“Just as well.” She looked at Fon-Rahm. “They’re nasty beasts.”
She glared at Parker and Theo for a moment before Uncle Kelsey walked her out of the house.
Theo panicked.
“She knows! She knows!”
Parker shrugged with false bravery.
“So what?” He looked to his genie. “There’s nothing she can do to us.”
Later, back in her office at the university, Professor Ellison dropped her bag on the desk and walked into the back room. She pushed the rack of spears aside, exposing the shimmering wall that had knocked Theo for a loop. She muttered an ancient phrase under her breath and reached out. As she touched the wall, her hands disappeared up to her wrists.
She pulled her hands apart, and the wall parted as if it were a curtain. Behind the wall, floating in midair, were four more metal containers just like the ones that once held Fon-Rahm and Xaru.
Professor Ellison took one of the lamps and turned it over in her hands. She was profoundly worried.
21
PARKER SLID THE MONSTER TRUCK to a stop.
It was a black-and-silver beast, easily ten feet off the ground. The tires alone were taller than Reese, and the truck had the words SKULL CRUSHER 2 painted on the side. Parker had insisted. He thought that the 2 part was cool because it would make people think that something really disturbing had happened to Skull Crusher 1. This didn’t really make a lot of sense. No one else was ever going to see the truck. Since the Porsche incident, Reese and Theo refused to get in any vehicle driven by Parker unless they were positive they wouldn’t be seen in public. Hence the Crusher, and the deep backwoods of Cahill.
Reese, Parker, Theo, and Fon-Rahm climbed out of the truck and jumped to the soggy ground. They were miles from the nearest road, nowhere near anything at all.
Theo said, “Parker, enough. We went hang gliding. We hit the water park. We ate lobster. Can we call it a day, please? My folks will get worried.”
“Well, we can’t have that,” Parker said. “Hey, Rommy, can you give his parents amnesia or something?”
Theo chimed in before Fon-Rahm could answer. “No! I don’t want my parents to have amnesia! I’m tired and I want to go home for dinner.”
“Could someone please tell me what we’re doing in a mud field in the middle of nowhere?” asked Reese.
“Sure,” answered Parker. “This is where we’re going to put the house.”
Theo said, “The house? What house?”
“Our house. Right here. Fon-Rahm is going to build us a crib.”
“Come on, Parker. Why do we need a house?”
“I want a pool,” said Reese. Why not? She worked hard. She got stellar grades. She put up with her mother. She deserved a pool.
Parker threw out his arms.
“Yes! That’s the attitude I’m looking for. We can have a pool. We can have a pool each, if we want, and an arcade and a climbing wall and a bowling alley. And a submarine dock! I can’t believe I almost forgot the submarine dock.”
“For God’s sake, Parker, what are you going to do with a submarine in the middle of the woods?” Theo asked.
“I don’t know. We’ll build a canal or something to the ocean. A tributary. It’ll be amazing.”
Theo sulked. “Well, it sounds stupid.”
While Theo and Parker bickered, Fon-Rahm scanned the skies with a worried expression.
“Stop,” he said.
Parker ignored him. “Okay, forget the submarine, Theo. Put the submarine out of your mind and just think about the house. It’ll be our place. We’ll make the rules. No one will be able to tell us what to do.”
“Stop,” Fon-Rahm said.
“We’ll get a bunch of four-wheelers. You like four-wheelers.” Parker could see Theo wavering. He did like four-wheelers. Then Parker added, “We can bring girls out here.”
To Reese’s surprise, this hit hard. She had no interest, really, in Parker or in Theo. They had been having fun, sure, and maybe you could say they were friends, but it’s not like there were any romantic feelings, at least not on her end. So why did this disappoint her so much?
Fon-Rahm exploded with anger. “Stop!” he screamed.
The kids stared at Fon-Rahm.
“I sense something nearby,” the genie said. “Something that disturbs the Nexus. I can feel it moving.”
Parker dismissed him.
“Get over it, Fon-Rahm. You’re always feeling something. I think you should get used to the idea that you’re my servant, and the only thing happening is me getting everything I ever wanted.”
Theo blanched. “Jeez, Parker. That’s a little harsh, don’t you think?”
