Death Rite Genie: An Urban Fantasy Folly

by AE McKenna

  Cold water stung my face and shocked my system. I choked. The current gripped me, spun me around like a dough hook on a stand mixer, and black spots swam in front of my eyes.

  Magic that didn’t belong to me forced me to shift to smoke. Air flowed into my lungs and my ears became insufferably plugged. I cried out—angry, frustrated, hurt, and did I mention angry?

  I crashed onto damp stone, scraping my elbow and knee. “Owowow…”

  “Lucy?” Mom gasped. “I told you to stay behind.”

  I lifted my head. Mal had Mom’s arms behind her back and I hoped he wasn’t arresting her. He looked up and blanched. His ear was bloody, his clothes were torn, his shoulders slouched, and his eyes were bloodshot. Mom was dirty, not as much blood on her, but she was disheveled.

  Mal abandoned Mom, leaving the zip ties in her hands. He crouched in front of me and gently touched my jaw. “What happened to you?”

  “The room Mags was kept in was rigged with gold shrapnel and I stepped in the wrong spot.”

  He turned rigid and his silence spoke volumes.

  I stared over his shoulder at Mom. “What’s going on?”

  Mom smiled sourly. “Your bestie is arresting me.”

  Unsurprising. Maybe it was best he arrested her, because coming to a volcano to resurrect Dad was a horrible idea. Or at least he could keep her detained until the bureau arrived and shut this mess down. I didn’t know what I wanted, but I sure as shit didn’t want to find my boyfriend arresting her. A part of me screamed in frustration. I didn’t want her to be arrested at all! I wanted her to be present, to live and laugh and be happy again. I wanted my mother.

  Mal nudged my chin up, forcing me to meet his gaze. Concern wrinkled his forehead as he gently examined my eye. “Are you in pain?”

  I blinked, then nodded. “Hunter tried to fix me up, but I guess the djinni glue didn’t hold.” I bit my lip, tears swimming in my good eye, and whispered, “What happened to you?”

  “Don’t worry about me.” A bottle of djinni glue and a moist towelette appeared in his hands. “Why didn’t you heal in your bottle?”

  I heard what he didn’t say. Why didn’t I fix my face? I peeked at Mom over his shoulder again, then made eye contact with his cleft chin. “Because I knew you needed my help. I know why we’re here—wait. Is that chanting?”

  I’d thought it was white noise from my plugged ears, the swim I took in the lake, and my bones rattling from the cold water, but that was definitely chanting in that same lyrical language the fae spoke in. Mal dabbed my face so gently that I hardly felt the towel. Then he applied more djinni glue to my forehead. Head wounds bleed more. I must’ve scared the hell out of some people.

  He sighed. “Yes. Chanting.”

  We both looked at Mom. She was standing, her body pointing toward us, but she kept glancing over her shoulder at the cavern. I wondered if she was feeling torn over what to do next. I’d literally dropped in on them, covered in blood, and only Mal had come to me. I guess I’d never been enough for her. I wanted to confront her, to ask why, but she wouldn’t give me a straight answer.

  “Come on.” I climbed to my feet. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Mal straightened and pressed the bottle of djinni glue in my hands. Then he glared at Mom. “There’s nothing more that I’d like to do than leave, but if we don’t disrupt the ceremony, we’ll have a larger problem on our hands.”

  Mom brightened. “Exactly. Let’s continue. This way, guys. I… have a surprise for you, honeybee.”

  “You mean Dad?” I tucked the glue in my bag, then shoved my hands in my pockets.

  Mal crossed his arms, glowering at her.

  Mom startled. A rivulet of sweat trickled down her temple as she laughed nervously. “Well, there goes the surprise.”

  I slashed my hand through the air. “I can’t believe you. Why would you think it’d be okay to raise Dad from the dead? Are you insane?”

  “I’m lonely!” she snapped. “You don’t know what it’s like. To see people have what I had, what I want. I want a do-over. I want my family back! And he needs to know how wrong we were. He needs this time to fix our mistake!”

  Coldness seeped into my chest, freezing me in place. “You mean me?”

  Mom softened, and closed the distance between us. “How we raised you. We shouldn’t have…” She frowned, searching for words, then she took me in fully, the honeybee shirt, my destroyed jeans, and dirty hiking boots. “We need to right our wrongs to you.”

