by Kailin Gow
“This is crazy. I don’t know what’s real anymore. I don’t know what to believe anymore. You're making Pim out to be a monster. My own mother is fond of him, would have made her life with him if she’d been allowed to. I was set to marry this man’s son. Are you telling me that Liam is a monster as well?”
“We are all born pure and joyous, Kama, but greed… it is insidious.”
I glared at him, angry that he should put such an unappealing trait on Liam’s shoulders.
“Liam is a good man now,” Torrid went on, “honest and devoted, but power can often crowd out honesty and devotion. It is intoxicating, and few men can resist.”
“Then Arcadia really isn’t that perfect after all,” I mumbled.
“No, it is far from perfect, but all Pim cares about is the illusion of perfection.”
I stepped away from him, the need to breathe on my own pressing me to put some distance between us. I paced along a perfect line of blue dandelions that swayed in the breeze, seemingly following my every step.
Pim Seer was such an attractive and charming man. Torrid had to be wrong.
“How did he find out about the Magical Ones to begin with?” I ventured. “How did he get the idea to build a city in such an unorthodox fashion?”
“Wars between Magical ones and mere mortals have gone on for ages. We’ve been captured and enslaved for centuries, though our existence has always been a well-kept secret.”
His arms crossed before his chest, he watched me, his gaze patient.
“And Pim learned of this secret?”
He nodded, came to my side and halted my pacing by reaching for my hand and holding it securely. “Pim Seer is a Catcher, a mortal who has a gift for catching our kind. As a young man, he was the best. He caught our kind for others, but he finally realized with Arcadia what catching our kind and enslaving us for our magic would do for him.”
“Pim is only trying to recreate the town he and my mother grew up in…the town that was destroyed in war. He wants what’s best for my mother and others who became homeless after the war destroyed their homes,” I said.
“His intentions may be good, but not when people are enslaved,” Torrid said. “He does care passionately about his people, but…”
“I’m part of his people, too,” I said. “My mother is mortal…”
“That’s why you will be able to break the field, Kama. But you’re the General’s daughter, too,” Torrid said.
“What are we, Torrid?” I asked, too frustrated to wait. “I need some answers…”
Torrid held my hands in his and looked lovingly into my eyes and said, “We are an ancient magical race. We have been around for ages, and have been immortalized in television and folklore. Some call us djinns, but we are better known as genies.”
“What?” Kama asked.
“Not as you know genies to be,” said Torrid. “We have powerful magic, and have been at war with human Catchers for a while. Catchers figured out our magic was of use to them, so they invaded our magical world, enslaved some of our people, and now literally use our people’s magic for anything.”
“But genies aren’t real,” I said.
“We are, only not the kind depicted in mortal television and cartoons, which is a way to degrade us and show humans how cartoonish we are. No, we are different from that. We look like humans. We have feelings, we have families, we have years of history, a civilization and society just like mankind.”
I was speechless. Not in a million years or in any of my wildest imagination would I thought genies were real nor were anything like Torrid or myself. I gasped inwardly as Torrid brought a finger to touch my cheek.
“Are you okay, Kama?” he asked softly, close enough for me to smell his woodsy clean scent. “I didn’t want to tell you until later, but you’re right. You have a right to know. Especially as General Adon’s daughter. Pim Seer has been trying to catch him for years.”
Chapter 17
My head filled with too much information, I rushed home, determined to confront my mother. I couldn’t keep everything inside any longer; the pain, the questions, the fears, the uncertainty of it all was wearing me out and I had to share it with someone.
“Mom,” I shouted as I pushed open the front door, hoping she’d not yet left for work. “I need to talk to you.”
“For heaven’s sake, Kama,” she said as she came into the living room, her fingers fastening their way up her shirt, button by button. “It’s barely seven o’clock. What’s all this shouting about? And where have you been?”
I looked at her, my eyes taking in the woman who had raised me, taught me what life was about, and led me to believe that Arcadia was the perfect paradise. I knew she was well intentioned, and I had no doubt she’d wanted to protect me.
“I know,” I finally said.
Her fingers stopped working and she stared at me, her lips parted in fear and disbelief. She shook it off fast enough and smiled. “Know what, honey?”
“Mom, please. I’m 18 now. There’s no use trying to protect me from the truth any longer. All my life I’ve wanted to know where I come from, who my father is and why he hasn’t been a part of my life.”
“Kama, it’s not that simple.”
“I know, Mom. I know the important man he is. I know he’s a powerful man who passed onto me many of his abilities. I know I’m a genie just like him.”
My heart sank as I watched the blood drain from my mother’s face. She backed up to the sofa and sat down, her gaze distant and filled with dread.
“I had to protect you, Kama.” She looked up at me, her eyes filled with pain. “If they ever found out about you, who you are, what you are…”
I made my way to her side, sat down and took her hands in mine. With all the talk of magic and genies and other preposterous notions, I needed to know she was real, human, the mother I’d always loved and trusted. “I need to hear the truth from you, Mom.”
