Jinn

by Jessica Cage

  “How do you know so much about this?” This was a time when beings such as vampires kept their existence quiet, hidden, and yet she not only knew of them, but how to avoid them at all costs.

  “I grew up in a place where this world, this quiet, peaceful place, isn’t all it seems to be. I escaped, years ago, but others were not so lucky. Trust me, I know that this world is not what any of us choose to think it is. For now, everyone gets to go on about their lives, not knowing all those creatures they read about in their fantasy novels are real. That the accounts are more like their history. Who do you think penned those stories? They belong to them. Their way of coming from the dark, even if the world thinks it's just for entertainment. Soon, and I hope like hell that I am long gone when it happens, those creatures will come to light, and this world will be an entirely different place.”

  The old woman was correct in her assessment. He checked in on her often, though he wasn’t sure why. Perhaps it was the resemblance to his mother or that she was so aware of all the things he felt she shouldn’t know. She passed away shortly before the first exposure. The year was 2017. A battle in Chicago, between gods and supernatural beings, was one that tore through the city and blew their cover wide open. The world watched the entire event live via social media and news coverage; there was no way to contain it. While some worked to attempt to cover things up, others knew that there was no hope in trying to make the entire world forget about dragons, shifters, and a hole to another world ripping into the night sky. Those who sought control, quickly mobilized and the war was on. The ones who everyone thought were less likely to take part were the ones who changed the game. The fairies. Everyone thought them gentle creatures who would watch from the sidelines, and that is precisely why their strike was so deadly. Their uprising was swift, precise, and it left the southern half of the United States in flames.

  The vampires fled, taking hold of Canada, the wolves staked their claim in Mexico, and every other species did what they could to claim a bit of territory for themselves. It spread like wildfire, across the globe, countries taken hold. Dragons took over Australia, their hub being on the neighboring New Zealand. This was before all birds of fire were called to return to their realm. All the nations, once claimed by human rule, had shifted, some ruled by monsters, enslaving the humans. Others by saints who chose to live in peace. Their homes were strong, and they provided safety. The fairies were the widest spread, hubs across the globe where humans could find safety, if they lived by a strict set of rules. They had to stay within certain areas, not to mix with the general population unless for work. Their homes were theirs, the fairies made no point to control what they did within their areas as long at things remained peaceful. For the most part, humans were okay with this. They were great accommodations in the face of the alternatives—living as slaves, being eaten, or becoming the subject matter for magical experiments.

  Through it all, Jinn stayed on his own. When war came knocking, he packed up and moved. For him, safety could always be found with the fairies, though he tried to stay clear of even them. When things got hairy, that is where he went. There weren’t many djinns still around, and those who were, were still pawns, bound to vessels, having to grant wishes to whoever possessed them. He’d heard of an old friend, who was being passed back and forth between the gnomes. Granting wishes that kept them safe. Yeah, he wasn’t in any shit, but his life was a series of wishes that provided cover for them whenever their sticky fingers brought monsters banging on their door. He would forever be their slave.

  “Jinn!” The cheerful voice met him as he made it home. “Back from another secret rendezvous, I see. You know, one of these days you’re going to have to tell me who the lucky lady is.” Praia waited for him at the door outside his home and watched him closely as he parked the bike in the garage. In the suburban neighborhood that had seen better days, Jinn claimed a mediocre house as his own. He didn’t need much; he’d had paradise before, and all it did was teach him that all the lavish possessions in the world could do nothing to really make him happy. He enjoyed a simpler life.

  “Glad to see you here again, Praia.” Praia was a fae, different from the fairies who ruled. Her people, though strong, kept a discreet life. It was their nature. They were powerful, but once they made it clear that they wouldn’t take a stake in the war, they were left alone. The lands which always belonged to them were the only ones untouched by fire. “Why would I ever tell you who she is? So, you can bite her head off?”

  “Little ol’ me? I would never do such a thing!” The woman laughed. Praia was fit, a warrior trained to fight, as they all were. She was short, less than five feet tall, but her size was her best weapon, often underestimated because of it. Most fae were tall, slender, yet strong. Despite the anomaly of her physique, Praia was a weapon like no other. They were friends before the world changed; she was one of the few people that Jinn had allowed into his world. He met her in the 90’s. She was just a kid then, out in the world, from her home for the first time when she stumbled across a man who felt familiar to her. She was the first to recognize him for who he really was. She saw it in him.

  “I know you!” The short girl bound up to the large man whose hair had grown to a shoulder length, with a large grin and eyes that examined every inch of the man in front of her.

  “Excuse me?” Jinn stared down on the young girl who wore pigtails wrapped in twine, denim shorts, and an oversized shirt that hung from one shoulder, leaving it exposed. She held an ice cream cone in her hand and continued to enjoy it as she watched him.

  “I know who you are! I’ve learned about you.” She licked the melted ice cream from her fingers and smiled.

  “I’m sorry, you must have me mistaken for someone else.” He turned to walk away. Clearly this young girl was confused, there was no way she knew who he really was.

  “Jinn, Aladdin ’s djinn, the only one who is free!” She paused as if questioning her own information—perhaps she was wrong, but she shook that thought away. She was sure of her conclusion.

