Chapter 15 #2
Before I could call him, I felt a firm grip on my shoulders, shoving me back into a narrow alleyway. I was snatched so quickly, my vision blurred. The scent of smoke filled the air, dizzying me. And there it was, the jinn that had smiled at me, face to face with me now, mere inches between us.
“Hello, Roxana,” he said.
“What do you want?” I managed to say.
“I wanted to see you.”
I moved backward slowly. “Why?”
“Is everything okay?” a smooth voice asked.
I whipped my head toward the entrance of the alleyway, where a boy stood.
He looked about my age, tall, with dark, close-cropped hair.
His face was all sharp angles, with high cheekbones and a strong jaw.
He took a few steps closer and smiled at me, though it didn’t quite meet his eyes.
There was something sharp in them, too, which made me feel like I was being cornered.
I looked back at the jinn, and he was gone. Disappeared, again.
“You shouldn’t go down dark alleyways,” the boy continued.
I whirled around. “I…” I didn’t know what to say; I could barely even breathe.
He waited, following my eyes and then glancing back at me. I just shook my head and began walking toward the main road. He followed and said, “I haven’t seen you around here before,” with the hint of an accent I couldn’t place.
I didn’t think Denver was small enough for people to notice a newcomer. Once out in the open, with cars and pedestrians, I could breathe more easily again. “What makes you think I’m new?” I asked half-heartedly, my own accent no doubt betraying that I didn’t belong.
“I would have noticed someone as beautiful as you.”
Uneasiness crept between us, stronger this time, some innate part of me urging me to leave, to flee from the gaze of this striking boy who was studying me far too closely. “Right,” I said.
His lips quirked up like he found my curt tone amusing. “I’m Keyon, by the way.”
“I see,” I said. “Well, I have to go, Keyon.” I walked around him and added, “Thank you,” because although he was being weird and flirty, he had saved my life, without even knowing it.
—
In my bedroom, I called Zain.
“A jinn tried to attack me,” I breathed.
“What?”
I explained what had happened and could feel his anger through the phone. “I’m sorry I dragged you into this. Now they’re targeting you—”
I interrupted him before he could continue to blame himself. “They were in my dreams long before I met you,” I said. “In this lifetime, at least. But it’s just so freaky that he knew my name.”
“Are you okay?” he asked.
I wasn’t, but instead of saying that, I said, “Yes. I’m just scared he’ll come back.”
“Whoever he is, I’ll kill him,” he said. “Tonight. I want you to stay at home.”
“Are you sure they won’t come in the house or something?” I asked, having watched far too many horror movies.
“He’ll be dead by then,” he said with so much confidence that I didn’t doubt him.
Not too long after the call ended, Dad returned home after a trip to Walmart with Ehsan. He called me to help him get the stuff out of the car. And while I hadn’t expected him to buy a new flat-screen TV, my dad’s thing for big TVs was the mental reprieve I needed.
I helped him unload all the groceries into the fridge and cupboards, offering to make a pasta bake to keep busy.
As we sat around the table and ate, it would’ve felt like old times if the image of the jinn hadn’t been stuck in my mind.
If the boy, Keyon, hadn’t intervened, what would the jinn have done to me?
“I’m going out of town for a work conference, and I’m leaving early tomorrow morning. Since I won’t be back until Tuesday afternoon, I’ll need you to take Ehsan to football,” Dad said.
Ehsan had joined a flag football team with Dylan, something that made Dad beam at him with pride. Anything Ehsan did elicited that reaction from him. The combination of Ehsan being the only boy and the youngest meant that Dad treated him differently from me and Azar.
It was bizarre, even to me, the way my mind flitted between supernatural terror and being jealous of my brother because my dad was sexist.
“That’s fine,” I grumbled, glad that at least Dad would be out of the picture for a night.
I went to bed early and saw a new message from Zain.
Zain
It’s all sorted.
He killed him?
How do you know it was the same one?
I scented him from the alleyway you mentioned. His power is speed through smoke, so it was easy.
Did he say why he was targeting me?
No, but don’t worry, I’m going to figure this out. You’re safe now, I promise.
Was I? I doubted it, though knowing that jinn was gone made me feel somewhat better. But that he knew my name, and wanted to see me specifically, freaked me out. It was hard to believe that more of them wouldn’t come after me.
I had messages from Nic that I’d left unread since yesterday. I wasn’t sure how I could talk to her normally with everything going on.
I did my nighttime rituals. Left my window cracked to let in fresh air and sprayed my pillows with oils to calm and relax me.
I popped some magnesium and sat crossed-legged on my bed, hoping to clear my mind for ten minutes, but it was no use.
I couldn’t stop thinking. Not only of the jinn, but of the fireballs in Rabiya’s hands.
Of being burned at the stake. Of Zain’s magnificent wings.
Of the feeling of his lips against mine, soft and hard, hands gripping my shoulders…
My breath caught. It was impossible to relax.
My palms itched, and I gazed down at them.
Willed flames. Nothing happened. I opted, instead, to scroll TikTok, allowing myself to get sucked into celebrity gossip I couldn’t care less about but that numbed my brain until my eyelids began to feel heavy.
As I drifted off, I heard hissing, faint but loud enough to make me open my eyes.
I sat up, scanned the room, but saw nothing.
Each time I almost fell asleep, I could have sworn I heard movement in my room. I was teary-eyed, frustrated. I just wanted to sleep. One night of guaranteed, undisturbed slumber.
It was about three a.m. when I finally succumbed to sleep and saw my mother once more.