A Bottle Full of Djinn

by Paula Lester

  So, she shut out all the worry and made herself forget Steve was there. It was just her and the earth, communing as though they were one.

  She asked it respectfully to stop its rumbling. The response was immediate. The convulsions stilled, but Zoey could still feel an underlying unease. She asked what had caused the upset—where was the epicenter of the disturbance?

  The answer was clear—it hadn’t begun within the earth, like an earthquake. It had been triggered by an outside source.

  Zoey felt her eyebrows knit together. She asked the earth to show her where the cause of the trouble was. The answer was immediate. It wasn’t a picture in her mind, but instead, a pull on her bones. She had no choice but to get up and follow it. She waved Steve along with her, and the two of them walked through the complex together. Many of the residents had gathered in the common room, and they were once again talking excitedly. But there was more than a small undercurrent of fear in some of the voices.

  “It’s okay,” Zoey said calmly. “We’ll get to the bottom of this. If you can, just stay seated in case there’s another quake.”

  Kelli was there, flitting around and encouraging the residents to find seats on chairs, couches, and loveseats. Zoey and Steve left her to it as they followed the persistent pull of the earth. It led to the residency wing—the first hallway where Doug had said he felt the trouble had started the week before. Past Jerry’s and Ester’s rooms and straight to the end of the hallway. Shawna’s room. There, the pull of the earth released her, and she turned to Steve. He gave her a questioning look.

  “I think the problem’s in here,” she said, reaching out to grab the doorknob.

  “Should we knock?”

  Zoey nodded. “Probably.” She twisted the knob and pulled the door open. “But I’m not going to give it a chance to hide.”

  When the door opened, the first thing Zoey saw was Shawna. She sat on the bed, and her face looked drawn. She stared straight ahead, and Zoey pulled the door open more to see what was in front of her.

  It was a djinni.

  And he was huge.

  Internally, Zoey cursed at herself. She really should have spent some time beefing up on the Djinn after Doug told her his suspicions. She knew so little about them, the least of which, apparently, was that they were ginormous. This one towered above Shawna, his head almost grazing the light fixture in the center of the ceiling.

  The fact that he must be seven feet tall was the first thing Zoey noticed about the djinni. The second thing was that he had blue skin, like a sapphire sky at midnight when there was a full moon reflected off the water of a huge lake or ocean. He wore modern clothes—jeans and a short-sleeved, light blue shirt, and his arms, hands, and neck were covered in dark, swirling tattoos that almost appeared to move on their own. Raven hair hung to his shoulders, glossy and wavy, and he wore a pair of round wire-rimmed glasses.

  The third thing Zoey noticed about the djinni was he wore a completely baffled look on his face.

  Shawna jumped off the bed and got between the huge man and Zoey. Steve pushed through the door to stand beside her, quickly taking in the scene. “Where did you get a djinni?” he asked.

  The blue man swung his head around to look at them. His eyes were amber, and they glowed like they were made of molten gold or lava. “Djinni?” he said, and his voice sounded like rumbling thunder.

  Steve’s eyebrows shot up and his jaw dropped.

  “He just showed up,” Shawna snapped. “And he’s helping me. You stay away from him.”

  Zoey tried to keep her voice calm, but she was panicking inside. How had Shawna come upon a djinni? And what in the world was he helping her do? Besides make residents disappear. A chill ran down her spine, and she took a step forward. “Where’s Howie?” She didn’t know if she was asking Shawna or the Djinn, but it didn’t really matter to her who answered as long as someone told her where the missing resident was.

  But Shawna shrugged. “I have no idea.” She brought her hands up, and sparkles jumped between her fingertips. Zoey realized the woman was pulling up her magic. Was she preparing to fight to keep them away from her djinni?

  “What is the djinni helping you with?”

  Ooh, Steve had asked a really good question. Zoey nodded approvingly. There was a reason he was her right-hand man.

  Shawna narrowed her eyes and then lifted her chin. “Georgio’s going to help me bust out of here.”

  “Georgio?”

  “Well, I don’t know his given name. He says he doesn’t remember it. So, I named him.” Shawna looked smug.

