She stared at him a moment too long and then flicked her eyes back to Ari, clearly wary since Ari had fumbled with a lie but on the fence because of their innocent appearance. “Trouble how?”
“Mom, who is it?” Charlie’s familiar voice floated out from the house and then suddenly, he was there.
He stood behind his mom, eyes narrowed on Trey before they flicked to Ari, then back to Trey, and then quickly back to Ari. As he looked at her, Ari felt the hair on the back of her neck prickle. Charlie looked even better up close. If their lives had been different … she shook the thought, trying not to stare back when he was so blatantly checking her out.
“They said they know you. That you’re in trouble,” Mrs. Creagh drew his attention back to her.
He shook his head, glancing at Trey and then turning back to Ari with his penetrating gaze. “I don’t know them.”
“Please, Charlie,” Ari took a step toward him and she watched his brow pucker at her familiarity with him. “You don’t remember me but I know you. I really need to talk to you.”
“I don’t remember you.” His dark eyes traveled down the length of her before returning to her face. “And I’d definitely remember you.”
“What’s the holdup?” Another voice joined the fray, and Mikey suddenly appeared at his brother’s shoulders. “Mom, you said dinner was almost ready.” He shot a look at Trey and then turned to Ari, his eyes widening with interest a second before they clouded over with confusion. “Hey, I know you.”
She jerked back in surprise as Charlie and Mrs. Creagh turned to him in unison. “You do?”
Mikey nodded, frowning now. “Dude, how do I know you?”
At the sight of him up close and all grown up, memories flooded her of their childhood together and how much she’d loved him. It had broken her heart when he died. Tears clouded her vision and her voice shook as she replied in a whisper, “From another life.”
Trey instantly gripped her hand to offer comfort, and Mrs. Creagh’s expression grew concerned at the sight of Ari’s tears.
“Perhaps you two should come in,” she suggested quietly. Ari and Trey followed the threesome inside, trailing on the tails of their curiosity.
When they were all standing in the Creaghs’ living room, Ari took a moment to gaze sincerely into each of their eyes before she began. “What I’m going to tell you is going to sound crazy. You’re going to want to throw me out of your house. But you can’t … although this will seem outrageous, it’s also the truth.”
“Why are the hot ones always crazy?” Charlie muttered.
“Charlie Creagh,” his mother admonished. He shrugged back at her.
Ari decided not to react to his comment. It made sense that this Charlie would find her attractive since the other Charlie had. What he found appealing wouldn’t have fundamentally changed.
Still, not the time. Not that there would ever be a time for Charlie to find her hot.
“Okay.” She drew in a deep breath and told them her story. Their story.
Silence filled the room when she finished. Charlie’s face darkened. “Are you shitting me with this? How dare you! The death of a sibling is not some funny little ‘bit’ for whatever sick prank this is.”
“Charlie!” Mrs. Creagh cried. “This is all very strange but that’s no excuse to use that language in front of your little brother.”
“Get out,” Charlie ignored his mother’s rebuke and glared at Ari. “We don’t do crazy people in this house. The last crazy person got kicked to the curb and now he doesn’t pay child support on time. Get out.” He gestured to the door and Trey immediately stepped in front of Ari, protecting her. It didn’t faze Charlie at all. “Man, I will seriously kick your ass.”
“Wait,” Mikey held up a hand to stop Charlie, his face pale, his fingers shaking. Everyone stopped and turned to him but his eyes were on Ari. “She’s really familiar, Charlie. I feel like I know her.”
He rolled his eyes. “Stop playing, Mikey.”
“I’m not playing!” he shouted, sounding scared. “Dude, I know her.”
“We need to hurry this up,” Trey sighed and with a crackle of energy Ari now found familiar, Trey held up his hands and let the ember dance out of his fingertips.
The Creaghs stepped back, amazement on their faces.
“What. The. Eff,” Mikey murmured, eyes huge.
“We are Jinn,” Trey informed them solemnly. “What Ari told you is the truth, and now one of the most powerful Jinn in history is after Charlie. We don’t have time to make you believe us. We need to go. We need to—”
Fire exploded around the room. Ari and Trey immediately put themselves between the attackers and the Creaghs.
“Stay back!” Ari shouted at them.
She set her shoulders in determination as the two Marids came at them.
15
Who We Used to Be
“That cut on your forehead should be healing quicker than it is,” Trey murmured in concern, his fingers gently brushing the skin around it.
Ari gave him a weak shrug. “It’s because I’m absolutely exhausted.” First she’d killed an Utukku, then she’d fought with Lilif, and then she’d fought with Marids, and then she’d expelled what tiny amount of magical energy she had left transferring everyone through the Peripatos one at a time. Exhausted didn’t cover it.
Her friend did not look pleased.
His eyes shifted over her anxiously, stopping at her arms. His lips pinched together for a moment before he said, “Those scratches should be gone too.”
“Again, so sorry,” Mrs. Creagh murmured from behind them.
They turned to look at the Creaghs.
