“Oh crap!” She’d made a mistake and walked into a trap. Turning, she ran, but a huge sooty hand grabbed her by the ankles, tripped her, then dragged her bodily inside the funhouse.
“Val!” she screamed as she was yanked into the darkness, but he was nowhere near and unable to hear her above the cries of everyone else caught in the path of clowns and rogue carnival rides.
The smoke lifted her. Floating and helpless, she found herself surrounded by a sooty, loathsome cloud that blocked all light and smelled like brimstone. The noxious smell made her gag. With violent jerks and twists, the smoke carried her deeper into the funhouse. For a disorienting moment she was able to set a boot down and felt the floor spinning beneath her feet. Involuntarily she spun a couple revolutions before the smoke picked her up again and shoved her down a slide.
Whoahahahaaaa!
Wicked laughter rang in her ears. She slashed at the smoke, knowing she wasn’t affecting it in any meaningful way but needing to do something rather than remain passive. “You have me!” They were moving downward so fast it felt like an elevator dropping. “You got what you wanted. Leave the people on the fairgrounds alone. Call off your clowns!”
“No.” The smoke’s baritone voice sounded peevish. “I don’t have what I want. Not yet.”
All movement came to an abrupt halt. They stopped so fast and hard that Estele bit her tongue. “Ouch! You bastard.”
In a heartbeat, the smoke was sucked from the space and the air cleared. They were inside a womb-like chamber with rounded walls. She turned in a circle. There was just enough light to see that the walls were as dark and lush as red velvet and pulsed like living tissue, breathing in and out. Not a window or door was visible. There was no way this was part of a traveling carnival. “Where am I? This place looks like the inside of someone’s colon.”
“The correct statement is where are we?” the voice echoed from behind.
Startled, she turned, fists clenched, ready to fight. A man at least eight feet tall towered over her. His head was bald and his corded neck was thick as a bull’s. The muscles of his chest and arms were as imposing as coiled rope, and his glossy skin shone a murky shade of green. The name “Shai-tan” was emblazoned on his forehead as if branded into his skin.
“You’re inside my private hideaway under the earth. Isn’t it romantic?” His brows met and sank into a menacing frown. “If you think about it, our situation is almost like Pluto and Persephone’s. Their partnership got off to a hard start as well.”
Persephone? He’d kidnapped her. Holy crap, she was in a lot of trouble. Her stomach did a nervous flip-flop. “I’m not eating anything down here.” If she showed weakness or fear, this creature with his name burned into his forehead would stomp all over her. Tipping her chin, she looked up at him. “Well. I guess I don’t have to ask your name. Mind if I just call you Shai, for short, even though you’re not short?”
“Shut up! I will do the talking.” His lips curled into a sneer, revealing jagged teeth filed to points. “All humans think you’re so clever. Once you’ve trapped a djinn you start ordering them around like tyrants. ‘Speak only English… Write your secret name on your forehead so any master can know it… Make me rich… I wish for more wishes.’” He gagged. “I’m sick of it. It’s my turn to have a few wishes granted.”
Suffering Sibyls, what had she been thrown into? Matters were sure to become tricky. This djinn looked even more dangerous than Luther, but maybe there was a way to appeal to a djinn’s basic nature… if only she knew what that was. Her first impression was that this guy was freaking bitter as stale coffee. “You’ve not been treated well, have you?”
“I’ve been treated worse than dirt!” he boomed. “One master after another has made demands of me, and what has it got me? Imprisonment in a limbo realm is what it’s gotten me!”
The walls shook when he spoke.
“Are you making the ground above shake when you get angry?”
His eyes flashed as orange as glowing embers. “Let’s hope so. I want everyone to feel my rage.”
“They do.” Her intuition cried, Give him what he wants. “The fairgrounds are in chaos.”
“Good. Soon I’ll see the world with my true eyes, not just a smoky projection. I can’t wait to be free and escape this lamp forever.”