  Deciding to let the business about the djinni’s name go in favor of focusing on more important issues, Zoey said, “Bust out? Why?” She took a step closer, and Shawna raised her hands. The air between them shimmered, reminding Zoey of a forcefield in a space movie.

  Zoey stopped moving, and her attention moved to Georgio. He’d been gazing at Shawna with a confused look on his face. “Georgio,” he muttered. Then he looked around. The expression on his face reminded Zoey of someone waking up and not knowing where they were.

  “Georgio?” he said again more forcefully. His features transformed to full-on panic. Zoey could have sworn that the djinni not only didn’t know where he was or how he’d gotten there, but he also didn’t seem to know who he was.

  How was that possible?

  She didn’t have any more time to think about it. Shawna was moving toward her, the forcefield between her hands pulsing and glittering. And the djinni began to spin in slow circles, the panicked look remaining on his face. Suddenly, he threw a hand out, and the end table next to Shawna’s bed jumped up and began walking on its legs, which had somehow grown four sneaker-clad feet. The end table went right for Zoey, and at the same time, Shawna flicked her wrist and her forcefield sort of bulged out. As it approached Zoey, she thought that it looked an awful lot like something familiar. She threw a hand up to guard her face, and the bubble touched her hand. It popped, covering her hand and forearm in a sticky substance that felt an awful lot like the bubblegum she’d thought it resembled.

  Zoey squeaked. “Yuck! Did you just splat me?”

  Shawna’s jaw muscles tensed. “It’s not what I was going for, but whatever it takes to get the job done,” she spat, and another glittering forcefield grew between her hands.

  “I’ll take the djinni. You take Shawna,” Steve said.

  Zoey glanced at her coworker and saw that he was already grappling with the walking end table, attempting to wrestle it into submission. The djinni was looking progressively more panicked, and he stumbled into a bookshelf, bringing a small plant down on his own head. He roared and swept at his black hair, and as he did so, sparks flew out of his fingertips, hitting some of the books, four of which flew off the shelf and began to dance around in the air. Then they seemed to flit together in a mid-air huddle for a moment before diving toward Steve’s head like a flock of angry birds.

  He dropped the end table to swipe at the bird-books, and Zoey dove away from another ball of goo that Shawna tossed at her. The gummy balloon popped on the end table, oozing over it and binding it up. It fought valiantly, its tiny sneakers kicking at the sticky splat, but soon it seemed to tire and turned back into a stationary end table.

  As Zoey ducked again, trying to maneuver in closer to Shawna, Steve shouted and grabbed a broom out of the corner. He held it like a bat and started swinging at the bird-books, which flapped madly and then lined up side-by-side and dove for his head again. He swung like a professional hitter and bashed the one on the left into the next, and the next, and they all went flying. Unfortunately, they hit the djinni hard in the head before dropping onto the floor, inanimate again. The blue man roared and turned toward Steve, whose eyes widened as large as dessert plates. He choked up on the broom but then glanced at it and tossed it aside. Zoey knew he must have realized it wasn’t right to physically hurt Georgio, or whatever his name was, if he could help it.

  Her attention returned to Shawna, who had
climbed on top of the bed, presumably to get a better angle for throwing her sticky goo at Zoey. “Shawna, seriously! Why do you want to leave the center? We love having you here.”

  “Because I don’t belong here. I was fine in my little house. My kids wanted to be done with me, so they sent me here. I want to go home.”

  Zoey’s heart ached at the words. But she couldn’t believe Shawna’s kids would have checked her into the retirement home unless she could no longer handle living by herself. Poor Shawna must be in denial—not realizing she needed help.

  “I’m sorry, but you need to stay here,” she said gently. “Let’s sit down and have a talk about what you don’t like here and how we can adjust things to make it better. We want you to be happy with us, and we’ll do what it takes to achieve that.”

