The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) by Lisa Gail Green Page B

back.
    Taj’s
muscles tense to the point I’m afraid they will explode. I tilt my head in a
nod, and he takes a long, slow breath. “Please.”
    Sophie
kisses her Djinni tenderly on the head and hands it to him. “Take good care of
her.” He rolls his eyes, and the doll disappears from view.
    “Okay,”
Jered breathes. “Problem solved. A Magician in Chicago with a Djinni who’s been
persuaded to give it over to you.”
    “Wonderful.
Now we have until I give it to my master tomorrow and she explodes in anger,
punishes me, then questions me and re-orders your specific destruction in every
gory detail.” Taj sits on the bed and pulls a jeweled goblet from thin air,
wine sloshing up and over the edges as he raises it above his head. “How about
a toast?” he asks, and we each have a matching glass.
    “To
the worst plan ever!”

The Beginning
     
     
    “ umans
have found a way to use magic,” I say.
    Taj’s
boisterous laugh stops cold at the pronouncement. We meet in the treetops of
the oasis, balancing like birds on the thin olive branches in the sky. We are
invisible to humans, so we can truly be ourselves.
    “Is
it not wonderful?” I ask, continuing to dance around, leaping from limb to limb
and spinning in the air.
    “How
have they managed it?” Taj asks, straddling one of the thicker branches and
pushing aside the leaves.
    “I
do not know,” I say, shrugging. “What difference does it make? Now they will be
more like us. We will not have to hide much longer.”
    “Does
Rhada know? She spends so much time with that woman.”
    “I
do not speak with Rhada. She and Mira have little time for me since they have
become involved.”
    “Mira
tends to become obsessive on occasion,” Taj says, laying a hand on my arm.
    “I
care not what choices she makes.” I do not know why my chest squeezes when I
say this. I remain perplexed by human behavior, including my own.
    Taj
looks as though he wishes to say more, but Mira herself materializes inches
from me. Her beautiful face is creased with worry.
     “I
have not seen Rhada in a fortnight.”
    “Why
should that concern me?” I ask with another shrug.
    “She
is probably playing with that human,” Taj says.
    “That
woman is merely a distraction,” Mira says. “She cares for me. She would not
leave me for this long.”
    “She
is obviously tired of you,” I say. “The humans are new and fresh. The physical
form is so...delicious.”
    Mira
disappears in a flash of green light.
    “You
should not be so cruel to her,” Taj says.
    “Why?
She is not one of them. She is one of us. I am sure Rhada is simply enjoying
the earthly delights she has discovered. Mira should not be so...what did you
say? Obsessed. They have eternity to be together.”
    “Perhaps.
But have you considered the possibility that not all humans are as divine as
yours?”
    “Do
not be absurd. What are you even suggesting?” I ask. I pull an iris from the
air and arrange it in my hair.
    “I
do not know. But I can tell you that I have already met a few that are now
enjoying a life as rodents. Assuming, of course, they have not been swallowed
by a snake.”
    “Taj!
You should not interfere like that. And for what? Not appreciating your human
form, no doubt?”
    “Perhaps
they appreciated it too much and did not want to let it go.”
    “Scoundrel.”
    “Thank
you, Darling.” Taj sweeps me into his arms and dances us higher, through the
sky. We are both laughing and reveling in the warmth of the human sun.
Both Mira and Rhada are pushed aside like the clouds that swirl into
nothingness as we spin through them.

Taking Command
     
     
    “e
must go far away,” I say. “You should have me take Sophie home now so we can
leave. It might be a good idea to ask me to erase her memory of this night as
well.”
    I
pace back and forth between the bed and the window while Gabe lies on the floor
playing tic-tac-toe with Sophie and her replacement doll. Jered watches me with
his relentless