Djinn

by Laura Catherine

  "You can't just walk around naked in front of people," I said to Pyke, though I was looking at Will.

  "Really?" he replied. "It's kind of normal here."

  "It's normal to be naked?"

  "Actually, kind of," Will said, and I looked at him with disbelief. "But we tend not to wave it in people's faces." That comment was for Pyke, who I made the mistake of looking at to see him shrug. All of him.

  I suppose when everyone turns into animals they are technically naked. It just didn't seem like a normal thing in the human world, but then, I guess I wasn't technically human. I'd have to get used to it.

  "Come on Pyke, let's go for a run," Mia said, clearly over the conversation.

  Pyke paused for a moment before shifting back in to a Dobermann. Mia pretended to ignore us and pulled her top off as she walked away. She was clearly doing it on purpose to get a rise out of me or maybe Will, but he didn't seem to even notice, and soon a beautiful Dalmatian joined its Dobermann friend. Pyke nuzzled my hand to say goodbye and Mia nipped his leg, encouraging him to get a move on.

  I watched the pair run off before realising I was really watching a naked Mia and Pyke and quickly looked away.

  "So, you guys just come to this park and run around together?" I asked Will.

  "It's a dog thing," he said. "You wouldn't understand."

  "Why wouldn't I?" I said, a little harsher than I intended. "Because I'm not a Guardjinn?"

  Will shifted in his seat and I immediately realised he'd meant me no offense. "It's not because you're not a Guardjinn," he said, "It's because you haven't met your animal bond and shifted yet. The animal you bond with becomes a part of you, which means, sometimes, you need to run around as a dog, or fly as a bird, or swim as a fish. The animal bond calls to you."

  That made sense to me. Shifting wasn't just taking on animal form, it was more complicated than that. It was taking the animal's behaviour and personality, like when Queen Celeste's eyes looked like a cats when she got angry. I bet that had something to do with the animal she could shift into.

  A sudden thought occurred to me. "Will," I said leaning in and studying his face.

  "Yeah?"

  "It was you," I exclaimed. "You were the Lab who was following me around my house. Weren't you?" I didn't wait for him to answer. "I can tell. Your hair is the same colour as Lab's fur, and that's why I never saw you around the town. Well, I guess I did see you, but not you you." I took a deep breath, realising the giant rant I'd just undertaken.

  Will only smiled. "You named me Lab?"

  I felt my cheeks redden. "Ah, yeah. Well, you are a Labrador."

  He laughed and it made my heart flutter. I immediately wanted to slap myself for even thinking it.

  "Hey Will," I said, in a more serious tone. "Can I ask you something, and you give me an honest answer?"

  His laughter slipped into silence and he looked me over. "I will never lie to you," he said and I believed him.

  "Good," I replied. I was counting on him being truthful. "What are Blooders?"

  His eyes widened, but only for a moment. He leaned in close to me and spoke in a hushed voice. "Kyra, we shouldn't be talking about that. Ivan specifically asked that no one tell you."

  "Ivan didn't want me to know," I said. "That doesn't surprise me, he never wants me to know anything. Why didn't you tell me?"

  Will glanced away, but his fists were clenched.

  "You just said you'd never lie to me."

  His head whipped around like I'd slapped him in the face. "I've never lied to you before," he said, and I could hear the hurt in his voice "How did you even find out about Blooders?"

  "I heard the council talking about it in their meeting," I replied

  "What were you doing in a council meeting? Never mind, I don't want to know. Forget about it, Kyra. In fact, you shouldn't even be here. If Ivan found out you were hanging out—"

  "With Guardjinn?" I resisted, slamming my hand on the table. Why did he have to get all defensive all of the time? "I don't care that you're Guardjinn. Believe it or not, Will, you are pretty much one of my only friends, and the others are Mia and Pyke. And Mia hates me."

  "I thought you and Prince Nathaniel seemed pretty friendly," he remarked, looking out over the park as dogs ran past.

  I could have sworn I saw jealously in Will's eyes. Was he jealous of me and Nate? Did that mean he actually had feelings for me?

