The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) (22 page)

For
two days I cowered in the cage, weeping, broken, and scared, certain I was
either going to go mad or die in a pool of my own filth. I had never really
considered my own mortality. I have never known any
Djinni who has actually died. Well, not until Rhada.

Rhada.
I see her face every time I close my eyes. Swollen and lifeless. I imagine what
my own face would look like if I were the soulless one chained to the wall.

The
other body, it turns out, belongs to Kitra’s father. I was right in assuming he
was the village elder. Unfortunately for him, he also stood in her way. I
gleaned this from the one-sided conversations she had with him, while I wept
and moaned near her feet.

When
I finally quieted, emptied of every bit of emotion in my useless human body,
when I lay down on the filthy wool blanket to die, they began questioning me.
They being Kitra and Cephas. Achan has avoided me since shoving his last gift
through the bars.

They
want answers to questions I do not know. They want secrets. Secrets to unlock
hidden powers within themselves. But as far as I know, these things do not
exist. I am what I am. I offer them everything to let me go. But they want
more.

I
thought the pain I felt when thrust into the cage was the worst of it. I was
wrong. Each day I am introduced to new horrors. Today, I hang from the ceiling
while Kitra attempts to persuade me with a lead bar. Each place she pushes it
into my skin sears like the brand Achan uses with his sheep. How I feel for
those sheep now.

“Do
you not think I would give it to you if I could?” I cry.

“Give
me your powers? I wouldn’t do it if our situations were reversed,” she says,
letting go of my hair. The next thing I know, she is slicing my side with a lead
knife. This is not the first time, but I scream and scream as the blood spills
out and drips on the floor.

Kitra
laughs and licks at the wound with her tongue, sucking the warm crimson liquid
into her mouth as my body shudders with silent sobs. When she is done, she
seals the cut with magic and walks around until she faces me.

“It
is not working,” she says, teeth and lips stained red. I wait, uncertain what
she means.

“It
was the blood of the other one that gave us our powers,” Cephas says from the
doorway. His mere presence elicits more tremors. My chains rattle with the
movement.

“We
drained your friend and shared her blood,” Kitra says.

I
feel dizzy.

“We
thought perhaps if we did the same with you we would gain more power,” Kitra
says, running the flat of the lead blade against my cheek, causing steam to
sizzle into the air. “You see, its blood wasn’t enough. Our power still does
not equal that of your kind.”

I
whimper as Cephas draws close and squeezes my face in one hand until I think my
jaw will crack. He smiles, his rotten breath making my empty stomach squirm.

“But
your blood isn’t helping,” he says. “Good thing Kitra was smart enough to test
it first. You’d be little use to us dead.”

“That’s
enough, Cephas,” Kitra says. “Let us leave it, so that it may think about the
wisdom of sharing its secrets.”

“Please,”
I say as they turn their backs to leave. “Please, I will do anything. I will do
whatever I can to help you increase your power.”

Kitra
pauses near the single oil lamp flickering against the wall. The light throws
shadows across her skin, making me think of a tiger’s stripes.

“If
only we believed you.” Her smile is the last thing I see before she blows out
the flame.

Memories

press Gabe back against the wall between two statues. His face is pale in the
cold gray of the castle.

“Stay
here. Do nothing unless I give the okay. No matter what you see. If I am taken,
you must get out of here. If I still belong to Jered, I will be forced to
follow you.” I hand Gabe a small black disc with a red button in the center.
“Push this. It will reopen the hole. I am leaving you invisible and with the
ability to fly. Both will fade in twenty-four hours if I...if I am unavailable.
Do you understand?”

He
keeps staring at me, unable to speak. I sigh in frustration. Taj waits for me,
leaning against the wall of the passage he came out of.

“Gabe.
Do. You. Understand?”

“Y...yes,”
he finally stammers. I nod, satisfied. I’ll have to take his word for it. Every
moment I waste, Jered and Sophie could be in greater danger.

When
I finally appear in front of Taj, he barely blinks. He presses his lovely mouth
into an impatient line and narrows his eyes at me.

“Seriously,
Lee. Are you dragging this out because you want to join us? I didn’t think you
liked Kitra much.”

The
mere mention of her name sets my blood boiling. How I would like to break each
bone in her body, one at a time. I force myself to breathe.

“Where
is he?” I ask.

“You
can’t save him,” Taj says.

“I
will
save him,” I say. I feel my eyes glow green, and the corner of his
lips twist into a partial grin.

