Picking herself up off the floor, she went to the window. It faced the front of the house. Looking outside she saw nothing more than a woman she had not met yet playing with a dog. She was pretty and tall and, like everyone in this place, really attractive. She was realizing that the perk of being a Bodywalker was that you got to pick and choose who you came back as. That included looks. But that was understandable because good looks got much further in this shallow world of theirs. That was a fact.
But the playing woman told her that there was no obvious threat taking place. At loose ends, she decided to go back downstairs and look for him, trying to figure out what had happened. When she passed through the living area it was devoid of the gathering she had left behind. Now she was curious on two fronts. She thought one should have been more important than the other, but for some reason it was Ahnvil she fixated on.
But after nearly twenty minutes of searching, she did not find him. Instead, she ran into Kamen in the kitchen. Full-bodied ran into. She was so preoccupied that she crashed into him like a crash-test dummy. He reached out and steadied her.
“Oh. Hi,” she said distractedly.
“Hello, little Djynn.”
“I’m sorry but … have you seen Ahnvil? You know, big Gargoyle. Hates your guts.”
“Yes,” he said with amusement, “I am aware of who he is. No, I have not seen him.” He studied her. “You left earlier. Are you not curious as to what transpired afterward?”
She nodded to him.
“Leo Alvarez has accompanied the new Nightwalker couple off the grounds. They will return to their Demon King … Noah, I believe is his name … and they will tell them of finding us and this curse that seems to be separating us. Eventually I believe we will need to figure out a way to dispel this curse. It will not be an easy solution. It might take years before we discover it. Unfortunately, I do not believe we have years. Fortunately, Menes has allowed me permission to begin to research this matter on my own. He has finally come to realize that I am his best hope in dispelling this problem.”
“I don’t doubt it.” Kat let go of her distractions and focused on the man in front of her. “Did you mean what you said? That you can help me learn about who I am?”
“You would be much better served to ask Grey for assistance in that regard. He knows what it means to be a Djynn. Far better than I do. Though I admit, he is mercurial at best. Most Djynn are. Between him and perhaps SingSing …”
“I get the feeling I won’t get anywhere with SingSing. She isn’t the instructive type. I’m not entirely sure she’s all there.” She whirled her finger around her ear.
“Perhaps,” he said with a small smile. She wondered if the man had ever laughed. He seemed incredibly serious. Then again, she would be serious, too, if she were under house arrest and untrusted by the entire household. She couldn’t imagine what that would be like. Here she was a total stranger and already she had been trusted with high levels of information. Before they had even known anything about her. Based solely on the word of her Gargoyle.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Why would you stop now?” he queried.
“Oh. Right.” She gave him a self-effacing laugh. “Well, I was wondering. Do you regret anything you’ve done … I mean outside of this whole resurrecting a demon god thing.”
He raised a brow. “Is that not enough?” he asked.
“I suppose it is.”
“I am going to guess you are asking if I regret making and owning Gargoyles.” At her nod he said, “I have not made a Gargoyle since creating Stohn, and even he was not something I wished to do. After so many escapees I realized there was nothing I could do to breed in true loyalty. My compatriots are convinced otherwise, but I did not need to have my head bashed against the wall in order to see the writing upon it. A Gargoyle caught escaping was put to death without question. And escaping Gargoyle tells you he no longer has loyalty to you, that there is a flaw in the forging process. At least, that was the general belief. I have other abilities that if brought to bear could reel an escapee in, had I truly wanted to.”
“And you didn’t want to?”
“Better they escape than stab me in the back while I slept. Once they attempt escape it is very clear they will be focused on nothing else for the rest of their days, rendering them useless to me.”
“You are so cold about it,” she said with a frown.
“I am merely stating facts. It does not follow that I approve of my actions in retrospect.”
“Oh. So you regret them?”
“Regret applies emotion. I do not feel that strongly about it one way or another. But I can see the flaws in my thinking.”
