Chapter 8: The Djinn Reveals Himself
The next morning, everything went mostly smoothly at the breakfast table. Howard voiced concern over Kristine looking like she hadn't been getting enough sleep lately after pointing out that she had little bags under her eyes. Kristine, however, just told her father that she had been having a recurring nightmare that just wouldn't go away, which was pretty close to the truth, and this seemed to satisfy him.
After brother and sister were on their way to the university again, Howard was privately worried about Kristine, and David, too. They had been acting a little strangely ever since the findings of those empty gold boxes in the Middle East, especially Kristine. It made him wonder if there was something they knew that they weren't telling him.
Suddenly, he had a suspicious feeling that maybe, they had been messing around with those cases the gold boxes had been stored in when he told them not to. He didn't have any proof, but he did have a clue; when Michael had opened the boxes, they had both been empty, and that seemed unusual for something so meticulously put together and sealed shut. He made it a point to ask them about this subject sometime in the very near future, when he had a chance.
Class went by without any further incidents for Kristine, even though she did have a funny feeling that something had happened late in the morning, she just couldn't quite place a finger on what it was. David was just fine in his classes, too. But it wasn't until towards the end of the day that Kristine was finally able to get an appointment with Dr. Jones again. He sounded pretty gracious when he accepted her request for a talking-to.
"It's good to see you, young Kristine Daniel," Marcus said as she stepped into his office. "Please, have a seat."
"I don't mind if I do," said Kristine, who felt like she was lucky to have gotten an appointment in the first place, what with this being such a busy day. She sat in a chair opposite him at his desk.
"So, what can I do for you, Kristine?" asked Marcus.
"Um," said Kristine carefully, "Marcus, I was wondering, what were the differences between the good djinn and the evil djinn, the more specific differences, I mean?"
"What sort of specific differences, exactly?" asked Marcus.
"Well, I still remember what you told us about those two prophecies that the good and evil djinn want to fulfill, respectively, and that the evil djinn steal people's souls after granting them wishes," said Kristine, "But what sort of things do people go through after they make a wish to an evil djinn, both before and after their souls are stolen?"
Marcus smiled smoothly. "Well, I'm not sure if their souls are necessarily stolen," he said, "In a way, the djinn deserves that person's soul as payback for the wish. You see, a djinn that is considered to be evil feeds off of human souls because he wants to gain strength and power before the prophecy is fulfilled, and he or she believes that the soul is a fitting payment for the wish, particularly considering that the majority of wishes granted by a djinn are selfish, vain, greedy, or just plain careless."
Kristine shivered. "Well!" she said, "That doesn't sound very generous to me!"
"Perhaps not," said Marcus, still smiling, "But don't you think such foolish wishes deserve to be punished in some form or other? God doesn't approve of sin at all, you know."
"Well, I'm familiar with the notion of Hell," admitted Kristine, "but that's a place that's controlled by the wrath of God and the tortures of the Devil and his demons. It's supposed to be a place of righteous punishment for sins, and there's the possibility of being redeemed of the need to go there by Jesus, or by another religious figure. Since when do the djinn, especially those who side with evil, get to just take a person's soul for their own under their own authority?"
"Look at it this way," said Marcus, the smile never flickering, "If the evil prophecy is fulfilled, the evil djinn will become like God and rule the Earth. That would give them all the authority they needed to play around with human souls."
Kristine frowned. "And exactly what sort of experiences do these captured souls go through?"
Marcus looked at the ceiling. "Oh, I don't know," he said, "But from what I've heard and seen, a soul would normally be strung up, whipped, boiled, partially skinned, half-grown into a hot wall, things like that. And the pain a soul would feel would be so intense that it would almost be like the center of Hell is believed to be by many Christians and Muslims." He licked his lips, as if in anticipation.
Kristine shook and shuddered. "That's horrible! Now wait a minute," she said, getting suspicious in her turn, "Why do you keep smiling like that while telling me a horror story about evil supernatural beings? And why did you lick your lips like that just now? Don't tell me you actually enjoy thinking or reading about these sorts of things!"
Marcus merely shrugged and said, "It's interesting history, in my opinion, young Kristine. And I don't have to think about it or read about it, because I've lived it. It's a very good experience. How else do you think I could have seen it happen?"
