would she? Those djinn who were of the One Thousand had thrown in their lot with us mortals, and probably thought they’d left their old lives behind for good.
Apparently not. And apparently having a djinn ex-lover could be a hell of a lot worse than having the sort of obsessed human ex who would stalk you on Facebook or loiter around your school or office, hoping to catch sight of you. Not that I knew from personal experience, but my friend Elena had had a couple of doozies. She finally had to get a restraining order for one of them.
Too bad that sort of thing wouldn’t really work on a djinn.
“So,” I said, because the silence in the room was playing on my already frayed nerves. “Now we know who the bad guys are. Or at least one of them. That’s something, right?”
Even though I could tell the effort cost him, Zahrias pushed himself up out of his chair so he could go over to the window and stare at the winter-bare courtyard outside. His hands hung at his sides, as if he didn’t have the energy to clench them into fists. “It is very little, actually. I already had my suspicions as to who some of these…troublemakers…might be. I am not at all surprised to find that Khalim actually is one of them.”
I hated the flat, defeated tone in Zahrias’ voice. He didn’t sound at all like himself, but who could blame him? He — like every other djinn in Taos — was trying to function while Miles Odekirk’s device continuously sucked away every spare bit of energy he possessed.
“What do you want us to do?” Jace asked then. He appeared calm enough, but there was a faint crease between his brows, one that seemed to indicate he was also troubled by Zahrias’ attitude. The djinn community here had only been enduring the effects of Miles’s little black box for about a day. That was far too soon for any of them to be giving up, especially their leader.
Zahrias turned away from the window. It was a bright sunny day, the snow in the courtyard retreated to little patches here and there in the shadows. If you only looked at the sky and the evergreens, and not the bare branches of the oaks and sycamores and cottonwood trees, you could almost believe it was springtime.
But we knew better.
His shoulders lifted, and he wouldn’t look directly at Jace, or at me. Certainly not at Lilias and her wounded lover. His gaze seemed to be fixed somewhere beyond the walls of this suite. Possibly he was thinking of where the other djinn were hiding, which, according to what Jace had told me, was a very, very long way from here…or just in the next room, depending on how you looked at it.
“Do what you can,” Zahrias said at last. “I only fear it will not be enough.”
And he moved past us and on to the door, then let himself out. My heart beat once, then again. And again, while the silence grew.
Finally, Jace spoke. “We should go to the lab, Jessica. Let us see how Lindsay is doing.”
By “lab” he meant the supply room in the basement of the resort. Lauren had slipped a note under our door to let us know the lab had been moved here from the former auto repair shop we’d been using. I understood the reasoning. The device needed to stay here, close to the people it was protecting. Anyway, Jace had a point. The key to all this was figuring out a way to have the device shield us from the bad djinn, yet leave our loved ones untouched. Simple, right?
“Okay,” I replied, getting up from my chair. Directing my next words at Lilias and Aidan, I asked, “Is there anything we can get you?”
“No,” Aidan said. “I mean, Lauren’s checking in on us. Go to the lab. We’re all right.”
I didn’t know about that, but I also knew it wasn’t my place to argue. Aidan probably wanted Jace and me to get the hell out of there so he could talk to Lilias in private. I would have wanted the same thing, if our positions had been reversed.
“Take care,” Jace said quietly as we left the room.
Whether those words had
Apparently not. And apparently having a djinn ex-lover could be a hell of a lot worse than having the sort of obsessed human ex who would stalk you on Facebook or loiter around your school or office, hoping to catch sight of you. Not that I knew from personal experience, but my friend Elena had had a couple of doozies. She finally had to get a restraining order for one of them.
Too bad that sort of thing wouldn’t really work on a djinn.
“So,” I said, because the silence in the room was playing on my already frayed nerves. “Now we know who the bad guys are. Or at least one of them. That’s something, right?”
Even though I could tell the effort cost him, Zahrias pushed himself up out of his chair so he could go over to the window and stare at the winter-bare courtyard outside. His hands hung at his sides, as if he didn’t have the energy to clench them into fists. “It is very little, actually. I already had my suspicions as to who some of these…troublemakers…might be. I am not at all surprised to find that Khalim actually is one of them.”
I hated the flat, defeated tone in Zahrias’ voice. He didn’t sound at all like himself, but who could blame him? He — like every other djinn in Taos — was trying to function while Miles Odekirk’s device continuously sucked away every spare bit of energy he possessed.
“What do you want us to do?” Jace asked then. He appeared calm enough, but there was a faint crease between his brows, one that seemed to indicate he was also troubled by Zahrias’ attitude. The djinn community here had only been enduring the effects of Miles’s little black box for about a day. That was far too soon for any of them to be giving up, especially their leader.
Zahrias turned away from the window. It was a bright sunny day, the snow in the courtyard retreated to little patches here and there in the shadows. If you only looked at the sky and the evergreens, and not the bare branches of the oaks and sycamores and cottonwood trees, you could almost believe it was springtime.
But we knew better.
His shoulders lifted, and he wouldn’t look directly at Jace, or at me. Certainly not at Lilias and her wounded lover. His gaze seemed to be fixed somewhere beyond the walls of this suite. Possibly he was thinking of where the other djinn were hiding, which, according to what Jace had told me, was a very, very long way from here…or just in the next room, depending on how you looked at it.
“Do what you can,” Zahrias said at last. “I only fear it will not be enough.”
And he moved past us and on to the door, then let himself out. My heart beat once, then again. And again, while the silence grew.
Finally, Jace spoke. “We should go to the lab, Jessica. Let us see how Lindsay is doing.”
By “lab” he meant the supply room in the basement of the resort. Lauren had slipped a note under our door to let us know the lab had been moved here from the former auto repair shop we’d been using. I understood the reasoning. The device needed to stay here, close to the people it was protecting. Anyway, Jace had a point. The key to all this was figuring out a way to have the device shield us from the bad djinn, yet leave our loved ones untouched. Simple, right?
“Okay,” I replied, getting up from my chair. Directing my next words at Lilias and Aidan, I asked, “Is there anything we can get you?”
“No,” Aidan said. “I mean, Lauren’s checking in on us. Go to the lab. We’re all right.”
I didn’t know about that, but I also knew it wasn’t my place to argue. Aidan probably wanted Jace and me to get the hell out of there so he could talk to Lilias in private. I would have wanted the same thing, if our positions had been reversed.
“Take care,” Jace said quietly as we left the room.
Whether those words had
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