“Definitely,” Bosh’s voice came out a bit higher than he might’ve intended, “We need a lady in the crew.”
“A lady, huh?” Ryo teased him. “Trying to flirt, are we?”
Bosh blushed and stuttered, “I just meant, for all the, you know, for when we need to get into certain places that—”
“We knew what you meant, Bosh,” Kadin cut him off.
Why did I get the feeling Bosh was about to say something Kadin didn’t want me to hear? Were they looking for a Jinni or were they thieves? Or both? Kadin set down his bowl to give me his undivided attention. “So, Arie. How do you go about hunting a Jinni?”
Their gazes turned to me. “Before I start,” I said, clearing my throat to buy myself time. “I should ask what you already know?”
Kadin frowned.Is it a ploy? Maybe she’s using us and doesn’t know anything.
I kept my face clear and open, not letting a single twitch reveal I was doing exactly that.
“I suppose it wouldn’t hurt to exchange information,” Kadin said slowly. I could tell the men trusted him; they waited for him to continue. “We know the Jinn are drawn to certain objects. Ancient relics and antiques. But we’re not entirely certain which ones. Daichi—” he waved to the bearded man, “—show her the artifact.”
I eyed the tattoos curling around Daichi’s thick arms as he pulled a small, circular item out of his pocket.
At first, I thought it was a metal ball. He held it out to me and I accepted, feeling the cold weight of the object in my palm. “It’s a doorknob...”
“Close,” Bosh spoke up, “It’s a doorknocker.” He grinned at my surprise.
When I glanced back up at Daichi, a blush had risen above his beard.
He held out his hand to take it back and I returned the odd metal door knocker.
“Why...” I trailed off, not knowing where to start.
“The Jinn are known to appear at auctions looking for particularly old items,” Kadin explained.
Naveed took my bowl and I pressed my hands together, unsure what to do with them.
Everyone was finished, but we stayed seated, listening to Kadin. His men clearly respected him. It made me wonder what he’d done to earn such loyalty.
“It’s believed that certain antiques may be enchanted for different Jinni, to enhance their Gifts. Different objects for different abilities.” Kadin clasped his hands together, speaking quietly. His words reminded me of the book full of Jinni spells back home. “At first we searched for individual items.” He gestured to the door knocker. “But if you don’t know what you’re looking for it’s nearly impossible to know if you’re chasing the right item. We were never able to find a Jinni that way. A while back we decided to try auctions with some success.”
“Success?” Ryo scoffed. “We’ve been to dozens of auctions. In almost as many towns. We’ve seenoneJinni.”
Illium looked up sharply at Ryo.
Without this reaction, I’d have missed it. They hadn’t been here long. That explained why there was nothing personal in the décor, nothing to speak of a home.
Kadin only shrugged. “We made the mistake of waiting for the last Jinni to win the bid before trying to meet him. He disappeared before we could approach.”
“We even tried coming back the next day,” Bosh added helpfully, “You know, when the bidders pay for their winnings and pick them up? But he’d already came and went.”
Kadin waved a hand. “The important thing is, we know an auction is the best place to find a Jinni. And now we know, the best way to gain an introduction, will be to possess the item they’re bidding for. Then, they’ll have to come to us.”
The puzzle pieces fell into place. I hadn’t known that, but I finally remembered what I’d noticed in the Jinni book back home. It was a tidbit that would immediately place me as an expert now. Except... the door knocker didn’t make sense. “Was a Jinni actually bidding for the door knocker?”
“I told you it was stupid,” Ryo muttered.
“Shut it,” Daichi snapped, shoving the piece back into his pocket, growing redder.
“We were experimenting,” Kadin pacified the men, speaking to me and ignoring the muttered jabs at Daichi over his ‘precious door knocker.’ “We’ve spent a few months traveling from one auction to the next. Usually we bid low and let someone else outbid us, once we feel confident the other person isn’t a Jinni. But in a few rare cases, our bid ended up being the highest.”
“Yeah,” Bosh joked, trying to impress me, “like when this dingbat thought a Jinni would want something as stupid as an old piece of a door.”