Kristine blinked. "You've lived it? Now how can that be? Did you once lose your soul to a djinn-?" She stopped mid-sentence, as it suddenly hit her. She wasn't talking to Marcus Jones. She was talking to the djinn himself. She stood up as if her chair was on fire and bolted for the door, but it was locked. She couldn't open it.
"Take your seat," a voice that wasn't Marcus' said. She turned and there was another man standing behind the desk, dressed in a dark, gaudy suit.
"Please," he said, smiling again, gesturing to the chair. "I assure you, there are no thorns on that chair."
"Where is Marcus?" Kristine demanded through clenched teeth.
"In the closet," said Nathaniel, "But unless you have a flair for the gory, I wouldn't go in there if I were you. You see, I needed his face."
"You killed him, that's what you did," breathed Kristine.
"Not exactly," said the djinn, "Like I said, I needed his face, so I tracked down your lovely university and showed him my true form. He just couldn't take it. In fact, he got downright crazy! Then he wished that he wasn't so afraid of me when he knew so much about my kind, and then, well, things went downhill from there for him!" He laughed. "By the way, I wouldn't bother screaming if I were you, because it won't do you any good. I've temporarily soundproofed this office, so no one but me will hear you."
"You nutcase!" Kristine growled, "You fucking, goddamn nutcase!" Then, feeling guilty for taking the Lord's name in vain, even around an evil djinn, she made the sign of the cross and prayed for pardon.
Nathaniel frowned. "I see you know your religious stuff," he said, "I know a great deal myself. I also know what sort of trouble can be caused by curious archaeologists. After all, 'curiosity killed the cat,' you know. Now, where is that handsome father of yours, not to mention your smooth brother and that djiniri bitch he's most likely befriended by now?"
He knows about my brother, father and the other djinn already, she thought with worry. "I'm sure my brother and his remaining two wishes will help Victoria defeat you any day," she said quietly, "And if you do any harm to dad, I'll kill you personally!"
Without warning, the countenance of Nathaniel Demerest melted away, and Kristine found herself looking at the ugly monster that was the djinn's true form. She gasped. "Oh, dear God, no," she said, closing her eyes for a second in revulsion.
"I think you mean 'yes,' little one," he growled. "And you can't kill me. No mere mortal can kill a djinn. Now, let's get this over with. Make your three wishes. Anything you like."
"Anything?" Kristine asked nervously, not liking where any of this was going.
"Anything," confirmed the djinn, "You ask for it, and I must grant it. Think about it, Krissy." Kristine bristled at being called by her personal nickname by such a beastly thing. "A trip to Mars or Venus, perhaps, or the Moon. A vacation in one of the safer regions of the Arabic world."
"What if I wished you dead?" Kristine said.
The djinn looked irritated at that suggestion. "I've heard that one before," he said, "What irony that it has never worked before? Tell you what, Krissy; I'll get you into the spirit of the game, by giving you one 'free' wish, a sample of my power."
"All right, then," said Kristine, "Destroy yourself. Incinerate yourself. Right now!"
"Very well," said the djinn, and he raised his hands, summoning hot fire to consume him. But after several long moments of standing in the fire, he didn't burn up at all. He didn't even seem to be in pain.
"That which is immortal cannot die, fool," he said impatiently, "And djinn are born from fire. We cannot be consumed by it, because it is part of our living material. Now, make your three wishes."
Kristine was truly afraid now. She didn't see any way out of this, and the djinn probably wouldn't give her forever to make her wishes, even if he couldn't harm her. She broke into tears of near despair and prepared to jump into the fire herself to take her own life, in order to prevent the evil prophecy from being fulfilled. The fire was now burning the desk, and was starting to spread to other parts of the office. But when she entered it, she realized that she couldn't kill herself. The fire didn't harm her at all.
"My Waker cannot be affected by any destructive power until after the prophecy is fulfilled," intoned the djinn. "Now, if you want my recommendation, I'd suggest that you use your first wish either to escape this office, or for me to put out the fire."
Kristine's face almost crumpled in despair at her situation, the fate of the world, as well as her own, and that of her brother and father, hanging on by a thread. Then, without thinking, she shouted, "Oh, I wish that Victoria the djiniri and David were here right now to get me out of this mess and away from this godawful creature!"
