Chapter 33

"You're not holding it correctly," Heyder rolled his eyes as he watched Noor struggle with the golf club that was taller than he was.

"I don't know what to do," Noor mumbled, staring at the ground where Eggs had placed the white golf ball for him.

"You might want to turn the stick around," Heyder said, leaning against his own golf club.

"Like this?" Noor asked, swinging the club around.

"Yeah," Heyder said. "Now, hit the ball."

Noor took a swing.

"Next time, hit the ball," Heyder said.

"This is hard," Noor complained.

"No," Heyder said. "You just suck."

"Is that a bad word?" Noor squinted up in the bright sunlight. "Hayden said I can't say bad words."

"Hayden?" Heyder arched his brow. "You don't call him dad...or baba or dada?"

Noor shook his head.

"What do you call Peanut?"

"Who's peanut?" Noor asked.

"Nora," Heyder stepped forward and squinted to where Exton and Gemma stood a few yards away. "What do you call her?"

"Nora."

"Yes, what do you call her?"

"Nora."

"What. Do. You. Call. Her."

"I call her Nora."

"Not mom?"

Noor shook his head again.

"You do know that they are like your parents now, right?" Heyder asked.

"Do I call them mom and dad?"

"You should," Heyder shrugged. "But ask them first. I don't know if they want to be the new age type parents where you get to call them by their name."

"Okay," Noor nodded.

"Ready to try again?"

"No, this is hard," Noor frowned. "I don't like this."

"Then what do you want to do because Eggs is not leaving until they throw him out?"

"I want to ride the horses."

"Look around, kid. There are no horses here."

"But you asked what I wanted to do."

"Yes, I asked," Heyder nodded. "But do I care? No."

"Where's Birdie?"

"Shouldn't you be calling her aunty or something?" Heyder sighed. "Calling everyone by their name. That's not polite."

"Birdie said she'll hang me by my ankles if I call her aunty," Noor gazed up at the jinn with his big green eyes as his small arms wrapped around the golf club.

"She won't," Heyder shook his head. "She's too chicken. That one is all talk. But Hayden.....don't ever piss him off. He will actually hang you by your ankles."

Noor's eyes widened.

"Don't worry," Heyder laughed. "I'm sure Peanut won't let it happen."

"Why do you call her Peanut?"

"Because you can crush her like a peanut."

"But then she will die," Noor frowned.

"That's very true."

"I don't want Nora to die."

"She will," Heyder said. As he stared at the little kid in front of him, he felt a ping of guilt rise in his chest at the same time as worry rose in Noor's eyes. "But don't worry. She'll be around for a long time before anything happened to her."

Noor didn't say anything. He stood holding his oversized gold club and fussing with the polo Gemma had put him in.

"Everyone dies," Heyder said, trying to distract the kid from the morbid topic. "That's how life works."

"I know," Noor said quietly. "My mom and dad died."

Heyder's eyes flickered to the kid. Those damn green eyes...

"There's no need to be a little bitch about it," he said. "You got new parents. Ones who actually chose you. Not everyone has that."

"They don't?" Noor looked up.

"No," Heyder said. "Sometimes people have parents that don't want that. But you got two sets of parents that would die for you. That's some serious luck."

"Did you say a bad word again?"

"I say a bad word every minute," Heyder rolled his eyes. "What bad word did I say?"

"The B word."

"What's the B word?"

"I can't say it," Noor shook his head, his cheeks turning slightly pink. "Hayden said I can't sa-"

"Hayden is not here right now," Heyder looked around. "Let me hear the B word."

"Are you going to tell on me if I say the word?"

"Will you get in trouble?"

"I think so."

"Then that's a tempting ide-"

Heyder suddenly felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on their ends. His skin crawled with a shiver as a dark cloud began to appear over the sky. Low rolling thunder grumbled in the sky and a cold breeze blew through the golf course. Heyder looked down from the sky to find Gemma and Exton looking at him, their eyes filled with questions.

"Heyder..." Noor took a small step forward, his eyes pointed towards the sky.

"Damn it, kid," Heyder groaned. "What did I say about using nam-"

Suddenly Noor screamed as a flash of blinding light flew through the space between him and Heyder.

Heyder jumped back as the blinding comet picked up Noor without slowing down it's speed. Gemma yelled as Exton shifted into his wolf. Heyder didn't let a second pass before he summoned his smokeless form and shot up after the jinn who had just snatched the little fey.