  “That’s true,” Mal said, anger biting his words. “But you don’t need to raise the dead to make things right. You’ve given me no choice, Penny.”

  “He’s gonna arrest me, honeybee.” Mom’s dark eyes beseeched me. “Can you believe that?”

  “Well, it’s either gonna be him or the bureau.” I shrugged. “They were called in a few hours or so after I left the hotel in Wales. I’m surprised they aren’t already here.”

  Mom paled, and she stumbled backward a few steps. She spun and ran toward the cavern.

  Mal swore. “Luce, I—”

  “We have to stop her. I do not want Zombie Dad at Thanksgiving this year.” That didn’t seem to comfort whatever worried him. I wasn’t sure what was happening, myself. Was he disgusted by my face? Could I date the guy who arrested my mother? I didn’t know. But I knew I had to stop her, and I was the only one who could get through to her.

  I shifted to smoke and raced after my mother. I barreled into an enormous cavern and blew my smoke out. Lava bubbled and popped, the heat turning my bones to jelly. I sagged as sweat soaked my shirt. Mal came to a stop beside me.

  Mom and Sythradiafol were locked in a battle of strength over the piece of the Blarney. They screeched at each other, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying. Not with the colossal head emerging from the lake of fire.

  Chapter 23

  I chased after Lucy, uncertain of where she and I stood. It was bad that she stumbled upon me arresting Penny. It didn’t take a genius to understand that, but… I don’t know what I thought. The moment I saw her bloody face, I wanted to murder whoever did that to her.

  Fae. I wanted to puke.

  The time of my youth spent with Robinsonania, my mother, was filled with education. How to treat the fae. How to work for the fae. What the fae expected from my magic. How much better the fae were than mere djinnis. Yet fae rarely treated those deemed lesser than them with anything but disdain—sometimes even their peers. Not that Mother treated me poorly. She loved me and showed me in the privacy of our home, but in public, within the courts, I was to be seen and not heard. And that meant I was never seen, too.

  I burst into a chamber and blew out my smoke, the heat and brimstone overwhelming my senses. Luce, Penny, and Sythradiafol locked in a grappling battle chilled me to the core even while standing in the middle of a magma chamber. The screeching made the heat worse somehow, and Luce was dangerously close to falling into the lava. I lunged forward, grasping her arm, but movement in the blistering pool stole my attention.

  Holy shit!

  A molten head with dark spots for eyes, a lava and ash nose, and a fiery mouth emerged from the lake of fire. Bubbles popped, splattering the surface and nearby stone. Heat wavered off the ground and the magma monstrosity grew. Undefined blobs sharpened and sculpted into shoulders, then arms. If heat had a sound, then it was roaring.

  Sythradiafol jerked away, clutching a fist to her chest. “And just what do you think you will do with the piece of the Blarney?”

  “I certainly wouldn’t place the world in jeopardy like you!” Penny lunged.

  Lucy caught her by the waist. “Mama! Stop.”

  The lava man grew taller, his muscled chest filling out and his stomach becoming an impressive eight-pack. The red-orange-black magma smeared his face, but ash softened the devilish glow as it cooled. Despite the ancient still rising, his aura was powerful. The urge to fall to my knees and smash my face to the hot stone floor crushed my shoulders. Fuzziness ringe
d my vision as my breaths became shallow.

  We’re all doomed.

  Nothing could save us from whatever this ancient would reap. I’d squandered too much time away from Pops, my family—Lucy. Realizing the important things right before my time in these realms was over nearly broke me. Now all that remained was bowing down and serving the ancient before me.

  I jerked back, snapping my attention from the burning fae ancient reforming in the cavern. I hurried to Lucy to help keep Penny back from doing anything else she’d might regret later. Though with Penny, I’m not sure that’s possible.

  “Jeopardy?” Sythradiafol laughed. “Genie, do you know who is rising? He is the dying and reviving being of this earth, known as Hun-Hunahpu the Maize God to humans, and I am his great-great-granddaughter. He will answer to me, especially with the gifts I have brought him.”

  Alarm bells rang in my head. I glanced around the lava-lit cave. There were no gifts. We had to get out of here. The bureau would handle this. I would keep Luce and Penny safe, and then we’d figure out where to go from here.

