Chapter 41 #3
“Of course you can’t. All you djinns and your silly fucking rules. Don’t you understand that the rules hold you back? Fine, fine. Then I’d like a TV here. A cable connection playing whatever I want.”
Caspar was about to tell him that it wasn’t nearly specific enough and he didn’t ask three times, but Abdul did it anyway.
The foyer was filled with a huge flat screen, and The Citizen’s Brigade news cast came on.
Caspar watched as Anthony delivered his eulogy, speaking about their time as children, and then scattering his ashes—or his fake ashes—in Lake Ontario, by the Scarborough Bluffs.
“I know you wanted to have them scattered from the sky so you could fly, but I hope this is good enough.” Each word felt like recognition and betrayal at the same time.
“Why the fuck are you showing me this?”
“Too afraid of your own mortality? Fine.” Anthony changed the channel, and Caspar’s house stood in the centre of the screen. “Sit.”
Anthony gestured toward one of the chairs.
Caspar did as he was told, though some small section of his brain wanted to fight it.
The news reporter, Maxine Dream, held her microphone close to her face as she interviewed one of the construction crew members.
He seemed so familiar, and when Caspar spotted the hole in the cheek, he remembered the feeling of being tossed in the air.
Maxine went from the gargoyles on the construction crew to the house on Main Street, surrounded by bulldozers.
It reminded him of werewolves leading a pack.
“Why are you showing me this?”
“Because you should look at your legacy before it all goes down.”
A sick feeling spread through Caspar as he watched the bulldozer run over the front part of his house. He turned away and looked back at Anthony, who watched him contently.
“That’s not my legacy. That’s a building where you killed my parents.”
“You know, you’re right. Your legacy isn’t in there anymore. It’s right here.”
Anthony reached into his front pocket and pulled out the silk casing that held Caspar’s enchanted stones.
They glowed as Anthony unwrapped them. The TV’s volume seemed louder, and the building seemed to shake around Caspar on the couch—but it wasn’t real.
It was his jewels passing hands that made the world to feel unhinged.
It was the feeling of his freedom being wrenched away from him while he was still bound to Malek.
An invisible thread pulled against his skin and locked him in place.
“How dare you try to enslave me, enslave my parents. I was free—”
“No, you weren’t. We’re never free, Caspar. And the opposite of freedom isn’t slavery—or servitude. It’s subservience.” Anthony admired the jewels as Caspar fought off the taste of metal and ammonia in his mouth.
“You haven’t picked your items.”
“No, I haven’t.”
“And that means you haven’t decided what you want to be.
Join the family or leave, right?” He cast a glance back at Abdul, who only nodded.
The bags under his eyes grew. Caspar wanted to yell at him that the freedom shield could set him free, but it didn’t matter.
It wasn’t the family that bound Abdul to work—it was a scavenger.
Abdul wasn’t a bad guy, but he was only as good as Anthony allowed.
Abdul was only the shell of a djinn, being taunted and pulled by the strings of servitude.
Anthony was, and always had been, the puppet master.
“This isn’t right.”
“But it is,” Anthony said. “It’s what I want, and it’s what I’ll get. I’ll use my wishes up with Abdul, and then I’ll get yours.”
“You won’t.” Caspar tried to draw strength from his convictions as he rubbed the ring on his finger over and over again. Help, help, help. Please send help.
“You’re going to have to choose soon, Caspar.”
“No. I won’t. I’m not bound to you.”
“You’re always bound to someone,” Abdul said. “No man is an island.”
“But I can be a fjord. I’m in a state of maybe. I’m something—but I’m not a part of this.”
“You will be soon,” Anthony said. “Your boy will show up, he will try to rescue you, but of course, he will be given a choice. Save you or save himself? The crown or Caspar? And because you love him, you will use your last wish to save him. Then you must decide on your trinkets, and you will have to serve me, Caspar. And when your boy fails to save you, I’ll take what I want from him as well.
Spoiler alert, Caspar: No one is ever really free. ”
Caspar stopped rubbing the ring. Fear percolated through him. Of course. Caspar was still useless to Anthony, and he knew that from following them around. But if Malek came to save Caspar, like he knew he would, Anthony would get the best of both worlds.
Caspar was the bait. He wished he could tear off his finger and never call Malek again, but it was already too late. He’s written on my skin, Caspar thought. There’s no one else who would ever find me.
Caspar swallowed as his eyes were drawn back to the TV. He watched his house, his legacy, and his hope be demolished in a single second.