Uh-oh. She glanced around. That was why things looked so weird. “We’re inside your lamp?” Holy shit, now what? “How did you get here?”
Shai moved in front of her. “Are you being coy, or do you truly not know?”
The space was claustrophobic enough without him stepping closer. “I don’t know.”
“You’re lying!” Shai’s sinister smile displayed all of his spiky teeth. “Do you know how my brother and I found you? That buffoon, Captain Manx, led me straight to you.”
“What makes him a buffoon?”
“Like you, the captain thought he could reason with an angry djinn. He pleaded and bargained with me to spare his crew, but I didn’t. After I granted a few of Captain Manx’s pathetic wishes, I took great pleasure in making him watch as I picked off his crewmen one by one. Of course, I allowed him to live as a witness to what I was capable of.”
How was she going to handle this guy? Why was she having to handle this guy? Someone wiser, like Miss Dahlia, would have been a better choice. “So you admit you can’t be reasoned with. What wish did you grant Captain Manx?”
Shai swelled in size and his eyes blazed crimson. “Insolence! How dare you ask!”
“If I ask, you have to answer. You’re a djinn, I’m a human. Isn’t that how this works?”
“You’re a special case, so I’ll tell you. When we reached the harbor of San Buena, Captain Manx set the ship on fire. As he leaped over the side, he told me he wished for me to bury myself in the mud, forever, which I did.”
Okay. That was interesting. So Shai would do something against his best interests, but only if he was caught in the do-it-because-I’m-your-master loophole. “How did you get beneath the fairgrounds?”
“Wouldn’t you love to know?” His laughter was joyless.
It occurred to her that because she wasn’t his master, he didn’t have to answer her. This djinn-master business was fraught with enchantment-style legalese. He was wasting her time, talking in circles while the people above her suffered in terror. “Shai-tan.” She said his name loudly in a firm voice.
He winced when she said it.
She sensed she had to project the illusion that she was large and in charge even though she wanted to have a screaming meltdown and run away. “I demand to know how you got here and what you and Luther are planning.”
“Demand?” He laughed. “You have no right to demand anything.” Shai thrust his bottom lip out in a pout. His eyes twinkled as if an amusing thought had crossed his mind. “I’m not in the market for a new master, or should I say mistress, but I would make an exception for you. Interested? I literally could make all your dreams come true.”
Aside from the obvious horrible things about this djinn, there was something so repulsive in his gaze. She steeled her spine to speak the next words. “Yes, I’ll be your mistress, and I won’t waste anyone’s time trying to reason with you. We’ll make a straightforward exchange. I ask a question. You make a request of me. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a human do something for you for a change?”
“That would be delightful.” He sniffed the air, making his broad nostrils flare. “But you’re not an ordinary human, are you, Estele? You’re special, something more. I’ve smelled this scent before. You’re a witch, and a very powerful one. You could do a lot for me. Ask your question so I can make my request.”
Yuck. The way he was looking at her was beyond alarming. Obviously, he believed she had something extraordinary to offer him or she’d likely be dead by now. She had to be smart about what question she asked. If only Fredi were here…. No, she couldn’t wish this on Fredi. This was her fate; she was supposed to be here. Shai-tan had been watching her. �
��Captain Manx is dead and no longer your human master. Why aren’t you free?”
“Even though the captain banished me into the muck of the harbor, I was still bound to him. I projected myself outside the lamp and tormented him at the asylum as much as I was able.”
“Why?”
Shai crossed his arms in front of his barrel chest. “Because I was trapped and frustrated! Even in his madness, the captain refused to free me. Would you want to spend eternity buried deep in slime bound to a ghost?”
“Captain Manx did what he did because he is kind. He didn’t want others to be harmed.”
“Damn him for losing his mind but not his heart. Even after he died, he wouldn’t go away and allow me my freedom. He clung to the fabric of the world like a stain that wouldn’t fade. Decades passed, but the captain never completely left the earthly realm like he should have. The docks were torn down to make way for a pier and beachfront hotels, and still I was trapped in this lamp with my anger growing.
