Chapter 2

"Maya," Heyder called to his wife as he pulled her closer and laid Hayden down on the floor to start CPR.

His hands were already lit up like torches as he used one palm to heal Maya and the other to heal Hayden. The unmistakable sound of waves crashing against the side of a boat hit his ears like thunder. Heyder couldn't get the memories of Hayden drowning out of this head.

You have to pick him.....

"Maya!" Heyder said through his teeth as his visions started to blur. "Come on, come on come on!"

Suddenly, in the deafening silence of the room, a portal opened and Clare rushed out. She took one look at the jinn on the floor with his wife and child and felt her heart shatter. Heyder's face twisted with tortuous pain as he struggled to provide just enough healing strength for both Maya and Hayden.

"Come on, Maya," he groaned, his voice panicked and in pain.

"Heyder," Clare began to absorb his heartache like a sponge. She felt her throat tighten and her lungs collapse as she sank to her knees. "What should I do?"

"Clare!" Heyder looked over his shoulder. "Come here."

Clare crawled over to the family. She felt the warmth of Heyder's magic like a space heater in the middle of winter. The jinn pushed Maya closer to her and began to perform CPR on the baby.

"Heal her," he said, in between breaths.

"Is he okay?" Clare looked at the baby.

"I got him," Heyder pushed all his energy into the small child. "I got him, I got him."

Like a mad man, the jinn fought for his son's life. His eyes jumped from Hayden's sleeping face to Maya as he felt air become too thin to breath. He wouldn't survive losing either one.

"Are you healing her?" Heyder snapped when he found Clare watching Hayden instead of focusing on Maya. he didn't mean to yell, but the desperation in his heart was too overwhelming.

"I am," Clare pulled Maya closer.

She wrapped her arms around the girl and hugged her tightly. Out of memory, Clare pulled on her magic and envisioned the gold shrouding the girl in her arms. Time seemed to stop as Maya's faint heartbeat lifted like a sweet symphony.

"Clare..." she said, opening her eyes as if she had just been awakened from deep slumber. "What...what are you doing here?"

"I sensed something was off," Clare frowned.

Maya slowly sat up, her eyes on the girl with the stormy gray eyes and round face. She felt a strange sensation run down her spine as she searched her head to find an answer as to why she was on the floor.

But as she stared at Clare, she watched those gray eyes lift and land on someone behind her. Maya slowly turned around and let out a small whimper of pain.

"What happened?" she said as she flew across the space between her and Heyder. Her eyes landed on her still baby boy as Heyder looked up, his eyes filled with panic. "What happened to him?"

"He's not waking up," Heyder said, his hands shaking.

"No!" Maya shook her head. "No, no, no!"

"Clare," Heyder looked at the scared young girl in the background. "Come here. Push your energy into me and I'll give it to Hayden."

Clare did as she was told. She rushed over to Heyder and placed her hand over his heart. She closed her eyes as her palm began to glow red. The Jinn's skin turned almost transparent as all the magic underneath shimmered through. Heyder bit down on his jaw and filtered Clare's raw energy and channeled it into Hayden.

"It's not working," Maya panicked, her face covered in tears. "It's not working!"

"Come on, buddy," Heyder said through his teeth as he patted Hayden's soft cheeks. "Come on, big guy."

"Heyder, do something!" Maya yelled. She couldn't breath as she sat holding her child and husband's hand. "He's not waking up!"

Suddenly, Clare felt a violent storm erupt from within the baby's chest. She dropped her hand from Heyder and snatched Hayden out of the jinn's arms.

Maya screamed in protest and Heyder's eyes flashed silver and red as Clare pulled Hayden to her chest and a protective forcefield appeared around them.

"Clare!" Maya hollered as the small translucent bubble in which her son and cousin sat began to fill up with live currents.

She watched in horror as her baby's skin lit up with running currents and his eyes opened to flash silver like his father. The hairs on Clare's arms stood on their ends as her skin crawled with the energy Hayden emitted. To her it felt as if a thousand needles descended upon her at once after being soaked in ice water. She held onto the baby as tightly as possible, almost crushing him to his chest.

Heyder couldn't wrap his mind around what he was seeing. That was his child. The small tiny little thing that held his finger and grounded him. His green eyes would look up at him in silent wonder and make everything in life make sense.

