by A. Blythe
The door opened and Farah breezed in. “Not the card again.” She rolled her eyes. “Has she shown you the gibberish inside? I swear Jamie was just messing with her.”
I whipped the card around in the air. “I’ve looked at the words upside down in a mirror. I’ve run them through a Google translator. I’ve even been to the city library. When have you ever known me to do that? What’s left?”
Farah came over and stood next to the coffee table. “Why are you still trying to figure that out on your own? Ask for help.” She stopped and laughed. “Look who I’m talking to.”
Katrien glanced from Farah to me. “You will not ask for assistance?”
I glared at Farah. “I’ve gotten a lot better with sharing the load. Everybody says so.”
“That’s true,” Farah said, looking thoughtful. “But it’s only because of your cuffs. If you didn’t need us, it would be the same old Alyse.”
Was that true? Probably. I wasn’t big on sharing—not my drink, not my innermost secrets, and definitely not the fighting. The fighting was best left to me, or at least it had been.
“Call Captain Hot-n-Heavenly,” Farah advised. “He probably knows a slew of ancient languages.”
My cheeks warmed. “No, not Reed. I’ll call someone else.”
Farah laughed. “Who? Flynn? He can barely read English.”
She was right. Reed was my best bet. I had to put my personal feelings aside if I expected to find Jamie’s killer. Reluctantly, I pulled out my phone.
“I’ll send a text.” A very distant but polite text. It needed to sound professional, but not too professional since I was asking for a favor. And it had to be on neutral territory. I couldn’t invite him to the apartment. That was too encouraging. And the coffee shop was too crowded. We’d likely be overheard.
“Why are you so resistant to his charms?” Farah asked. “He’s basically the ideal man wrapped up in a perfect package.” She sighed dreamily. “And with a perfect package.”
“There’s no such thing,” I snapped.
Farah clucked her tongue. “When did you become such a pessimist?” She held up a finger. “Ah, now I remember. It was when Flynn flipped your world upside down with his lying, cheating ways.”
“It has nothing to do with Flynn.” Okay, maybe it did a little bit, but I would never admit it out loud. Flynn didn’t deserve that kind of credit.
Reed texted back almost immediately and we arranged a day and time to meet at the warehouse.
“He’s training new recruits the next couple of nights, but he’s squeezing me in.” And I knew he was probably minimizing how busy he was because he wouldn’t want me to feel guilty. That was Reed.
“See how easy that was,” Farah said. “I’m starving. Who wants to order cheesesteaks?”
I shot her a curious look. “Are you sure cheesesteaks are a good idea?” Rocco’s family owned half the pizzerias in the city so she couldn’t go there, but he’d take it as an insult if she ordered from anywhere else.
Farah’s face fell. “Am I really banned from pizza and cheesesteaks for life? I can’t live like that.”
“Let Katrien make the order from my phone,” I said. “We’ll order from that place a block over.”
“And I have a nice bottle of Malbec,” Farah said, directing her attention to Katrien. “Are you up for a glass of wine?”
Katrien mustered a smile. “I think I could manage.”
Farah tapped her screen and handed the phone to Katrien to place the order.
“This is very mature,” I whispered.
“It was your idea,” Farah shot back.
Forty minutes later, we were in the kitchen, shoveling cheesesteaks into our mouths.
“I bet Aladdin didn’t serve food like this,” Farah said, her mouth stuffed with a torpedo roll.
“Nobody serves food like this outside of the tristate area,” I said. “Believe me, I looked.”
Katrien lowered her gaze. “We were not served food like this. Then again, we were not fed every day.”
Farah and I stopped chewing and stared at each other. I swallowed what was in my mouth and washed it down with a gulp of wine.
“Do you want to talk about it?” I asked. At some point, she was going to need to fill me in on her escape and the details of her captivity. Even though I wasn’t in the Shadow Elite, I had avenues through which I could supply information. Hell, Farah could pass along the intel if necessary. It didn’t have to be me.
Katrien took a careful sip of wine. “We did not stay in one place very long. It was much like the old courts of England, moving from town to country with the seasons.”
“Can you name all of the locations?” I asked.
She tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, thinking. “Monaco, of course. I remember Marrakesh quite well. I recognized the smell of mint tea almost immediately. It became a favorite of mine.”
I’d been to Marrakesh several times on missions. It was a bustling city, full of color and sounds. I’d once described it to Jamie as an assault on the senses.
“How many traveled with him?” I asked.
“Including the harem?” She mentally calculated the number. “Fifty, perhaps?”
Fifty. I exhaled slowly. That was more than I’d counted when I’d been on his tail. “How many bodyguards does he employ?” I’d met two of them before my kidnapping. Charming fellas.
“It is a rotating team,” she replied. “He does not keep the same ones.”
“Why?” Farah asked. “Wouldn’t that instill loyalty?”
Katrien shook her head. “It is a display of power. He can raise you up and kick you down at will. The choice is his and you will be grateful for whatever he decides.”
“Aladdin’s a human, right?” Farah asked. “Where is all this power coming from?”