Mrs. Creagh and Mikey sat close on the large leather sofa in the spacious townhouse. Charlie sat on the couch’s arm. Trey and Ari had had a difficult fight with the stubborn Marids. They’d tried to finish the ordeal with as little bloodshed as possible. Still, with magic firing around the Creaghs’ living room, Mrs. Creagh and Mikey had huddled behind Charlie who guarded them with a look of horror on his face. The Creaghs’ astonishment was understandable. They’d just witnessed the otherworldly power of Ari and Trey explode in a glittering display of the cool black dust curse.
“Believe me now?” Ari had asked, ignoring the bead of sweat rolling down her face and the multiple stitches in her ribs from dodging magical blows.
All three of them had nodded in mute shock.
Getting them to agree to go through the Peripatos hadn’t been easy. Mrs. Creagh, protecting her sons, had gone first, clawing Ari’s arms in terror.
Charlie got up slowly and wandered to the huge bay window at the front of the house. He stared out onto the quiet street. Neighboring houses of varying sizes looked pretty old, some even gothic. Quaint, but elegant. “I can’t believe we’re in Scotland.” He glanced back at Ari. “Want to run everything by me one more time?”
“I think maybe Ari should sleep.”
Trey shook his head.
“No,” Ari replied. “They need to know what’s happening. I’ve been where they are and it is not fun.” She hobbled to an armchair and Trey, realizing she wasn’t going to listen to his advice, sat down on the one opposite. Charlie crossed the room to sit with his family and listen as Ari reiterated the tale, this time giving them even more information than she had before.
When she was done, Charlie looked at his mother and brother. “I don’t remember any of this.”
Mikey shrugged. “I don’t remember, either. I just know when I look at Ari, I get this weird sense of déjà vu.” He jerked his head around to her, his eyes wide. “I was really dead?”
Mrs. Creagh grabbed his hand and squeezed it tight.
Ari felt the tears prick her eyes but she held them back, nodding solemnly to Mikey.
“And I went crazy because of it?”
Charlie asked softly.
“You blamed yourself at first
because you were driving, but when you found out it was a Jinn, you wanted revenge.”
“So I became a sorcerer?” His cheeks paled. “Did I just say that? I sound like a f**king mental case.”
“Charlie,” Mrs. Creagh drew in her breath. “Show me some respect, please.”
“I think if ever there was a time when I could get away with cursing, it’s now, Mother. I just found out in another reality I destroyed lives to get vengeance for the death of my little brother.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I like you a lot more now.” Mikey grinned. Charlie rolled his eyes.
“None of that matters now, as long as past mistakes aren’t repeated,” Ari warned. “What matters at the moment is you’re a target and we’re trying to protect you. The Guild I told you about, the Roes, they’ll be here soon to take over your protection. Once they’re here, I can head to Mount Qaf and see about ending this so you can go back to your lives.”
“Go back to our lives?” Mrs. Creagh scoffed. “How do we go back to our lives knowing that all this exists?”
Ari shrugged. “You just do. Not a great answer, I know, but an honest one.”
“And now it’s time for Ari to sleep.” Trey waved a hand at the door indicating the staircase that would lead her to a bedroom.
Deciding he was definitely right, Ari nodded and limped her way to a bed. She instantly passed out.
***
After sleeping for a couple of hours, Ari woke to discover the scratches on her arms and the cut on her forehead healed. Feeling more energized, she wandered through the drafty old townhouse, listening for voices. It was getting dark outside so she wasn’t sure if the others had gone to bed. As she took the stairs, she heard Mrs. Creagh and Mikey talking in the sitting room. She gave them a wave as she passed and headed into the kitchen to look for provisions. There was nothing.
Hmm. She wondered if Trey had fed the Creaghs. With a sigh, she imagined some of the food she knew was in their house back in Burlington and with a crackle in the air, it appeared on the large oak kitchen table.
“Wow. I don’t know if I’ll ever get used to that.”
Charlie’s voice brought her head up. He stood in the doorway wearing a hoodie she recognized as Trey’s. He’d obviously conjured it from their house and given it to a cold Charlie. It was winter in Scotland, after all, and it was freaking freezing. Ari decided to check out the heating issue after she’d eaten. She waved at the food. “Hungry?”
He shook his head and took a step toward her. “Trey already fed us.”
“Good.” She smiled, feeling more than a little uncomfortable around this Charlie, and she slipped into a seat.
“Do you mind if I eat?”
“Not at all.” He took the seat opposite her, obviously not as uncomfortable as she was.
She bit into a granola bar and popped open a soda, feeling his dark, warm eyes on her. She glanced up at him from under her lashes and froze at the small smile on his lips. Ari swallowed some chewy fruit and nut. “What?”
“A few hours ago I watched you and your friend decimate two big guys, and then I was pulled through this really fast wind tunnel from my home in Ohio to Scotland. And now you’re sitting at a table, eating a granola bar like you’re a normal person.”
Ari snorted. “I am a normal person.”
“You’re the daughter of a Jinn king.
You’re a girl from a Disney movie.”
Ari laughed. “Okay, I was a normal person.”
Charlie smiled and continued to watch her eat. Ari had just picked up a bag of chips when he asked, “What was I like? Before? Or in the other … man, this is too weird.” He sat back, running a hand through his hair.
