When White finaly discovered your whereabouts and used Rabir to bring you to Mount Qaf through a wish to see your mother, the wish was keeping you in your house with Ms. Maggie. I only managed to redirect the wish in time, or my brother would have known that Sala was gone. And now he does. She’s in great danger.”

Ari was barely listening. She could feel Jai’s hand on her shoulder, but the Seal wouldn’t let her feel it. She wanted to lash out. She could envision blasting them al to hel for their lies and their betrayals. Blood red wals. Dripping bloodied wals. Something laughed in delight within her.

No! Ari gasped for air and shrugged away from Jai, stumbling back from Red as she fought to think, her words careful not to command as they fel from her numb lips. “I think… I think you better step back. I think you better leave… before I do something I’l regret.”

“Dammit,” she heard Red whisper hoarsely. “The Seal has her in its grip.”

“What wil I do?” Jai asked, his voice thick with concern.

“No, don’t touch her!” Red cried out in command to someone. “I’m going to have to knock her out.”

“No!” she screamed. No, not her. It was the Seal screaming. It opened her mouth to command and then suddenly froze, its dark limbs shriveling up as black spots covered Ari’s eyes and the room began to tilt.

Jai gazed downat Ari, watching the slow rise and fal of her chest. After Red had used his mojo to knock her out, Jai had carried her upstairs to one of the bedrooms in Jack’s house— wel, what had once been Jack’s house. It was weird to think that he’d never realy known Jack at al. That they’d met only briefly before The Red and Glass King’s had kiled him.

They were malevolent, ruthless sons-of-a-bitch.

Jai could feel their powerful energies on the other side of the door, where they stood waiting with Falon, Charlie, Trey and Michael. He’d insisted on being the only one to sit with Ari until she woke up, despite Red’s concerns that the Seal might stil have a grip on her.

Holding her hand, Jai wondered how she would be when she regained consciousness. So much had happened. Finding out her mother, Sala, was actualy Ms.

Maggie al along (although it made sense now why their make-out session was interrupted by her), and discovering Red had betrayed her from the start. It had crossed Jai’s mind more than once that Red was behind Charlie’s wish. Jai was pretty sure it had crossed Ari’s mind too, but to actualy have it confirmed. She had been beginning to trust Red. They both had been. They both needed to trust him. And the bastard had gone and ruined it.

Ari’s eyelashes fluttered and Jai squeezed her hand. She made a little groaning noise before her eyes slammed open. “Jai,” she whispered and when she turned her head on the pilow to meet his gaze, Jai sagged in relief. It was Ari. Just Ari.

“Hey,” he whispered back. “How are you feeling?”

“A little groggy.” She pushed herself up into a sitting position, her silence thick in the room. Finaly she looked back at him, her extraordinary eyes a strange golden blue color. “Is he stil here? Red?”

Jai nodded.

“I don’t trust him anymore, Jai. I don’t want him here.”

“He’s a Jinn King, Ari. He’l go when he wants to.”

Her bottom lip trembled a little and Jai felt her pain like a punch in the gut. Is that what caring about someone else this much was like? To feel their pain almost like it was your own? Shifting onto the bed, Jai wrapped an arm around her shoulder and tucked her into his side. She rested her head on his chest, her hand over his heart.

“The Seal petrifies me, Jai. That was bad. That was realy bad.”

It was worse than bad. The darkness inside her made him feel lost, helpless, but he couldn’t let Ari know that. She needed him for this. “We’l do what I said before.

We’l use whatever triggers we can to spark the Seal and we’l train you to fight it.”

“That’s so risky. What if I can’t control it? Like just then, Jai, if Red hadn’t knocked me out…”

“Then I’l knock you out,” he murmured with a smile in his voice, “Before you can do any damage. But we are going to get you through this.”

“Is Michael taking me off the assignment?”

“No,” Jai replied without thinking. Even if Michael wanted to, Jai wasn’t going to let him. Ari had been through too much… she needed something to hold onto and that something for her was hunting. It was a form of control for her. It made her feel less like a sitting duck and no one was taking that away from her, especialy not now. “We’re stil heading out if you feel up to it.”

“Yeah, yeah I do.” Ari raised her head to look up into his face. “I need to get away from here for a while.” She glanced at the door. “Is he out there?”

Knowing who ‘he’ was, Jai nodded.

“Wil you tel him to leave?”

