Jai shrugged, still looking bewildered. “We’re guys.”
Ari shook her head, hating everyone and everything at that moment. “You’re asshats.”
~20~
I Don’t Want This Heart, It’s Split in Two
Sunlight poured in through the kitchen window like an interrogation spotlight on the unbreakable. Ari turned her head this way and that, catching the beams of hot light on her face and feeling nothing but the temperate tingle of its touch.
She missed the heat.
She missed the cold.
She missed... her dad. Her friends. It was weird but she’d spent half of her time complaining they weren’t really there for her. As it turned out they were there enough to have created an ugly dent in her bumper now that they were gone. Charlie and Jai sat behind her at the kitchen table. Charlie had gone out to the store and gotten some eggs. Jai had cooked omelets. They existed together in a strained state of peace for Ari’s sake. Ari felt just as tense around them as they did around one another.
Feeling the way she did. About them both.
It wasn’t enough to be worrying constantly that The Red King hadn’t contacted them in three days, or that Rachel and Staci were gone from her life (and so easily – it was a little insulting), or that she was exhausted from using her Jinn magic twenty four hours a day. Who knew that conjuring random crap out of thin air instead of having to get off your ass and get it could get boring? But it did. Ari could see why Jai lived like a human, fetching glasses of soda and cooking omelets. Not that she talked to him about it. Since the hospital she had been distant with Jai and Charlie. There was just too much to think about. Too much to feel and right now she was just…
…angry.
Angry at her dad, at The White King, at The Red King, at Azazil, at Rachel and Staci for walking away after a five minute dispute (yeah, yeah rationality wasn’t really factoring into her rage), mad at Charlie for being a teenage delinquent for the last two years, and mad at Jai for making her feel a certain way about him and then treating her like some one night stand he couldn’t wait to get rid of. Finally… she was just angry at herself. Surely she should be coping with all of this way better than she was? She should be strong enough to protect the people she loved rather than have to push them away; she should be smart enough to find some way around The White King’s plans for her rather than playing directly into his hands; and she shouldn’t be so flaky as to fall for a guy when she was supposed to be in love with someone else.
She groaned inwardly, pressing her nose against the window pane. Sucks.
Ari was close to giving up on feeling the heat through the glass when Jai’s voice cut through the room, commanding and steely, “I think it’s time we test your other powers.”
Nervous little cretins awoke in her stomach, dancing and partying around in there, not caring that she was this close to throwing up.
Ari knew what Jai meant when he said ‘other powers’.
Stealing herself, she turned around slowly, her eyes falling on the table. Charlie sat looking at her, a forkful of egg inches from his mouth as he waited on her answer. Jai was finished eating, his plate pushed away from him, his arms crossed over his chest so his muscles flexed almost threateningly. “Why now?” she asked quietly, afraid.
“Because The Red King is taking a while. I don’t know what that means but I do know that time is running out. I think we should use what time we do have sensibly. To me it makes sense that we test the powers of the Seal.” His eyes narrowed at the petulant look she threw him. “Hey, I’m not happy about it either. The only way to test those abilities is to test it on the Jinn. The only Jinn we have in our midst is yours truly. I’m putting a lot of trust in you that you won’t command me to do something asinine.”
Ari snorted. “Asinine?”
“Ari…” he warned, standing up.
Charlie had been watching the byplay between them, his head swiveling back and forth. Now he grinned wickedly up at Jai. “Do I get to choose what she commands you to do? Come on, let me, it’ll be fun.”
Jai laughed humorlessly. “I said I don’t want her commanding me to do something asinine, kid.”
Charlie’s grin disappeared as quickly as it had surfaced. “I told you not to call me, kid, Jinn boy. I’m what… two years younger than you, douchebag?”
“Try five. And that’s only in physical years.”
“What, you trying to say I’m not mature?”
“Oh those socks you’re wearing definitely are. Have you heard of detergent? A shower? Hygiene?”
“I shower, you militant, glorified f**king babysitter.”
“Watch it, kid.”
“Kid? I am this close to taking a swing at you, you overblown piece of—”
“Oh for the love of God!” Ari cried, throwing her hands up, her head pounding. So much for their strained peace treaty. “Shut up. Shut up. Shut up!”
Despite their matching glowers, both of them slammed their lips closed and glared at one another. Ari heaved a sigh of relief as she pulled a chilled can of soda out of the refrigerator. At least the soda still felt nice sliding down her throat. Not the same as an ice cold Coke on a blazing summer day but still nice. She took a refreshing swig and turned towards her male companions once again. Blasts of frost shot out from Jai’s eyes only to be met by the simmering black heat of Charlie’s angry gaze. Rolling her eyes and biting back the guilt that she was somehow responsible for the animosity between the only two people she could count on right now, Ari spilled into the chair between them and Jai slowly sunk back down into his.
“So what will I command you?” she asked quietly, ignoring the way her fingers trembled as she played with the tab on her soda can.
