14. The Aquarium

{Naya}

"What are those?"

I shoved Ritsu's head back into the satchel.

"Stay hidden. You can't allow anyone to see you, remember? I'll tell you when it's okay to come out." I whispered in the opening between the zippers.

Ritsu stayed down, but I knew he'd be popping his head out as soon as we reached another interesting exhibit.

Uri could barely stay by my side during our tour through the largest indoor aquarium in the world. At the moment we were in the freshwater exhibit, where Uri and Ritsu gawked at the sturgeons, groupers, and piranhas. Then the two of them fought over whether we should visit the dolphin show or the open tank where you could touch the stingrays.

I had to remind Uri that people were staring at us, probably wondering why he was shouting into my bag. In the end, Uri won out and soon I was watching him try to squeeze between eight year olds so he could get a chance to pet stingrays and starfish.

When we reached the beluga whale exhibit, I let Ritsu poke his head out so he could see them. Like the dolphins, they had permanent smiles on their porcelain faces. Even though these animals were wrapped in rolls of blubber, they were fairly graceful.

"I could watch these creatures for hours," Uri said.

I smiled. "I was just thinking that."

Uri glanced at the meandering crowds around us and said, "I'm curious. Why did you choose this place to spend your day off?"

"I thought it would do me some good to see someone else living as a prisoner. To remind myself that I'm not alone."

Uri pinched my elbow. "Don't be so moody. I'm a prisoner too, remember."

Right. As sketchy as this contract was, Uri was just trying to get to a normal existence.

"Come on," I said, taking his hand, "I want you to see the whale sharks."

As I pulled him along, Ritsu whined, "Goodbye, marshmallow whales!"

The whale shark exhibit was set up like an indoor amphitheater. Uri and I found a spot on the ground closest to the tank. Ritsu came out of the backpack halfway and pressed his tiny hands up against the glass. While he ogled in silence, Uri and I leaned shoulder to shoulder and held casual conversation. I was mildly mystified by how comfortable I felt around him and the ease with which we talked, as if we'd been friends for years.

Eventually, Uri got bored with the fish and started playing Angry Birds on my phone.

"Uri, I have a question for you." I said slowly.

The djinni must have sensed the uncertainty in my voice because he put down my phone and slid it off to the side. "Go on."

I drew my knees up to my chest and breathed hard before speaking.

"Last night I told you all that stuff about the reverend and . . ."

Uri nudged me softly with his shoe. "And?"

"Should I tell him about what I did? When other people found out, the first thing they told me to do was tell the reverend. Especially Portia. She even –"

Gently, he interrupted, "Why would it be appropriate for me to dictate what you do with your secrets?"

I huffed, "Because it's the right thing to do. He's my dad and this decision could change everything. I mean, it already has."

It was strange hearing myself explain to someone why I should be taking the same advice that I had rejected for so long.

Uri shook his head. "I figured if you haven't told your father by now, you have a pretty good reason for doing so. I would never question your decision."

Softly, I said, "You know, you're the first person who hasn't made me feel guilty about lying to my dad. So . . . thanks, Uri."

"You're the first person who agreed to help me," he whispered back. "I should be thanking you."

There was a vulnerability in his voice that I hadn't heard before. It made my face glow with heat.

Snickering, I joked, "A moment of weakness that I'm still regretting, don't forget."

He shot me a sidelong look as if he was far from convinced. Then he went back to staring at the sharks.

Shortly after that, we decided to move on. On our way to the acrylic tunnel, which fed its way through the whale shark tank, we bumped into someone that I recognized. No, worse. One of my exes.

"Naya!"

"Corbin?" I couldn't believe it. I wasn't sure why I was so surprised to see an old flame in a public space since it was so close to the Emory campus.

It had been a while since we reconnected, but it hadn't been long enough for us to forget that things ended messily. And that it was my fault.

"What are you doing here?" I asked, briefly forgetting Uri's presence and the fact that there was a monkey curled against my stomach.

"Babysitting my little sister and her friends," he said with a roll of his eyes. His gaze fell upon Uri and his face dropped.

Oh no, he still isn't over you.

"You're a friend of Naya's?" Corbin asked, no doubt sizing up Uri in the process.

I tried to explain, "We're –"

"Dating," Uri blurted.

Corbin lifted his eyebrows.

I gaped at Uri.

What happened to being cousins!

Corbin turned to me. "Is this what you meant when you said that you needed a break from relationships?"

I shook my head. "Corbin, it's not what it looks like. We're just on a date, okay?"

Corbin brushed past us. "It doesn't matter. You never cared about explaining yourself in the past. You just do what you want and screw over everyone else in the process. Isn't that right?"

