24. Roadtrip

{Naya}

"Hello?"

"Hey girl," I greeted my best friend over the phone. I knew that Portia visited her parents in our hometown every two weeks. There was no way I was going to drive for four hours to Knoxville with a djinni, a pirate, and a demon monkey.

At least not by myself.

So while Uri spun the false explanation for Sinbad's benefit, I tried to set us up with a ride. Portia was fairly impressed that I was going to finally face my father.

"Wow. You're bringing Uri too? That's bold, Naya."

"I know," I said, not feeling bold in the slightest.

"So are you and him like really serious now?" Portia's voice didn't possess its typical sass. She wanted the truth.

Before answering, I looked over at Uri, who was massaging his temples and repeating himself to the hopelessly clueless Sinbad. I had always admired Uri's lithe body and medium height. But standing next to Sinbad, he seemed a tad too skinny and just shy of the desired height. Still, I could watch him forever. It didn't matter if he was arguing with Ritsu, experimenting with recipes in the kitchen, or hunched over a particularly tricky level of Angry Birds.

Uri's eyes flickered in my direction. Sinbad was still firing questions, but Uri held my gaze. I could tell by the set of his jaw that he hadn't really gotten over the revenge kiss I stole from Sinbad. His eyes, however, were soft and full of longing. It seemed that neither of us could stay mad at the other for very long.

"Naya? You still there?"

I broke eye contact with Uri. "Uh yeah. It's serious."

Portia sighed. "Okay, if you say so. I'll be over in about an hour. Can you text me Uri's address?"

"Sure thing. And Portia, I've got to ask one last favor to ask of you."

"Sure thing. What's up?"

I narrowed my eyes at Sinbad. "Do you mind having one more passenger come along? You see, Uri's got this brother . . ."

***

Over the phone, I had introduced Sinbad as "Sin" and made sure that he was on board with his new alias. Uri and I had to rush him out of his storybook clothes and into some modern attire. In other words, we had a jolly good time spelling out incantations in the air and watching his garments morph and stretch. Like Uri had said earlier, Sinbad did not seem the least bit traumatized or confused by the spells popping off. As far as he was concerned, he was trapped in a dreamworld and Uri and I were just your run-of-the-mill djinn.

As a last touch, I cut and styled Sinbad's hair into a nice fade. Afterwards, I caught Uri checking himself out in the mirror and untying his hair to get a closer look. He glanced at me in the reflection and said, "Is my appearance acceptable? I never really stopped to think about it, but my hair is rather long."

I rested a hand on Uri's shoulder and turned him around. "I wouldn't change a thing about you."

Uri looked tempted to reply, but Ritsu hopped on my shoulder and lightly slapped his tail against Uri's face.

"Mistress, your friend is eager to see us."

It was then that I heard the relentless honking from outside. I took a deep breath and said, "Our ride is here."

Portia was not happy that she had yet another passenger hitching a ride, especially since it was someone she barely knew. I, however, knew my friend better than anyone else. So I wasn't surprised to see her jaw drop when Sinbad followed us out of the apartment building.

In a matter of seconds, she pulled down the visor mirror, checked her makeup, and then dashed out of the car to seize me in a hug.

"Girl! How have you been? I can't wait for us to get on the road!" Portia shrieked in jubilance. But I could sense it was all a ruse. After her forced welcome, she pressed her face against mine and whispered, "Please tell me that delicious rack of lamb behind is not the Sin you were talking about."

"The one and only," I said, rolling my eyes. If only she knew what an enormous pain having him around was going to be.

"Well, who says that we have to get going so soon? Let's grab some lunch first."

As much as I loved extended road trips with Portia, I wasn't looking forward to this one lasting any longer than it needed to. A knot had started to form in the pit of my stomach. It strained and twitched at the thought of prolonging the inevitable.

There was no way I could enjoy a single moment of this trip until I saw the reverend and said what I had to say.

But I didn't say that to Portia. Instead, I gave her a tight-lipped smile and said, "Lunch sounds great."

We all piled into Portia's red car. She insisted that Sinbad sit upfront with her. She easily kept him occupied with vibrant conversation. Sinbad seemed pleased to be able to talk to someone who wasn't a djinni.

Ritsu sat in my lap, already settling in for a nap. Uri slid into the seat next to me and gently nudged me with his elbow.

"You okay?"

"No." I said it low enough so Portia wouldn't hear. Despite my distant gaze, Uri moved aside some of my hair and leaned in close.

"I hate seeing you like this," he whispered, his discomfort easily reflected in his voice.

"Close your eyes then," I muttered. Not even Uri's close proximity could take my mind off of an impending meeting with the reverend.

He pulled away. "Naomi."

My insides tingled. I ignored that gooey mess of feelings and glared out the window. But my hand acted on its own when it reached over and laced my fingers through Uri's. The djinni secured me in his grip enough that I could feel his fire pulsing under the surface of his skin.