Give him back! Heyder demanded as he chased the jinn.

Noor dangled in the air, yelling and screaming and kicking at the fiery form that held him.

Heyder, Maaz's voice broke through Noor screams. I expected better.

Yes, yes, I'm a big disappointment, blah blah blah. Now let the kid go. Heyder collided with the jinn just as ten more suddenly surrounded them. Gemma! You got anything?

A little busy!

Damn it! Heyder snatched Noor and tucked him under his arm. Kid, you don't burn?

Noor shook his head.

Look at that, you are lucky, Heyder shot through the air as Maaz and his men began to chase him. He opened his mink-link to Hayden but found it sealed shut. Birdie! Call Hayden! Tell him I need him. Get your mom too.

Mom just left for the island, Birdie responded back. Why? What's going on?

Call her back! We need back up. Call Ali!

Baba, what's going o-

Heyder didn't hear the rest of what Birdie had to say as someone collided with him midair, sending him crashing down into the small man-made lake. The impact with the water caused Noor to fall out of his arms, giving the other jinn a perfect opportunity to snatch him away.

Give him back! Heyder yelled, grabbing the jinn by his feet and yanking him back.

As the jinn and Heyder began to struggle, Heyder's eyes caught sight of Noor struggling to breathe. Air bubbles escaped all out of his nose and mouth as his eyes were wide open and filled with terrifying fear.

Suddenly, like being zapped by thunder, Heyder was reminded of the vision Apollo had tortured him with. After almost twenty five years, Heyder was thrown back to the night he was made to pick between Maya and Hayden drowning. Looking at Noor's green eyes, the jinn felt his own fear grip his heart with a cold hand.

Heyder turned his attention to the jinn in front of him and blasted him as hard as he could. The ripples of the energy shock sent Noor flying back underwater, but Heyder wasn't going to let him get far. She shot forward and grabbed him before launching out of the water.

You okay, kid? He asked, laying Noor down on the grass and turning him around to cough up the water.

As Noor coughed and regurgitated a mouthful of water, Heyder felt a strong hand fall on his shoulder and throw him back. He barely had any time to regain his footing as he watched Maaz grab Noor by his ankles and hoist him up in the air. Noor began to scream as he dangled in front of Maaz's face.

Heyder felt his body tense as anger, fear, and fury erupted inside of his chest. He shot forward but was stopped when four other jinn grabbed him and pushed him down to the ground.

"Heyder!" Noor yelled, his dark hair flopping around upside down and his arms waving.

"You should have killed him as soon as you laid eyes on him," Maaz snared. "Just like you should have killed your son."

Heyder let out a groan as he let his energy radiate off of him in hope it might push off the jinns. He spotted Gemma running towards them as Exton's wolf fought off two jinns to allow her to reach Heyder.

"Let him go!" Birdie suddenly yelled as she stepped out from the portal.

Heyder crushed under his breath as Maaz turned to look at the silver haired girl.

"Birdie, for fuck's sake!" Heyder yelled. "Get out of here!"

But of course the girl didn't listen. After all, she took after her mother.

Heyder watched in horror as Birdie shot forward, thinking she was strong enough to take on a thousand year old jinn who had raised her father. Maaz's free hand lifted and he gripped Birdie's throat, bringing her to a hult in front of him.

"Maaz," Gemma called to the jinn. "Let them go. They're just kids."

But her words only made Maaz squeeze Birdie's neck tighter. She began to struggle as the jinn slowly lifted her off the ground.

"Birdie!" Noor reached for Birdie as he swung upside down. "Birdie!"

As soon as Noor and Birdie touched, a ball of raw and untamed magic exploded.

Maaz was thrown back, causing Birdie to fall to the ground on her back. The shockwaves of the blast rippled out knocking everyone down to the ground. The heat of it buried Heyder's face as she lifted his hand to see past the bright light and waves of toxic energy.

"Birdie!" He called to his daughter as he got up and rushed towards her.

"Baba," Birdie lifted her head, her face smeared with black ash as if she had run through a burning forest. Blood poured down her nose, her lungs making a terrible wheezing sound.

"Baba, get Noor," Birdie pushed Heyder away towards where Maaz had fallen with Noor.

Heyder looked over his shoulder and found Gemma running over as Ali appeared out of portal with a few of the other guards from court. Exton joined them as they started to engage with Maaz's men.

