The Seven Kings of Jinn

Jai’s chuckle bounced around in her mind, making her bury deeper into him. I’m getting that. I have claw marks on my skin.

Oops, sorry.

It’s fine.

With the superhuman speed they flew at, it came as no surprise when Jai slowed on descent within minutes. Prying her eyes open, she peeked out from under her lashes to see they moved closer and closer toward the ground.

The earth below burst with color—greens and reds and blues and purples and glinting diamond light — all of it moving, like multi-colored bugs scrambling around. People! They were heading for a ton of people. Sure enough, Jai eased back on the accelerator and as they approached ground, she nipped her nails into his shoulder in her anxiousness. What the hell is that?

It looks like… a parade.

A parade? A parade of what?

Uh… humans?

Bracing herself for impact, Ari was glad for Jai's graceful landing. Her feet hit concrete with little reverberation . She staggered out of his arms, only to be shoved back into them.

“Hey, what was that?” A girl in costume shrieked, glancing around for her invisible ‘attacker’. Ari and Jai broke apart, taking in the surrounding madness.

Come out of the cloak, now.

Following his instructions, Ari stepped out of it, only to be slammed into Jai again by a giant green alien. Dodging the next stream of people, Ari cursed under her breath at the sparkles and glitter and multi-colored faces and masks. Everywhere… there were aliens.

Eyes alighting on a banner spanning the entire width of Main Street, Roswell, Ari cursed loudly this time.

Welcome to Roswell’s Annual UFO Festival!

“You have got to be kidding me.” Jai bit out a curse and moved out of the way of a guy dressed in silver spandex. The beat of drums crashed around them and the song Spaceman by Babylon Zoo blared from somewhere. The air smelled of burgers and cotton candy. Laughter and singing mingled in with the raucous celebration, and Ari felt a little disorientated by it all. A laughing alien face appeared inches before her and she bit back a yell, stumbling into Jai to get away from the face that smelled of hot rubber and sweat. Jai caught her and she looked down in surprise when he tangled his fingers through hers and held tight.

She gulped. “What now?”

Now we find Pazuzu. You’ll feel him, Ari. You’ll sense jinn among us. He’s old and powerful, so whatever you do, don’t let go of my hand.

Okay.

Jai shoved into the crowds, ignoring the disgruntled yelps as they walked in the opposite direction of the parade. They sidestepped floats and a couple of cars and plunged back into the crowds again. Keeping her senses alert, Ari couldn’t help but feel drained. There were just so many people there. How were they ever going to find Pazuzu?

Jai glanced back at her, squeezing her hand. Crazy, huh?

Too crazy.

He’s gotta be here somewhere, Ari. Just hold on.

I am. I am.

Flexing her hand in his, Ari realized how safe she felt with him. Safer than she even felt with Charlie. It was nice. Too nice.

As they passed people melting under the New Mexico sun in their heavy makeup and costumes, Ari was glad her body ran at such a stable temperature. Looking for Pazuzu in these crowds and dehydrating at the same time did not sound like fun. Not that this was—

What the hell is that?

Jai’s hand tightened again. You feel that?

Yes, she replied. She checked over the crowds, searching for the origin of the jinn energy surge she'd sensed. What is that?

Jai drew to an abrupt halt, pulling Ari to a standstill. He groaned. This isn’t happening.

What? She eyed him apprehensively before following his gaze through the parade.

There. He nodded his head and Ari squinted, trying to see what had caught his attention. Focusing, she searched the energy she had felt only moments before and her spidey senses zoomed in on a young woman in a skin-tight, bright green catsuit beckoning two young men down a dark alley. The boys grinned at each other before following her in. Another jinn.

No way.

Yes way. And not just any jinn. He looked down at her, his eyes hard. A ghulah. A flesh-eating jinn. They prey specifically on travelers.

Ari’s stomach flipped at the thought of the carnage the jinn was about to unleash. She hadn’t even known there were flesh-eating jinn. Wow. She'd really been born into a very disturbing world. Travelers? Her eyes widened as she looked back at the UFO festival sign. Of course. People traveled from all over the world to enjoy the Roswell UFO Festival.

Ari, I have to stop her. I can’t just stand by and let that happen when I can do something about it.

I know. But I’m coming with you.

No.

Yes.

Ari, I don’t have time to argue about this.

Neither did she. Tugging out of his grip, Ari pushed through the crowds toward the alleyway. Feeling the heat of Jai at her back, Ari looked over shoulder defiantly. What do we do?