“Arcadia is such a heavenly paradise,” she said softly. “No war, no death, no misery.”
“But at what cost?”
“Outside the Arcadian borders,” she went on, ignoring my question, “life is hell. People try to make due in the war ravaged towns that are still struggling to rebuild, to come back to life. You don’t know how lucky you are to have been raised here.”
“But it’s not real.”
“The peace we live in is real, Kama. Pim has done everything to ensure we never experience the ravages of war, that we never endure the pain and suffering as…”
“As you have?”
Her fingers tightened around mine and I hated myself from bringing up her past.
“You can’t even imagine the things we witnessed, the things we lived through. But the Magical Ones have maintained peace now for almost twenty years. Arcadia has been more successful than Pim ever imagined.”
“I’m not sure I would consider enslaving people a success, Mom.” I wanted to argue the point on slavery, wanted to tell her how awful it was to base our happiness on the imprisonment of innocent people, but the realization of her knowledge of them struck me suddenly. “Mom, you know about all the Magical Ones?”
She nodded, a hint of defiance lighting her saddened eyes. “After what we lived through, Pim wanted to do all he could to make life for us happy and safe. The Magical Ones had the ability to give us all that. Not only are we safer with them around, but they’re safer as well. The world outside Arcadia is an ugly one, Kama. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise. Death, disease, hunger and lifelong misery is all one can hope for.”
“If what you say is true, why are the Magical Ones being held against their will?”
A soft and innocent smile came to her lips. “Some people don’t know what’s best for them, honey. Some Magical Ones don’t realize what’s out there, but believe me, many of them do and they’re happy living among us as they do.”
“Mom,” I said. “I’m part Magical One. I have the blood of a genie running through me. Would you s
ee me imprisoned as Pim does the Magical Ones? Would you claim it was for my own good?”
She shifted slightly, turning to me while her thumbs rubbed circles over my hands in a soothing fashion. “You think I’m being flighty and unrealistic. You think I’ve just been brainwashed into thinking we need the Magical Ones at all costs. You think I’m just naively overlooking the fact that the Magical Ones have had to sacrifice a degree of freedom.”
“Maybe you're just…”
“I was there, Kama. I was there when soldiers invaded my sweet little home town. I was there when they stormed the streets, set fire to anything and everything that took flame, killed, maimed and tortured people. I saw it up close, the blood, the gore, the death. Pim and I were just children when we watched our parents die. I was twelve years old and I had to rummage for scraps of food, remove clothing from the dead in order to keep myself warm. I had to hide in the ruins of my friends’ homes as warriors plowed through the devastation looking for every last citizen.”
Stunned, I listened to her, feeling the pain she’d lived through.
“For years we just survived, living in horrible conditions that I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy. Most of the adults had been killed or imprisoned, leaving us kids to fend for ourselves.”
Tears welled in my eyes as I envisioned the young girl she’d once been.
“Your father, General Adon, headed an army that finally arrived and tried to salvage what they could of our city. Many of his mortal friends had been caught in the crossfire and he attempted to do all he could to save them. He was a fierce warrior and a smart leader.”
Her gaze met mine and a tender smile cracked her lips. “I was about your age by then and your father was the most strikingly handsome man I’d ever seen. Not only was he physically attractive, with his sandy hair, soft eyes and charming grin, but he exuded a confidence that had me giving him my heart in an instant. He and his army saved what remained of our village. I was madly in love with him and wanted only to marry him.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“Two people could not be from more distant worlds. No mortal has ever married a genie, never mind the most powerful of them all. It broke my heart to watch him leave. It broke my heart to know that I carried you and he would never know you, never hold you. I wasn’t even permitted to tell anyone that I carried his child. His world… your world, would not have allowed it.”
“I’m so sorry you had to bear such pain.”
“I tried to bury it all in the life I built here. Pim did so much to ensure happiness reigned in Arcadia and I took advantage of that. He took every fond memory we had and incorporated it into this city. Arcadia was born out of the fond memories of all the refugees and survivors of the war. We are grateful to have a place as peaceful and idyllic as Arcadia to raise our children. This house is a replica of the home I grew up in, though with a few additional modern conveniences. That is why we are not in the Diamond District. He wanted us to live with him or at least near him, but I insisted on living here. For a few years it actually worked, this nirvana he’d created, and I was able to set aside the painful images from my past. I blocked out the hurt and heartache, even the love I had for your father. Most of the psychological scars healed and left me space to find a healthy degree of fulfillment. After all, I had you. From the moment you were born it was blissful and my life revolved around you. Pim made sure I had all I needed and you took care of the rest. You were my little ray of sunshine.”
I smiled, remembering the near perfect childhood I’ve had.
“You had a smile that could light up the night, and your laughter… Oh, honey, the sound of you laughing was the best painkiller of all. On the few days when I allowed myself to think back on the pain of my past, you easily brought me back to the joy of living in the moment.”
