9 - This Heart’s Already Broken. Find Another.
They ran into the house, a buzz of vibrant energy around them from the very temporary enchantment Jai had placed around all three of them until they were ‘safe’ inside. As soon as the door slammed shut behind them, they all exhaled in relief, slumping against the nearest wall. Ari threw Jai a worried look as he leaned against the door, his eyes closed, his chest rising and falling fast with exertion. He looked so pale and exhausted from using so much magic.
Before she could ask him if he was OK, the hair on her nape rose as she sensed another Jinn presence. She spun around and was unsurprised and relieved to find The Red King standing in her sitting room. Eyeing the room, Ari fought off an inappropriate bubble of amusement. He’d cleaned again. Her uncle was such a neat freak.
“Hey.” Ari nodded, still a little out of breath.
Her uncle frowned, his brilliant blue gaze moving from Ari to Jai to Charlie and then back to Jai. “I came to see how Ari was coping, but clearly something’s happened. What’s up?” he demanded of her guardian.
As if his tone had shot an extra surge of strength into him, Jai straightened and brushed past Ari (her shoulder tingled where they touched and she glowered) to stand before The Red King. “We were attacked by humans. Six of them. They wanted Ari.”
“What?” Her uncle’s eyes narrowed in confusion. He took a step back, his beautiful long red hair swaying with his movements. “Oh man this can’t be happening. We have enough problems.”
“We got a name,” Jai told him. “They referred to their Master as Master Dalí.”
The Red King spun around so fast Ari was surprised he didn’t give himself whiplash. He strode towards Jai, his steps aggressive, his face severe. “Are you sure?”
Jai glanced back at Ari. “That’s what he said, right?”
Annoyance at how Charlie and Jai had spoken to her back at the scene of the attack still choked her. Considering what she’d been through today she would have thought the jackasses could have treated her with a little more sensitivity. “Oh, am I allowed to speak now?”
Her guardian’s vivid green gaze darkened. “Ari,” he said in warning.
“What did I miss?” Her uncle asked, furrowing his brow at her.
“Oh just me being treated like a child. On a day I could really do without it.”
“I told you to stay in the car and you got out of the car. You disobeyed me,” Jai snapped, frustration evident in every nuance of his body.
At his choice of words, Ari felt flames lick across her skin, her heart pounding hard against her ribcage. “Disobeyed you?”
“My job is to protect you. If you don’t listen to me, I can’t do my job.”
“And what about him?” Ari yelled now, turning around to glare at Charlie. “Is that what you think too?”
Charlie held his hands up in defense. “I just wanted you in the car and out of danger.”
She felt mollycoddled, useless, impotent, and something unfurled from within her. Something that didn’t feel a part of her. It was dark and ugly and mad… and she couldn’t hold it back. “Do I need to remind you who has the power here? What I’m capable of?” she asked, the voice pulling out of her not hers, not her words, not her intentions, not her own. As if watching from a distance, she turned around very slowly, eyeing them all, feeling the spark of her great power at her fingertips and glorying in it. Their eyes widened as she looked at them one by one, but it was the glimpse of horror in Jai’s eyes that made her grab a hold of herself and shove herself back in control. She shuddered, feeling the darkness plunge back down to where it had unearthed from, her body feeling limp as she fell against the arm of her sofa.
“Ari?” Jai asked softly, taking a tentative step towards her. She felt Charlie at her back.
Ashamed and scared, Ari lifted her gaze. “I didn’t mean that… I don’t know…” she looked to her uncle for help.
His handsome face was dark with understanding. “The Seal,” he whispered. “The magic within you is one of the most powerful things in all the realms, Ari. It isn’t supposed to be within you so you’re going to have to learn how to control it, to make it yours and not the other way around.”
She nodded, still trembling with fear, and too wary of everyone to tell them that’s not what it had felt like. It had felt like another being was within her, another voice, another personality pushing to get out. But maybe that’s what the Seal was. Charlie squeezed her shoulder and Ari leaned into his touch for just a second, allowing it to reassure her. The weirdness, after all, had only lasted a second. She could control it. She had to believe she could control it.
“You were saying?” she shook her head, shoving the fear back deep down inside. “About this Dalí guy? Do you know who he is?”
The Red King nodded briskly. “I have an idea. I need to check it out first. I’ll be back soon, but for now I’m putting an enchantment around the house. It won’t last long but it’ll do until I come back with a plan.”
“Thank you,” Ari said, and she meant it. She might not trust her uncle fully, but he was the only one who seemed to know what he was doing, so he was her best shot.
“Oh.” He took a step towards her. “Before I leave I should tell you that I’ve let the Ifrit return to help protect you.”
“The Ifrit?” Jai frowned, crossing his arms over his chest in that way he did when he was annoyed by something.
A feeling of warmth flooded Ari and she smiled for the first time in days. “Ms. Maggie?” she asked hopefully. To have the comforting presence of her poltergeist back would be just the thing she needed right now. A piece of home.