With the two Jinn Kings in the house, Jai could feel the thrum of energy built down around them like a bucket over a sandcastle. At Ari’s words, the house seemed to deflate, like the bucket had been lifted and the sandcastle crumbled. “I don’t need to,” he told her softly. “He and Glass just left.”

So were they alone now? Was it just them against Azazil and The White King?

“I guess so,” he answered his own question.

15 - This Sky is Not Theirs to Reach… It is Yours to Place Your Stars Upon

It was so quiet in Midland, Connecticut. The team, which consisted of some familiar faces – Falon and Jai of course, Bryleigh and Scott Becke and Scott’s brother James, and Bryleigh’s sister Ailidh – were settled in the fairly large farm house they’d rented on the outskirts of Midland. It was on what used to be a working farm, and was fenced in at the back by a woodland. Having grown used to the sound of traffic, Ari couldn’t sleep. Falon was sleeping no problem, having drifted off in her bed across from Ari, the sounds of the birds and the trees blowing in the breeze clearly soothing to her.

It just agitated Ari.

Despite postponing their arrival by one day, they’d stil left hastily for Midland. Afraid of getting upset, Ari hadn’t been able to say goodbye to Charlie. It just felt like betrayal al over again. So instead she’d promised Michael that she could do the assignment and Jai had backed her up, promising them al – including a very worried Trey – that he’d help her get control over the Seal. Without Jack/Glass around, Trey was needed even more to look after Charlie. Falon had wanted Charlie to come with them now that he no longer had a mentor, but Ari was having none of it and Jai was acting like her trusty enforcer. After seeing what he did to The White King, no one was arguing with him.

Restless, worrying about everything, Ari finaly threw the covers off and drew on some clothes. The thought of her mother out there somewhere, of the fact that they no longer had a Jinn King aly (had they ever?), of the Seal taking over her again, of the assignment starting tomorrow morning, was causing chaos in her mind and gut.

The only time she’d felt calm these last twenty four hours was when Jai was around.

Needing him more than she liked, Ari tip-toed out of her room and down the hal towards Jai’s. He was sharing with James so she couldn’t just go in there.

Jai, she said loudly enough to selfishly wake him.

Yeah? His fast reply told her he’d been awake already.

Will you walk with me?

No words were telepathed back at her, but she thought she heard some rustling from behind the door. She strained to hear and almost immediately jumped back as his door peeled open. He stood in only jeans, the strength of his upper body gleaming in the moonlight shining through from the hal window. “You okay?” he whispered to her, his eyebrows drawn together in concern.

“I want to walk with you,” she whispered back. “I can’t sleep.”

Without a word, Jai slipped back into the room. There was some more rustling and then he was back, wearing a t-shirt and boots. So they wouldn’t wake anyone tip-toeing down the creaking staircase, both of them used the Peripatos, bringing them out to the backyard at the outskirts of the woods.

“You want to walk in there?” Jai raised an eyebrow.

“Scared?” Ari teased.

Roling his eyes at her, Jai took off at a slow strol and Ari quickly fel into step beside him.

“You worrying about everything?” he asked softly, glancing down at her in the near dark.

She nodded. “There’s a lot going on in my head right now. Thank you for coming out here with me.”

“I couldn’t sleep either.” He shrugged.

They were silent for a moment—the only sound they made was the breaking of twigs, crunch of leaves and squish of soil under foot. It smeled so clean and fresh out here. It reminded her a little of the woods back home in Sandford except the air was brisker somehow. And the trees around her were thicker than the ones back home. The thought of home just reminded her of everyone she’d left behind and more melancholy set in. Needing solace, Ari reached for Jai’s hand, sliding her cool fingers between his.

She watched his strong profile as he looked uncertainly down at her grip. Finaly he squeezed her hand in his.

“What?” she asked. “The handholding too much?”

To her surprise he looked down at her with a rueful smile, shaking his head. But he didn’t say anything.

“You can tel me, you know. I do remember what you were like when we first met. You’re not exactly the hugging, handholding type.”

“With you… it would appear I am.”

Smiling a little shyly at that, Ari moved closer to him, wrapping her right hand around the wrist of his hand that held her left. “I can’t believe my mom was watching out for me this whole time.”

“It makes a lot of sense now.”

“I’m so mad at her and I’m so mad at Red… but there’s a part of me that feels…” she shrugged and he drew them to a stop. Looking up at him, Ari tried to find the right words. “I don’t know how to explain it.”