“You look excited, Anabeth,” Brett observed, amusement glittering in his eyes.
The young woman nodded, her gaze flicking around wildly.
Jai frowned. Was she scared? She didn’t seem the type to be scared. In fact, she’d become kind of handsy these last few days. Jai was beginning to feel like a Victorian housemaid, trying to avoid the improper attentions of her master.
“It’s her first utukku,” Brett explained to Jai. “Her first big hunt.” He turned to the girl. “You’ll do great. You know you’re awesome.”
She smiled widely, lighting up under the compliment. “I know, just a little nervous. But excited. I really want to get this over with.”
“Well, it’s getting dark and the cemetery is empty, so let’s move.” He shot a look at Jai. “I know you’re a big hotshot and everything, but have you ever fought an utukku?”
“Once.”
“Okay. So you know to look out for the drop in temperature when he’s in the vicinity?”
Jai smirked. “I do.”
Brett nodded and pulled off his backpack to withdraw a dark wooden box. “Since you’re here, you can make yourself useful. I’ve been chasing this thing from cemetery to cemetery, trying to keep it so busy it won’t hurt anyone, but it’s one of the most vicious I’ve seen.”
Jai eyed the box. The Anglicized name for the box was a secretum and they were rare. It was created from the wood of a conessi tree, packed with tellicherry bark and harmal and also treated with harmal. A strong enough jinn could entrap another lesser jinn within the box, and once locked, it was impossible for the jinn to get out. An utukku could be trapped within it, but Jai had never attempted it before. “You want me to put this thing in a secretum?”
“I’d be truly grateful.” Brett grinned. “Anabeth and I will keep him occupied while you do it.”
Jai reluctantly took hold of the secretum. “I’m not making any promises.”
All extremely well trained, they strode through the rectangular mausoleum on silent feet and stepped out into the now dark cemetery. Jai’s night vision took in the area before them, trying to detect a hint of movement, a spark of fire. Making sure not to step on twigs or crush the ground beneath their boots, the three walked in tandem, walking down to the entrance of the graveyard so they could skirt the perimeter and then make their way inward in a spiral. The hush pressed heavily upon them and gradually Jai could hear Anabeth’s breathing increasing. He tapped her shoulder, and with his eyes, tried to tell her to calm down. She nodded gratefully, her long red hair glinting in the brightening moonlight. Jai sighed inwardly. She should have covered her hair.
“What’s this? Three little jinn looking for me?”
They whipped around as one and Jai took a step forward, putting himself between the voice and the guild hunters. Sitting upon a large gravestone was the utukku. It was smaller than the average man, but its scaly, muddy-green limbs were long and thin. It peered at them with constant blinking yellow eyes and a wide, lion-like smile. Wispy white hair protruded from its head in tufts, and long black claws curled from the tips of its fingers as it waved a hand at them, grinning, his pink and black gums visible as he flashed sharp, black teeth. “Alú at your service.” He shot a look behind Jai. “Well, I’ve done my part. Now you do yours.”
Fire erupted as the utukku took off into the peripatos and Jai spun around, trying to make sense of its words. He put two and two together as his gaze fell upon an unconscious Brett, and he scented the copper from the blood seeping out of the wound in his chest. Jai’s eyes were drawn to the blade clenched tight in Anabeth’s hands.
“Why?” Jai asked, shocked but unafraid of her.
“He wants you out of the way,” she whispered. “He promised me everything.” A dazed smile lit her pretty face, and Jai knew she was lost in the intoxicating power of the jinn who had offered her so much. “Even this.” She untucked a stone from under her T-shirt where it hung on a silver chain, and before Jai could react to defend himself against the emerald Anabeth wore, he flew backward through the air. The breath whooshed out of his lungs as he collided with the hard dirt ground. As he struggled to suck in air and as his eyes re-focused, Jai’s mouth fell open, his limbs too slow to stop the fire-powered swords raining down from the sky toward him.
The knot of unease in Ari’s gut was growing steadily tighter. Her legs were even trembling. Waves of nausea kept rolling over her and she knew, she just knew, that something wasn’t right. Glad for once to have lost Fallon’s interest to Charlie, Ari escaped into the quiet solitude of the bedroom they shared. What had been that energy she’d felt when Anabeth had come into the room to collect Jai? And more than that… why had the utukki or utukka or E-dimwit or whatever it was taken up residence in a cemetery so close to the guild? The more she thought about it, the more it seemed too much of a coincidence.