  Shawna squinted and let the sticky forcefield dissipate. For a moment, Zoey thought she might come down and talk rationally, but then she hopped down from the bed, spryly for an elderly person. Zoey stepped forward, reaching to take Shawna’s arm and lead her to a nearby chair for a chat. But the retiree was chanting, and she flicked a wrist on the last word of her rhyme. Zoey rose in the air, flapping her legs and arms in an attempt to get back down. She remembered seeing Shawna do this incantation before. Shawna darted for the door, and as she did so, Zoey crashed to the ground. Shawna spun back toward her, looking past her at Georgio, who was crashing around the room, running into things and knocking them over, Steve hot on his heels trying to minimize the damage.

  “Shawna!” Zoey yelled, holding her hands out toward the elderly woman. She knew it wouldn’t take much to restrain the woman magically, but Zoey didn’t want to do that unless she absolutely had to. “Listen, please stop. We can talk about you leaving, okay? If you aren’t happy here, we’ll figure something out. You don’t have to stay.”

  Shawna twisted her head to the side a little as though to present a good ear for Zoey to talk toward. “Did you say I can go?”

  Nodding, Zoey repeated, “We can talk about it.”

  The elderly woman stood still for a minute, and then her muscles seemed to relax. Strangely, Georgio also stopped charging around almost instantaneously. The blue giant stood panting, a confused look still plastered on his face, but he stopped tossing magic and lowered his hands to his sides.

  “They’re connected to each other,” Steve said, breathing hard himself. “When she got upset, he became worked up, and when she calmed down, he did too.”

  He was right. Georgio seemed directly linked to Shawna. That was good information, but Zoey really had no idea how to make it work for them. They didn’t have a place to stick the djinni for safe-keeping, and what about Shawna? Was Zoey really going to have to let her leave the complex, and if she did, would Georgio tag along? Zoey couldn’t just let a djinni—one who seemed to be suffering from amnesia—loose on Sunnyside and the rest of California.

  Before she could figure out what to say, Hope Vega appeared in the doorway behind Shawna. She took in the scene with a sweeping glance and said, “I see you really do have a djinni problem.”

  Chapter 14

  “What are you doing here?” Zoey knew she sounded unnecessarily harsh, but she was not having the kind of day where dealing politely with Hope Vega was at the top of her list.

  “Your receptionist called me. She was kind of freaked out. Thought you might need some help.”

  Zoey sighed. Kelli sure was helpful.

  Shawna had moved across the room and was gazing up at Georgio, who smiled softly at her. They were both much calmer.

  Glancing back at Hope, Zoey crossed her arms. “We’ve got it under control. I’m sorry you had to leave your shop to come out here, but we don’t need you.”

  Steve cleared his throat. Speaking softly, sounding almost apologetic, he murmured, “Um. I have no idea what to do with this djinni. Shouldn’t we try to put him away or something? You know, so he doesn’t start making inanimate objects dance around or disappear someone again?” He shot Hope a look and moved closer to Zoey, speaking even lower. “Maybe she knows how to put him away?”

  “You can’t put him away until you figure out what his container is. And I can help with that.” Hope looked smug as she continued to lean on the doorjamb.

  “We can handle it,” Zoey insisted.

  “Boss, we don’t have any more of that Devil’s Shoestring-dried squid ink mixture.” Steve reminded her.

  “You don’t need dried squid ink anyway. You need Dragon’s Blood. And goofer dust.” Hope slid the big purse off her shoulder and, opening it, tipped it so they could see she’d brought the named supplies. Then she closed and hoisted it up again. “But if you don’t need help, you don’t. No big deal. I’ll just go back to my shop where people actually want to hear my advice based on years of experience and research.” Pushing off the doorframe, Hope spun on her heel and headed down the hallway.

  Steve gave Zoey a pained look, and she sighed and followed Hope reluctantly.

  When they got to the big common room, Hope stopped to say goodbye to Kelli, giving Zoey and Steve time to catch up. “Your boss doesn’t want my help, so I’m off.” She waved a hand at the receptionist, who looked alarmed and shot Zoey a pointed look of her own.

  Glowering, Zoey said, “I’m not saying you couldn’t be helpful. But you could use a different tone. Why do you have to act so high and mighty with me?”

  Kelli’s eyes popped wider and then darted to Hope, who slowly turned to face Zoey.

