The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) (21 page)

“Leela?”
Jered’s voice gets my attention, and I realize my hand has been gripping his
tightly. I loosen my grasp, continuing to pull us through the air.

“I
found them. They are on an island in the Atlantic. It is invisible to human
eyes.”

“Can
you get me there?” he asks.

I
shut Gabe’s phone down and bring us to a stop in mid-air. Miles below, the lake
churns behind the mask of night. Above, the sky sparkles with a million stars.

“I
can. But Jered, please reconsider. I do not wish to lose you.”

“I
don’t want to lose me either,” he says with a grin.

I
let out a sound between a laugh and a cry. “I need to tell you something before
you go,” I say.

“Don’t,”
he says, and I feel my mouth draw into a tight line. “Save it for when I see
you again. It will only make it harder.”

Then
he leans down and finds my lips, pulling me in close, and we float among the
stars, bodies pressed together. I grip his shoulders forcefully, drinking in
the taste of him. He kisses me like a dying man enjoys his last meal. His touch
is far more urgent than our first such encounter. Less tentative. Less gentle.

His
mouth finds my neck. As he works his way down, my head tilts back, my eyes shut
in ecstasy. I run my hands over his chest, his stomach. I want this. I want
him.

“Leela,”
he whispers, his hot breath against my ear driving me mad.

“Jered,”
I answer, tempted to have my way with him right here in the sky. But my memory
returns, even as his fingers fumble with the button on my jeans. This is not
him. These are his emotions out of control. Passion, lust, fear of what he
plans to face. I fear for him too.

“Jered.
What about Sophie? Let me come with you.” I push against his shoulders. With a
groan he pulls away, and I see him work to bring his breathing under control. 
We both float for a minute, trapped between the brilliant sky and dark depths
until he is able to speak.

“Do
as I commanded, Leela.” His face is all pain and longing. I feel so helpless.
“Send me there. Now.”

He
disappears from view, on his way to an island in the Atlantic filled with more
danger than I can fathom. And I reappear in the Chicago hotel room with Gabe,
as promised. How I wish I’d never interrupted him. Now I may never know what it
is like to be with him that way. I may never hear his voice again. Never feel his
touch.

I
run to Gabe and cling to his waist, crying into his chest. He stands motionless
for a moment, then puts his arms around me, patting me awkwardly on the back.

“You
really do care about him, don’t you?” he asks.

“I
do,” I say. It comes out muffled into his shirt. I realize I’m getting him all
wet.

“I
wish I could fix it,” he says.

I
believe we both feel helpless now. Ashamed of my outburst, I separate from Gabe
and straighten myself up.

An
idea pops into my head. “Perhaps you can fix it,” I say.

“What
are you talking about?” he asks, taking a step back.

“I
did what I was supposed to do. I came back here. Now I am supposed to stay with
you. ‘Go back and stay with Gabe.’ You see?”

“No.
I really don’t,” Gabe says.

“I
came back. Now I must stay with you,” I repeat slower this time, remembering
how dim the boy can sometimes be.

“So,
if I don’t stay here, you have to come with me?”

“Exactly,”
I say as understanding floods Gabe’s features. “If you decide to go after Jered
and Sophie–”

“You’ll
have to come too!” he says. “Wait. I dunno. This is dangerous.”

“You’ll
have me,” I say, walking my fingers up his arm.

He
pulls away. “Yeah, but you’re one Djinni who can’t hurt any of the bad guys.”

“The
other Djinn want us to succeed,” I remind him.

“But
they have to try and stop us if she tells them to.”

“Gabe,
are you going to help me save Jered and Sophie or not?” I ask.

“If
I don’t, you’ll make my life miserable if something happens to him, won’t you?”

“Yes,”
I say.

“Well,”
he sighs. “I’ve always wanted to be a hero. And since you put it so sweetly...let’s
go.”

Fortress

ecause
of the distance, and since I need to stay with Gabe, which in essence means I
must follow him, we fly. Once I get him going in the right direction, he moves
quickly. It’s still not fast enough for me.

“Wahoo!”
he yells, parting a cloud with his hands and spinning head first through the
cotton candy strands that remain.

“Gabe,”
I shout. “Please try to focus. Jered and Sophie could already be dead.”

“You
wouldn’t know if Jered died?” he asks, turning and floating just ahead.

“I
suppose I would know that. But Sophie...and they could be torturing him.”

Gabe
squeezes my arm reassuringly and shoots off to the east. Below us the water
churns gray-blue and opaque. Every once in a while, the white-capped surface
breaks and a dolphin leaps out.