“Stay out of it, Theo. I’m the one who found him, not you.”
“It’s getting closer,” said Fon-Rahm.
Theo got in his cousin’s face. “You know what, Parker? I’m getting pretty sick of this. How come we always have to do what you want to do? We’re all in trouble if we get caught.”
“Are you kidding me? If it had been up to you, none of this would even be happening. We would have taken the lamp back to the college.”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re great and everybody else is an idiot.”
“Not everybody, pal; just you. And if you don’t want to hang out with Rommy and me, you don’t have to.” He turned to Reese and added, “Either of you.”
Parker knew he had gone too far. He knew he was being a jerk, but once he got started, he found it hard to stop. Theo didn’t deserve his abuse and neither did Reese. They were his only friends.
He opened his mouth to apologize, but Reese shushed him. She was far more interested in what Fon-Rahm had to say.
“Wait. What’s getting closer? What’s coming?”
“Xaru,” Fon-Rahm said.
Theo walked away from his cousin. “Xaru?” he said. “What’s a Xaru?”
Instead of answering Theo, Fon-Rahm threw his arms into the air. A blue crackle of electricity crawled from his shoulders to his wrists and burst off his fingertips, creating a shimmering, domed force field around himself, Reese, Parker, and Theo that sealed just as the ground around them exploded. The Skull Crusher 2 was blown end over end like a plastic toy. When the rain of trees, debris, and hot rock finally hit the dirt, the area under the dome was the only thing for half a mile in any direction left unscorched. The air reeked of sulfur and charred wood.
The kids huddled together in fear as the force field dissolved. They all followed Fon-Rahm’s gaze into the sky.
Xaru, majestic and malevolent in his billowing red robes, floated down until he was just a few feet off the ground, directly in front of Fon-Rahm.
“Hello, brother,” he leered, smoke all around him. “It’s been ages.”
22
WITHOUT A SECOND’S HESITATION, Fon-Rahm sent a bolt of blue lightning at Xaru.
The blast caught the other genie square in the chest and threw him half a mile. Xaru hit the ground feetfirst and launched himself full-strength into Fon-Rahm. Xaru snatched Fon-Rahm from the ground and the two genies smashed into the twisted remains of the truck.
“Now isn’t that just like you, to lash out at me before you’ve even heard what I came to say,” said Xaru.
“I can guess what you came to say, and my answer is the same as it always was. No!”
Fon-Rahm freed himself from Xaru’s bear hug and punched him in the face. If Xaru was fazed, he didn’t show it.
“So stubborn,” he said. “After all the time you’ve had to reflect, I thought that perhaps you might finally be convinced of the wisdom of my proposition. This new world could be ours, Fon-Rahm! Join me!”
“Never!”
Fon-Rahm took to the sky and set his hands to unleash another storm of lightning.
Parker screamed, “Stop!”
Fon-Rahm halted in midair. Theo and Reese were huddled together on the ground, but Parker stood defiant and unafraid.
“There are more of you?” he asked Fon-Rahm.
; “You must stay away from this!” Fon-Rahm said. “It is not your concern!”
Parker looked at the barren waste surrounding them. “Anything you do is my concern. I command you to protect us!”
Fon-Rahm had no choice. He directed his energy away from Xaru to create another force field over the kids.
Xaru floated up to him, sadly shaking his head. “You are Fon-Rahm, first of the Jinn, and you take orders from a human child? You and I are gods! We are legends made real!”
Fon-Rahm put himself between Xaru and Parker.
“I do what I am compelled to do,” he said.
“You and I have always viewed the rules differently, brother.”
Parker said, “Take us out of here, Fon-Rahm! Now!”
Xaru grabbed Fon-Rahm’s arm.
“Let me kill this little pest, Fon-Rahm. Then, if you refuse to join me, it will at least be your own decision. I mean, really. It’s just too sad.”
“I cannot allow you to do that. Stand aside.”
Xaru threw up his hands in frustration.
“After what they put you through! After they shoved you in a box and left you to rot for eternity, you still believe that humans are worth saving! You still believe that humans are our betters!” Xaru sighed. “You’re as deluded as you ever were.”