“And I can see why Ahnvil hates your guts,” she said with another frown.
“Would you rather I affect an emotion that does not exist? I would much rather be honest with you.”
“I would much rather you feel something. Anything. You don’t feel anything about anything from what I can see.”
“I feel, I assure you. And quite deeply. I just do not feel appropriately according to you on this topic. And I do not cast my feelings about like one strews trash upon the ground. Emotion must be kept, savored, and contemplated. I have thrown emotion too easily and that is how we have ended up facing off with such powerful evil. And I have, I realize belatedly, thrown it in the wrong direction. Emotion clouded my judgment. A mistake I will not repeat.”
“You felt a great deal for this Odjit, didn’t you?”
He looked uncomfortable with the topic, for the first time showing her a glimmer of the emotion he was trying to hold in check. “I felt for the ideal. She was … not what I thought she was. Had I …” He trailed off and shook his head. “What I felt is of no consequence. It is not real. That is what matters.”
“All right. I accept that. Regret is regret, whether you think it requires a deep show of emotion or not. You wish you had done otherwise. Whether in hindsight or not, doesn’t matter. That’s what regret is. Looking back and seeing what we’ve done is wrong. Now, let’s get back to this magic thing.” She took hold of the Amulet and lifted it into his view. “Tell me about this.”
“It came with a prophetic verse. I will try to recall it exactly. ‘The slave, born of the infinite Nightwalkers, will set free the power within. The one that harnesses Adoma’s Amulet will have such power as to make a god weep.’ ”
“Wow. I still can’t get over that.”
“Indeed. Would you like to know how I am interpreting this?”
She nodded eagerly.
“I believe that the prophecy has come to pass. The slave has set the Amulet free. The Gargoyle liberated it from those fools who thought they could use it to their own will. And the one who will harness the Amulet is you.”
“Me?” She knew she looked as incredulous as she sounded.
“You,” he confirmed. “Clearly the Amulet has chosen its owner. I donned the Amulet myself and it did nothing for me, no matter how much I put it through its paces.”
“But you said …”
“I had forgotten I had tried that. Not until later. And learning you are part Djynn has altered my perception of things. So that means you are special in some way. Very likely it has to do with you being a Djynn. Now, what the Amulet does … that I cannot say. That is for you to discover. Perhaps when you learn to draw the power from your niks you will learn how to hold that power to your will.”
“Wait. Nik?”
“A nik is an object of magical power, either living or dead. Inanimate niks are called niknaks. Living ones are called nikkis. This is a nik.” He pointed to the pendant. “What happened when you tried to remove it?”
“Well … when I tried it was like … I couldn’t make myself do it. When Ahnvil tried it threw me across the room to get me away from him.”
“Ah. And yet you were not hurt?”
“No. Just got the wind knocked out of me.”
“It protected you from injury and protected you from bei
ng divested of it. It would seem it has your best interests at heart. Don’t try and remove it. It’s too valuable to you while on you.”
“I told you, I can’t remove it.”
“You can’t remove it now. There will come a time when you will learn how. And that is when others will seek to take it from you. There are always others who will seek to take your niks from you. Especially other Djynns. You see, as soon as a Djynn touches a nik, it becomes theirs … until another Djynn touches it. However they can touch all they like while you wear it and nothing will come of it. It may not even allow them to come close enough to touch.”
“You know, is it possible for something to be so cool and so terrifying all at once?”
“Clearly so. But you are not as afraid as you profess.”
“No, I’m not,” she said, realizing his insight was correct. “I think it’s because all my life the human world felt a little bit off to me. I didn’t know what it was then, but in hindsight I guess I do now. I wasn’t meant to be in the human world.” She laughed. “You know, there isn’t a kid alive who doesn’t wish they had superpowers at some point. I’m not yet sure if it’ll be all it’s cracked up to be. But all my life I’ve just dealt with being a square peg in a round hole. Maybe as I grow more powerful … more able to control what I can do … maybe then I’ll start to feel normal.”
