The Seven Kings of Jinn

She chuckled humorlessly and was grateful when he returned her smile with a lopsided one. “It is weird.”

“So what are you going to do about it?” he asked, pushing up away from the door. Charlie glanced down at Jai, who still read his book like they weren’t having this momentous conversation in front of him. “Are you going to learn, you know, to be jinn?”

Scowling at the thought, Ari shook her head. “Hell no. No. No way. I want nothing to do with any of it. Once I rectify a few situations, I am going to continue my very human life like none of this ever happened.”

Charlie looked doubtful. “It’s not that easy, Ari.”

“Yes, it is. I mean, I can’t right away, but I will. The Red King refuses to drop the protection, so I’m stuck with Jai until I can figure out how to get rid of him.”

“Thanks,” Jai replied dryly, without looking up from the book.

Charlie frowned down at him. “So that’s it? No jinn stuff? Nothing?”

His look of disappointment baffled Ari. She wanted to question him, but she was afraid of what’d he say, afraid it would spoil the tenuous thread they’d sewn in their torn friendship in the last few minutes. “No. Well, yeah. You remember I told you about Nick? How he’s possessed by one of the jinn?”

“Jesus.” Charlie’s eyes widened. “After everything… I guess that part I kind of forgot.”

“Understandable under the circumstances. Jai and I are waiting for these Brotherhood guys—”

“Aissawa,” Jai interjected before yawning.

“Aissawa Brotherhood guys who specialize in exorcism.”

Charlie’s eyes lit up, such animation on his face it startled Ari. It had been two years since she’d seen him excited about anything. “You’re doing an exorcism?”

“Yeah.” She nodded. “Yeah, we are. Once we figure out how to get Nick in a secluded place where we can, you know, depossess him.”

Jai snorted. “Exorcise him.”

“Whatever.”

“I want in,” Charlie said, glancing up and down between the two of them.

“What do you mean you want in?” Jai lowered his book, his rough voice all serious and antagonistic. Ari wanted to punch him.

“Just that. I want to help.”

“No wa—”

“Of course you can,” Ari cut off Jai’s protest. Charlie was offering to do something that didn’t involve sex, drinking or drugs. There was no way she was leaving him out of this. “I’ll call you when it’s time.”

He smiled at her. “Great. Look, I have to go because Mom and I are, you know… well… we’re actually talking so I said I’d be home for dinner.”

Warmth spread through her, and Ari grinned at the news. “Charlie, that’s great news, that’s—”

“Yeah, yeah.” He stopped her, leaning down to press a kiss to her forehead. “We’ll talk soon, okay. Lots to discuss.” He winked at her and then turned, casting another puzzled and wary look at Jai before disappearing out the door.

When Ari finally stopped mooning at the doorway, she looked down at Jai, only to find him glaring up at her. “What?”

“You invited a human, an addict to boot, to help with the exorcism?”

“Hey, until a few days ago, I was human.”

“No, you just thought you were. And he’s not coming.”

“This is my exorcism. I say who goes.”

“You’re such a child.”

Ari guffawed. “Excuse me? I am not the one making spurious accusations about people. Charlie has had problems but he’s not an addict.”

“But you admit he has a problem?”

“Had,” she argued. “Had a problem. I haven’t seen Charlie that sober or that animated about anything in two years. If coming along to a freaky jinn exorcism keeps him that way, then fine by me.”

“Just be careful with him, okay. You don’t know what his agenda is.”

“You know, Jai, some people don’t have agendas. Some people are just friends.”

“God, Ari,” he groaned.

Surprised by the entreaty in her guardian’s voice, Ari spun about to look down at him, blinking in confusion at the begrudging smile he wore on his lips. “What?”

“You.” He thumped his head back against the wall. “Your loyalty is exhausting.”

Ari flushed at the backhanded compliment, ignoring the flutter of butterfly wings in her stomach. She suddenly grew irritated and confused. Shaking her head at Jai in disbelief, she bit out, “I am going to the bathroom and you better not follow me, perv.”

“Child,” he muttered as she hurried past him.

Ari was surprised but pleased when Charlie called that night to talk. They hadn’t talked on the phone for a long time. He asked her to tell him more about her visit with the White King and as she recounted the terrifying tale, she really wished Jai would disappear so she could have some privacy. After a while, the conversation puttered out a little and she realized it was going to take more than the revelation that ‘genies’ lived among them to repair the damage to their relationship. But the call had been a start, and when Ari hung up, she felt eager and hopeful.