“I
think I found it.” Gabe’s voice shatters my concentration. I did gift him
the ability to see the island with his feeble human eyes. So, I search ahead,
and in the distance I see what he means. Something enormous and foreboding
reaches out from the depths. But as I watch, this thing does not slip back
beneath the waves. Instead it grows larger and more menacing, the sea crashing
around it, as though trying in vain to force it to budge.

“I
believe this is it,” I say.

“Genie
GPS,” Gabe says, cracking a smile. I shake my head at him, aware of how he has grown
on me. Funny how these things can sneak up on you.

“You
should approach with caution,” I tell him. “They will most likely have alarms
set to warn them of intruders.”

He
nods, and we come to rest on the tip of some jagged rocks that shoot up around
the perimeter of the island, like enormous stalagmites. The sound of the water
thrusting against the protrusions roars in my ears, and I erase the noise so
that we can talk.

Gabe
shakes uncontrollably, and I realize he must be cold. I wave a hand, and his leather
jacket appears.

“How
are we even supposed to get in there, with or without alarms?” Gabe asks,
pushing his glasses up to the bridge of his nose and scowling at the fortress.
The rocks are the first and least of our problems. Before us stretches an enormous
wall of pure iron. It shoots straight into the sky for what looks like a mile
and curves far off into the distance in either direction.

“It
surrounds the island,” I say.

“It
sure looks that way,” he says.

“Well,
it isn’t lead,” I say. “I can get us through. It’s what’s on the other side
that worries me.”

“How
do we do it?” he asks, wiping the sea spray from his forehead.

“We
send in a friend first. Then while Kitra and her Djinn are distracted, we
follow. We will remain invisible. It isn’t fool-proof, but it is helpful.”

“Where
are we going to find a friend willing to sacrifice himself?”

I
nod toward the water where a seal is working its way onto one of the flatter
rocks. Gabe still appears confused, so I wave a hand over the animal, which
dissolves and reforms into the figure of a man.

The
seal man is short and thin with shiny gray skin and whiskers. His head darts
back and forth, arms shooting out to the sides.

“Whoa.
That is just plain bizarre,” Gabe says. “Can it...is it?”

“No,”
I say. “It can’t think like a human or speak.” As if to prove my point, the
creature lets out a loud bark and Gabe jumps. “But it should be enough of a
distraction to get us inside.”

“Won’t
they figure out you’re here when they find it?” he asks.

I
wave an impatient hand, and Gabe flinches. “You’ll see,” I say. “If you ever
decide to go inside, that is.”

Gabe
gulps some air and flies toward the wall. Seal man and I follow. I open a hole
in the metal, and give my creation a little push inside. Gabe follows and so do
I.

The
metal is so thick it feels like we are crawling through a tunnel into a
mountain. About halfway through, natural rock seeps into the iron, creating a
twisted, impossible mixture that sends a chill down my spine. The moment I step
out of the tunnel, I realize the inner circle isn’t much prettier. Everything
is stone or metal, large enough for a giant to make himself at home. The
fifty-foot walls open to what looks like empty sky. But I can see the
reflective shimmer of a magical force field, no doubt meant to keep out the
elements.

I
close up the hole in the wall to cover any evidence of our arrival.

“Whoa.”
Gabe whistles, hanging back as the seal man wanders off toward one of several
large passageways. The uneven stone floors are covered with dirt and straw. The
walls are lined with grotesque statues made of marble, men and women frozen
wearing expressions of terror or sadness, as though the devil himself wished to
commemorate each of his finest moments of torture.

“So
the whole island is like a castle or something?” he whispers.

“So
it would appear. Now do us both a favor and shut up.”

Gabe
looks ready to retort when I see something move in the shadows to the left of
the seal man. I throw out an arm in caution, catching Gabe in the chest and
pushing him up against the wall. I feel exposed despite my invisibility spell.

Apparently
the animal senses the disturbance too, because it sniffs the air and darts back
and forth like it’s caught in a trap. Moments later, Taj appears at its side,
shaking his head. I speak, my own lips moving, but the words coming out of the
seal’s mouth.

“Taj,
this is a warning. Release the child. Jered is not fool enough to risk his life
or me.”

I
glance at Gabe who mouths the word “creepy.” Then I transform the seal back
into his usual shiny self. Taj actually laughs, and claps his hands as much in
response to my performance as to return the seal to the rocks outside.

“Marvelous,
Lee! Too bad we already know better. Jered got here hours ago. What took you so
long?”

The Beginning

“
et’s
try this again,” Kitra says. She twists a handful of my hair around her hand
and yanks my head back so that her lips graze my ear. My arms are stretched
above my head, suspended from the ceiling by more lead chains.