"Baba, go!" Birdie pushed once more.

Heyder looked up and released Birdie's hand. He shot forward to a few yards ahead and found Noor laying upside down with Maaz's hands still wrapped around his ankle.

The way the little boy laid caused Heyder's heart to stop and stumble. Noor's chest barely rose as he laid face down in the grass.

Fuck, no. No. Heyder thought to himself as he thought about Hayden.

Just then Maaz lifted his head and dragged Noor closer to himself. Heyder's eyes hardened as he watched the old jinn flip Noor around like a rag doll and place his large hand over his tiny chest.

"Maaz..." Heyder paled. "No. He's a kid."

Maaz ignored Heyder as he began to apply pressure along with his magic to crush Noor's chest.

Heyder stood horrified, staring at the man who had raised him after his mother had died. He couldn't recognize the empty evil look in his eyes. If it wasn't for the first sound of one of those tiny ribs snapping, Heyder wouldn't have been able to move.

"No!" Heyder yelled as he lunged forward and pushed Maaz away from Noor.

The two jinn rolled down the green hill and fell to the edge of yet another small pond. Heyder raised his hand but hesitated as he stared down at the face of the only father figure he ever had.

"Go ahead," Maaz said through his teeth. "Do it."

"If I don't, then you'll kill that little boy," Heyder said.

"That little boy will grow up to kill everyone and everything your mother and I had worked so hard to protect."

"You don't know that," Heyder said.

"You are my biggest mistake, Heyder," Maaz said, his dark eyes boring into Heyder. "I should have let Mirza kill you all those years ago."

"Then why didn't you?" Heyder asked, feeling the bitterness rise in his heart from Maaz's words.

"Because I took pity on you," Maaz snared. "You were the runt I thought I could raise....But you turned out to be the bastard Mirza always told me you were."

As if his words were the fuel Heyder needed, all his lingering respect and admiration for Maaz began to bury in the fire in his soul as he gripped the jinn's throat and squeezed with all his might.

"Go ahead," Maaz choked. "Kill me like you killed your brother. Like you killed Zubair."

"You'll never let my kids live if I let you go," Heyder said through his teeth as his eyes began to water despite his struggles to push them away.

"I will burn them alive in fro-"

Heyder didn't let Maaz finish as he used all his magic and all his might to crush the jinn's neck and set him on fire.

Maaz's body ignited like a log soaked in gasoline. Heyder rolled off of him and sank to his knees beside the burning body, his head hanging as angry tears rolled down his face.

"Heyder!" Ali came running forward. "Let's go! We have to go!"

Heyder felt as if his head had been pushed underwater. He was beyond making any sense as he sat feeling the last bit of his humanity burn away as he stared at the jinn burning in front of him.

Maya, he opened his mind-link. Maya, I killed him....

No answer.

Heyder felt as if he was left to die alone in the world. He had killed them all...his brothers, Zubair...Maaz....

"Baba!" Birdie called out. "Baba!"

Like the only ray of light after a billion years of darkness, Birdie's voice calling out for him made Heyder look up.

"Baba!" Birdie called again. "Noor's not breathing!"

Heyder pushed down the emptiness inside of him and jumped to his feet. He ran over to where Gemma sat with Noor in her arms and reached out for the boy.

"It's okay, baby," Heyder said, kissing Birdie's head. "It's okay. Baba is here. I'm going to make everything better. I promise."

"Heyder," Ali called to him again. "We have to go n-"

"Zip it, Ali!"

"A whole army of Maaz's men is headed for the island as we speak!" Ali yelled. "Hayden and Maya are on the island and no one is responding!"

Heyder felt his heart seize once more, "Fuck. Fuck!"

"Baba," Birdie tugged his arm. "Help Noor....please..."

Heyder looked down at the little boy in Gemma's arms.

"Ali, take all the jinns from court and go to the island," he said. "Gemma, take Birdie to the palace."

"No," Birdie shook her head. "No, I'm not leaving Noor."

Groaning under his breath, Heyder ignored his daughter as Ali jumped into a portal. He gathered Noor in his arms and began to feel his heart flutter nervously.

"He...he was trying to heal me," Birdie whispered, her eyes watering.

Come on kid, Heyder said, thinking of Hayden and Nora. You have luck, remember that.

And with that Heyder began to push his jinn energy into the fey child dying in his arm. 

We're in the endgame now peeps!