said. I’d started healing him again, furiously, not wanting him to be vulnerable when they came up.

  “They’re about to get both of us,” I said. “This is going to hurt, but we’ll have you on your feet…”

  “Lyla, stop,” he commanded. My jinni did so, even as I squeaked a protest.

  His voice was calm as he spoke, and his hand in mine was steady. “They can’t get you,” he said. “If they do, they’re going to use you to bring your maker back to this world. Even I, with so little experience of jinn, can see that’s a terrible idea. Plus I don’t like Tamina very much anymore, and I don’t want her to get her way.”

  “They’re just kids,” I lied. Dmitri was not just a kid, and enough kids could take us down as they had Bertha and Yulia. “I’ll get us out.”

  “No, you won’t. I know what I’m doing. You have to trust me. I’ll be fine.”

  I cocked my head at him, about to ask what he meant, but he spoke first.

  “Lyla, I command you to get yourself to safety. Now.”

  And with that, my jinni did as he said, even as I howled in protest. She drew heavily on the Node, more than I’d ever pulled. More than I’d thought I could pull. I shut my eyes against that schizoid feeling of my own power doing something against my will and suddenly I was opening them again standing outside the palace, my fingers closed around nothing.

  And then Oz unBound me.

  I gasped, feeling his power over me wink out of existence. I was free.

  And I was pissed.

  And then everything went dark…

  I came to just a short while later, the shock of using and then losing all that magic having left my head buzzing painfully. I swore, remembering what Oz had done, and before Tamina could realize I was free I pulled, hard, on that last pocket of power being Bound to Oz had left me, feeling for him through the empty space his unBinding me had left, till my power found him, and I pulled…

  He was sitting on a low stone bench in a small room off the throne room. I could hear Tamina yelling commands from somewhere nearby.

  One of the two adult half-vamps guarding my erstwhile Master blinked at me in surprise. I walloped him, a smack with my Fire that sent him flying across the room to land against the wall with a thud. The other one turned just as I reached for one of my swords, only registering my presence a second before I whacked him in the base of the skull with my pommel. He, too, dropped like a sack.

  “Find her!” I heard Tamina rage from the other room. “Find her now! She’s all that matters! Find her!”

  “I freed you,” Oz said, staring at me mulishly. “Go away.”

  I rolled my eyes. “You’re welcome. And you’re an idiot.”

  Using my sword, I cut through the ropes binding his hands before I stored it Sideways again. I looked around the little room—no exits, except for a high window that overlooked empty sky.

  Damn, I thought. Oh well…

  “You have to Bind me again,” I told him. “Quickly.”

  “No,” he said. “I freed you. You’re free. Go away.”

  “Stop being an idiot,” I hissed, keeping one ear on Tamina still tantruming in the other room. “You have to Bind me. Otherwise she can Bind me.”

  “Oh,” he said. “I forgot about that part. I just wanted you safe.”

  “It didn’t work,” I hissed. “Bind me!”

  He scrubbed his hand through his hair. “Do I have to? I hate having you B
ound. And I forced you to find that girl and she turns out to be evil, and intent on Calling back to earth the one creature that gives you nightmares every night.”

  I narrowed my eyes at him. “How did you…”

  “I was your Master,” he said, softly. “I know.”

  “So Bind me, otherwise that girl will,” I said.

  “I could just keep you Bound, and send you away again.”

  I took a deep breath. He didn’t get it. “I’m rescuing you, you idiot. There’s no way I’d leave you here and if you send me away again, I’ll just come back. We can keep playing this stupid game over and over, or you can just stop being a fucking moron.”

  He blinked. “Maybe if you stop calling me a moron…”

  We both shut up as we heard Tamina’s voice getting closer.

  “I will kill him,” she screeched. “I will kill him slowly, and mail the pieces to that shit-hole nudie bar…”

  I admired Tamina’s grasp of English slang even as I raised an eyebrow at Oz.

  “You were saying?”

  He gulped. “Are you sure?”