But as he looked on, the forcefield in which Hayden sat behind filled with more and more currents. Hayden's mind stopped functioning. He couldn't breath. For the first time in his life, he began to beg for his child's life to whatever god sat in the clouds mocking his misery.

"Heyder," Maya took his hand desperately as her voice cracked and her bottom lip quivered.

Her eyes had gone puffy from the amount of tears she shed. Her skin was deadly pale and her hands were ice cold.

"Help him," Maya begged the jinn. "Please, please..."

I got him, Maya

Clare's voice suddenly appeared through the mind-link.

The jinn and the witch turned to the girl once more as Clare looked up. Maya's heart had long forgotten how to beat as she watched the forcefield slowly start to lower.

He's okay....

"I want to hold him," Maya leaped forward but Heyder pulled her back with caution.

"Hold on," he said to her, not being able to take his eyes off of Clare and the baby.

"Give him to me," Maya held out her hand and cried. "Is he okay?"

"He's okay..." Clare looked down at the child. "I think so."

"What was that?" Heyder asked as he loosened his grip on Maya's arm.

"He can't contain the magic in his body" Clare held out the child for the mother.

"He's a baby!" Maya said, taking her baby. "He shouldn't have magic yet. It shouldn't come in until he matures."

"It's here," Clare said. "And it's strong."

"When do jinns get their abilities?" Maya looked over her shoulder to her husband.

Heyder's face twisted, "At birth...."

"You didn't think to tell me that?"

"He's not supposed to have access to it!" Heyder defended. "It's supposed to be dormant. Like a witch or werewolf."

"Then what is happening?" Maya shook her head.

"The fey," Clare cut in.

Heyder and Maya froze and turned to look at the girl. She shifted uncomfortably on the floor as she scratched her head.

"The fey is trying to protect him from the jinn and the jinn is trying to protect him from the fey," Clare explained.

"Both sides of him are in survival mode," Heyder realized. "His magic developed faster to adapt."

"Yes," Clare nodded.

"So what do we do now?" Maya paled. "This won't stop. The more the two sides fight each other, the more magic he will conjure up from each side."

"I don't know..." Clare wished she had an answer. She pushed her mind to come up with some explanation but she couldn't think.

"Heyder," Maya looked at the jinn beside her. "We have to do something."

"We will," Heyder nodded. He leaned forward and kissed her forehead as Hayden stirred in Maya's arms. "He's going to be fine. I promise you."

"Speak to Maaz," Maya said. "Maybe he will know something."

"I will," Heyder nodded.

Ever since he had taken the throne from Zubair, his relationship with Maaz had soured horribly.Unknown to Maya, Maaz had left court to start his own rebellion against Heyder.

Heyder had never known his father. Maaz and Zubair were all he had. The two men had raised him after his mother passed. They protected him from his brothers as best as they could. For Heyder, they were his shadow guardians, watching over his every step.

It wasn't easy for him to kill Zubair....but Heyder had no regret. It was either Zubair's life or Maya and Hayden's life. The choice was simple. He had lost her too many times to ever hesitate for a second. He held no hard feelings in his heart for Maaz. He accepted the man's hatred if it meant his family would stay safe.

As Hayden began to fuss and cry in his mother's arms, Heyder looked down at his child. He felt his muscles relax and his heartbeat return to normal as Maya cradled the child and kissed his forehead.

"Don't cry, my love," she weeped quietly. "I won't let anything happen to you."

"You were going to feed him," Heyder reminded his wife.

"Yeah," Maya sniffled.

Clare stepped back as Heyder helped Maya to her feet. He walked them over to the sofa and sat her down before snapping his fingers and cleaning up all the fallen objects around the house.

"Clare," he said. "Stay beside Maya."

Clare nodded and walked over to the sofa. She sank into the seat beside her cousin as the jinn moved around and brought the new mother everything she needed.

"I'll go make you something to eat," Heyder squatted by the side of the sofa and pushed back Maya's messy locks.

His voice was gentle and soft. The tip of his nose was red from the tears he had in his eyes while holding the baby. His eyes had gone back to their warm brown, but sorrow and worry swam in them like clouds in the sky.