  I shook my head. I had to stay on topic and get answers for once. I caught Will's gaze and, before he could look away, I grasped his hand in mine. He was going to answer my questions, one way or another.

  "Forget about all that," I said. "Tell me about the Blooders, Will. You said you'd never lie to me."

  I held his gaze so he couldn't look away. I could feel the heat from his palms under mine, clammy and strong.

  "You're not going to leave this alone until I tell you, are you?"

  "No, no I won't."

  "Fine, but don't tell anyone I told you. Ivan really doesn't want you to know." Will looked around to make sure no one was listening. "I didn't tell you everything about our history when I was teaching you over the last week."

  I cocked my head at him. "What do you mean?"

  "When I told you that we granted wishes to humans in the old times. I didn't tell you how we did it: it was Djinn blood, our blood. It's where our abilities come from and, when humans drink our blood, they can gain our abilities for a short period of time."

  "What?" I shouted and clasped my hand over my mouth. "That seems like a really big thing to leave out."

  "Like I said, Ivan didn't—"

  "It doesn't matter, Will, you should have told me."

  "I'm telling you now. Do you want to know the rest or not?"

  I shut my mouth and let him continue.

  "After a while, the humans became obsessed with having our abilities. They didn't think it was fair that only the Djinn got to be special, so they became forceful toward us. And then it became violent."

  "How violent?"

  "The humans started taking Djinn and draining their blood for themselves," he replied, a dark look in his eyes.

  "That's horrible."

  "We realised the mistake we'd made and cut off their supply, essentially, giving up on the 'granting wishes' business. It wasn't too hard; the humans may have outnumbered us, but we were more powerful. We went into hiding, so the humans would forget about us and not be tempted." Will's eyes were locked in a hard stare, his fists gripping the edge of the bench.

  "Unfortunately, not all humans gave up, and not all of them forgot. Small groups became even more obsessed, and started doing whatever they could to gain our blood. They'd take Djinn and hold them captive, draining their blood for as long as the Djinn would stay alive."

  I stifled a gasp.

  "Over time, these human drank so much blood that they evolved and adapted. They became Blooders."

  "But what makes a Blooder different from a regular human?" I asked.

  "First off, they have red eyes, like how we have golden ones," he said. "Second, for humans, a small vial of our blood would last them maybe a day if they didn't overdo it, but Blooders, a vial would give them three days' worth of powers. It all depends on how fast they burn through it. They've evolved to have a better absorption rate."

  Will hung his head, staring at the ground as he spoke. "The Blooders grew in numbers, and soon, we had to hide ourselves completely from society so they couldn't find us."

  An image popped in my head as Will told his story. It was of the night I was taken, when Dad pulled a red vial from underneath his shirt and drank it. The colour drained from my face.

  "My father is a Blooder," I said.

  "Yes," Will admitted.

  I wanted to throw up. My hands shook, and I clenched them into balls to regain control. I had been taken by a Blooder. My dad drank blood like it was drug. The sick feeling passed and was replaced with a white-hot rage. Each new realisation was like a dagger to my heart. Will m
ay have had thick skin, but I didn't.

  "You knew," I said. "You knew, and you didn't say anything. Why didn't you—oh, let me guess. Ivan didn't want me to know." I was shouting now. Several dogs turned their heads my way, then continued to chase each other. I gained control of my emotions and lowered my voice. "That's the reason Malcolm took me, isn't it? He wanted my blood?"

  "Yes, he stole you in the hopes of having his own private blood supply to give him abilities."

  "But he didn't even know what my abilities would be." I don't know why I was arguing. Clearly Malcolm was a mad man, and I would have no hope of figuring out what was running through his mind when he decided to ruin my life and steal me away.

  "I guess it was a risk he was willing to take," Will said. "He could raise you, and you'd trust him. You'd freely give your blood to him if he asked. If he made it sound important enough."

  I gripped onto the picnic table for support. Will was right. If Dad had told me he needed blood, I would have given it to him without a second thought.

  "I can't believe he used me like that," I whispered. "Did he even care about me at all?"

