The Seven Kings of Jinn

You’re being kind of a dick.

What did I say about the name-calling?

Jai.

Ari.

“Okay, guys, this is freaking me out,” Charlie said, drawing Ari’s gaze. “Can you do it? Are you a telepath now?”

A slow smile slid across her face, and she nodded. Yeah, she was a telepath. And it felt weird and unbelievable.

But it also felt right.

Like something that had been right in front of her this whole time, just waiting for her to notice it.

Chapter 19

This lifeboat isn’t big enough for three

To Jai, the act of telepathy was an exercise. He believed it the most straightforward way to unlock Ari’s abilities, and she couldn’t disagree with him. It came naturally to her, and although she was more than thankful jinn couldn't read minds, she had to admit there was something very cool about being able to communicate with Jai telepathically. To keep exercising her "jinn muscles", Jai asked her to speak to him telepathically as often as possible. It pissed Charlie off, she could tell. She'd be pissed too if she was out of the loop, but the excitement of using a unique gift kind of over-rode everything else. Tapping into her abilities wasn’t at all like she imagined. Jai said there was no one muscle that needed to be worked, no inner power to be tapped into or explored. It was all about believing. It was as simple as that. Ari had to believe that if she wanted a glass of water, she could conjure it. Or a bag of chips. Or using telekinesis to pick up the TV remote. She even turned a cushion to ash when Charlie threw it playfully at her. She thought about what Jai did and raised a hand, believing it was ash. Suddenly it was.

As she conjured, the act becoming more natural as the day progressed, Ari felt the heat build in her skin. At one point, she felt as if she were emitting the heat of a thousand suns, her mouth was constantly parched, her skin was too hot to the touch and she felt weak. Jai had assured her it was normal, and sure enough, by the time late afternoon rolled around, she no longer felt overheated. She waved a hand over an open flame and it didn’t burn. It was also weirdly temperate. Fire and heat affected her differently now.

The entire experience was overwhelming and Ari had to stop herself from over-conjuring stuff when she realized she could have practically anything she wanted. It was kind of a high. But a dangerous one, Jai had warned. It was too easy to get drunk on power. Ari thought she could use his concern to her advantage. What she really wanted to do was learn how to use the peripatos. The peripatos was jinn form of traveling. Jinn could travel from New York to Sydney by concentrating on where they wanted to go. However, Jai said it was pretty exhausting the first time around and he wanted her to build on her abilities before she did any of the big stuff.

Getting to use the peripatos was one of many things Ari felt impatient about. She was impatient to learn the ‘cool’ jinn stuff, she was impatient to hear from the Red King about the shaitan who had put her dad in a coma. What she wasn't impatient for was the day she’d have to cut ties with her friends and family.

There were moments throughout the whole day when Ari had to shake herself because she found her thoughts climbing over her like creeping ivy, scratching and biting into her skin and entangling her in their morbid clutch. Because wasn’t it true that not only was she not human, but she was kind of a 'thing’ rather than jinn? The seal was an object with no feelings. It had one purpose. To command the jinn. What did that really make her then?

It got to where she deliberately drew on all the horrible truths that broke her heart to remind herself she was more than an object. She was a being with thoughts and emotions. It was completely masochistic.

Realizing how dangerous her position was among the jinn, Ari was certain walking away from her human life was for the best. She couldn’t stick around and put the people she cared about in jeopardy. The plan was to walk away from Ohio and her friends and her dad. No matter how heartbreaking.

But Charlie…

It was so selfish, but Ari was glad the stubborn idiot didn’t want to leave her. Asking him to leave and never come back was the hardest thing she’d ever done. She was impressed with her poise when she tried to do it (maybe she had inherited a little jinn stoicism after all) but her heart had slammed like a wrecking ball against her ribs the whole time she’d waited for his response. It had been weird with Jai eavesdropping, strange for many reasons she didn’t want to analyze, but in that moment, she and Charlie shared something new — a spark. Something Charlie hadn’t allowed before. He’d actually looked like he'd been leaning in to kiss her before Jai came out of the kitchen to interrupt them.