“But you are a half-breed,” he seemed to feel it was necessary to point out. “Even Grey knows it won’t be as easy as it sounds. Mixing gene pools is a frightening variable when it comes to Nightwalkers and humans. It’s why we don’t do it very often. Usually our worlds don’t even coincide enough for us to be attracted to humans, but there is always an exception. You realize you cannot share this with your mother?”
“I-I hadn’t thought about it.” She bit her lip.
“The less people who know about our world the better. It is a rare human being who can cope.”
She thought about her mother, the woman who couldn’t tolerate a new cell tower being built a half a mountain away from her, and realized he was correct. She would never understand. Hell, she probably wouldn’t believe her and would try to have her committed. Mom, bless her heart, was strong. She had to be to raise a child of darkness, as children with her disease were called. She had gone to bat and fought more times for Kat than even Kat had probably realized. To add one more thing to the mix just might be one thing too many.
Or maybe she would feel the same sense of relief that Kat felt. The same sense of finally understanding where she fit in the world.
She shook her head at her own thoughts. No. Kamen was right. It was better left unsaid.
“I wanted to hate you, you know,” she told him. “Because Ahnvil does. Because he has good reason to.”
“And yet you don’t?”
“No. I pity you. You’ve made terrible mistakes and yet aren’t even sure if you know the right way to atone for them. You want to. I can tell you want to. But you don’t know how. That’s why you keep pushing for this research. You think that this is the way to absolution.”
“Perhaps. Or perhaps I realize there is no absolution. That nothing I do or say will ever make up for lifetimes worth of sins. Ask your Gargoyle friend. There is nothing I can do that will ever make what I did to him right in his eyes.”
“No. I don’t suppose there is. So …” She looked around, checking to see if Ahnvil was in earshot before leaning in closer to him. “Teach me one little thing I can do. I just want one little thing that proves to me I can do what everybody says I can do. I just … I mean I’m sure it’s true … but …”
“But you want to see it for yourself. To make it real.”
“Yeah. To make it real.”
“Very well. Pick up the Amulet and hold it in your hand.”
She did so readily, gripping her hand around it tightly.
“Ease up,” he said, resting a hand over hers and coaxing her to relax. “Now, inside the very heart of this Amulet is power. It’s like when I do spellwork. I have to seek inside of myself and then seek inside of the spell and somehow bridge the two together. The more experience you develop, the faster you will be able to build the bridge. Each item will require a new bridge, each bridge unique and constructed in its own way. For now, focus on this item. Imagine yourself stringing lines from the heart inside of your chest to the heart inside the Amulet.”
She nodded as she did so, afraid to speak. There was something about the intonation of his voice, the reverence of it that both excited and soothed her. She felt herself stringing those lines, but it took a great deal of focus to do it so she closed her eyes.
“Once you feel those lines are true, lay planking across them. Like that of a bridge. And with every plank you will take a step closer and closer to the heart of the Amulet’s power.”
She nodded as she slowly struggled to do what he asked. Sometimes it was easy to lay the plank. Other times she would take a step, feel unsteady, and have to step back again or … or it felt like she would fall away and have to start all over again. And yet, before too much time had passed she envisioned herself growing closer and closer to her goal.
“Almost there,” she whispered.
“Once you reach your goal, I want you to open your eyes.”
“I can’t. I’ll lose it,” she said, her voice still soft, as if speaking too loudly would ruin everything she’d achieved. It very probably would. She didn’t want to have to start all over again.
“No. You won’t. You have a strong will. I can sense it on you. The way you have lived your life in spite of the light has forced you to be strong. You will learn this control with ease because of it. Slowly open your eyes, all the while holding your bridge together.”
Kat could almost feel the difference when she touched the heart of the Amulet. It was like receiving a rush of energy, like a sudden breath of fresh air blowing back her hair. She didn’t realize that was exactly what happened, her hair stirring wildly for that brief instant.
