I’ll only hurt her.
And Ari has been hurt enough.
That did the trick. Glowering now, Jai lifted his gaze only for it to get caught in Charlie’s. The inexperienced dick of a sorcerer was glaring at him. His eyes said, ‘Don’t even think about it’. And despite the fact that Jai had already talked himself out of thinking about it, he didn’t take too kindly to be warned off by this little jerk. Brazening it out, Jai threw him a smirk that widened into a taunting grin when Charlie’s whole body tensed as if ready to launch himself at him. Now the room was just brimming with mad.
A hiss and crackle brought all of their eyes up towards the fireplace. Flames burned the air and The Red King appeared among them. He stepped out, his huge presence dousing the anger in the air and replacing it with anxious expectation.
Jai stood to his feet. It was bad enough the guy was already a good four inches taller than him he didn’t need to be sitting at his royal feet like a servant. “News, Your Highness?” He may not be a servant but he was still respectful.
The Red King nodded and looked down at Ari. “Dalí is your cousin of sorts.”
Feeling just as confused as Ari looked, Jai asked, “Cousin of sorts?”
“He’s the half-breed son of The Gleaming King.”
Ari’s voice was soft and worn, “A sorcerer?”
“A powerful and very intelligent sorcerer.” The Red King looked worried and that immediately set alarm bells ringing in Jai’s head. “If he’s after Ari he must believe he’s discovered a way to harness the power of the Seal. Dalí is a known dark sorcerer which means one of The Guilds must be hunting him.”
“A Guild?” Ari queried.
“Remember? They were discussed in the book I gave you?” Jai tried to jog her memory. At the shake of her head he continued, “The Guild was created by The Gilder King. They hunt sorcerers and try to prevent evil against humans by Jinn hands. Like the Ginnaye, there are different tribes of The Guild all over the world.”
“And one of those will be hunting Dalí?”
The Red King nodded. “Yes. We just have to find out which one.” He shot Jai a meaningful look and Jai felt the significance of it like a punch to the stomach.
Oh hell, no. Jai held in a groan and fought the urge to flee. “You want us to go to my father?” he felt sick just saying the words. Take Ari to meet his family? To see how he was treated? She’d lose all respect for him. Dammit. He couldn’t stop his ferocious glare from burning into The Red King — to hell with the consequences.
However, the Jinn just stared pleasantly back at him. “Luca Bitar has many contacts including contacts among The Guilds. He should be able to help you.” He looked at Ari now. “And to be honest I think it best if you leave Ohio before more idiotic Jinn find out about you. And before The White King realizes you have no intention of retaliating. Once he realizes that he’ll try something new… or old. Say… like, killing someone else you care about.”
Ari blanched at the thought. “If we leave, if we head to the Bitar’s will he know?”
The Red King seemed to choose his words carefully. “There will be an enchantment put over you. It won’t last long — a few days maybe — but it’ll be enough to give you some breathing space. Jai should teach you and Charlie some self-defense in that time. Once Luca finds out where The Guild is you should go to them immediately. They’ll hunt Dalí down before he hunts you down. Oh, and just so you know, Luca, Nicki and Tarik have been warned that if they tell anyone what Ari is, the sentence is death.” Exhaling, Ari’s uncle stepped back, preparing for the Peripatos again, and as if he hadn’t uttered something so terrifying and final he said calmly, “You need to work out the logistics of how you’re getting to the Pacific Palisades. I’ll let Luca know you’re on your way.”
He left and Jai stood there staring at the empty space in front of the fireplace. All of his insides felt knotted and this unbearable anger was lodged in the back of his throat. He felt powerless, and he hadn’t felt that way about his family in a long, long time. Eyeing Ari he found his anger was directed towards her for making him care. Only the reminder that she had been through enough without him adding more crap to it kept him from bursting out into an aggressive argument with her for no good reason at all.
“We’ll fly the old-fashioned way since Charlie can’t use the Peripatos,” Jai growled, not looking at either of them.
“Well, say it like it’s my fault why don’t you,” Charlie grumbled.
Ignoring him instead of punching him, Jai waved a hand over an empty space on the floor and conjured a bag of Charlie’s clothes from his bedroom. He then did the same for Ari. “You’re all packed. Let’s go.”
He brushed past them, feeling their gaping stares on his back. He shook off a shiver, feeling vulnerable. Jai hated feeling vulnerable. “Hurry up,” he snarled, pulling the front door open.
“What the hell is his problem?” he heard Charlie mutter behind him, the sound of bags being picked up the only thing cooling Jai’s growing temper.
“Just leave him,” Ari replied quietly and the understanding in her voice made him turn around and glare at her as she walked towards him. He didn’t want her to understand. Why had he told her that stuff about his family? He was an idiot. Even worse, Ari didn’t return his glare. Her eyes were soft on him as she passed him, heading for the SUV in the driveway.
Charlie nudged by him without a word, clearly taking Ari’s advice to heart.
