“Right. How did you know that?”
“I’ve got sources...” I waved one hand for him to continue. “Go on.”
“So, they had to settle for stripping him of most of his power. A magical neutering, of sorts. He can still wreak minor havoc on occasion, but it’s the supernatural equivalent of a quickie. His days of full-scale debauchery are long gone. Unless he gets his hands on that sarcophagus.”
“Why? What does he want with the djinni?”
Cale glance away from the road long enough to get a glimpse of my expression, as if he weren’t sure whether or not to take me seriously. “He wants the same thing everyone wants from a djinni: a wish. He wants his power back.”
I laughed, sure he was joking, but Cale just kept driving. And the punch line never came. “Wait, you’re serious? Xaphan can really grant three wishes, just like Robin Williams?” That was absurd. Entirely too ridiculous to believe.
“Well, he certainlycoulddo that. But he almost definitely won’t. As payment for freeing him, the djinni owesonewish to whoever lets him out, and unfortunately, there are no restrictions on that wish, other than that you can’t wish for more wishes. Well, youcan, but you’d just be wasting your breath, as well as your wish. You only get one.”
I waved off his long-winded explanation. “But you can get whatever you want?” I was mortified to hear the thread of desperation tainting my voice. And to know that he’d recognize it too.
I wish I could say I wasn’t thinking about freeing the djinni myself, but…well, I was.Since the day I’d died, I’d only ever wanted one thing.One. A single wish from Xaphan could mean the end of my eternity on earth. I could move on. Find out what came next.
And it’s not like I’d be the only one to benefit from my wish. If I freed Xaphan, I’d not only be doing both the djinni and myself a favor, I’d be keeping the wish out of Devich’s hands—which was saving the world from certain doom. That’s better than charity. It’s like a good deed on steroids. I’d have a good-karma surplus. Karma would fuckingoweme.
The way I saw it, the wish would make us even, me and the still-intact world. After all, what was one measly little wish in exchange fornotbeing at the mercy of an evil, no-longer-impotent demon?
Cale glanced quickly from the road to me, then back again several times, his forehead drawn into an anxious frown. “I know what you’re thinking, and you can’t do it, Lex. You can’t let Xaphan out.”
Oh, yes, I could. “I’ll help you lock him back up. We can get your mom’s people all assembled before I open the box, and they can snatch him as soon as I get my wish.”
I hated the words, even before they left my mouth. But I said them anyway. We were still nearly seventy miles from the damn box, and already I understood its allure. Suddenly I could truly appreciate what the men on Devich’s crew went through when they pulled the sarcophagus up. And even before. Their desperation must have felt something like this.
No wonder people had been digging in that hole for decades, with no real reason to believe they’d ever find anything buried in it.
For the first time in more than two centuries, I could practicallyseean end to my internment on earth. I couldfeelthe next life calling me, and it felt like home. Like my heart was already there, waiting for my body and my soul to catch up.
If the djinni could make that happen, I’d do whatever it took to secure the wish for myself. I deserved that much after what I’d lived through. At the very least.
“I don’t think you understand.” Cale flicked on his right blinker and stepped on the brake, swerving us onto the shoulder of the road. I grabbed the armrest and anchored my feet against the floorboard, but he didn’t seem to notice. “If you let him out, he’s free.Free. To do whatever he wants.”
I shrugged, trying to figure out why that was such a big deal. “So, catch him again. You guys did it before, you can do it one more time. I said I’d help.” Assuming I hadn’t already moved on.
“And if we can’t? You havenoidea what a Herculean effort that was the first time. I don’t either, really. I wasn’t even alive yet. But I know there’s no guarantee we can do it again.”
He shifted into park and closed his eyes, clearly trying to decide how best to make me understand the root of the problem. Finally, he twisted in his seat to face me, his gaze imploring in the glare of the streetlight shining through the windshield. “Okay, hear me out, Lex. You owe me that much.”
“Djinn are dangerous fortworeasons, not just the obvious. On his own, Xaphan can torch anything and anyone he wants—forever and ever without end, no food or rest breaks required. But that’s it. Just fire. That’s all he can do.
“However, if he’s granting a wish, a djinni’s powers have no restrictions. He doesn’t just set bonfires for whoever lets him out. He can give them whatever they want. Anything. No limitations apply.”
“We’ve already established this,” I said, waving him on. “If you rub his lamp—figuratively, of course—you can wish for anything. Anyonething.”
“Yes, now take that a step further.” Cale’s blue eyes burned with the zeal of obsession, and I fought the urge to pull away from him. “He’s obligated to grant one wish to whomever breaks him out of jail, but once that debt’s paid, he can grant whatever he wants,towhomever he wants. He’ll only giveyouone wish because whatever you want won’t interest him. But—”
“Wait, how can you possibly know that?” I demanded, oddly offended by his assumption, though that wasn’t even in the same galaxy as his point. “You have no idea what I want. It could bescandalouslyinteresting.”
His mouth quirked. “It’s not. Not to Xaphan. Not unless you’re planning to wish for the death or mutilation of millions. And you aren’t. You don’t have that in you.” I frowned, and a cocky grin snuck past his stern expression. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
I could only shake my head.
“That’s what I thought. So, he’ll grant your one wish. Wealth, or fame, or beauty, though take my word for it; you don’t need any more ofthat…” He paused, as if I should have been flattered out of my womanly senses.
I didn’t even blink.
