The Seven Kings of Jinn

It was a hot kiss.

“Was not,” she muttered.

Jai frowned. “What?”

“Uh nothing. I mean… Okay, I agree to the rules. But you have to do something for me.”

Before he could ask for more information, the phone rang. They both stared at it and Ari’s pulse leaped. It was weird… the phone ringing. It was the first normal thing that had happened to her since last night. No. Correction. Two nights ago.

The answering machine clicked on and Ari’s heart promptly stopped when her dad’s voice echoed around the room. “Ari, where are you? Pick up if you’re there, goddammit.”

Hearing the fear and concern in his voice, Ari jumped over the coffee table, caught her foot on it and fell onto the couch. She reached for the phone, knocking over a lamp as she grabbed it. “Dad?” she asked, trying not to sound out of breath.

“Ari!” He cried, relief evident in her name. “Oh Christ, where have you been?”

What was she supposed to say? She glanced over at Jai, who gazed at her looking as bored as ever. “I uh… didn’t want to speak to anyone so I’ve just been holed up in the house.”

“And you didn’t think to check the answering machine?! I’ve left you a ton of messages. Charlie called me yesterday to tell me he couldn’t find you, that you weren’t in the house. I called the police and they sent someone over. Why didn’t you answer the door?”

Ari looking frantically around for inspiration for a lie. “Uh… I wasn’t feeling well. I had my period.” She winced, disbelieving that was the best she could come up with under pressure. She slanted a gaze at Jai and blushed when she realized he was struggling not to laugh. Scowling, Ari pressed the phone tighter to her ear. “Why did you call the police?”

Her dad made a choking sound on the other end of the phone and Ari braced herself for an explosion. She had to hold the phone away from her ear as he started yelling at her that he had been worried sick, that he was at the CVG Airport and would be home in about an hour to kill her. Ari could not get a word in and then he hung up on her. She didn’t think she’d ever heard her dad so mad.

“He’s pissed.” Jai relaxed casually into the armchair.

Ari rolled her eyes at the inconvenience of him being here. “Oh, you think.”

“Sarcasm is such an unattractive quality in anyone but me.”

She scoffed, ignoring the somewhat sexy quirk of his upper lip. He had the kind of mouth movie stars would kill for, full pouty lower lip that made a girl want to nibble on it.

Ari squirmed, thinking of Charlie and how worried he must be. “You know what would be an attractive quality in you? Muteness.”

He quirked an eyebrow. “I can see this is going to be a pleasurable assignment.”

“Yup. Sarcasm definitely not an attractive quality in you.” Before he could reply, Ari stood up, hands trembling a little as she thought of facing her furious father. “Look, my dad is going to be here any second, so you have to not be here.”

Jai shrugged. “I’ll just step into the cloak.”

“The cloak?”

“The enchantment we use to be invisible.”

The thought of him in the living room listening to her argument with her dad and knowing he was there, but her dad not knowing, was too creepy. “No way. I’ve already had one jinn floating around my home invisible. I’m not putting up with another one.”

“Well, what do you suggest?”

“Uh… you leaving.”

“Uh… not going to happen.”

Exhausted and so not up for a fight, Ari threw up her hands. “Fine. You can stay. But you’ll hide in my room.”

Chapter 9

I’m right here

where are you?

Jai grudgingly made his way upstairs to Ari’s room and she watched from the bottom of the stairs, her heart thumping in her chest. Her whole body felt jittery and wired and it suddenly occurred to her she had to be functioning on pure adrenaline at this point. Sure that Jai was safely upstairs, Ari made her way into the living room to wait for Derek. Her knee bounced up and down of its own accord and her teeth chattered together as she waited, her palms slick with cold sweat. Now that she had a moment alone, all she could do was think about was the events of the last few days. Funny, it wasn’t the supernatural part that bothered her. Maybe it was her genetic makeup, but she’d always dealt with stuff like that with ease. She thought of how easily she had taken to Ms. Maggie, how it never freaked her out to believe there was a friendly poltergeist living with her, even though it freaked everyone else out, including her dad. No, what she struggled with was the whole parent thing. It was bad enough that Derek wasn’t really her father, but to know that her real father was such a monster was horrifying.