Chapter 32
As soon as the café door closed behind them, Talula screamed so hard it hurt.
“Fuck that guy fuck that guy fuck fuck fuck him!”
Once she’d gotten enough expletives out of her system, she checked her watch. It was just after ten. “What do we do?”
“We obviously can’t let Damien kidnap and murder people.” Simon paced in frantic, worried circles.
“Can the Council help?”
He shook his head. “Any magic they’d have to do would be too complex in the time we have. Damn those cuffs.”
“Then we bring in the big guns.” Talula took a breath. “Simon, now’s the time for serious magic. Demonic shadows. Pickle dimension. Earwigs. All of it.”
Simon swallowed nervously. “I can’t.”
“What?”
“I haven’t regained my power all the way yet. Six weeks ago, I was just magical plasma!” Simon cried. “I can do illusions and a few little tricks, but nothing big. Not big enough for this.”
Talula sank onto the café sofa, turning over their options in her head. “What about Elegba? Can you try reaching him?”
“I don’t have a direct line to his astral signature. No one on the Council does. He’s an orisha; he operates on his own terms. Did the cookbook say anything?”
Talula shook out her hands. “I made the last recipe. But it was just eggs! Unless Kiki wanted me to scramble Damien to death—”
“Kiki,” Simon said. He didn’t meet Talula’s eyes. “Kiki could help.”
Talula crossed her arms. “Their ex is the one doing this, Simon. Their abusive ex. Kiki came to the Blue Moon to get away from Damien. We’re not going to bring Kiki into this.”
“Then what do we do?” Simon asked quietly.
Talula searched her brain. Then she remembered what Kiki had said about the ring they’d given Dahlia.
It may summon jinn, any jinn, all jinn, some jinn, one jinn at the will of a sorceress. The ring will not allow jinn to be bound to your command, but they can be bargained with.
“We can still use the ring. But we summon any jinn who’ll answer the call. We see who’s willing to make a deal.”
“That seems extremely ill-advised.”
“We can reason with jinn. We can’t reason with mass-murdering sociopaths.”
“Those categories are not necessarily mutually exclusive!” Simon let out a distressed groan. “But you’re right. It’s our best option. Even though negotiating with unknown jinn is dangerous and stupid and we all might die with jinn-conjured weevils erupting from our anuses.”
Talula let out a horrified half laugh.
“But we need the ring,” Simon said. “And Dahlia has it.”
“I’ll get it.” Talula shook out her shoulders. “I’ll just conjure it.”
“I don’t think—”
But the door had opened in Talula’s mind.
In her blue-tinged magical vision, Dahlia sat at her kitchen table, staring wretchedly at the poster board Talula had left on the counter next to the scrambled eggs.
Pain cracked through Talula’s heart. But she couldn’t get distracted now.
Kiki’s ring glittered over Dahlia’s shirt. With her magic, Talula reached for it.
Something heavy tugged at Talula’s power. She frowned, pressing her will into the conjuring. She felt something snap, like a rubber band stretched to its breaking point and recoiling.
When Talula came out of her magical trance, the ring was in her hand. Which was still attached to the necklace. Which was still attached to Dahlia.
“Whoa!” Dahlia gaped. She watched the blue sparks of magic drift around her. “That was extremely cool. But also, not cool?”
“I didn’t mean to do that. I promise I didn’t mean to do that!” Talula dropped the ring and sprung away from Dahlia. She was not ready to have this conversation. “I know we need to talk about some big things, but I just wanted to conjure Kiki’s ring to save Samhain.”
Dazed, Dahlia stumbled onto the café couch. “Save it from what? I thought we already saved it.”
Talula, totally unprepared for any of this, decided to just launch into it, giving Dahlia the bare-bones details.
“There are mercenaries holding the town hostage until I give them every magical being at the festival so they can sell tickets to magical creature hunts. We need Kiki’s ring because it can summon jinn.
We need to make a deal with a jinn before the hunters start killing everyone in Pine Hollow. ”
“Kiki gave me an all-powerful jinn-summoning ring?” Dahlia held up the ring appreciatively. “Nice.”
“If I could just borrow it—”
“Not until you explain why you left me without saying anything.” Dahlia slipped the ring under her shirt. “Though I can guess.”
Talula ran a self-conscious hand through her hair.
“I’m not supposed to fall for you. I’m supposed to keep my worlds separate, keep the magic secret.
” She looked at Dahlia apologetically. “When I found your poster board, I thought all my worst-case scenarios of being with you were coming true. I thought you were using the Blue Moon for your book. Using me for your book.”
“What? No!” Dahlia reached for Talula. “I would never do that. This is your life!”
