68. Ghost Empire

{Uriel}

Everything burned. Like Hell.

Uriel was a creature of fire. He was built to know what it was like to carry hell inside him at all times. Still, nothing could have prepared him for the trap that the collector had laid down. He cursed himself as soon as he realized that he had stepped right into a transmutation circle. The glyphs surrounding him blazed with forbidden enchantment.

That's why it burns so much.

Uriel wailed. This was binding fire.

"Naomi!" He called out. He couldn't see through the wall of flame. All he could see was the ceiling high above him and the pathetic marid chained there.

So, the collector used this marid as a lure? How could he have the power to transport an entire marid? Uriel shook his head. It didn't make sense.

No, he realized. This one would have had to have been here long before we even knew who Janus was. And when this marid dies, so will this city.

A force operated by the rotating glyphs seized Uriel by his shoulders and roughly pinned him against the cavernous floor. The wall of fire parted and Janus Bergman stepped through.

The pile of embers taking space at the bottom of Uriel's core began to throb.

"What luck. I knew that leaving this marid here would come in handy one day."

Uriel wanted to scream. "You," he shoved the words out despite the spell, "starved a marid just so you could draw djinn here and capture them?"

Janus studied his nails. "Isn't it clever? Not many djinn wander inside these temples. They think it's rude to disturb their beloved marida, but if they ever do . . ." He walked up and knelt before the paralyzed djinni, "I always hit the jackpot."

Uriel wanted to demand where Naya was, but he didn't want to draw attention to her in case she and Ritsu were making an escape. He tried to urge his suit of fire to wake up faster so that it could probe for information on the whereabouts of Naya's fire.

"Amazing." Janus tilted his head. "I would have thought that your true form would have emerged by now."

The collector's statement gave Uriel pause.

That's what he wants. For me to lose control, unleash everything until I'm at the limit of my power.

Uriel took an internal step back from fanning the flames of his pile of embers. His suit of fire needed to sleep for as long as possible.

I have to stay in control, the djinni insisted, so I can find a way to get free and back to Naya.

He prayed that Ritsu was keeping Naya safe.

As if sensing Uriel's reservations, Janus's face deepened into a scowl.

"Not going to come out, are you?"

He sneered and pointed to the ceiling. "As you wish."

Uriel followed the collector's finger and clenched his jaw when he saw a dark, muscled mass land on the imprisoned marid's chains.

Sabur.

Janus snapped his fingers, which sent his mad-dog ifrit off into a feeding frenzy. The weakened marid's last moments were gruesome and undignified. Uriel could not make himself look away. Seeing this crazed ifrit feast on one of the rarest, purest djinn left in the world caused the coals at the pit of his abdomen to glow with heat.

The smoke filtered through his nostrils and the cracks in his clenched teeth. He knew that Janus was watching, snickering, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Uriel watched the trapped marid get eaten alive. Meanwhile, he made an inner promise with all of his fiery essence.

I will avenge you, brother. I will not let your suffering go forgotten.

He thought of Naya and her own innocent, precious fire.

I will protect you. No matter what.

The embers inside the djinni were almost alight with flame, but Uriel used every ounce of his humanity to keep his suit dormant and resting. Over and over, he repeated to himself that he could survive this all on his own.

The blood from the marid's carcass rained down, soaking Uriel's unblinking face.

Janus chuckled as he stood up straight. "Sabur, get down from there. I think it's time to go home."

The ifrit gurgled some kind of obedient reply before gliding back down on its thin, membranous wings.

+++

{Naya}

I woke up with a mouth full of sand.

The city of Nastarajan was dead.

That's right. All of those djinn and their noise. The marketplace. The restaurants. The crowds. The scents of sweat, food and heat that all mingled together.

Gone.

The city itself had become another one of those ghostly husks that I passed by dozens of times when we were traveling with Cyndr's caravan.

The temple behind me wasn't much better off. Somehow its domed ceiling had caved in on itself. The massive pylons were scattered and leaning in the sand at unnatural angles.

I had to find my monkey.

"Riiiitsuuuu!" I croaked, but my voice was lost in the wind. I called his name again. And again.

I wandered back and forth between the ruined temple and the ruined city, screaming Ritsu's name because he was the only one I had left. I knew Uri was gone. That psychopath Janus whisked him off back to wherever the hell he came from. My only hope now was finding Ritsu and getting back to Zayn. Ritsu and I found a way to survive in the desert before. We could do it again.

Finally, with all my strength, I roared, "Ritsu, I swear to God if you are dead, I will kill you! Now answer me!"

"Mistress, it's okay. I'm right here."

I froze. That wasn't Ritsu's voice. And when I turned around to look, the thing behind me didn't belong to Ritsu's body at all.

I backed away. "What the hell are you?"

A floating white mask carved and painted in the likeness of a fox stared back at me.

"Have you ever heard . . . of a death lord?"