The djinn wasn't sure whether to be pleased or displeased by what she said, but he replied, "Done." Then, in the blink of an eye, there was Victoria East in her human form and David in the office with the two of them.
They reacted in surprise. "Krissy?" David said, "What happened? What's going on-oh, dear God!" he exclaimed as he saw the evil djinn.
Victoria laid eyes of contempt on her foe. "It is you, Nathaniel," she said in a strong voice. "In all my wildest dreams, I never thought one as evil as you would come to this world to fulfill the counter-prophecy."
"And I never dreamed that one of my own kind would come into the world to try to destroy me," snarled the djinn.
"Uh, can we get out of here now?" Kristine begged them, "I did wish that I could escape this horrible mess!"
"Of course, Kristine," said Victoria, and for a moment, she assumed her true form and, from her hands issued pure blue rays of fiery power at Nathaniel. The djinn retaliated by firing unholy red flames of his own at her. The two struggled for dominance. "Quick," Victoria said to David and Kristine, "Get out of here. Don't go back to your classes or stop to talk to anyone, not even your father, just get out of here and go straight home."
"Hold up," said David, "I want to help you or support you or something, maybe with my second wish!"
"Do as I say!" said Victoria sternly, "If he defeats me and you're still here, the situation will be even worse than it is now. Go!"
"But Victoria-" started David.
"Come on, David," Kristine insisted, "She's right. Let's move before we attract the attention of the whole campus!"
Finally, David gave way and ran through the hallways with his sister after Victoria knocked down the locked door with a shot of blue fire from one hand. Students and staff stared in surprise at their apparent panic. A few teachers and professors tried to order them not to run in the hallways, but to their chagrin the siblings continued to run until they were out of the building.
It took them a little while to get home, even at running speed, and they were panting when they finally reached their house. They hadn't ran into their dad at all when they fled the scene of the two djinn's fighting, and he wasn't home from work yet, either.
They sat down on the living room couch, and after catching their breath, Kristine said, "Well, I just made a fool of myself. I used up one of the evil djinn's three wishes. With more bad luck like that, the whole world could be in peril!"
"Relax, Krissy," said David, "Anyone would have done what you did, and you didn't have much of a choice in making that wish in the first place. Look at it this way: it's still a good wish in its own way, even if an evil djinn granted it. My first wish was self-serving; I think my first wish was more wasted than yours was."
"Well at least now, you can attract the hot women," said Kristine with a trace of sarcasm. "But I can't imagine what the rest of our wishes are going to be. I suppose one of us could wish for a weapon that can kill the djinn, but I don't know if that's even possible!"
They were startled by a sudden poof-like sound, and there was Victoria in the room with them.
"Well," she said as soon as she saw them, "I've incapacitated the evil djinn for now. It was quite a struggle, and I'm not altogether certain whether anyone besides you saw it happen, but Nathaniel has temporarily retreated, and you're safe for the time being. Of course, I'm not sure how safe other people are from his wish-granting powers. He already has two souls trapped in his gem, and he's always looking for more."
"This certainly is not good," agreed Kristine.
"I couldn't agree more," said David.
Suddenly, the front door slammed, and Howard rushed into the room before Victoria could vanish from sight.
"David! Krissy! Are you all right?" he said, "I saw you running like mad through the halls of the university. You left your books and things behind, so I brought them home for you. Wait a minute," he said with a start when he noticed Victoria, "Who are you? What are you doing in my house?"
"Your house? It happens to be partly theirs, as well," said Victoria straight-faced.
"Whatever," said Howard, "What are you doing here? Kids, can you explain this if she won't?"
David and Kristine stammered for a minute. Howard remembered his suspicions, although he wasn't certain how they could be linked to this. "Have you been hiding something from me?" he demanded.
The djiniri held out her hand. "I believe this is one of two things they have been hiding from you, Howard Daniel." She was holding her sapphire in her hand.
"Two things?" said Howard, "How do you know my name is Howard? What the hell is going on here?"
"I would not make light of the place of everlasting punishment if I were you," the djiniri said sternly.
"Stop quibbling with me already!" said Howard with mounting impatience. "What is going on here?"
David and Kristine knew that now they were resigned to the fact that they could no longer keep their secret from their father, though they wondered why Victoria would just give them away like that.
"Dad, let's sit down," said David, "We have a lot to admit to, and I can't promise you'll believe us when we tell it to you."