Fire erupted from Xaru’s eyes and went at Fon-Rahm like a hellish blowtorch. Fon-Rahm struggled against it, unable to shield himself or turn away. He was using all of his strength to protect Parker and his friends.
Reese couldn’t take it any longer. “He’s killing Fon-Rahm! Do something, Parker!”
Parker thought for a moment.
“Fon-Rahm!” he said. “I command you to kick Xaru’s ass!”
“Thank you,” the genie said.
The force field blinked out of existence as Fon-Rahm turned his energy to fighting Xaru. He pulled back his mighty fist and punched Xaru with enough force to turn a building into rubble. Xaru struck back with a wicked slash to Fon-Rahm’s face. The trees shook as the two beings traded blows.
Xaru smiled, enjoying himself immensely. He was, literally, born to fight.
“That’s more like it, Fon-Rahm! Your little vacation did wonders for you!”
“Neither of us can win, Xaru. We are too evenly matched. This will always be true.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that, brother. Always is an awfully long time.”
Xaru swung up his leg and landed a kick that sent Fon-Rahm flying into the distance.
Reese looked at Parker and gasped. “Parker!”
He was lying on the ground, clutching his head. The sudden distance from Fon-Rahm had brought on massive pain.
In the skies, Xaru reached his genie brother. He saw that Fon-Rahm was struggling and quickly determined what had happened.
“Well, look at that. You’re chained to this mortal. Yet another gift from the humans. I must say that is unfortunate.”
With all the energy it would take a human to pull up a dandelion, Xaru uprooted a maple tree. He swung it at Fon-Rahm like a Louisville Slugger and connected, knocking Fon-Rahm even farther away from Parker.
Parker’s nose gushed blood. Reese cradled his head while Theo watched the action in the air, silently wishing that none of this had ever happened.
Weakened to the point of immobility, Fon-Rahm hung limp in the air, gently turning in the wind. Xaru dropped the tree and approached him with what seemed to be genuine pity.
“I hate to see you like this. I really do. You were the first of us, and I admit that I have always felt a certain...tenderness for you.” He reached out his hand and gently brushed a speck of dirt off Fon-Rahm’s face.
“Then again,” he said, “I really, really like to kill things.”
With that, Xaru wrapped his hands around Fon-Rahm’s throat. As he sucked the life force out of his older brother, Fon-Rahm became more and more gaunt. The genie was dying.
Xaru let a smile of deep satisfaction appear on his lips.
“Sleep well, brother.”
He was startled by a voice from below.
“Now, really, you two. Haven’t we been through this all before?”
The smile disappeared from Xaru’s face as he looked down to see Professor Ellison in the clearing, standing next to a silver BMW SUV.
23
XARU SPIT AT PROFESSOR ELLISON. “You!” he hissed. “Still you live?”
“Still I live,” said the professor, serene in the face of the magical destruction that surrounded her.
“Who’s that?” asked Reese.
“Um,” said Theo. “This lady that works with my dad?”
“I wondered how long it would take one of you to get out,” Professor Ellison said, nonchalantly opening the rear door of her truck. “Your capture was a bit of a rush job, I admit, but under the circumstances, I would say I did fairly well.”
Xaru kept his hands around Fon-Rahm’s neck.
“Do your worst, witch,” he sneered. “Without your little metal boxes, you’re as helpless as a child.”
“Who said I was without them?”
With a flourish, the professor pulled off the sheet covering the cargo bay of her SUV, revealing two metal cylinders just like the ones that once imprisoned Xaru and Fon-Rahm.
Beads of sweat appeared on Xaru’s forehead. He released Fon-Rahm as Professor Ellison started to chant in an ancient language of arcane magic. Reese and Theo watched, stunned, as dirt and leaves on the clearing floor kicked up and began to whirl around Professor Ellison. She was creating a tornado that grew steadily in strength and size while her spell took shape.
The containers popped open, ready for new tenants.
“No,” said Xaru. “No! Not now! Not again!”
Xaru struggled as the new wind became a vortex pulling him and Fon-Rahm down toward the lamps. Using all of his strength, Xaru managed to break free of the fledgling spell before he was sucked in.
He snarled at Fon-Rahm. “We’ll have to continue this another time, brother.”
