The Seven Kings of Jinn

Chapter 1

Ghost in the soul

Ari followed the swipe of Mr. Dillon’s eraser across the board, wiping out the poor chalk-figure hangman who had met his complete death — a head, torso, limbs and all — when the senior class had failed to figure out the blanks equated to accumulated depreciation. The last week of school. Business class.

Ari hid a yawn behind her hand and stared out of the window at the trees behind the parking lot. She wondered if he was out there already.

“God, I thought this class couldn’t get any more boring,” Nick Melua whispered at her side. Ari made a sympathetic noise and nodded in agreement. Waiting for graduation was a slow torture in hell. That the waiting room was Mr. Dillon’s Business Studies class only increased the banality.

She better get used to it, Ari thought with a wince. She would major in business at Penn after summer break. Pushing the future and the host of angry butterflies the thought of it created in her belly out of her mind, Ari concentrated on worrying about Charlie. Was he out behind the parking lot? Again?

“Miss Johnson?”

She groaned into her wrist and flicked her eyes up at the board. “W,” she guessed without thinking and felt the heat of the glares from her classmates.

“Nope.” Mr. Dillon shook his head. “Nick?”

“E,” he threw across the room belligerently and was rewarded with grateful smiles as the word became clearer.

“Entrepreneur!” Staci Pike shouted out with such enthusiasm it could fool you into thinking she cared. Ari smirked over at her and rolled her eyes at Staci’s sheepish shrug. Staci hated making anyone feel bad and the perspiration rolling down Mr. Dillon’s face told them he knew he was failing miserably at keeping them entertained.

Mr. Dillon smiled gratefully. “Correct. Do you want to come up, Staci, and choose a word?”

Ari grinned at her. See, that’s what happens when you’re nice.

Staci narrowed her eyes as she swept by Ari’s table. “Meanie,” she murmured loud enough to make Ari snort.

Fifteen minutes later, the class grew more fervent in their irritation as they struggled to figure out Staci’s word. Finally, Mr. Dillon sighed. “I’m afraid the hangman is definitely… dead. You’ll have to tell us your word, Staci.”

Her dark eyes were wide with disbelief. “You guys are terrible at this game.”

“Aw come on, Staci.” Nick beat his fist against the table, his voice climbing to a whine. “Just tell us.”

“Fine,” she huffed. “The word or words, rather, are ‘Bill Gates.’”

Ari laughed as the class exploded into an uproar.

“I still don’t see what the big deal was.” Staci shrugged as they walked toward their lockers.

“You were supposed to use a business term.” Ari chuckled, plucking a spit ball out of Staci’s hair and flicking it to the ground. She grimaced, wiping her hand against her T-shirt.

“Bill Gates is a businessman, hello!”

“Hello to you too,” a warm voice purred before Staci was pulled back into the solid embrace of her boyfriend A.J. Half Japanese (on her mom’s side) Staci’s slight frame was swallowed up in the stocky shadow of A.J.’s wrestler’s body. Her eyes widened before she relaxed into him, tilting her mouth up to his for a kiss.

Ari sighed and turned from them, yanking her locker open with more force than she’d intended.

“Is someone in a bad mood?” A.J. asked, grinning at the glare Ari threw him over her shoulder.

Staci shook her head. “Nah, I think she’s just bummed out after the longest class in the history of classes.”

“What’s there to be bummed about?” Rachel’s voice entered the fray. Ari craned her neck around her locker to smile at her best friend. Rachel returned her smile, her blond hair swinging against her chin as she jerked her gaze back and forth between her friends with the excitement of a puppy. “We’re officially free in a few days and then, drum roll, please.” She gestured to A.J. who supplied the request with his imaginary drum sticks. “It’s Ari’s 18th birthday slash graduation party!”

As her friends talked enthusiastically about their plans for the 18th birthday party her dad, Derek, was letting her throw in their house at the end of the week, Ari tried to smile with sufficient animation. Not that she hated birthdays, or graduation even. It was more the promise of the future. A future she wasn’t so sure about.

“Oh, guys, I have to bring the stethoscope Mom and Dad bought me to the party… it’s awesome,” Rachel chirped, her eyes glittering at the prospect of leaving for Dartmouth to start her pre-medical studies. After Dartmouth, she planned on applying to John Hopkins, and Ari knew that whatever Rachel wanted, Rachel would eventually get.

“They bought you a stethoscope already?” A.J. snorted. “Dude, you’re not even going to med school for another three years.”

“Seven years of college. You are so insane.” Staci shuddered. “I can’t even imagine.”