“Then why were you being so secretive about your latest story idea? The one you wanted to talk to that publisher about?” Talula asked softly.
Dahlia let out an anxious breath. “Because the story is me. I’m writing about my childhood traveling with my parents doing life, nursing, archaeology, and love. It felt right, but also kind of scary, you know? It’s easier to hide behind fiction.”
“Oh.” Talula sat down next to Dahlia. “That sounds really wonderful.”
Dahlia beamed. “Thank you.”
Talula searched Dahlia’s face. “Why didn’t you tell me you knew about the magic?”
“I would have told you…I wanted to tell you.” Dahlia took Talula’s hands in hers. “But then you said you had a big secret that you couldn’t tell me, so…I wasn’t sure what to do. But I was sure I wasn’t supposed to know anything.”
Talula could see Dahlia’s conundrum. She wasn’t sure she could have done much better. She sighed, a little relieved that everything was out in the open. “I’m actually glad you know. I promise I’ll fill in the blanks after everyone is safe.”
“I’m glad you know that I know.” Dahlia dimpled at her. “But at this point, there aren’t too many blanks to fill in. I’m pretty observant.”
“Is this feelings fest over? May we get on with saving lives?” Simon barked.
“Sorry,” Dahlia said, her smile widening. “Also, hi Simon!”
Simon’s mouth quirked. “You’re not surprised that I can talk?”
“You don’t whisper as quietly as you think you do.” Dahlia held up Kiki’s ring, her eyes steely with determination. “Now let’s get some jinn.”
Talula grasped the ring. She let her power mingle with the ring’s enchantments, focusing on calling jinn to the café. Just not Kiki. The ring’s magic hummed, the request understood and executed.
The air in the café shimmered a brassy gold. Talula twined her fingers through Dahlia’s. Whatever or whoever was to come, she was glad Dahlia was there.
But instead of a fleet of fire-eyed jinn filling the café, one lone, familiar figure appeared. They wore an outfit worthy of the swankiest Prohibition gangsters, complete with suspenders, waistcoat, and a hat perched jauntily over their tightly wrapped gold headscarf. “You rang?”
“Kiki!” Talula cried. “You aren’t supposed to be here.”
“I know, but your call was so cruel.” Kiki pouted. They chucked off their hat and gave Dahlia a hello peck on the cheek. “Hello, lovely. I see you’ve caught on. That’s nice.”
“How was it cruel?” Talula asked, bewildered.
“You called for every jinn except me.” Kiki folded their arms over their chest. “So I counteracted the call and let the ring bring me here.”
Talula shook her head, heart breaking. “We asked for everyone but you because…Damien is here.”
Color leached out of Kiki’s skin. Their fiery eyes turned to black coals.
“He has the whole town hostage. If we don’t give him the magical beings here at Samhain, he’s going to have his hunters destroy the town.
That’s why we used the ring.” Talula wrung out her hands.
“I’m sorry; I tried to use your cookbook, but I don’t know what eggs have to do with taking Damien down! ”
Kiki cocked their head. “What cookbook?”
Talula quickly conjured the recipe book. “This cookbook.”
(“It’s so hot that she can do that,” Dahlia whispered to Simon, who choked.)
Kiki plucked the book from Talula’s grasp. Carefully, they flicked through the pages, eyes tracing over every word studiously. They set it down on the coffee table contemptuously.
“I didn’t write this.” Kiki scoffed. “A drunk jinn toddler might have, but not me.”
Shock sent Talula into a whole new level of panic. Time was ticking away, and they had more questions than answers. “What does that mean?”
“We don’t have time for this,” Simon growled. “Kiki, now that you’re here, can’t we wish for Damien and his minions to be eaten by syphilitic walruses or something?”
“No,” Kiki snapped. “No wishes, no big enchantments. Never again.”
Simon barked. “Everyone’s in danger! Why can’t you just—”
“Because granting wishes is what got us in this mess in the first place!” The café walls shook with the jinn’s cry.
Kiki forced themself to look Talula in the eye.
“I made it. The map. And the cuffs. He asked, and I had to…I had to. But I made sure there were loopholes he didn’t think of.
The map never showed the same prime meridian twice.
Borders between places were sometimes manmade, sometimes geologic, sometimes astronomic.
But he figured it out. Every time, he figured it out, and I will never, ever forgive myself. ”
A brutal silence spilled out over the café.
Kiki turned away, covering their face with their hands.
Simon just stared, stunned. Talula’s heart wrenched, but something tickled at her mind.
She felt like she was looking at another riddle-ridden recipe.
Something was there for her to understand, but she couldn’t quite see it.
Dahlia shoved an order pad and a pen in her face. “Write something in Jinn. Something you read in the cookbook.”