2. The Source of Smoke

{Naya}

My tongue betrayed me during my standoff with Uriel. I could find no words for him so all I did was glare.

My surroundings were not what I expected. The two of us stood in a small, cozy room where cushions were scattered about the carpeted floor. The space was bathed in candles and incense. There were a few hookah sets scattered about too, including a little red one that was presently lit.

This would be romantic if he wasn't completely insane.

I had collected enough of myself to blurt, "Look, if you wanted to have some private time, all you had to do was ask. Not drug me and send me into some trippy hallucination."

Uriel inhaled slowly before saying, "You're not on drugs and this is not a hallucination. You're a djinni now, Naya. My djinni."

I looked down at myself and saw the jewels woven into this unfamiliar garment. I looked over the henna tattooed along my arms and touched my hands to my face, where I felt kohl smeared under my eyes.

"Is 'djinni' some kind of code for sex slave?"

Uriel grinned and it made me want to kick myself for falling for his looks in the first place. He blinked his brown bedroom eyes and replied, "No one is going to take advantage of you. Well, not at least in the way that you think. Unless that's what you want –"

I held up my hand. "Just tell me what the hell is happening."

"You and I are under a spell that allows us to temporarily switch roles. I'm borrowing your humanity for a while. And you . . . get to be a djinni until the terms of the contract are fulfilled."

"Borrow my humanity? For what?" I said.

Uriel inclined his head. "To explore my options of course. No one wants to be a djinni forever."

I couldn't breathe. "I've been kidnapped by a man who thinks genies are real." Seriously, what did I do to deserve this? Had Uriel stalked me for the past few months? Did he see the way I lived and thought, hey, let's have a revenge fantasy?

Uriel rolled his eyes. "Nobody kidnapped you, Naya. You volunteered."

"Then why don't I remember!" I stumbled backwards onto a lump of overgrown pillows.

Uriel crouched before me. "I suppose that when the spell finalized, it had some disorienting effects. The alcohol and shisha probably didn't help either. If you'll let me, I can alleviate some of your discomfort."

He tried to edge towards me, but I screamed, "Get back!"

"Naya," he stopped and held up both of his hands so his palms face outward. "I'm not going to hurt you."

My gaze locked onto his open palm.

What if you could make your life easier with a single wish?

An image flashed before my eyes – a flame, small and enchanted, levitating just above his skin.

I blinked once. Then again.

Uriel lowered his hands. "You're remembering."

I was . . . and he was right. I had accepted the terms to his contract. But there were pieces still missing.

My heart rate dialed down as I relaxed my body.

"Can you tell me exactly what happened last night that caused me to become a... to become..."

Uriel crossed his legs under him. "A djinni."

I looked up at the ceiling of silken tapestries and steadied my breathing. "Right. Tell me how I became a djinni." I leveled my gaze with his.

Uriel kept his expression neutral as he explained. "It's quite simple. Consuming fire from my world grants you powers. In exchange, I can borrow a sizable amount of your human essence. The transition from djinni to human demands that I adopt a mortal form for at least thirty days."

This was all making sense so far. I think.

Still, things were not adding up. I narrowed my eyes at him. "Why out of all the women in that club, did you choose me? Why am I so special?"

Uriel shrugged. "You're . . . not. You just happen to be the first one who said yes."

Heat crept up my neck. "Uh. What?"

"You're definitely not the only person I've made that offer to. Not even close." His expression became thoughtful. "Actually, I was starting to think that there was something wrong in my initial approach. Most are usually intrigued until I ask them to swallow fire . . ."

My mind raced. I looked down at my own hands. "So, since I'm a powerful djinni and all that, that means I can just wish myself out of here, right?"

His silence made me nervous. I glanced up to see that Uriel's even expression finally cracked into something more crooked and sly.

"You definitely could, but that's not really something I would advise."

My fingers curled into fists. "And why is that?"

"Because you also agreed to coach me during this time. It really is your best option. You help me adjust to a twenty-first century mortal existence and I help you navigate your own magic and protect you from unsavory djinn collectors. They're the ones who like to kidnap, by the way."

"In other words," I said, "you set this whole thing up so that I couldn't leave your side!"

The djinni sniffed. "I never lied about anything. You had full disclosure."

I dropped my face into my hands. "Ugh! Why in the hell would I agree to any of this?" My head was still pounding. "God. I just wish I had a Tylenol and some water!"

Poof!

Uriel chuckled. "See?" He pointed to the bottle of water in my left hand and the bottle of pills in my right. "I told you that you could make your life easier with just a single wish."

Again, my memory was triggered. I stared down at my hands in horror.

I knew then why I had agreed to the contract.

"Uriel," I swallowed, "when you said that, this was not what I had in mind."

He tilted his head. "What then?"

The kind of magic that can press the reset button on the life of a college dropout.

I chose my words so they wouldn't reveal too much. "About a year ago, I really, really screwed up. When you came to me with all that talk about fire eating and magical wishes, I think I just really believed that it would make those problems go away."

Uriel bit his lower lip, almost like he was trying not to laugh.

"Naya, what you're describing is time travel. Even the most powerful djinn haven't found a way to do that."

I groaned and threw myself backwards onto the cushions. Moments later, Uriel's mischievous face hovered directly over mine.

"Naya?" He cleared his throat and looked off to the side. "There is one other detail to the contract that you probably don't remember."

Is he blushing?

"What is it?" I urged, fearing the absolute worst.

Oh no, he did make me his sex slave after all. This can't be happening.

"I've been a djinni for over five thousand years. You may have realized that when one is desperate enough, they're willing to risk some consequences. If I don't learn what I need to know by the end of the month and this contract fails . . ."

He trailed off.

"Spit it out!"

The djinni looked downright apologetic. "I'll turn back into a djinni and you . . . won't ever change back. We'll both be stuck as djinn. Forever."

I lost it.

"What?!" I seized him by the neck and wrestled him like I was possessed.

Uriel managed to choke out, "Return!"

"Nooooo!" My screams faded out of existence. Once again I became a pillar of smoke tunneling around the room before plunging back inside a little red hookah pipe nestled in the corner.

My body materialized high above the floor. I dropped several feet before landing hard on my ass.

"Uriel!!!!!" I roared. I couldn't see him anywhere, but I heard his velvety voice echoing all around me.

"Sweet dreams, my little djinni."

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Note: djinni - singular // djinn - plural