“Was Pim present in my childhood?”
“As much as his position allowed. Since you’ve taken up with Liam it’s made it even easier for him to integrate himself in your life a little more, but he’s always been aware of my feelings for your dad, and he’s respected that.”
I couldn’t hide my surprise.
“Yes,” my mother admitted. “There was a degree of animosity between them. Pim was furious with Adon. After all, Pim had known me forever, and had assumed I’d be with him always. Adon’s arrival and my subsequent attraction to him ruffled Pim’s feathers, to say the least. When he learned I was pregnant with Adon’s child, the animosity grew. In one svelte move, Adon had ruined Pim’s chances of ever living a life with me.”
“Is that why he’s so intent on capturing him?”
She hesitated and I saw in her guarded eyes her desire to protect Pim. “Adon is a powerful genie,” she murmured as though afraid I’d hear her.
“And Pim wants that power.”
Leaning back, she let her gaze float to the ceiling and her lips turned to a line of chagrin. “For years I’d convinced myself that Pim only wanted to get revenge on Adon for what he’d done to me, but…” She shook her head and blinked back tears. “I don’t understand what he could possibly want to do with all of Adon’s power. Pim is a rich, powerful and important man. What more could he want?”
“Just… more.”
She nodded knowingly, as if the answer had always been there; it just needed to be stated aloud. “Your father and many of the more powerful genies have always eluded Pim. They’re smart and agile.”
“Did you know things could change when I turned 18?” I thought of all the changes and turmoil that had accompanied my arrival into adulthood.
“Pim has vaguely hinted at the possibilities in the past, but I thought he referred to the changes any teenager faces when they become adults. I guess a part of me wanted to ignore what was coming.”
“If I’m to have the same kind of power my father has, wouldn’t Pim want me under his thumb?”
My mother sat up, grabbed my cheeks and squeezed lovingly. “You're like his daughter, Kama. Though Pim despised your father beyond reason, he’s always loved you. Truth be told, he even offered to take you on as his charge, to marry me and claim you for his own, but I couldn’t live such a lie. I couldn’t betray your father like that.”
She released me and sat back.
“When you befriended Liam, it was his wildest dream come true. His hopes for your romance and marriage were boundless. If he couldn’t have you for a daughter, he’d have you for a daughter-in-law, and that pleased him very much.”
“Then why hasn’t he done anything to change my Life’s Plan?”
“Don’t you see, Kama? He can’t. It’s out of his hands. Quite frankly, I’ve begun to question whether your father wasn’t behind it all.”
“My father?”
“The Magical Ones are in charge of gathering and deciphering all the information about you. Perhaps one of them realized you were destined to far greater things.”
“Humph, that’s what Torrid said.”
A broad, happy and nostalgic smile cracked my mother’s face. In that moment, she radiated a degree of happiness I’d rarely seen her display. “So you’ve finally met.”
“You know him?”
Her smile traveled back through the years. “Prince Torrid was a mere boy who followed your father around, eager to learn all there was about becoming a warrior. Even then his shock of black hair and clear blue eyes held everyone’s attention. Even then he spoke with eloquence, confidence and no one doubted he’d go far.” Her gaze returned to the present. “I should have known he’d be the one to break through the force field around Arcadia. I should have known your father would have trusted no one else for the task of reaching you. Is he as handsome as he promised to be?”
I felt the blood race to my cheeks and my heart ached to be with him. “Unimaginably so, Mom. His dark hair is as black as night, while his eyes could make the brightest sky of blue look dismal. He’s tall and strong, with a physique that could easily protect me from all harm, but with a soft and tender touch that makes me
want to melt. From the very first moment I saw him…” I drifted off, knowing I’d already divulged far too much.
“You knew,” she finished.
I nodded and realized just how much she understood my attraction to Torrid. She’d had the same experience with my father. I looked at her, my gaze unabashedly asking her if my tale would end as hers had.
She looked away, her gaze once again reverting to the years past as a soft and sad smile held to her lips. “Prince Torrid of the Western Nethers,” she said to herself. “And you.”
Her gaze dipped to her hands, her index finger rubbing over her ring finger where a wedding band should be.
“He’s begun to show me what powers I have,” I said.
Concern creased her brow, but her sad smile remained.
“The Magical Ones need to have their freedom, Mom.”
She cocked her head to the side slightly as she looked at me, her gaze carrying a whole new degree of respect and admiration for me that I’d never seen before.
“You're such a smart girl, I know you’ll do what’s right, just as your father did. But I don’t want you to think Pim as a monster. The first Magical Ones to come to Arcadia did so of their own free will. Pim offered them a safe place to live, a warm place to sleep and promised them protection. They wanted to escape from the ravages of war, too.”
“Then why are Catchers sent out to capture more and more of them?”
She looked away and I knew she didn’t have an answer.
Chapter 18
A sound knock at the front door broke the heavy silence that had descended on my mother and me. We looked at each other, each reluctant to acknowledge the intrusion.