Our connection brought me some measure of peace. The journey, I reminded myself, would be long.

So I held onto Uri as tightly as I could.

He knew better than to let me go.

+++

{Janus}

A man and a creature of fire stood before Uriel's apartment door. The man wore an impressive suit. He was fair, polished, and obnoxiously handsome. The creature at his side floated half a foot off the floor with the help of massive wings that did not beat. The man's dark companion could only be seen by select humans and its own kind.

Janus Bergman politely knocked on the door of the djinni who he knew resided there. He adjusted his cuffs while he waited.

Sabur licked his lips.

After no response from within, Janus knocked again and cleared his throat.

. . . . Nothing.

"Coming in!" Janus announced brightly, as if he were providing room service. After a little finagling with the lock and kicking the door in, the collector and his ifrit let themselves inside.

To Janus's dismay, nothing stirred in the quaint loft. Although it was clear that people lived there.

DVD cases littered the living room floor. Various containers of food and sauces hung out on the kitchen counter tops. A pretty little hookah pipe burned in the far corner.

"The djinni-made," Sabur purred as he sniffed the air, "is not alone. There's a demon with him. A shinigami I think. And . . ." he sniffed in deeply. "Something else. I want to say human, but there is something off about the scent."

"So he has accomplices. A death spirit and a humanish entity. Could it be the magus that helped him place those wards?"

Sabur bared his teeth. "No. Would have smelled it if it were a magus."

Janus huffed and flopped onto the couch.

"What a bother. Where do you suppose they went?"

Sabur lifted an eyebrow. "Perhaps you should call the one who has the answers to those questions."

Janus casually swore as he fished his cell phone out of his pocket and hit speed dial.

+++

{Duffy}

Duffy felt his phone vibrate.

"You can't be serious."

He considered ignoring the call, but decided that having a conversation was much better than Janus returning to the hotel. So he answered.

"Don't tell me you got lost again."

"Worse. He isn't here." If Duffy didn't know any better, he would have thought he was speaking to a whining child.

Duffy groaned. "We've been over this. Trust me, he's there. I checked my instruments like a hundred goddamn times."

"Oh sure he lives here. He just doesn't happen to be here at the moment. I haven't the slightest idea where he could have gone."

The last thing Duffy wanted was for Janus and his ogre to return to the hotel. For once he just wanted to be left in peace to watch a marathon run of The Bachelor without any interruptions. Was that so much to ask?

"And?" Duffy said.

"And I don't know what to do!"

Duffy leaned back on the hotel bed and took a moment to think of something that could entertain his boss until the djinni returned.

"I think there is a theatre nearby. When was the last time you saw a good musical?"

"Duffy, this isn't a game."

"Oh, so you would rather wait all day in the djinni's apartment? Have fun with that."

To his relief, Janus said, "Not only are you obese. You're a bore. Come now, Sabur. We're going to the theatre."

Then he mercifully hung up.

Duffy made sure to stuff his phone somewhere where he wouldn't be able to hear it vibrate. He didn't fly all the way from Chicago so he could deal with this nonsense. He was on vacation, damn it!

The magus stretched and finally relaxed against the headrest. He reached for the remote, about to turn on The Bachelor when he caught his reflection in the mirror against the wall.

Why do they always put huge mirrors in hotel rooms?

If Duffy chose to do so, he could very well watch himself instead of the television. He snorted while observing his own reflection.

I am not obese. Not even close.

He did admit that he probably could be thinner if he didn't pig out on fast food so much, or maybe if he'd go out for a jog every once in a while instead of binging on computer games.

He liked his face regardless of his unremarkable brown eyes and structureless features. His curly hair was cute when he was a kid, but he had confirmed at the age of twenty-six that it was decidedly un-sexy. Not that a woman had ever told him otherwise. He honestly could not remember the last time he had been on a date.

It's kind of impossible when you have Janus Bergman for a boss.

Working for Janus made it easy to lose touch with the world. There were not a lot of magi out there who he could talk to. In fact, he was sure that all of them made sure to steer clear of Janus and all the dirty trails of black magic and violence that he left behind.

Duffy had resigned to the reality that he would always be there to clean up after Janus and help him maintain his appetite for rare finds. Like this djinni-made that had somehow managed to evade and elude them for several weeks.

Whatever. Janus will find him, capture him, and put him up on his wall just like the others.

Determined to keep Janus out of his thoughts for the evening, Duffy finally flipped on the TV and located the channel that showed The Bachelor.

The marathon would not be on for another hour.

"You've got to be shitting me."

With nothing on TV worth watching at the moment, Duffy was forced to face his restlessness and once again, his reflection. He stared at his gut for a while. Then he checked his watch. He had just enough time to run and get a bite to eat before making it back for the marathon.