Oops! I Caught a Genie!

Chapter 23

        “What’s wrong Nora?” Shullat asked me, furrowing his eyebrows.

“What was the radio thing about?” I said, pretending not to have heard everything.

“They caught your father’s djinn, the one that took you from your home.”

“I went willingly, he didn't take me.” I said, eyes narrowed.

“Thats what he wanted you to think, djinn are slippery and rarely tell you the truth. They hide behind ambiguous answers and get you when your back is turned.”

“I was helping him get himself unbound. I accidentally cast a spell on him!”

“As soon as you had broken that spell, he would have killed you.”

“He wouldn’t have! He could have done it at any time!”

“Maybe he wasn’t able to. You said he was bound, he probably didn't have the ability.”

I lay down on the floor. It had seemed real. Sure he had been a jerk sometimes, but that was just the way he was. I hadn't gotten any vibes that I had been in danger. I don't know who to trust. These guys had kidnapped me, but if my father had worked with them, could they be that bad? I didn't think my father would have done something wrong. If he was a bad person, what does that make my mother? Did she know?

“Did they find my friend? The girl?”

“Who?”
“The one that you used as a hostage!” I hissed.

“No. He was alone. She probably perished in the snow or the gunfire.”

My heart sank. If I had gotten Liana killed I would never forgive myself.

But Mangoo hadn’t been caught, I had heard no mention of him. Maybe she was with him? Fritz could have shoved her out of the way or hidden her. I now had few doubts that this organization was in the wrong. At least my djinn, to my knowledge, did not put people in harm’s way as hostages and forget about them.

“Nora. Get up, they’re going to let you see Red Monkey.” I snapped my eyes open, I hadn’t realized it but I had fallen asleep. I scrambled to my feet and looked up at Shullat.

“Why?”

“I told them that you were unconvinced that it had been lying to you. They also want you because you are it’s owner binder.”

Maybe Shullat wasn’t bad? Or he truly wanted me to believe that Fritz was evil. Either way I got to see him.

“How long was I out?”

“Nearly all day. At least four hours.”

“Why didn’t you wake me?!”

“You need your rest. Training is a drain on physical and mental energy.”

Silence followed and held until we had reached a room with a large glass wall on one side and chairs on the opposite solid wall side. An observation room. Fritz was strapped to a chair by thick iron bands. Burns and welts covered his bare chest. He sat glaring at the door. I squeaked and pressed my face up to the glass.

“He can’t hear or see you, the glass is one-way unless we clear the other side.”

“Why is he injured? What have you done?!”

“We attempted to extract information. Subject refused to give up information of locations of djinn and their allies. He kept asking if you were alright though.”

I kept my face blank. I remembered an episode of one of the cop procedurals I had watched where they got the suspect’s friend to help crack them and I was determined not to be that person. A speaker crackled to life from the corner of the room.

“Nora, this is one of your initiation tests. You have him bound, he can't refuse you. Ask him where his allies are.”

My face must have given away my horror because he quickly added,

“We won't kill them.” As if that was supposed to make me feel better.

I didn't have a chance to argue though, I was ushered in the room and the door slammed behind me.

“Nora!”

I ran over and hugged his neck.

“Don’t answer any of my questions. That is an order.” I muttered as quietly as I could so that he could hear. He jerked away from me and looked at me like I had kicked his puppy. I hoped it was part of the act and tried to play along, putting my hands on my hips and looking as hurt as I could.

“Where are your accomplices hiding?” I asked as forcefully as I dared.

“Have your new friends convinced you to join their cause?” He hissed back.

“They told me about your lies.” I growled.

“Yeah? Have they told you that they killed the elder? Or about all the experiments they’ve done to my kind? How we’ve fought them?”

“They killed the elder?!” I gasped. In the back of my mind I remembered seeing him dead, but it hadn’t really hit me until now. Even though he had been a bit of a jerk to me, he still was important. That or I was developing a jerk fetish. I turned to the wall. It looked completely solid from where I stood, but I was sure this was the two way mirror.

“How could you kill such an old man?!” I yelled, “He probably didn't have much time left either!”

Deciding to go with the crazy girl act, I ran back over to Fritz and brushed a hand lightly over one of the welts on his shoulder, he flinched.

“What was the point of this? He’s said nothing! It’s just damaging your ‘specimen’!” I hugged him again.

“Are you PMSing?” He snorted.

I smacked him on the shoulder, temporarily forgetting that I was supposed to be acting and that he was injured. Luckily I didn't have to keep it up. Uniformed staffs forcefully escorted me from the cell and back to my room. I heard the door lock behind me and there was a clunk from a heavy metal bar sliding into place.

Now I started to question what I had been thinking.

 

After I finish the whole book I plan on rewriting most of it to fix errors and plotholes and other stuffs, input would be apreciated (tell me what to fix...) (I dont bite... I swear...)