I didn’t need Katrien to answer this one. “He spent years researching all forms of magic while amassing his wealth. He’s been fascinated by us since he learned of our existence in childhood.” And if he hadn’t discovered the world of djinn, I had no doubt he’d now be collecting body parts of innocent young women and storing them in his basement freezer. The guy was a psychopath, plain and simple.
I polished off my cheesesteak and reached for a mozzarella stick. Farah slapped my hand.
“You need to be careful,” she scolded me. “You can’t eat whatever you want anymore without consequences.”
“You know I go running regularly,” I argued. Fine, irregularly.
Katrien peered at me from the other side of her wine glass. “Is this because of the cuffs?”
“Yes,” I groaned. “I’m stuck in this human body until the cuffs come off, so now I need to diet and exercise like everybody else.”
Katrien considered my cuffs. “With all of your connections, it is surprising you do not know of someone who can remove them.”
“Removing copper cuffs like these is near impossible,” I said. “These are premium grade. Whoever designed them wanted to make sure they were permanent.”
“And she can’t come out of hiding while she’s vulnerable,” Farah added.
“What about sending an intermediary to visit your old contacts?” Katrien asked.
“And risk the intermediary’s life?” I queried. “The first thing an unscrupulous djinni would do is hold the intermediary captive to flush me out.”
“You don’t trust these contacts?” Katrien asked.
“I don’t trust anybody.” Not in my business. They were usually out to make a buck or a power play. Either way, I was disposable.
“What if the intermediary was not someone close to you?” Katrien proposed. “A mercenary, perhaps.”
“Too risky. Whoever cuffed me has enough money and power to pull it off, which means they have enough money and power to win over a mercenary.” There was no honor among thieves or mercenaries.
Katrien nibbled a mozzarella stick. “So you really cannot use any djinn magic? Not even a simple summoning?”
> “I couldn’t summon a tissue for a runny nose,” I admitted.
“I did think it was odd when we met that I could not see your aura, but I also know there are ways to cloak our auras, if we so choose.”
Farah’s brow lifted. “Really? I didn’t know we could do that.”
Katrien wiped her mouth with a napkin. “A Hinn is less able than a Marid in such matters. This is common knowledge.”
Farah crumpled her paper plate and shoved it into the bin. I knew she was biting her tongue and it was killing her. I didn’t think Katrien realized how bigoted she sounded.
“Were there any Hinns in the harem with you?” I asked. My intel at the time suggested that Aladdin didn’t have a preference for certain castes, but now that I had access to an eyewitness, it was worth checking.
“We were segregated by caste,” she explained. “Apparently he’d tried to mix us together, but there was too much fighting. That was before my time.”
So Aladdin had been collecting djinn for quite a while.
“We’ve never had an issue here with mixing castes,” Farah said pointedly. “Alyse, Mix and I are from three different castes and we’ve been best friends forever.”
“But surely you acknowledge that it is most unusual,” Katrien said and I could tell she didn’t approve. Maybe she would have been more comfortable at the royal compound after all.
“We were mixed at the Academy,” I said. “PAN didn’t seem to think separate castes required separate quarters or classes. We were all there for the same purpose.”
Katrien finished the remainder of her wine. “PAN is nothing but a bureaucratic supernatural cesspool.”
That was a Marid for you. Katrien had been enslaved for years, but she still felt superior to the other castes. I hope she kept her snobbery in check while sleeping under a Hinn’s roof. If she couldn’t, I’d just have to march her back to Prince Simdan whether she wanted to stay there or not. Of course, the idea of forcing her to stay somewhere against her will didn’t sit comfortably with me after her experience with Aladdin.
“How are you feeling, Katrien?” Farah asked. “Do you want to go to bed early? If you feel like staying awake, Alyse and I are going to binge watch Downton Abbey.”
My head swiveled. “We are?”
“I made an executive decision,” Farah said.
And her choice of television just happened to be an entertaining exploration of the British class system. Not likely a coincidence.
“I am not familiar with Downton Abbey,” Katrien said.
Farah cleared the table and tossed the paper bags into the recycling bin. “I think you’re going to like it. It’s very educational. Plus, that Matthew Crawley is hot.”
“Thank you for the kind offer,” Katrien said, “but I think it is best that I retire for the evening. I would very much like to regain my strength. If Aladdin’s people find me, I must be ready.”
If Aladdin’s people tracked her here, then she wasn’t the only one who had to be ready. We all did.
Now that I had information from Melania about the spells used on the bank robbers, I decided to check in with Oscar. My stomach couldn’t handle another trip down the rabbit hole so soon after the royal compound, so I asked Pinky to arrange an out-of-the-office meeting. Pinky being Pinky, she chose the zoo for our clandestine rendezvous. It was clandestine because I didn’t want members of the Enclave to know I was possibly investigating one of their own. Every time I got involved, a shady mage seemed to be uncovered and the messenger got the blame.
We met in front of the giraffe enclosure. Pinky accompanied me, excited to see Oscar outside of the Enclave’s headquarters. Of course, Pinky’s idea of showing excitement was to stare off into space and act like she had ten other places she’d rather be. Teenagers.
“Nice to come on a weekday,” Oscar said, biting into a soft pretzel. “No crowds.”