Those words stung me in a way that Corbin would never understand. For a moment, I felt like the reverend was standing in my presence. He has said similar things to me before, usually adding Just like your mother at the end.

If the situation wasn't already crummy enough, Corbin glanced at Uri and took another shot.

"Word of advice, man. Get out while you can. She'll just use you."

By the time I composed myself, Corbin had already left, but he hadn't gotten very far.

"Naomi, you okay?" Uri was holding my arm, probably worried that I would pass out again. Oddly, I wasn't mad at him for lying to Corbin. All I felt was regret for my mistakes.

Uri raised my head up. "Hey."

I looked up. As soon as I made eye contact with him, one of his sly grins took over. He glanced back at Corbin before giving me a wink. I watched in disbelief as it was followed by a spontaneous flash of light near Corbin's feet – his pant leg had caught fire. Others in the crowd noticed and began to shout. Corbin paused, confused at all the commotion and the attention aimed in his direction.

People shouted "Fire!"

Security guards flooded the scene and tackled Corbin to the ground.

I gaped at Uri.

The djinni giggled wickedly and pulled me into the aquarium tunnel. Together we jogged away from the crowds. People wandered closer to the screaming and shouting, leaving the tunnel empty and all to ourselves. When everyone had cleared out, Uri slowed down and let go of my hand.

I checked the bag to make sure Ritsu was okay, but the sneaky demon had escaped.

"Well, we left Ritsu back there," I huffed.

Uri didn't look worried. "He can handle himself."

"Corbin was right, you know," I said, arching my head up to see the underside of a manta ray. "I used him."

"I'm no better. I'm using you too," Uri replied softly. I looked at him, thrown off by his solemn voice. The djinni had his head lowered in what I guessed was shame. In that moment, I gave him a long hard look. I remembered how he thanked me earlier for helping and the naked gratitude that cloaked his words. I thought back to how he took care of me after I had fainted and helped me work through my frustrations with my father. I thought of the way his eyes glinted boyishly whenever he played Angry Birds or tugged on my hair.

Maybe I didn't really want to help Uri in the past, but I wanted to help him now.

I came near enough for him to meet my gaze. He drew closer. So close that I could trace the rosy shades clinging to his irises. So close that I could smell a layer of incense and smoke on his breath.

"I have fucked up. A lot." I said. "But not when I agreed to help you."

"Naomi . . ." The brown in his eyes blended more with the burgundy. Like always, a shiver passed through me whenever he spoke my name.

I poked my finger lightly against his chest. "Just as long as you're not trying to manipulate my emotions. I would consider that to be using me."

Uri caught my hand in his and I had to resist gasping. It was just like the time I tried to hit him, except there was no anger in his eyes. The intensity, however, was all there. And so was that phantom warmth that seemed to radiate all throughout my body whenever we touched.

"Trust me Naomi, when it comes to how I feel about you, there are no illusions."

I opened my mouth to reply, but couldn't quite find the snarky comment I needed. As my face reddened, I wondered, who says things like that?

The longer I stared at Uri's face, the less of him I saw. A fantastic fire danced behind his eyes, drowning in a deep grenadine red. This fire didn't behave as a normal flame would. Its pattern was too abstract and resounding, like some infernal interpretative dance. The sudden vision struck me as strange, surreal, and hypnotic all at once.

Then I suddenly remembered.

The inferno from my dream!

Blinking back to reality, I gripped Uri's shoulders and gasped, "When I passed out yesterday, that fire . . . that was you?"

"Yes." His voice shuddered, as if he was afraid of revealing too much. "Naya, I need to . . . hold you like that again."

Uri didn't wait for me to get my head on straight. He gathered my face in his hands and slowly cast a shadow over me, eclipsing the marine life revolving in the background.

The djinni leaned in, I closed my eyes, and . . . we were interrupted.

"MISTRESS!!! WHERE DID YOU GO!!!!"

Ritsu came scurrying down the tunnel with enough ruckus and clamor to suck each and every emotionally charged particle from the room. His entrance gave both Uri and I a jolt, creating a wide gap between us.

I looked longingly at Uri's distant mouth and squirmed on the inside. How long would it take for me to bridge all of that space?

"Mistress! What happened to the spectators? They were all screaming and shouting."

I suppressed the urge to throttle the monkey.

"Uri and I wanted to enjoy the sharks without a bunch of tourists blinding us with their cameras. So he created a little diversion. But now we're going home."

Uri lifted his eyebrows. "Are you sure?" He looked just as annoyed by Ritsu's timing.

"Oh! Oh!" Ritsu piped as he bounced up and down. "Can we stop by the gift shop? I want one of those marshmallow whales."

"They're called belugas," I corrected.

Ritsu climbed up my arm and into my book bag. "I want one of those too!"