“Very good. Come now,” he urged.
She slowly opened her eyes and he reached across the counter for a ceramic coffee mug. Placing it in the center of the counter he said, “Try and levitate the mug from the counter. Levitation, like turning to smoke, is one of the easiest tricks a Djynn can master. This should be simple for you. Slowly push the energy from the heart toward the mug, wrap it around as if you were grasping hold of it with a lasso and then use it to lift it up. Don’t worry about grace or keeping it upright, just lift it.”
By the time she felt she had come into contact with the mug she was actually growing a little tired. She was tensed from head to toe, trying to hold on to her focus.
“Breathe and relax,” he coaxed her.
And slowly, if only by a few millimeters at a time, the mug began to lift off the countertop.
“What the bloody hell is going on here?!”
The sharp command in Ahnvil’s voice was punctuated by the sudden explosion of the coffee mug. It shattered into pieces, each one a sudden projectile. Kamen flinched, throwing up a hand that was immediately peppered with sharp debris. As for Kat, it looked at though the pieces fell just shy of hitting her.
“I have told you tae stay away from her!” Ahnvil reached for Kamen, grabbing him by the front of his shirt. “She does not need your black, manipulative lessons!”
“Stop it!” she cried, shoving her body in between the two men.
Kamen hit Ahnvil hard in the chest, pushing him off himself just as she was doing so. She could see bright red streaks of blood smearing over Ahnvil’s shirt.
“I am tired of you whipping me like a bad puppy!” Kamen growled. “If you want to throw down with me I am happy to oblige! But you are not this woman’s keeper and she is free to do what she wants. And what she wants is to learn how to control her power!”
“Why you fucking weasel!” Ahnvil seethed, launching himself forward once more to go for Kamen’s throat. “I’ll kill you where you stand for even looking at her!”
r /> “Enough!” she shouted at him, as up in his face as she could possibly manage from her height and in the storm of his rage.
“You doona understand the man you’re dealing wi’, Kat! Doona make the mistake of thinking anything abou’ him is worth trusting. He is evil, pure and simple and I’m going tae—”
“What? Kill him?” she demanded. “You couldn’t do it before and for the same reasons you can’t do so now! Whatever you think of him, you need him. You need him to fight Apep and to figure out this curse thing! And it should count for something,” she said, her voice coming down as he stopped pushing his body against hers as though he were going to lunge for Kamen’s throat at any second, “that he’s even here at all. He could have just as easily walked away, never to be heard from again, letting you all get spanked by Apep without any warning whatsoever.” She pushed him back even more. “And Kamen’s right. You don’t own me and you can’t tell me what to do or who to pick to teach me how to do this stuff.” She pointed to the cup. “That was the very first thing I’ve ever done as a Djynn! And it was going great until you came in here and went ballistic!”
Kat turned her back on him and reached for Kamen’s arm, realizing it and his face had been peppered by shards of ceramic and were now bleeding freely.
“It will be fine,” Kamen assured her. “I will remove the debris and it will heal in short order.” His hand covered hers to reassure her there was no reason for her to worry.
“Doona touch her,” Ahnvil hissed, “if you are wanting tae keep that hand. You doona need both of them tae help us fix your fuckup.”
“That’s it!” Kat whirled around and faced him angrily, “I’ve had it! You won’t let people help me, you won’t even let them touch me, and you don’t even have any right! Especially not after you just left me to my own devices for reasons I’m not all that sure were all that important!” Unable to help herself, she threw all her weight behind a punch into his shoulder. Then another. She knew she was as ineffectual as a fly, but she couldn’t seem to help herself. She began crying by the fourth time she hit him and she didn’t even know why. Finally she shoved at him, shoved him out of the way as much as she could with her tiny stature and suddenly he moved, as though she were his size and had shoved into him like a linebacker. With much surprise, he was pushed back hard into a near wall. Far enough out of her way to allow her to pass, running out of the house.