Darkness crept over Jai’s face and she watched in a daze as he stood to his feet and faced Pazuzu. No! Her brain attempted to fight through the pain. He couldn’t face the wind demon. Not alone!
Pazuzu’s laughter echoed around the desert, a manic, forced sound that seemed to inflame her wounds. Ari tried to shout out to Jai, only to cough up a thick gunk of blood. Jai jerked around at the noise, his eyes widening, his jaw tightening with rage. Ari tried to plead with her eyes for him to leave. Instead, he turned to Pazuzu and whipped his hand out like he was throwing an invisible curve ball. Pazuzu screamed as his eyes bled pure white, his awkward and grotesque arms flailing out in front of him as if he couldn’t see.
Jai had blinded him?
Yes, she choked on her momentary triumph, more blood bubbling up between her lips and cutting Jai’s victory short. I’m dying. Oh god, I’m dying.
“This won’t hold, you child!” Pazuzu snarled before he muttered something under his breath. Alien words met Ari’s ears as they escaped out from between Jai’s lips. She had no idea what he was saying, but as his arms rose like a conductor at the orchestra, the ground beneath her shook, scraping against her wounds. Biting back silent screams, Ari watched as Pazuzu rocked on unstable talons. He cursed and muttered faster.
Just as the white melted from his eyes, the ground finally gave way beneath his feet and water gushed up out of it like a geyser. As it descended, cascading down over his head, Pazuzu screamed. Bloody pustules popped up on his skin where the water touched, smoke poured from his pores like cold water on hot asphalt. His shrieks hurt Ari’s ears and she curled deeper into herself. When he fell to his knees, she almost breathed a sigh of relief, despite her wounds.
Desert Spirit. Jai turned to her to explain. Water is poison to them.
If she could have, Ari would have nodded at him. She didn’t care why Pazuzu was going down. All she cared about was that Jai was safe.
Afraid to move, Ari waited for Pazuzu to pass out, but he howled into the New Mexico desert with hatred fueling his power. A gnarled hand struck out toward Jai and Ari watched in horror as Jai clasped his throat, his face turning purple as he dropped to his knees. Petrified, Ari slid a hand toward him, the sickening pain of her torn skin matching her sickening fear as Jai coughed up desert dirt, thick with his saliva and insides. The gooey dirt seeped from his eyes and nose, even his fingernails. Pazuzu was suffocating him, filling his insides with desert.
No. No! NO!
In all the pain and confusion, Ari knew there was something she was supposed to do. What? What was it?
Suddenly Pazuzu kneeled before her, his vile, wounded face grinning at her evilly. “So this is the seal. What a disappointment you are, child. So easy to kill.”
The seal! She choked, trying to force the command out, but she only ended up spitting up more bloody globules. Fury and helplessness gripped her as she saw Jai collapse onto his back, his eyes closing and hands falling limply to his sides.
JAI! Her mind screamed.
Pazuzu laughed again.
Eyes widening as she realized what she’d done, Ari slid her narrowed gaze back to Pazuzu and whatever he saw in her face made him freeze. Got you, you piece of crap.
Pazuzu, I command you to release and heal Jai.
Mouth hanging in horror, Pazuzu immediately turned like a robot at the telepathic command and crooked a hand out at Jai. Her guardian’s eyes flew open and he coughed, spitting up the rest of the dirt as he sucked in shuddering breaths.
Pazuzu, I command you to heal me.
Furious, the Jinn spun back on her, his legs collapsing beneath him as his mind gave into her. The palm of one of his twisted hands pressed against her forehead, the slide of his skin reminding her of the feel of the lizard’s skin she’d touched at the zoo in Cincinnati years ago. Relief washed through Ari as the wounds closed and healed, the pain dulling to a sting, to a throb, to nothing. Before he could disappear, Ari clamped a hand over his and pinned him to the spot with her unrelenting gaze.
Pazuzu, I command you to undo the illness you placed upon Derek Johnson. Heal him. And afterward, never come near me or mine again.
Despite the rage burning in his eyes, Pazuzu nodded and she released him. The New Mexico air burst into fire as the wind demon disappeared into the peripatos, where she knew he would travel to the hospital to revive her father.
Relief crashed over her, deadening her limbs, and Ari had to drag herself across the desert dirt to Jai, who crawled his way toward her. His face was pale, his eyes slightly haunted as he reached for her to cup her cheek in his palm. Ari nuzzled into his touch, shocked by the depth of her fear of losing him. “You okay?” she croaked, her throat still raw from being shredded from the inside.