  “Yes, ohmigod, if you don’t Bind me right now I’m going to…”

  He Bound me, faster than I’d ever been Bound before, the words harsh but welcome in the air around us.

  My jinni swelled within me, saturated with power once again as the door to the little stone room popped open.

  “What the…?” Tamina started.

  “Tell me to get us the fuck out of here,” I said to Oz. Until he’d told me to get myself out of there, I hadn’t known apparating all the way Sideways would be an option. I’d never used that much power before.

  Now I really hoped we could make it work a second time, for two people.

  “Get us out of here, now,” he commanded, his whole Will behind his words. My jinni answered him tout suite.

  She pulled like I’d never felt her pull before, reaching so deep that, if the Node had been a person, I’d have been tickling its tonsils.

  The last thing we saw was Tamina’s face as I took us all the way out of Sideways and back to the mortal plane.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  We popped out into my living room and I automatically added the last bit of magic coursing through my system to my wards, beefing them up to hide our presence from outsiders.

  We’d be safe from Tamina’s minions, at least for a while. Which was good, because I was going to be about as useful as balls on a lady-fish in about two seconds.

  “Oh,” I groaned, as the first wave of pain swept through me. If I thought I’d fried my channels before, now they were burnt to a crisp.

  “Lyla!” said Oz, panic lacing his voice, as I swayed on my feet, my knees buckling.

  He caught me, and then swore, his half-healed ribs flaring in a pain so sharp I felt it through our bond.

  Together we stumbled to my couch, collapsing in a heap, our arms entwined around one another.

  “Heal you,” I mumbled, reaching out to the Node, then hissing as the magic washed over my raw magical wounds.

  “Heal yourself,” he said, taking my chin in his hand and looking at me with both pain and concern. “Now. I command you.”

  And like that I felt the magic transmute into something soothing, through the mysterious machinations of my jinni. I sighed, a rough sound of pleasure that made Oz’s pupils dilate.

  “Now you,” I said, when I was healed enough to do the same for him. He didn’t complain as I pushed my cold hands up his shirt, against his overly warm ribs, and began pummeling him with healing magics.

  It was his turn to sigh, after a minute or two of pained grunts. I hated hurting him, but healing always hurt.

  When I was finished, we were left lying against the back of the couch, sweating and sore, our eyes locked on each other’s gaze.

  I mustered up just enough strength to text Charlie, “we’re safe. need to rest. Loretta turncoat. B&Y on way to u. shields up till am.”

  He’d know to circle his wagons till the morning, wherever he was at. I threw my phone somewhere near the coffee table and leaned back next to Oz again.

  My Master raised a hand to my cheek, giving me a gentle, almost wondering caress.

  “We need to talk,” he said.

  “We need to sleep,” I said. “And then we can talk.”

  I pulled him with me as I listed sideways, grateful my sofa was wide, and soft, and accommodating. And even more grateful for the afghan that lived on the back of the couch, which I pulled over us.

  My back was to Oz’s chest, his knees tucked into mine. Humans called it spooning, and it felt perilously good.

  “You came back for me,” Oz mumbled sleepily into my ear.

  “I did,” I said, no less surprised than he was.

  “Thank you,” I heard him say.

  I lay quietly, not knowing how to respond, but he wasn’t expecting anything. His breath, hot against my scalp, grew longer, and then a gentle, whuffling snore told me he was asleep.

  Healing took a lot of energy out of both parties, and he’d sleep till his body recovered.

  But despite my exhaustion, I didn’t join him and Morpheus as quickly as I’d thought I would. Instead I lay, listening to him breathe, wondering what I’d just done and what it meant.

  “Two days,” I told myself. Then I registered the soft light creeping into the room and realized it was dawn. “Less than two days.”

  I had less than forty-eight hours before my curse was lifted. After that, Tamina would have no use for me.

  But until then?

  I knew Oz would free me. All my skepticism about him was gone. He was exactly what he seemed—a genuinely good man. But that no longer mattered.