  He turned back to her, quickly hushing her words. “Look, I told you, you have the wrong person! Now, move along and enjoy your ice cream.”

  “I’m sorry,” she said with tears in her eyes. “I thought it was you. I, they told us, you look like him, the pictures. I’m sorry.” She turned to leave.

  “Wait!” Dammit, she had to cry, and Jinn was never one to allow a girl to cry.

  “I’m sorry,” she pouted with full tears sliding down her face, and wide eyes full of apology. He could have turned away, allowed her to think she’d made a mistake. She would get over it eventually.

  “No, okay, you’re right.” Though he told himself he would never reveal his identity, there was something about her that made him trust her. It could have been her innocence, her obvious reverence for life, or just the feeling of being recognized by someone who he could already see wanted nothing from him. Or, it was because he was a big ol’ softy and she had pulled at his heart strings. Either way, he believed that the girl was curious, not wanting, and that made him want to know her. She followed him around for the rest of the day, asking questions about his life and where he’d been. When the sun left the sky, she asked if she could see him again. She wanted them to be friends and promised that she would never tell anyone else about him. He’d given her a way to communicate with him, a charm she wore around her neck. When the war started, it was how they stayed safe, delivered messages without others knowing. She was the only person he trusted without pause.

  “Oh yes, I forgot, you’re just a sprite of a thing, so innocent.” He unlocked the door and entered the house with Praia bouncing in behind him.

  “Exactly, and don’t you forget it!” Once inside, she did as always. She pounced on the couch, claiming the entire space for herself even though, head to toe, she still didn’t take up the full length of the sofa. “So, what’s for dinner?”

  “Whatever your heart desires.” He waved his fingers as he moved through h
is home, completing the series of tasks that had become habit for him. Turn on the light, switch on the filtration for air—the air outside got to higher levels of toxicity at night, being so close to the wastelands, he had to take further precautions. He then turned on the camera system which allowed him to view the inside of his garage were his baby waited for him.

  “Hmmm. My heart desires steak!” She grinned widely.

  “Again?” He laughed. “I should have never introduced you to the stuff. Should have kept you on that veggie diet.” One juicy steak conjured and cooked to perfection and the girl was an addict.

  “Oh, but now I know the joys of meat!” She laughed maniacally. “Besides, I can only get steak with you. The stuff barely exists in the world now.”

  “Yes, how unfortunate. I guess I could conjure up a piece for you.” It was true. Steak, beef in general, once in abundance, had become a rare commodity. Cows, like many other animals, were nearly extinct. They’d become a spectacle people paid to see in zoos. Of course, there was substitutions available, beef-like products for general consumption, but it was nothing like the real thing.

  “See, you do love me!” She sat up and clapped her hands, eager for the food he’d make.

  “Like no other!” He headed to the kitchen and his little friend pulled herself from the couch to follow him. “So, tell me, what’s new in the world?’

  “Do you really need an update?” She reached inside of the refrigerator and grabbed a juice. “Let’s see, what do I have to report? Oh, yeah, more war, more hatred. It’s ugly out there. Some places are better than others.”

  “To think, everyone believed this world would be so much better than what existed before.” He washed his hands so he could prepare the conjured meat that sat on the cutting board on the large island in the middle of the kitchen.

  “Greed and thirst for power often blinds people to the truth.”

  “You know, you still surprise me with the things you say.” Praia was always a source for little nuggets of wisdom which Jinn enjoyed. “I wish what you were telling me was a shocking bit of information, but it’s old news.”

  “Seems you always know everything, long before I do. I’ll work on that.” The woman spent much of her time, when not training for battle, inside the library. Books were her world. She absorbed knowledge like a sponge, soaking up bits of information and storing them inside her mind. She loved knowledge more than she loved steak.

  The two ate the meal he cooked … yes, cooked. With magic he was able to gain the meat desired, but he used his own two hands to prepare the meal. Jinn tried his best to restrain from using magic too much, because every time he did, it brought trouble to his door. Unwanted attention from people who had no good intentions. They all sought power and thought, if he could be persuaded to join them, he could give it to them. He enjoyed Praia when she visited, though lately her visits were less frequent due to the change in the climate of their new world. It meant another shift in power was coming, they could all feel it. Because of this, everyone stayed as close to home as possible. Any time she left her home, it was a risk, a gamble on her life. He thanked her for her visits, but each time she departed he begged her not to take the risk again.

  When Praia left, Jinn found himself sitting on the couch, a bottle of beer in one hand, and in the other, the envelope Mike forced him to take. The blank white envelope felt like it was burning in the palm of his hand. Curiosity, it was the devil in disguise, it was the true kindling to fire. Though he knew he shouldn’t open it, that the better choice was to burn it and move on with his life, he couldn’t help himself. He broke the seal, took a swig of beer, and opened the envelope. The edge of the photo peeked out at him. What game was Mike playing? As he slid the photo out, he read the note written in Mike’s scribble on the back of the photo. ‘It’s time for you to have a new cause.’ When he turned the picture over, his heart stopped, and the heat that he felt in his hand raced up his arm and slammed into his chest, before it burst throughout his entire body. The deep brown of his skin became flushed with red undertones that gave his strong features a demonic look. His hair fell around his face as he inhaled a calming breath before reaching into his pocket for the phone that only held one number stored in the contacts. The line rang twice before the cocky voice, wrapped in a shit eating grin, greeted him with total understanding of why he was calling.

