Chapter 41 #2
Anthony dragged Caspar to the stairwell and pulled him up every single step.
His legs were full of regret and a dozen memories that came back to him at once.
A million missteps he’d taken throughout this entire quest, a thousand red flags he’d ignored.
Anthony. Caspar saw Anthony in his parents’ grocery store, always sorting things in the basement.
Without needing confirmation, Caspar knew his parents had hidden their trinkets down there.
Because why not? That store was the one thing they’d owned coming to a new world.
It was the one thing that allowed them to be free.
And Anthony had stolen that from them.
Before Anthony opened the door to the seventh floor, he took the crown from his arm and placed it over his head.
He hummed a song as he combed his hair around it, placing it just right.
When Caspar listened, he realized it was the same nursery rhyme about kings that the two of them had sung as children.
“What do you think?” Anthony asked. “Good, right?”
Caspar’s stomach roiled. Odafin, the Chaos Cartel and its cast-away Mages, even fucking George Cosner and his oh-so familiar wife Amara were incidental.
Everything had led to this moment, where Caspar and Anthony were building sandcastles again, wondering which one of them would win—a baseball game, a scholarship to university, or an entire empire of wishes.
“Well, what do you think, Caspar?” Anthony asked again. “Does it suit me?”
When Caspar didn’t answer, Anthony tugged him forward into the foyer of the office wing.
There were couches and magazines, all placed there as if the building was already in service to the outside world.
Flowers sat in one corner of the front desk.
An older man with dark hair rose from one of the couches and greeted both of them with a nod.
The man’s eyes were so haunting and familiar, Caspar thought he was looking at a ghost.
“Evening, Abdul. Caspar, meet your cousin.”
Caspar cursed again. He wanted to look away, but he couldn’t help but stare at Abdul.
Abdul was probably only a second cousin, judging by his age, but he was part of Caspar’s family.
He remembered seeing Abdul’s name on the family tree Erwin had given him, and now dreaded the connection between Abdul and Anthony.
Abdul walked closer to both of them, nodding his subservience, and didn’t utter a word.
“Whatever you’re doing, Anthony, you can stop right now,” Caspar said. “You can turn it back and we can forget this ever happened.”
“No.”
“No?”
“No,” Anthony practically shouted it. “You weren’t supposed to be home that weekend, Caspar.
I was supposed to go there and get my lifetime supply of wishes.
I was supposed to make your parents come out of hiding and be rewarded, but they refused to do as I asked, like I’m going to refuse to do as you ask right now. ”
“How did you know?”
“How did you not know?” Anthony asked, his voice accusatory.
“My God, Caspar. Your parents weren’t quaint people trying to assimilate to the Canadian dream.
They were runaways. I knew even before I found those damn trinkets that they were hiding something.
Those were easy enough to find, and from there, I could piece together their legacy.
Your items, though… your little trinkets were much harder to place.
I searched and I searched and I searched after your parents’ fuck-up.
I found nothing. But in that process, I came across Abdul here. Isn’t that right, Abdul?”
Abdul nodded without lifting his eyes.
“And, well,” Anthony went on. “Abdul and I have had some fun. So have a couple other members of your family, but they were much harder to work with. A bunch of quitters, really. But meeting your family always made me wonder why you weren’t a genie.
Why nothing ever happened to you, even while in prison.
I kept tabs on you for years, thinking you would transform like you have now and grow like a tree.
But of course, you can’t decide what you don’t know!
So your body went into stasis. I understood that.
I checked in on you, and really, I forgot about you and your little world. But then—then you go and betray me!”
“Betray you?” Caspar asked.
Anthony gestured to the crown as if it was evidence of the betrayal.
Caspar supposed it was; Malek had broken him out of prison and made believe in everything again, accepting his heritage and understanding his future.
Malek was The Forgotten King, and he had allowed Caspar to show him there was nothing binding him to his family or his wishes.
He could walk away. There was nothing wrong with that.
“But—”
“You were dead. Why did you fake your death?”
“Because—I owe you nothing,” Caspar said. He saw how deep his words cut. And now, realizing the lies that had shaped his youth, he shouted back at his best friend. “My dad gave you a job, and you murdered him!”
“I asked for something simple and he refused!” Anthony screamed. His skin turned red, so red Caspar was sure he was about to change into djinn form.
But he didn’t.
He huffed. He sweated. Then he whipped off the crown and went to break it in two. The enchantment refused to let it snap. With a gasp, he turned to Abdul. “Can you break this? I wish for this to be torn in two.”
Abdul shook his head. “Rival family. I can’t—”