Page 15 of Bewitched By the Djinn
I stare at him.
He has got to be shitting me.
Mimi turns to me, picking up her mug and blowing on her tea. “Well, he’s not lying, but he might be crazy. He believes it.”
Bennet’s eyes narrow slightly. “Are you a truthsayer?”
Mimi shrugs. “I can tell when someone lies. I haven’t heard that term used before. It’s just my magic.”
His gaze sharpens. “And the boy, Kevin. He is a spirit speaker.”
I straighten. “How do you know that?”
“I heard him and Jackie speaking while I was outside.” He picks up his mug and sniffs the contents.
They were inside. He was outside. Add supernatural hearing to the list of his abilities.
He fidgets with one of the bright red placemats. “And what about Jackie?”
Mimi shakes her head. “She doesn’t have magic.”
Bennet hums, thoughtful. Then, suddenly, his gaze zooms back to me. “And you. Your magic expelled me from the lamp.”
“I can find things, sense them, that sort of thing.” He doesn’t need to know more than that.
He nods, as if filing the information away.
“And you?” I tilt my head. “You obviously have some magic too.”
“All djinn have magic. I have more than most.”
Not good. If he has so much power, what could he do to us? Fear licks up my spine, but it almost immediately dissipates. I should be afraid. But I’m not. Why? No time to ponder it. Back to the topic at hand. “How did you get bound to the lamp?”
“My sister.”
I blink. “Your sister?”
His sharp gaze meets mine. “Yes. Why does that surprise you?”
“I don’t know. I guess I thought maybe you crossed realms for,” I wave a hand, “world domination? Organ harvesting? To fuse with your shadow self?”
Bennet’s frown deepens. “Shadow self?”
I shrug. “Happened onSuperman & Lois.”
His expression remains blank.
“Oh, right. No microwaves. No television.”
“This is the first time I’ve ever left my home in Aetheria.” A muscle in his jaw tics.
Guilt stirs in my chest. The first time he ever leaves home, and he ends up trapped in a lamp, only to be released by a strange lady with a baseball bat, then tossed out into the rain? Yeah. Rough day. But I shove the guilt aside. My own life is a mess, and now, apparently, I have to deal with this too.
“And I am not here to harvest or dominate anyone. I came here to find my sister. She did not wish to be found. We argued and she bound me to the lamp.” His voice is even, robotic almost.
“How did she do it?”
He rubs the back of his neck. “With her magic.”