  "I don't know," Will answered. "Honestly, maybe he did love you. He did raise you, after all."

  "Someone who wants to use you as a blood bank doesn't know how to love," I said, fighting back tears. Will was trying to be nice, but I doubted even he believed the words he said.

  Will squeezed my hand. I'd forgotten I was still holding on to him. "Will, when you told me I was the only Djinn to be taken and brought back …"

  "I wasn't lying," he replied. "You are the only Djinn to be taken and brought back."

  "But there have been other Djinn who have been taken?" I said.

  "Yes. Compounds all over the world do their best, but Blooders grow in numbers by the year. With every new generation of Blooders, their abiltity to use our blood strengthens, and so does their lust for it. Djinn do get taken, and we never see them again."

  I didn't know how much more of this I could take. I thought I might pass out with all the new information. My dad had been using me for power, and my new home wasn't even safe.

  "Don't you try to get them back? The others that are taken? You got me back," I said.

  "You were different. That was one Blooder, alone. Most Blooders live in their own communities and travel in packs. Attacking them would be foolish. We might not even find the people who were taken, and we could lose so many more."

  Spoken like a true soldier, I thought. One doesn't outweigh the many unless your name is Kyra, apparently.

  "Some of the council want to send the Guardjinn to attack the Blooders," I told him. "I thought you should know."

  "We'd heard rumours about that," he admitted. My guess was that Will would do whatever he was told to do. Stay, attack, it didn't matter.

  "Celeste is against it though," I assured him. "She's a good person. She cares about you like—"

  "Like we're normal Djinn," he finished.

  "You are Djinn, as much as me, or Celeste, or Ivan."

  "Not everyone sees it that way, I'm afraid." Will looked to the sky. The sun was falling lower and lower, casting orange and pink hues across the canvas of the sky. "You need to go," he said. "It's getting late, and your parents will be wondering where you are."

  He hopped off the bench, slipping his hand out of mine. My hand felt cold, like something was missing, and I held it close to my chest.

  "I'll walk you back," Will said, and I followed silently, still processing everything I'd just learned.

  Chapter Twenty-One

  I kept the information I'd learned about Blooders to myself. I mean, don't get me wrong I wanted to shout at Ivan so bad for keeping it from me. But, no; I kept it to myself because, really, what was the point in screaming and yelling? I knew the truth now. There were dangers out there for Djinn, and Malcolm was one of them.

  That part hurt the most. After Will dropped me home, I spent the night crying in my room. My heart ached, ached with pain, because not only did Dad take me from my real parents, but he did it to use me for my blood. I was nothing to him except power, and for all he knew, my power would be weak and pointless. I hated to think what he would have done with me then.

  Will had thought perhaps he did care about me. Could you really go sixteen years raising a child and not feel for them? Maybe he changed his mind, and just wanted to raise me as his daughter, and not a blood-donating machine. I would never know now. I didn't think I would cope if I ever did find out the truth.

  It had been a few days since then, and I'd been on my best behaviour. I'd completed my lessons with Will and spent time shopping with Isabelle. Dress shopping was a nightmare, filled with hours of endlessly trying things on. My feet ached afterwards, but at least Isabelle let me buy some clothes that I liked: jeans and t-shirts.

  Today was to be my first day of training in the palace with Nate. I had looked forward to it all week. Finally, the chance to see what my powers were. I dressed in a grey tracksuit, tied my hair in a ponytail, and headed downstairs for breakfast.

  "Good morning, Kyra," Isabelle said.

  "Morning Mum," I replied. I'd started calling Isabelle Mum when I was with her. I wasn't sure I really felt that comfortable with it yet, but she smiled every time I said it, and who was I to deny her that?

  Ivan sat with his paper to his nose and ignored us, as usual. There was no way I was calling him "Dad", and I really didn't think he'd care if I did, anyway.

  "Are you excited?" she asked, passing me a bowl of fruit salad.

  "You bet," I said.

  "I remember when I first developed my ability," she said with a happy sigh. Her eyes drifted up to the ceiling, and I wondered if she was remembering the moment. "My parents were so proud."

