Page 16 of Bewitched By the Djinn
I fight the urge to smack my forehead. “No kidding. Do you remember what she did? How she did it?”
He shakes his head. “No. I was trying to convince her to return to Aetheria. The next thing I knew, I was here. And you were threatening me with your stick.”
Mimi snorts.
“It was a bat,” I correct.
He rocks back in his seat.
“I threatened you with a bat. Not a stick. It’s for baseball.”
Bennet’s brow furrows.
I groan. “Never mind.”
“We need to find her and get her to release this,” he gestures between us, “curse. Then I can return with her to Aetheria.”
Mimi fidgets in her seat. “Say we do find your sister. If she did this to you, what makes you think she’ll fix it?”
“She must. She will. Once she hears reason. If you help me find her, I will leave. I will return with her to Aetheria. In the meantime, we are bound together until this is resolved—it is in both of our best interests to locate Helen.”
“Why is your sister here? I assume your kind doesn’t cross the veil often.” If djinn were popping into our world with any kind of regularity, I would have heard about it at some point.
He shifts in his chair, leaning closer. “You are correct. We aren’t supposed to. Helen ran away from her wedding. It has been planned since birth. My family is important in Aetheria. My parents are gone.” His hand lifts, touching the center of his chest.
There’s a bulge there, under his shirt. What is it?
He continues speaking. “It was always expected that Helen would make a good match for our people. She’s known this her whole life. The wedding is set to take place next week. At least, I think so. I don’t know how long I was in the lamp.”
“The shopkeeper I bought it from just got it in yesterday.”
Bennet nods, absorbing the information.
I rub my forehead, my thoughts sluggish with exhaustion. “So let me get this straight. Your sister is somewhere in New Orleans, and you have a week or less to find her. Meanwhile, you and I are stuck together because I released you like some kind of genie?”
Bennet gives me a flat look. “That is the second time you have referred to me as ‘genie.’ What does this term mean?”
I wave a hand. “It’s a magical being stuck in a lamp. Whoever rubs the lamp releases the genie and then the genie must grant them three wishes, anything they want.” I glance at Mimi. “Do I at least get three wishes?”
She shakes her head. “I wouldn’t test it. In every story, bad things happen. Hell, sometimes something bad things happen with each wish.”
“What kind of bad things?” Bennet asks.
Mimi drums her fingers on the table. “Like the man who wished for riches and eternal youth, and then his wife won the lottery, died, and left him a fortune. He was alone for eternity. A lifetime of luxury, but it was hollow and lonely. Or the woman who wished for endless love, only to have her partner become so obsessed, he killed her. And then there’s the story of the manwho wished for power, but it twisted him. He became a tyrant, unable to stop himself. His wish stripped him of his humanity, and he was left a monster.”
“So he became a politician?”
She considers that. “Most likely.”
Bennet leans his elbows on the table. “I am most certainly not this ‘genie.’ If I were at my full power, or if Helen were here, there is quite a bit of we could accomplish with our magic, but it would not be something someone could compel from us. Djinn don’t pull miracles out of thin air. We channel. Transform. Influence what’s already there.”
“So what kind of magic do you have?” Mimi asks.
“Our power is elemental. Tied to the land. Fire, wind, stone, sea—each of us is born with an affinity, a source that shapes us. In Aetheria, that connection is strong, and so the magic is abundant. Here, it’s more distant. Muted. But it’s the same current.”
Fascinating. “So it’s the same magic just watered down?”
He inclines his head. “Essentially. Magic is not confined to one realm or the other.” Then his lips purse. “But I suppose it is possible one of my kind came to your realm, perhaps inspired these genie stories. The kind of power you describe though, especially on this side of the veil? Nothing short of the Ring of Solomon would be powerful enough.”