  “Ladies, we need to go,” I whispered, as if the fae wouldn’t hear me. I took Lucy’s arm, trying to pull her into a retreat.

  “No one’s going anywhere.” Sythradiafol laughed, high and cruel. “You’ve pleased me by bringing a suitable offering for my ancestor.”

  She snapped her fingers and Luce’s clothing transformed. Gone was the t-shirt, jeans, messenger bag, and hiking boots, replaced by a white silk wrap that stopped at her knees, leaving her arms and feet bare. Sythradiafol’s magic swept Lucy’s hair off her neck. The blood on her face and neck remained, making her look like a victim in a horror movie. Her bottle appeared in a puff of blue smoke at our feet.

  Luce recoiled, looking at herself. “Hey! That was my only pair of boots!”

  Penny gasped and gripped Lucy’s other arm. “Leave her out of this!”

  Sythradiafol’s orange eyes pierced Lucy, her gaze driving deeper. “Her virginal magic will please him far better than yours.”

  “I’m not a virgin,” Lucy muttered.

  The fae scoffed. “Your magic has barely been touched. It still has that… blas miann an toiseach.”

  First wish taste.

  “No,” I rasped, my mouth dry and stomach sinking, “no.” I curled my arms around her, calling on my blending powers. Just make her invisible, just hide her, keep her safe. But nothing came. I wished we still had our djinni silk bond. Then I could send her to my bottle to keep her safe.

  “Who has summoned me?” A voice as hot as magma reverberated from the fiery lake.

  The lava monster became more man than fiend as he approached us. Charcoal covered him from head to toe, and as he set a foot onto the stone floor, he shrank, volcanic ash flaking off him like a snake shedding its skin.

  Hun-Hunahpu took on the appearance of a local. A really good-looking local. He had that fae glow about him. He was about two inches shorter than I, stocky, and completely nude.

  Sythradiafol straightened her spine. “Ancestor! I have revived you, just as your sons have, and call upon you for your blessings.” She ripped Lucy from me and shoved her forward. “I offer you this child, ripe and unlearned of her magic.”

  Lucy stumbled backward, and her eyes bulged when she took in his physique. A towel appeared in her hands.

  I couldn’t move. My brain and body weren’t communicating, not while I stood in the presence of a fae ancient. Penny lunged for Sythradiafol.

  Hun-Hunahpu waved his hand and Penny slid back until she thudded against a wall. “Do not interrupt your elders, child.” He took the towel from Lucy and wrapped it around his waist. The Maize God wore a pizza-printed bath towel. Wonders never cease.

  Once more, the urge to grovel overcame me, but losing Lucy weighed heavier on my heart than the need to serve. Without making sudden movements, I inched to her until I pressed against her back. She was trembling and her hand reached back and found mine. I squeezed her fingers and called upon my djinni powers to blend us. Except that slow drag in the core of my stomach never came.

  “What blessing would you wish for, Child of Harvest?” Hun-Hunahpu’s gaze wandered the cavern.

  The piece of the Blarney gleamed in the center of Sythradiafol’s palm, taking on a preternatural shine, and the scent of grass mingled with the rotten smell of sulfur. “I want immunity to iron. I will rule humans in your name and image as—”

  “My blood in you is thin.” Hun-Hunahpu waved a hand, and Sythradiafol turned into a stalk of corn. Cliodhna’s fingernail landed on the ground.

  Penny gasped. She’d moved back to us, but I hadn’t heard her approach. She darted around us, careening straight for the piece of the Blarney. Luce jerked her foot out, sending the fingernail into the lava. Hun-Hunahpu observed us with a bored expression, but I had a feeling he was paying attention to the world outside this pocket realm, to the earth, and learning what had happened while he’d been inside his deep slumber.

  “Lucy!” Penny snapped. “What the hell? Why did you do that?”

  Lucy jabbed a finger at the stalk of corn. “The Blarney Stone is not how you negotiate with a god!”

  Hun-Hunahpu expelled a rumbly, ponderous sigh, but his sight remained focused inward.

  Penny glared at us. “You just destroyed a fae-touched natural phenomenon. Do you know what that was worth?”

  “Humanity, it sounds like.” Luce’s brow furrowed, then she winced. “Mom, this has to stop. You need to quit doing these—”

  “Don’t you tell me what I need to do, Lucy.” Penny raked a hand through her dark hair. “I’m your mother. I know best.”