  “I see you opened it.” Mike’s voice was slurred; clearly, he hung around the bar a lot longer after Jinn took his exit.

  “Is this real?” If Mike was playing games, he’d chosen the wrong subject matter. Jinn couldn’t promise the snake’s life would continue for much longer if he found out it was anything but the truth.

  “Do I look like the kind of guy who could make something like that up?” He laughed. “I wouldn’t play with that topic anyway, man, I’m not stupid.”

  “She’s alive?”

  “Yes, Jinn, she is alive. I would never lie to you about something like this.”

  “How?”

  “I don’t know how, but what I do know, I will be happy to tell you, if you agree to at least consider joining me. This is a shitty way to do this, but I had to play the hand I was dealt, you understand.”

  “Meet me at the place, one hour.” The angry djinn hung up the phone. Staring at the picture again, he tried to calm the rage. He needed a clear head before he headed off to see Mike. She was alive. All those years he thought she died, he was told she was gone. All the years he’d lost with her. She was alive. Nitara.

  “What is this?” Jinn held up the photo as Mike approached their usual spot, which was far away from prying eyes. It was deep in the wastelands where no one ever dared venture to. Mike, and those like him, were immune to the toxins in the ground and air. Something about the ill magic that created his kind, gave them better ability to process poisons. Though they could survive there, they knew nothing else could—plants, food, everything no matter how viable, perished within moments of being introduced to the environment. Being there did nothing to Mike, except remind him that they weren’t always monsters. He was born in the sewers, but his mother and father were human, turned into something else through chemical and magical experiments. Once those projects proved to have horrific results, their test subjects fled to go underground where it was safe for them.

  “It’s exactly what it looks like.” Mike stopped just a few feet from Jinn. The wind kicked up, sending the reddish-brown dirt in the air in a cloud that would burn to breathe in. “I told you, I’m not playing any games here.”

  “Nitara, she’s alive? Say it, tell me she is alive.” He needed to hear him say it, see the words cross his thin lips. Mike was many things, but a good liar wasn’t one of them.

  “Yes, she is.” The response was said with a straight face, not the slight uptick of the corner of his lips or the twitch of his right eye. If Nitara wasn’t alive, Mike sure as hell didn’t believe it to be the case.

  “How?” Magic kept Jinn off the ground, and a pocket of clean air around him kept his body safe from the toxins in the air. He wasn’t sure what the environment would do to him, and he wasn’t eager to test out the theory. “I asked about her, to so many people. They all said she was gone, they told me she died. How is it now that she is alive?”

  “It looks like that is what everyone was made to believe. Hell, it wasn’t just her. As far as the world knew, there were only a couple of djinn left. According to my sources, there are more kept where she is. Tell me something … how many have you stumbled across during your time back? We all know the stories of our pasts are often twisted to better fit the message needed. Everyone knew that once you returned, you would come looking for her. While you were gone, her vessel fell into the wrong hands, and whoever it was wanted to make sure you couldn’t find her. It wasn’t long until she fell off the map completely. I don’t think much effort was ever put into trying to find her, but when I saw the picture, I recognized the charm around her neck and knew it was your girl.”

/>   The crescent moon, it was Nitara’s favorite. Whenever it touched the sky, she would sit for hours staring at it. It was the best part of his day, watching the way she lit up. It was a moment he wanted to see every day, so he carved the moon out of a small piece of stone. It hung around her neck on a thin piece of leather. He noticed it in the photo but told himself that it was someone else’s. Someone playing a game.

  “Who?”

  “Jinn—”

  “Who has her, Mike?” he yelled. “Why else would you give me this? Why else would you tell me now?”

  “To wake you up! You think you can just sleep through the shit that’s happening here. You act like it doesn’t affect you, like you just aren’t a part of it. Now it does. It's your life, too.”

  “You knew this, all this time and you said nothing! We’re supposed to be friends, but instead of telling me that my wife is alive, you blackmail me with it! What the hell do you want from me?”

  “That’s not what this is. I heard rumors, whispers of her life. I had to be sure, I had to find out for myself before I brought this to you. What good would it have been to tell you before I knew it was true? Like I said, us outcasts, we hear things. We know things, but I had to verify. There was no way I could bring this to you without proof, knowing what you would do.” He looked Jinn square in the eyes; they both knew that if he had been lying, the snake’s head would already have been removed from his torso. Jinn was a good dude, but he had a temper, and nothing sent him over the edge like the loss of Nitara. “Look, join us, help us and we can help you get her back.”

  “There it is! Right there!” Jinn yelled. “I knew it, you are just like everyone else. This shit,” he held up the photo, “this is your bottle, something for you to hold over my head so I can grant you a wish.”

  “Jinn, it’s not like that.”