“In another place, I might have lain dormant for centuries, sleeping the years away, but San Buena isn’t like anyplace else, is it? Even the ground here is drenched in enchantment. One day, someone disturbed my lamp. The constant roar of cold surf above me became the hum of heavy equipment and the warmth of sunshine on fine sand. At last, my lamp was brought ashore and left near the surface. Hope for escape soared. Through the walls of my lamp and the ground itself, I was able to eavesdrop on the world around me. In San Buena, there was a level of enchantment unlike any I had felt in the New World. Here, werewolves paddled into the waves on surfboards and vampires stalked under the pier, and nobody seemed to give a damn. I reasoned that surely there was room here for a rogue djinn.”
Estele studied his face. Maybe she wasn’t powerless in this situation. Was it her imagination or was Shai getting anxious, as if something he badly wanted might be snatched away?
He wet his lips. “One day, a young witch and her baby daughter came to the beach to play. The mother and child strolled so close to my lamp, the brass heated and glowed, and I was sure they would see me and pick me up, but they did not. The raw but chaotic potential I felt from the girl was immense. As she passed, I drank in her essence and imprinted it upon the deepest part of my being, so like a compass needle pointing true north, I would always be able to find her. She was the best of what the human realm and enchanted entities had to offer—a perfect hybrid, so to speak. I reasoned that if I could harness her budding abilities, it would be my answer to overpowering and avoiding all servitude to humans for the rest of eternity. You see, I’m beholden to humans, but you, Estele, are not. You’re one of them, yet so much more. Captain Manx is already dead, and all I’m asking of you is to help him leave this realm.”
“What stopped you from becoming a kidnapper until this morning?” This was a disturbing story. “Why would I help you? You’ve already tipped your hand. You’ve got nothing I want.”
“There was an obstacle to remove first.” A strange light flickered in Shai’s eyes. “You know him, or should I say, you know of him. He came between us.”
It felt as if the world had flipped upside down and she was fighting to maintain her balance, or even breathe, for that matter.
“As I said, I’d been looking for a powerful witch to free me from my ghostly master for a very long time. After all the waiting, I finally sensed the presence of someone gifted enough to liberate me from my prison realm. Too bad you were still a tot in diapers with a very protective father ready to fight for you.”
His words were a punch to her gut. “What the fuck are you talking about, djinn?”
“In the form of smoke, I went looking for you. Your astute brujo father caught me hovering over your bed and came looking for me to shut me down.”
She felt light-headed and short of breath. Was it her anxiety or something else? “How could my father find you?”
Shai tapped a thick finger to his forehead. “Estele, you’re not thinking. Concentrate. When were the fairgrounds and those hotels on the beach built? San Buena is an old city that dates back to the days of Spanish missions, but everything along the shore is new, created in your lifetime. What used to be the bottom of the harbor got dredged up and turned into beach, including my lamp. Someone was sure to find me and polish the exterior of the lamp, but I didn’t want just any master with true freedom within reach. I was willing to be patient and selective.”
Her head was killing her. “Free to hurt others? Am I supposed to feel sorry for you? Because I don’t.”
He smiled a sickening grin. “Feel sorry for yourself. You’re the one who should feel bad.”
She felt awful, like a migraine was sneaking up on her. “Why should I feel bad?”
He licked his meaty lips and spoke slowly, as if he relished every word. “Brujos are very good at divination. As you know, they sense any threat to their loved ones or the group and go hunting for it. Your father, Ernesto, died trying to protect you from me. You see, as useful as a brujo master might have been to me, a talented witch of your caliber was even better. Naturally, I wanted you instead, but Ernesto trapped me here and died in the effort.”
Pressure built behind her eyes. Could what he was saying be true, or was this a manipulative trick from a desperate djinn? “That’s a lie.”
“Agree to help me and I’ll allow you to speak to your father, but make it quick, we’re running out of time.”