I hadn’t been to the zoo in many years. My favorite animals had been the elephants, but they weren’t here anymore.
“I’ve never been allowed to come here,” Pinky said.
Oscar and I looked at her.
“What kid isn’t allowed to go to the zoo?” I asked.
“Mommy thinks the zoo is a horrible place that should be shut down,” Pinky explained. “Animals shouldn’t be kept in captivity for our enjoyment.”
Right. I’d forgotten about Serena Edwards and her zealous animal rescuing ways. “But zoos play a critical role in preservation. They run breeding programs for endangered and threatened species.”
“Mommy says that’s bullshit,” Pinky said. “Excuse my French.”
“At the very least, they get children interested in animals,” Oscar said. “How many children grow up to work in the sciences or with animals because they developed an interest at the zoo at a young age?”
“Good point, Oscar,” I said. It was nice when we agreed on something. Rare but nice.
I smiled to myself when I noticed him retrieve one of his famous handkerchiefs to wipe the excess salt off his hands. I guess he was just as fastidious outdoors as indoors.
“So Detective Thompson said she spoke to you about our charming bank robbers,” I said, ready to get down to business.
“I think you mean charmed,” he replied.
“Yes, well Melania has narrowed down the spells used on them.” I relayed the information she’d given me.
“Fatal Recall sounds cool,” Pinky said. She tapped her cheek with a perfectly manicured black nail, thinking. “Do you think Melania would teach me how to do it?”
“We’re not here to give you ideas,” I said. I didn’t love the thought of Pinky messing around with people’s minds. That kind of power had the potential to wreak havoc and Pinky was still too young and inexperienced to recognize that. “We’re trying to determine who’s behind the attempted robbery and why.”
I stopped talking to watch a toddler giraffe frolic in the pen. Its long legs looked awkward, yet the giraffe moved just as gracefully as any of its adult counterparts.
“And you’re certain nothing was taken?” Oscar asked.
“No, they wanted something in the vault.” Or everything.
Pinky nodded in agreement. “They were all about the vault.” She stretched out her arms and walked like a zombie. “We must go to the vault.”
“It was fortunate you two were there,” Oscar said.
“Pinky handled herself admirably,” I said. I wasn’t big on compliments, and I knew that praise from me meant a lot to her. Not to mention a small part of me wanted to make her look good in front of Oscar.
“Pinky has made great strides,” Oscar said, smiling at her. “Especially since you’ve taken her under your wing. I recognize that it’s an unusual arrangement, but it seems to suit her.”
Pinky’s cheeks reddened. “It does,” she agreed. “Alyse lets me experiment more. Follow my instincts.”
Oscar chuckled. “I am fully aware that my process is a bit more…”
“Rigid?” Pinky asked.
“Constrained?” I offered.
Oscar cleared his throat. “Either of those will do.”
Pinky laughed as we passed the penguins. “They have that penguin walk down pat.”
It was nice to hear her laugh like a typical teen. I didn’t want her to grow up too fast. I caught the look of wistfulness on Oscar’s face before he turned away and I felt a pang of sympathy.
“So tell me what you need from me,” Oscar said. “A list of members with the ability to perform those spells?”
“That would be a good start. You can send them to Thompson if you’re not comfortable sharing the list with me directly.” I would understand his reticence. It wasn’t like I was an official investigator.
Oscar shoved his hands into his coat pockets. “I’m comfortable with you, Alyse, and that’s what matters. I admit that I may not have been on board at first, but you’ve proven yourself a loyal friend of the Enclave as far as I’m concerned.”
It was one
of the nicest compliments I’d ever received.
“Thank you, Oscar.” I couldn’t bring myself to say any more than that. I was not wholly comfortable with displays of sentiment.
Pinky snaked an arm around Oscar’s shoulder. “See?” she said, her big blue eyes fixed on me. “There’s hope for you two to become as close as you and Reed.”
I waved my hands excitedly. “No, no. Let’s not get ridiculous.” I realized with a start that neither one of them knew about the kiss after the Colony Games. Now who was being ridiculous?
“It’s fine,” Oscar said, with a vaguely amused smile. “Is there anything else the Enclave can do to assist you?”
“Melania said she’s just returned from a stint in Japan,” I said. “Are there any other members who’ve recently returned from another colony?”
Oscar dipped his head. “I’ll get you a list.”
“Thank you. This is so much better than pulling teeth.”
When he laughed, I didn’t have the heart to tell him I wasn’t kidding. Pulling teeth was a terrible way to extract information. I was relieved it was no longer part of my job description.
Pinky and I hung around the zoo for an hour after Oscar left. She was so excited to see the animals. How could I drag her away from those adorable monkeys? I only hoped she didn’t tell Serena. My gut told me that it didn’t pay to be on Serena Edwards’ bad side.
“Hey,” Pinky said, as we headed back to her Range Rover. “Would you mind if we moved tomorrow’s practice session to daytime? A couple of friends want to go out tomorrow night.”
My thoughts turned to Katrien. I didn’t want to involve her in Pinky’s training. Would it be fair to leave her alone in the apartment again?