  “If I have a tone,” she said through clenched teeth, “it’s because you never give me the credit I’m due. I have a very successful business helping people with spells and conjuring and retrieving spirits and creatures. It’s no wonder I know a lot about such things. Why do you take it so personally?”

  Zoey pouted. “Oh, I don’t know. Maybe because you’ve been tormenting me with your holier than thou attitude since we were in high school.” She crossed her arms and stomped away, plopping into a chair by the fireplace.

  “Georgio doesn’t need to be put away,” Shawna said. “He and I are leaving.” She stalked toward the door, pulling a rolling suitcase behind her. The blue man followed along behind her, staring at his feet.

  “Shawna! Where are you going?” Snores, who had been sleeping on the loveseat, lifted his head. When he saw the djinni, he gave a low whistle. “I haven’t seen one of those in years.”

  “Is he the one who made Howie disappear?” Jerry had entered the room from the kitchen hallway. He puffed out his chest and approached Georgio.

  Zoey rolled her eyes and hauled herself out of the chair, moving to stand between Jerry and the huge blue man.

  “It’s okay. We have this under control, and we’re going to get Howie back.” Turning to Shawna, she said, “You can’t leave yet, and you most certainly can’t take him with you.”

  A loud noise drew everyone’s attention to the loveseat, where Snores had fallen back to sleep.

  Shawna stomped her foot. “You said I could leave, and I’m going.” She glanced at Georgio. “And he’s mine, so of course he’s coming with me.”

  “You can’t take a djinni out into the neighborhood!” Maria spoke from the small table near the window overlooking the backyard. “Shawna, dear, use your head. He’s dangerous. Think of what he could do. Why, he might even hurt someone! Or disappear them like he did Howie.”

  Shawna’s defiant look wavered, and she glanced at Georgio.

  Steve spoke up. “He’s suffering from memory loss of some kind. He’s extra dangerous right now. We need to keep him here.” He moved closer to Shawna, touching her arm and looking into her eyes. “He’s attached to you. You can help us keep him calm while we figure out what to do.”

  “If I were you, I wouldn’t rely on that alone,” Hope spoke up. “You need a layer of goofer dust around the perimeter of the property to bind the djinni here.”

  Zoey groaned.

  “It sounds like she knows what she’s talking about, dear,” Maria offered. �
�Maybe you should let her help.”

  Everyone stopped talking, all studying Zoey as she had a silent war in her own mind. But she knew she was in over her head and Hope had the only idea available at the moment, so she blew air out of her lungs and said, “Fine.” Raising her eyes to Hope’s and then quickly lowering them, she mumbled, “Could you please help us with our djinni problem?”

  A wide smile spread over the blonde’s face, and she tipped her head to the side. “I’d be happy to,” she said. “Do you have a mortar and pestle?”

  Zoey nodded. “It’s in my office.” She turned toward Shawna. “I said you can go, and I meant it. But it’s irresponsible of you to take Georgio off this property. Why don’t you have a snack or something while I talk to Hope?”

  Zoey hadn’t seen Ashley in the room before, but she stepped away from the wall near the hallway to the kitchen. Moving toward Shawna, the cook held out a hand. “That’s a good idea. Why don’t you come with me? I’ll make you something delicious.”

  Shawna’s lower lip protruded a tiny bit, but she nodded and followed Ashley toward the kitchen. Georgio trailed along behind them.

  Hope pulled a huge plastic bag full of black powder out of the purse on her shoulder and handed it to Steve. “This is goofer dust. It should keep the djinni inside if someone takes it out and lays it down in a nice solid circle around the property.”

  “I’ll do it now.” Steve grabbed the bag and headed out into the sunny day, adjusting his glasses as he went.

  “Come on,” Zoey said. “We can go to my office to make the Dragon’s Blood mixture. I still have plenty of Devil’s Shoestring there.” She tried to keep her head up and not allow her feet to drag as she led the other woman down the hallway.

  As Hope mixed and crushed the herbs together inside the bowl on Zoey’s desk, she said, “You’re lucky. There’s a full moon tonight, and this stuff needs to sit under one for a few hours to activate.”