  For Oz couldn’t unBind me until the very last second, or I’d be vulnerable to Tamina’s Call.

  My Master’s arm tightened around me and I tried not to think about what we’d do next. Instead I tried to imagine what it would be like to be human.

  As I drifted off, scenes of human life drifted through my mind. They weren’t much different from my daily routine as a cursed jinni: brunch at my favorite restaurant, dancing at the job I loved, spending time with my friends.

  The only difference was that Oz was there and we were both human, and equal, and nothing stood between us.

  He was what I dreamed about when I finally did sleep; my Master with his silver gaze and anchor tattoos, whose goodness I knew was more precious and rare than his magic.

  I woke up when I hit the floor, my eyes snapping open in panic. I froze, recognizing my living room ceiling, but having no idea where I was or how I’d gotten there.

  Registering that the shape next to me was my couch, I realized I must have fallen off it. A theory confirmed when Oz’s bleary-eyed, whiskery face came into view above me.

  “What’re you doing down there?” he mumbled sleepily, extending a hand.

  “Fell off,” I said, taking it without thinking. He pulled me in his direction and I followed till I was back on the couch. Then he manhandled me down and against him, and I remembered falling asleep just like that, him holding me as we spooned.

  It felt different, now that we were rested. Not to mention after the dreams I’d had.

  His breathing was slow and even, and I wondered if he’d fallen asleep again. But then he spoke.

  “Thank you for coming back for me,” he said again. His arm around me tightened, pulling me closer.

  It felt good. Too good. I pulled away, sitting up on the edge of the sofa and then getting to my feet.

  “Coffee,” I said, in both explanation and apology, and went to the kitchen. When I’d set the coffee maker percolating, I went to the bathroom to take a quick shower and brush my teeth. I came out wearing my bathrobe, to find Oz sitting at the kitchen table, sipping from one of my oversize mugs.

  He smiled when he saw me. “You look okay,” he said.

  “Damning with faint praise?” I asked, raising an eyebrow.

  He shook his head. “Not at al
l. But you looked pretty done in last night. I was worried about you.”

  “Yeah, well, you didn’t look so hot yourself.” I poured my own cup of coffee before digging into the fridge.

  Oz stood, nodding ruefully. “And I bet I still don’t look much better. If you’ll excuse me…” With that he headed toward his bedroom. While I pulled bread from the freezer and eyeballed the “use by” date on a carton of eggs with trepidation, I heard the bathroom door shut and the water run.

  I made us some breakfast, just scrambled eggs and toast. By the time it was ready, Oz had emerged, wearing a black T-shirt and soft gray-and-black pajama bottoms. He looked so clean and casual as he took his seat at the table, and as I served us breakfast, I had a flashback to my dreams last night. Us being normal, being human—a breakfast scene, dressed in our comfies, eating in companionable silence.

  “We have to talk,” I said, trying to bury those images. We were anything but normal: he was a Magi, I was cursed to be a jinni and Bound to him.

  “I know,” he said. “First of all… Tamina.”

  Her name dropped between us like a brick. We stared down at our plates.

  “Well, she sucks,” I said.

  “Yep. What should we do?”

  “No idea,” I said. “We need to talk to Charlie. Get his advice.”

  Oz nodded. “Fine. But what about you? I hate having you Bound again.”

  My heart twinged.

  “Thank you,” I told him, meeting his silver eyes with mine. “But I have to be, for right now.”

  “Tamina?” he asked.

  I nodded. “Yes. If I’m not Bound to you…”

  “She can Call you,” Oz finished.

  “And Bind me to herself.”

  “Since she’s a Magi now.”

  “We had to do it,” I said. “Live to fight another day, and all of that. Incapacitating her was our only way out, and Initiating her was the only distraction I could think of. And it worked. Sort of.”

  He shrugged, but he dug into the breakfast I’d made. We ate in silence. When we were finished, he took our plates to the sink and rinsed them off before putting them in the dishwasher.

  Then he came back to the table with the coffeepot and filled our mugs.