“Well,
well, that’s the Leela I remember. The one from before. The room is lined with
lead. Just so you know.”

“So
you cannot enter either,” I say.

“She
doesn’t need us there to break him.” His eyes cloud for a moment as he relives
his own punishments.

I
know. “Have you been given a command regarding me?” I ask.

“Curiously
no. She believes you are trapped in that room, I think. She cannot fathom that
the boy might not have kept you close. Frankly, it confuses me as well.”

“He
was protecting me,” I say softly. I cannot look Taj in the eyes.

“Smitten,
eh? Poor fool. He’ll be calling for you soon enough though. I’m impressed he’s
lasted this long.” Taj confirms my worst fears.

My
heart feels like it is being squeezed by a vice. I long to go to him but know I
can’t. I have to think.

“What
about Sophie?” I ask.

“Mira
is babysitting.”

I
look up, my pulse quickening. “What does that mean, Taj?” My voice is strong.
Threatening.

“Don’t
worry so much. Mira really only hates you, and Kitra is interested in the girl.
She wants to use her. She uses anything with power.”

“You
mean enslave her?” I ask.

“Persuade
her. At least that would be the first option. If that doesn’t work, then,
well...” He lets his voice trail off and sets a firm hand on my shoulder.
“She’s far too distracted with your boy right now.”

“Sophie
has nothing to do with this. She’s only a child.” I say, shrugging his arm off.

“I
have to follow my commands, Lee. I don’t have the privilege of a Master who
cares what I think. But you ought to know how that works. You’re the one who
did this to me.”

I
recoil, tears springing to my eyes. And all I can see is his face. His
beautiful, terror-stricken face as I force the choker around his neck. I was a
fool to think he could have ever forgiven me. I would never have forgiven
myself. I haven’t.

“Oh,”
is all I manage to get out.

“Her
room is the last on the right. His is in the dungeon. Second cell on the left.
The one
without
the skeleton.”

Taj
disappears in a flash of emerald light. I am left in the middle of the floor,
one hand reaching for something I will never grasp.

I
stand there, memories flashing before my eyes, blinding me, until Gabe’s
fingers squeeze my shoulder, bringing me back to reality. I swallow it all back
and turn to face him.

“You
heard?” I ask. I cannot pretend it didn’t happen. And somehow erasing his
memory doesn’t seem right.

“I’m
sure it wasn’t what it sounded like,” Gabe says reassuringly. But his glasses
don’t hide the worry in his eyes.

“What
if I tell you it is exactly what it sounded like?” I ask, looking toward the
nearest statue – a woman, mouth twisted in a never-ending scream of pure
terror.

“Then
I’d say, knowing you, you had a really good reason.”

“Does
it matter?” I ask.

“Of
course it does. It would to me. But right now, we have to get to the others.
Can you focus?”

When
did Gabe become the grown up here?

“Of
course I can focus!” I snap, turning back to face him.

“There’s
the Leela I know,” he says in a bad imitation of Taj. “So what do you think? I
go get Jer, and you get Sophie? You know, because of the lead?”

“I
have to stay with you, remember?” I ask, rapping on his head.

“Oh.
Yeah. Damn! Jered can really be an ass sometimes, can’t he?”

“Let’s
start with Sophie. We have to get her out of here,” I say, ignoring him. But
inside I am relieved that someone else finally sees what a mess these commands
can make.

Foreseen

espite
the midday sun spilling through the invisible ceiling, the way is dark. It is
the kind of dark that soaks up any color, any light, and swallows it whole. I
swirl my fingers through the air and a luminescent ball appears in my hand.
Now three feet of stone floor are illuminated. A carpet runner of crimson and
gold lines the hall. One thousand years hasn’t changed Kitra’s taste in décor.

Sophie’s
room, from the outside, looks like any of the others. A large metal door is set
like a sentry toward the hallway with the symbol, an eye surrounded by sun,
moon, and star, carved in the center. I hesitate.

“She
should be in there,” I say. I am trying to convince myself more than Gabe, who
twitches at my shoulder. Taj gave me the information freely. Yet he still
blames me. Is this a trap? Either way, Mira is waiting inside.

“Something
wrong?” Gabe ventures.

“I
can’t go in until you do,” I say. “But that’s good. You will distract Mira
while I rescue Sophie.”

“Me?
Distract a Djinni?” He wobbles a little on his feet, and I catch his elbow with
my free hand.