"Are you okay?" he asked Maya, rubbing his thumb across her cheek. "How are you feeling?"

"I'm okay," Maya lied for his sake.

"We will talk about what happened in a bit. I'll get you some food first."

Maya nodded as Heyder rose to his feet. He waited for him to turn and disappear into the kitchen when she heard something fast enter the skies above their house.

"What the fuck is it now?" Heyder groaned, his eyes going silver once more.

"It's Ali," Clare said, biting on her thumbnail.

The jinn mumbled under his breath as the sound grew closer and closer. He helped Maya grab the burp cloth and put it over her shoulder as she breastfed the baby. He had half a mind to tell Ali to fuck off. He was in no mood to have company over. But he needed to talk to him about what had just happened.

No one in the house said a word as Ali dropped onto the deck. He landed like a comet, his body glowing in blue flames. As he reached for the door, he shifted to his human form and grinned from ear to ear.

"Where's the baby?" Ali asked as he walked in with his high energy and his arms wide open.

Heyder stared at him as Maya lowered her eyes. Clare shook her head from the sofa.

Ali paused and looked around the room, "Who died?"

"Come help me in the kitchen," Heyder motioned with his head.

"When you promoted me to be the hand of the crown at court, I didn't think it was to help you in the kitchen," Ali complained. "I am too qualified to be your maid."

"In the kitchen," Heyder didn't bother to check if Ali was following. "Now."

Ali turned to look at Maya, "Have you noticed how much bossier he's gotten since becoming the head?"

"Ali!" Heyder hollered from the kitchen. Hayden jumped in his mother's arms.

You're scaring the baby, Maya mind-linked the loud jinn.

Sorry, Heyder apologized.

"Coming, Sultan!" Ali started for the kitchen.

As he walked in, Heyder looked around the fridge door and narrowed his eyes.

"Don't call me that," he said.

"As you wish, Sultan," Ali bowed his head.

"I would tell you to fuck off, but Maya is making me practice not using dirty words in the house."

"I see that's going swell."

"I need to speak to Maaz."

"Hmm," Ali paused. "How do I say this nicely? He hates your guts and wants to hire jinns to assassinate you."

"Keep it down," Heyder snapped, lowering his voice.

"You still didn't tell Maya?" Ali walked farther into the kitchen and whispered. "Dude, what the fuck?"

"We have a lot going on right now," Heyder said, grabbing the cheese from the fridge. "I don't need her to worry about Maaz."

"FYI, if you get assassinated, it is not in my job description to inform your wife," Ali held up his hands. "I only take care of cleaning up."

"You do realize he will probably kill me at court along with you, right?"

"My mother always said you would be a terrible friend."

"I kept you alive for all these years," Heyder chuckled.

"You were locked up in a jar!" Ali hissed. "And now that you're out you're back to fucking shit up."

"Watch your language," Heyder said. "I have a kid now."

"You don't gotta worry about me. You're his father," Ali snorted. "His first word will be fuck."

"Maya will kill me," Heyder rubbed his forehead.

"Speaking of Maya and baby," Ali cleared his throat. "What's going on? The house is buzzing with weird energy."

"Hayden's magic came in."

"What?" Ali's eyes widened. "He's like a week old!"

"That's why I need to speak to Maaz."

"Is that really a good idea?"

"I have to do something," Heyder sighed. "My week old son just blasted his witch fey mother and knocked her out. Who knows what he will do as he starts to grow."

"I get that," Ali said. "But is it a good idea to tell Maaz all this....you know he's looking for a weakness right now."

"Double the guards around the house."

"Heyder," Ali looked at his friend. "We've already tripled the guards. Any more and Maya will catch on. You have to tell her."

"Not yet," Heyder shook his head. "She needs to catch a breath. She just gave birth and now Hayden is doing all this. I can't stress her out right now."

"She's strong. She can handle it."

"I know she can," Heyder said. "But I don't want her to be strong right now. I need her to focus on being a mother. That's all she wants to do right now. I can't take that away."

Ali slowly let out a breath, "Okay.....whatever you say."

"Reach out to Maaz," Heyder said. "Tell him I want a meeting."   

What will happen now to Heyder and Maya?