  "You never told me what your ability was," I said, taking a bite of banana.

  "Haven't I? How silly of me. I can control the wind," she told me. "Small breezes to gales. Not that I ever have use for it, of course," she added, with a glance to Ivan.

  "That's really cool. I wonder if I'll develop that." I shook my head. "I mean, I know abilities aren't genetic or anything, but Will said there were cases where entire families, and sometimes communities, all developed the same ability."

  "Really?" Isabelle beamed at me, eyes wide. "I didn't know that. You're starting to know more about Djinn history than me."

  "What's your ability, Ivan?" I asked. I was in such a good mood, that I decided to be nice and involve him in the conversation.

  He looked over his paper at me then folded it and actually put it down, which surprised me. "I have the ability to create lightning," he said, sounding extremely proud.

  That explained all the flickering lights and electric currents I felt when we'd had the fight two weeks ago. His ability must be very strong and uncontrolled.

  Ivan looked at his watch. "You're going to be late," he said. "Would you like a lift to the palace?"

  I nearly dropped my spoon on the table and spat the food from my mouth. Ivan was offering to take me somewhere, actually doing something nice for me.

  "Ummm … no, that's great of you to offer, but Nate said I should warm up before I got there, so I thought I'd jog."

  "Prince Nathaniel, dear," Isabelle corrected.

  "Yes, of course, Prince Nathaniel." I finished my food and left the room, still a little caught off guard. It was a nice gesture, but I didn't trust it. I was sure he was only acting that way because I was finally doing things he wanted, like being proper and getting in with Nate. I'd heard the way he talked about royalty and power at dinner. Ivan wanted power above all else. That, I was certain of.

  I closed the front door and began my jog to the palace. It didn't take long, but I was warm and ready when I arrived. The palace guards stopped me at the gate, but only for a moment, and soon I was in the foyer waiting for Nate.

  "Kyra," Nate called as I entered the room. He wore black trackies and a matching singlet. I hadn't noticed how muscular he actually was. Nat
e's arms curved in all the right places, his muscles tensing as he walked. He must work out a lot.

  "Hello, Prince Nathaniel." I curtsied, pretending I was wearing a dress.

  "You don't have to do that," he said.

  "I feel like I do. The palace is overwhelming." I glanced around awkwardly.

  "Come on, you have to meet the others." He slipped his hand into mine and for a moment I blushed, but Nate didn't seem to be doing it in a romantic way at all. He was just really friendly toward me. I guess I wasn't used to it. At least, not yet.

  He led me to the training room, which looked pretty much like every school gym I'd ever been in. It had wooden floorboards painted with various lines, gym mats stacked in the corner, and vault jumps and other equipment scattered around the room. In the centre of the room stood a boy with shaggy blond hair, staring up at the ceiling. He wore baggy jeans and a long sleeved t-shirt. He didn't look ready for training at all, like Nate and I.

  I followed the boy's gaze to the roof and gasped when I saw a girl floating ten feet in the air.

  "Good work, Millie," Nate called, as we entered.

  She was very beautiful with curly auburn hair and porcelain skin. Her face was flawless, with large golden eyes, and a sweet smile curling up her cheeks. I did think it strange for someone to wear make-up to training though. Even her tracksuit was stylish, black with gold stripes down the side.

  "Thanks, Nate," Millie called, and floated a little higher.

  "Kyra, this is Seth Hallow," Nate introduced me to the boy.

  "Hey, Seth," I said.

  He glanced at me from behind his shaggy hair, a little too long. He swept it from his eyes. "Hi," he said, and went back to watching Millie.

  "He's a little shy," Nate told me. "Up there, that's Millicent Baxter."

  "Hey, Kyra. So good to meet you!" Millie chirped, waving ecstatically.

  I remembered one of the councilmen was called Baxter and wondered if he was Millie's father.

  Millie's smile was genuine; she really was pleased to meet me. She continued to wave from above, focusing all her attention down below. Her floating became jagged, jolting as her concentration slipped, and she plummeted to the floor.