Xaru hurled himself up and away, and in seconds he was gone from sight.
“He’s gone!” said Theo, as relieved as he had ever been in his life. He yelled to Professor Ellison to be heard over the gale-force winds. “You can stop now! Xaru’s gone!”
“I can see that, dear boy, but that’s no reason for me to leave here empty-handed.”
She continued her spell, and Theo realized that Fon-Rahm was just floating there in the sky, ripe for the picking. Professor Ellison’s chanting grew louder and more intense. The wind was now a cyclone that tore through the clearing, throwing rocks, dirt, and entire trees out of its way as if they were made of paper.
Fon-Rahm hovered in the air, his arms and legs dangling helplessly. He began to circle over Professor Ellison as her spell sucked him in. He whipped around, faster and faster the lower he got.
As Fon-Rahm was pulled closer, Parker sat upright, suddenly recovered. He brushed the blood from his nose and looked up to see a revived Fon-Rahm clawing powerlessly at the sky.
“Parker! She’s trying to take him away!” cried Reese.
Parker shook the cobwebs out of his head and stood on legs made of rubber. He sized up the situation and came up with what he considered to be a fairly sophisticated plan of action. He ran at Professor Ellison and tackled her to the ground.
When Professor Ellison’s chanting stopped, the tornado stopped with it. The air became abruptly still, and Reese and Theo stopped gawking long enough to shield their heads from falling forest debris.
Parker tried to pin Professor Ellison down. “Will you two stop staring and help me, please?”
Reese and Theo snapped out of their stupor and pounced on the professor. Parker and Theo each held one of her arms while Reese wrapped up her feet and held on for dear life as Ellison kicked furiously.
“Haven’t you imbeciles done enough?” she said. “Get off me!”
“Hey, Fon-Rahm, we could use a hand over here!” Parker said.
&n
bsp; Fon-Rahm landed next to the tangle of bodies in a heap, exhausted from fighting Ellison’s spell and his battle with Xaru.
“Let her be,” he said, staggering to his feet.
Parker doubled his efforts as Professor Ellison thrashed. “She was trying to put you back in a lamp!”
“She has her reasons. Let her go.”
Parker released Professor Ellison’s arm. She kicked Reese away, shoved Theo off her, and stood.
“These pants are ruined, thank you,” she said, brushing angrily at her legs. “And these shoes cost more than your father makes in a month.”
Parker glared at her.
“All right,” he said. “Let’s hear it. What’s your beef with Fon-Rahm?”
“My beef? With Fon-Rahm. Lovely.” She stared down her nose at Parker. “I would tell you, but the day I feel the need to explain myself to you is the day that monkeys fly out of my ears.”
Parker shrugged.
“Fon-Rahm, I command you to make monkeys fly out of the professor’s ears.”
Reese shook her head at Fon-Rahm. The ancient genie was many things, but a guy who got jokes was not one of them.
“Fine,” said Professor Ellison. “I’ll explain it to you. I’m not saying that you’re capable of understanding it, but I can try. Come here.”
Parker and his friends hesitated.
“Come here, you stupid children. I’m not going to hurt you.”
Parker, Reese, and Theo approached her as warily as if she was a really nasty-looking spider. Professor Ellison waved a hand over them, said two words that didn’t sound like they made any sense, and closed her hand into a fist.
Instantly, the knowledge of how Vesiroth created the Jinn was shot into their heads. They saw the desert pit lined with jade and smelled the brimstone burning. They felt Vesiroth’s loss when his family was killed, and the triumph he felt when Fon-Rahm stepped forth out of the smoke. They listened as Tarinn’s pleas to Vesiroth went unheeded. They were there as Fon-Rahm refused to obey his creator, and they witnessed firsthand the birth of Xaru. They saw Xaru find the Elders’ deadly spell and begin to create genies of his own. They stood on a rooftop and watched as Fon-Rahm and Xaru battled over Mesopotamia three thousand years ago. They felt the heat of Xaru’s fire and heard the clap of Fon-Rahm’s thunder as the genies fought to a standstill in the sky. They knew about the Nexus, and they could feel its power all around them.
Rebels of the Lamp, Book 1 Page 10