  “My mother!” Lucy hissed. “Yeah, you are my mother, and I’m your daughter. I’m here. Right now. Present. But you’re still living in the past.”

  Penny flinched, stumbling back a step. “What does that mean?”

  “She means exactly what she said.” I peeked at the ancient. We needed to leave, and arguing with Penny was wasting time we didn’t have. “You’re focused on getting back what you lost, not on what you still have. Which is your life and your daughter. You’re dangerously close to losing both.”

  “He’s right,” Luce whispered.

  “You’re gonna leave me, honeybee?” Penny asked, grabbing her hand. “You’re going to take Tanaka’s side and let him arrest me?”

  “You shot a gun in a public place!” I said.

  “I didn’t even aim at you. I could’ve shot at you plenty of times, but I didn’t,” she snapped. “It’s not like I was shooting to kill.”

  “What goes up must come down. You could’ve hurt someone.” I took a step forward. “You exposed magic to humans.”

  She flapped her hand. “Magic’s been exposed to humans all along. They choose not to see it.”

  “They do see it!” I clenched my fist. “If you hadn’t been so reckless, the bureau wouldn’t have known about any of this. Now they’re coming here.”

  “You’d do the same if a few charms were all that you had left of your heart!” Penny scrubbed her hands over her face, shoulders slumping. “That’s it. That’s all I have. I can’t even smell his magic like you two.”

  Lucy blinked and tears slipped down her cheeks, leaving tracks in the dirt and blood on her skin. The slash splitting her brow and cheek trickled blood with each horrified expression Lucy made. The djinni glue was no match for the damage she’d suffered. I hadn’t been able to inspect it and worried it had blinded her. If that’d happened to me, I’d still be able to do what I enjoyed, but it’d be a blow to my confidence nonetheless. Lucy would have to relearn how to use her hands and knives for cooking. I had no doubt she would, we just needed to survive.

  “Why wasn’t I enough for you?” Her voice broke my heart. “The curse isn’t that bad, not really. I’m dealing with it. I’m fine and I’m happy.” She sucked in a breath. “Why isn’t that good enough for you?”

  Penny wrapped her in a hug, petting the damp back of Lucy’s silk dress. “I�
�ll lose you, too, when you fall in love.”

  I eyed Hun-Hunahpu. His face was impassive; he wasn’t even paying attention to us. Djinnis were beneath him, and since the bureau was on its way, we could leave. Let them deal with this.

  “Ladies, let’s take this outside, okay?” I pressed my hands to both their backs, trying to urge them to move.

  “Leave?” Hun-Hunahpu’s voice boiled in anger. “No one will be leaving.” He flicked his wrist and it tore apart the three of us. “Once again, humanity is rotten. I should have been woken centuries ago.”

  Penny and I slammed against the cave wall. Hun-Hunahpu gripped Lucy’s arm cruelly. She cried out and kicked his shins to no avail. The towel slipped but the ancient retied the knot without releasing his hold on her.

  I lurched forward. Gold stalagmites and stalactites erupted from the floor and ceiling, caging Penny and me in.

  “Lucy!” I lunged for the columns, curling my fingers around them and burning my palms. Gold. I jerked them back. “Let us out!”

  A tree broke the lava lake’s surface, the tips of its barren boughs sloughing volcanic ash. Hun-Hunahpu dragged Luce toward the edge of the roiling lake.

  “Be calm, girl. Be glad.” The corner of his mouth tilted. “Your blood and body will fuel a new race of humanity. You will birth a new era.”

  “Ew, no way, creep!” Luce twisted in his grip but he held firm.

  “Take your filthy hands off her!” Penny snarled. “Lucy, his thumb is the weakest point of his grip. Twist to that!”

  Hun-Hunahpu held his free hand out, palm down, over the magma.

  Lucy yanked again. “I’m trying!”

  I summoned a crowbar and smashed it against the stalagmite. I had to get to her. I had to cause a distraction so she could get free. Gold was a soft metal, but no matter how hard I swung the crowbar, nothing budged. Flecks dusted my knuckles and the backs of my hands, burning like grease splatter. Why hadn’t I thought to pack a pickaxe?