Ari’s quiet understanding on a day when she’d just buried her dad made Jai feel like the biggest a**hole. The burn inside him cooled a little and he took a deep breath. It wasn’t her fault his family was screwed up. Now was not the time to lose it. He wasn’t fourteen anymore. He was a grown man. He needed to act like it. Feeling a little calmer, Jai pulled the house door shut and locked it magically. When he turned around Ari still hadn’t gotten into the car. She was gazing at the house, her eyes glistening with tears. This might be the last time she ever saw it. Feeling even more of a tool, Jai walked slowly towards her. “Have you got everything you need from in there?”
She nodded slowly. “If I remember something I can just conjure it, right?”
“Right.”
“And Ms. Maggie’s already in the car.”
“What?” Charlie squawked from inside the SUV, glancing around for the invisible Ifrit like he was trying to shake off a spider.
An unexpected chuckle was pulled out of Jai at Charlie’s comical frantic freakout and he caught Ari’s own reluctant smile.
“You don’t mind Ms. Maggie tagging along, do you?”
It wasn’t the greatest thing having a Jinn hiding around in the Cloak where he couldn’t see her. When he’d first attempted to get into Ari’s house using the Cloak himself, he’d stumbled into the invisible Ifrit. Both surprised to find another Jinn in the home, the Ifrit had begun screaming at him telepathically to get out. She was a shrew and she’d kept up a constant telepathic rant until he’d decided it best to wait outside until The Red King said it was alright to reveal himself to Ari. The Ifrit had seemed pretty protective of Ari and The Red King seemed certain of her, and despite Jai’s curiosity over who the Ifrit was and why she was so attached to Ari, he’d let it slide since the Jinn female made Ari feel safe. “Not if you need her.”
Their eyes caught and held and that connection, that hold, that pull twanged between them for a moment too long. Clearing his throat, Jai opened the passenger door for her, breaking their gaze. He thought he heard her sigh in disappointment as she slid into the car and Jai wished like hell Ari wasn’t such an open book. This would be so much easier if she didn’t care. And somehow, knowing she no longer wanted Charlie romantically, made it even harder to ignore whatever this was between them.
Psyching himself up, Jai jumped into the driver seat of the SUV. This was going to be interesting to say the least.
12 - A Bitter Bitar will Break Your Heart
It was impossible to believe all that had happened in a day. Had she really buried her dad only hours ago? Had she really been attacked by humans working for some dark sorcerer who was distantly related to her? Ari felt ripped apart. The plane ride to L.A. hadn’t helped. After calling his mom to pawn her off with a lie about how Ari really needed him and they’d decided to go on a road trip together to get away for a while, Charlie had grown quiet and wouldn’t even look at her. Ari didn’t know if he felt bad about lying to Mrs. Creagh (Ari sure did), but there was really nothing his mom could do about them taking off since they were both eighteen. He promised his mom he’d check in with her, but by the look on his face when he got off the phone, Mrs. Creagh was quite rightly not happy. As for the other guy still left in Ari’s life, Jai was obviously anxious about bringing Ari home to meet his family, and from what little he’d told her, she could understand that worry. His family treated him terribly. Too much had happened and now here she was standing on a black and white checkered entrance hall floor in a huge Spanish style mansion in the Palisades looking at an attractive man in his early fifties and wondering how the hell life had brought her here. The only comfort she had right now was the familiar hum of energy next to her that told her Ms. Maggie was right there beside her.
The home was modern and airy and if Ari was being honest, a little cold. There was this weird abstract painting of a woman hanging over the door and brittle potted plants with no flowers dotted here and there.
“Sir, this is Ari Johnson and her friend Charlie Creagh,” Jai introduced them and Ari frowned at his demeanor. He was super efficient, stoic guy times a hundred all over again, like he had been when they’d first met. She found herself having to wipe the little snarl from her mouth when she nodded a greeting at Luca Bitar. She didn’t like Luca on principal.
Luca nodded briskly back. “Good to meet you both. His Highness arrived hours ago to let me know you were on the way. I’m sorry about your adoptive father, Ms. Johnson.”
Her usual response would have been to tell him to call her Ari. Instead she acknowledged his sympathies with a polite nod.
“And this is the sorcerer?” Luca now turned to Charlie, his eyes heavy with suspicion as they ran the length of him. Ari felt uneasiness settle into her stomach. She’d forgotten that the human-living Jinn, like the Ginnaye, believed all sorcerers to be dark. When Luca’s eyes narrowed and Charlie’s fists clenched at being looked upon in such a way, Ari felt her body moving towards Charlie to protect him.
To her and Charlie’s surprise, Jai beat her to it. “Charlie is under my protection and guidance and is not to be harmed,” Jai’s voice boomed around the hall with authority and while she felt her insides melt at his proclamation (considering he and Charlie didn’t like one another), Ari almost missed the glitter in Luca’s eyes. That glint surprised her and she had to take a moment. Luca looked proud of Jai. Yes, proud. He cleared the expression from his handsome, rough-hewn face just as quickly as it had appeared but Ari was definitely not mistaken. She threw Jai a quizzical look. By the way his body bristled with tension she knew he hadn’t seen the look in his father’s eyes. Perhaps he was blind to the positive. Perhaps he misunderstood how Luca really felt about him. As Jai and Luca discussed what was happening and what they needed, Ari mused over this. Despite everything, she felt a need to fix this.