Running out of time? What was happening above on the fairgrounds? Were innocent people dying? She’d had nightmares less distressing than this. “How can I speak to him if he’s dead?”
“Oh please. Use your imagination. You speak to ghosts every day.” He clapped his big hands. “Ernesto! Where are you? Come out and greet your lovely daughter.”
On a far wall, a lump formed as if someone were pressing against a stretchy barrier. The silhouette of a man took shape and pushed through the wall as easily as the tip of a pencil moves the membrane of a deflated balloon. In a seamless transition, a man stepped into the space they occupied. His body was slightly translucent and the edges wavered like a heat mirage rising from a desert road. Only his face, especially his warm brown eyes, remained in sharp focus. “Estele?” He smiled. “You look like your mother, Mara. So beautiful.”
Could this really be her father who had died protecting her? If this were fact, her entire life story had been a fiction. She stood, stunned with her heart pounding. The comparison to her mother was vaguely offensive, but it was probably true. “You didn’t abandon us?”
Ernesto stepped closer, and his black T-shirt with a portrait of Johnny Cash silk-screened on the front flickered and then came into sharp focus. “Never.”
The T-shirt was familiar. The only framed photo she possessed of her father was a picture of him holding her on his lap and wearing a T-shirt that looked just like this one. Could evil have devised a way that would hurt and confuse her more than showing her an image of her long-lost father and teasing her with the idea that he was really there? Estele raised her hand. “Stay back. This is a trick.”
Shai lifted his chin, a smug grin twisting his mouth. “It’s no trick. Ernesto, tell your daughter what happened. Estele’s a clever girl. She’ll recognize the truth when she hears it.” He stepped aside and allowed Ernesto to speak.
Ernesto spoke slowly, as if choosing each word with care. “The djinn came for you in the night as smoke, but I fought him off with magic and sage.”
Her throat ached and she wanted to cry. Could she possibly be speaking with her deceased father, or was this just what it looked like, a mirage? “How?”
“With all the ensorcellment I could muster. I turned the djinn away from your room with a spell and hoped for the best. When he returned the next night, we did battle.”
“Why didn’t my mother see any of this or tell me about it?”
“The first night Shai-tan arrived, she was asleep and I didn’t want to frighten her. As a brujo and a man, I knew what I had to do, so I acted first. I use
d my stalking skills and divination tools to track the djinn. I found his lamp buried in a few inches of sand at the edge of a construction site. I knew it was just a matter of time until the lamp surfaced and Shai would be discovered and liberated.”
“I’m confused. Isn’t he free when he takes the form of smoke and roams around?”
“Yes and no. He’s only free as smoke, and only members of the enchantment community would notice him. To a regular human, Shai’s presence is weak and ineffective. To the unwary, a trapped djinn merely feels like a gritty gust of wind, a bad feeling or smell that can’t be located.” Ernesto looked at Shai. “Isn’t that right? When a master traps you, you’re not much of anything at all.”
Shai nodded. “Unfortunately, the sad brujo is telling the truth. While trapped in this damn lamp I can’t do anything but build power and wait for my twin brother, Luther, to devise a plan to release me. He too is recently freed of his human master. I can sense it. Luther is cunning and manages humans with skill. I have lain dormant for over a century, gathering power from the earth and spending none of it. Together, we will unite and rule as a single titanic force.”
Worry for her friends and the community made her chest feel so tight she could barely draw breath. “S-so,” she wheezed, “Luther is the one doing all the damage topside, not you?”
A cruel smile cracked Shai’s lips. “Yep, and I can’t wait to join in the fun. Once I’m free, Luther and I will claim the West Coast as our territory.”
She was intentionally snide. “Just the West Coast? Are you sure that will be enough for the two of you? Why not move into Nevada and beyond?”
“Because a rival djinn rules Vegas!” Shai thundered in a petulant outburst.
“Oh. That makes sense. We all have to learn to live within our limitations. Why now? Why didn’t Luther find you and free you years ago?”
“I can answer that.” Ernesto’s eyes shone with pride.
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