When she got no answer, she glanced up to see Jai’s face going red, the veins in his head throbbing.
“Dude, what’s wrong?” Charlie asked quietly, looking at Ari in alarm. “Is he choking?”
Ari’s heart flipped in her chest at the thought and she reached across the table to grab his arm. “Jai?”
His eyes widened and he waved a large hand at his throat and mouth and then pointed at her.
What the hell?
“Jesus Christ, he can’t talk?” Charlie asked incredulously. “Is this a joke?
Ari, your power! Jai’s voice blasted into her head in a shout, probably born from his frustration. It knocked her back in her chair with a painful wince. You commanded me to shut up!
Holy macaroons, so she had! “And it worked?”
“What?” Charlie blinked in confusion.
“Telepathy,” she muttered, staring at Jai wide-eyed. Curiously she reached a hand out, her fingers brushing his warm throat without thinking. His eyebrows hit his hairline at her touch and as quickly as she had reached out to him his own hand trapped hers in a tight grip, pushing her away. Hurt, Ari pulled out of his grip, ignoring the flip in her stomach and the tingles down her spine at the feel of his work-roughened hands sliding against her skin.
Guess it works. His voice sounded quieter, more subdued.
She nodded, at once creeped out and unsure of herself. I can really command Jinn to do anything?
Looks that way.
Her mouth twisted at the possible consequences of this verification. I am so screwed.
Looks that way.
She shot him a dirty look. You want to be able to speak again or not, Jinn Boy.
Hey!
She smiled teasingly. What? I think Charlie came up with a super nickname.
When he smirked at her, Ari felt relief pour through her, glad to see his features soften a little. I think Charlie better watch his mouth.
Why? No matter what he says it’s not like I can command him to shut up.
Shame.
You really should try to get along.
Hmmph. That’s as likely as humans rediscovering the lost city of Palmyra.
I have no idea what that means.
Jinn thing.
Ahh what else. The bitterness must have been apparent in her eyes and tone because his whole demeanor changed.
Ari…
Noting his concerned look, Ari smiled softly at him. I can never tell with you, Jai… do you actually care or not?
He froze, his green gaze pinning her to the spot. I’m your guardian. I care.
Because you’re my guardian?
Why else? And why do you care if I care? He cocked his head, his eyes narrowing. You’re in love with the kid… right?
I… I—
“OK, this is getting old,” Charlie snapped, jerking Ari out of the little bubble she’d gotten caught up in with Jai. Her heart was pounding against her ribs, blood rushing in her ears, and she was pretty sure in her face.
What the hell did that mean?
Did… Jai…
Oh my god, what did that mean? She eyed him, frustrated as all hell when his gaze dropped. Can you uncommand the whole shutting up thing? he asked, the monotone back.
Huffing in annoyance at the interruption, not only at Charlie, but at herself for being annoyed with Charlie, Ari nodded. “Jai, I command you to be able to talk again. Or whatever.”
He made a face at the ‘or whatever’ part and cleared his throat. “I… great, I can talk again.”
“Well.” Charlie shrugged. “Paradise could only last so long, right.”
Getting up from the table, shaking a little at her unraveling, Ari cuffed Charlie across the head. “Be nice.”
“Tell him to be nice!”
“I can’t,” she snorted, looking back over her shoulder at them. “If I did that he’d actually have to be nice… it would be like re-writing his entire personality.”
Jai grunted. “Funny.”
Charlie chuckled. “I thought so.”
Rolling her eyes, Ari strolled out of the kitchen, not surprised at the scrape of kitchen chairs across tiling as the two of them rose to follow her out. Jai was still contracted to be glued to her hip and Charlie had taken up residence in her home and life as a guardian in frickin’ training. Not for the first time, Ari wished she could have just one moment of alone time so she could gather her thoughts and work out what the hell was going on with her and how she really felt. About everything.
It was the stalemate. The waiting.
Where’s a Jinn King when you need one?
If there was one thing being an immortal Jinn King had taught him it was patience. For days The Red King awaited news from his father after requesting an audience with him. His father, the all-seeing, all-knowing, powerful Sultan of the Jinn, Azazil, was most assuredly aware of The Red King’s reason to request an audience. Azazil enjoyed drama, conflict, tragedy, destruction — he liked to manipulate a situation into place, then draw it out and glory in the carnage that resulted from frustration and impatience and misunderstanding. It came as no surprise then to The Red King that he heard no word from Azazil for seventy two hours. And now he was summoned while he sat in a darkened movie theatre in Stockholm watching a reshowing of a Swedish horror movie that made Interview with a Vampire look like Nosferatu. Disgruntled at the call during an especially chilling scene, The Red King stepped into the Cloak before descending into the Peripatos. Unlike his brothers, The Red King was still quite enamored with the mortal realm. He liked the movies and technological gadgets they were forever creating. Their science and inventiveness was a form of magic even they themselves did not appreciate.