75. Electric Kiss

{Naya}

"A kiss?" I said.

There were no mirrors around, but I was pretty sure my eyebrows were all sorts of crooked.

The marid chuckled. "Why do you look so put off? Am I that revolting?"

I groaned and leaned my head into my hands. "No! It's just . . . I have a boyfriend, Vishmar."

"Who you are trying to save," He so generously reminded me.

I knew that, but couldn't he see how much I didn't want to kiss him? I had just spent the past two days battling with myself when it came to Ritsu. The last thing I needed was a similar situation resting on my already guilty conscience.

"Naya, please understand."

I looked up.

"You are a young marid with a pure aura. Those are two traits that djinn find very attractive."

I grimaced. "So I've been told."

Vishmar said, "Then it should come as no surprise to you that I would want something to remember this exchange. Especially since I am not likely to meet a marid like you again in the next millenia."

He was right. Things could be worse. He could be trying to trap me down here with him. And I had no doubt that he had the power to do so.

I got to my feet. "Fine."

Vishmar perked up as I approached him. I crouched down to his level and put my hands on either side of his blue face. As far as supernatural creatures go, he was fairly attractive. I could feel the excitement of his inner fire stirring under the surface of his skin. I took a deep breath, leaned forward, and touched my lips to a spot just shy of the corner of his mouth.

"There," I said, feeling triumphant.

Disappointment flashed across the marid's face. "Wait! That wasn't –"

I wagged my finger as I took my original place across from him. "You never specified where you wanted the kiss. So, spill. What do I have to do to get rid of a collector?"

Vishmar prepared himself for an argument and then deflated. With a smile of surrender, he said, "It seems that you have been in the desert long enough to understand how to properly bargain with a djinni. Well done."

Yeah, and I hate trying to outsmart someone every time I need access to something. So get on with it.

Vishmar folded his hands in his lap. "A collector's greatest weakness is their own collection. They stretch their resources to control and dominate as many djinn as they can. Finding a way to use the collection against the sorcerer who has your friend is the key. You need to also keep in mind that as we speak, the collector is probably seducing your friend with the promise of power as he has seduced ifrits in the past. If you are going to stop him, you must find something that your ifrit will want more than power and is willing to overpower his collector for it."

"Well, duh," I huffed, "That would be me. Uri has told me again and again how he wants nothing more than to become human and start a life with me."

Vishmar shook his head and it immediately made my heart sink.

"Love is a strong motivator, but in the face of power, it may not be enough. You also have to think about the bond between your friend and his fire."

I deflated. "Oh."

I had to admit, Uri's fire was a monkey wrench in all of this. For a while now there has been this back and forth battle for dominance between the two. It had gotten worse ever since we came to the desert.

My hands began to shake. This time, it wasn't Aqua's fault.

"So then . . . what am I supposed to do? All I have to offer Uri is my love. And now you're telling me that's not enough?"

Vishmar scooted closer to me and wrapped my trembling hands up in his blue ones.

"Young marid, get a hold of yourself and listen. A confronted collector will do everything to stretch his resources. If his control over any of his djinn slips, you will have an opportunity to exploit that weakness."

I tried to let his words sink in. When I thought about how I could stretch Janus's resources, the only idea that came to mind was providing some sort of distraction. But between me, Ritsu, and perhaps Mr. Naim, would that even be enough?

Vishmar broke my concentration with a sigh. "I can see that you are still too young to think properly. I am willing to lend you some of my power. If you can find someone who can help you channel it correctly, you can increase your chances of succeeding at this."

I shrugged. What other choice did I have?

Vishmar looked apologetically at me. "But I really do need to kiss you for real this time. As payment and also in order to transfer the power."

I rolled my eyes. "I just can't win with you djinn, can I?"

Before Vishmar could respond, I shut my eyes and leaned forward. Might as well get it over with as fast as possible.

Vishmar placed his hands on opposite sides of my face and gently angled my head back. His lips didn't quite feel like lips at all. It felt like I was kissing sunlight. I know that doesn't make any sense at all, but that's what it was like until Aqua reacted to the exchange.

I could feel as she mingled with Vishmar's inner fire. Compared to Aqua, it was massive and its presence didn't burn the way Uri's did. The warm sunlight dancing along my lips became static electricity. Each shock drew more power into my core.

I had to take a deep breath when Vishmar finally let me go.

"Thank you, Naya," he said.

"For what?" I panted.

He closed his eyes and inhaled. Then he loosened his shoulders and rested his glowing gaze back on me.

"For giving me a chance to grant a gift. A marid needs that every now and then. I'm grateful that I could help you."

I wasn't sure if this was the best time to try to milk the deal, but I thought, what the hell?

"Could you possibly grant me the gift of sending me back to the surface? I'm not really sure if I can just go back the way I came."

Vishmar smiled and held out his hand. "It would be my pleasure."

I took the hint and grabbed his hand. He pulled both of us to our feet, and then, to my amazement, a few inches off the ground. We levitated together in the cavern.

"Whoa."

"Naya?" He called.

I looked back at the marid. Please tell me he doesn't want another kiss.

"Tell that ifrit of yours that he is too lucky."

I smirked. "Why's that?"

The gem on his forehead began to glow. I stared at it. It got brighter and brighter, until it was too bright to see Vishmar's face. I got lost in the light and barely heard what he said next.

"To have a djinniyah that loves him the way you do."

The light from Vishmar's gem started to fade. I was about to ask him when he was going to send me back, but it then occurred to me that I wasn't looking at his forehead anymore. The light was coming from the sun overhead. I was still floating, but I was on my back this time.

I leaned forward and began treading water. The shoreline of the inland sea was only a few yards away. The children and their families were there. Laughing and playing just like they were when I left them.

I laughed aloud. "Thank you, Vishmar."

I swam towards the beach. On the way back to the hotel, I noticed that people were staring. Some children even pointed and cried out curious exclamations. I just shrugged it off and kept walking. I did have blue highlights in my hair. I don't remember people being so interested in my appearance before, but now was not the time to obsess over it. When I made it back to the hotel, I hauled ass to my room. I needed Ritsu to know that I was all right and that I hadn't been abducted or anything.

"Ritsu! I'm all right. Everything's fine. I'm sorry if I made you worry!" I called as soon as I locked the door behind me.

My monkey-turned-sexy-death-lord lifted his head off the bed. Across from him was the television playing Cartoon Network. An episode of Steven Universe was on and all the characters were speaking in Arabic.

"Hey. Was the beach closed? You're back fast."

My eyes darted around the room in search of a clock. "I was gone for a long time. You weren't worried?"

Mild perplexity snuck into Ritsu's grin. "It's only been twenty minutes."

I relaxed my shoulders and ambled towards the bed. Ritsu sat up and turned off the television. I sat next to him and hugged myself.

"Maybe that was all a dream then."

Ritsu reached for me. "What was all a . . ."

I glanced up. "What? What's wrong?"

Ritsu swallowed. "Mistress, your ears . . . . And what happened to your eye?" Then he grabbed my wrist and held it up before us. "You're turning blue!"

He was right. My fingertips looked like I dipped them in a bucket of turquoise paint. I gasped and raced to the mirror over the dresser. Except for my dark roots, all of my hair was the same electric shade of turquoise. One of my eyes matched. The other was brown. Lastly, I pulled my damp curls away from my ears. They were tapered like all of the djinn that I had seen so far.

Ritsu stood behind me and stared at me through the reflection. "You look . . ."

"Like I'm cosplaying as an extraterrestrial elf-girl," I groaned.

He shrugged and tilted his head. "I was going to say different. But sure."

"This must be the side effects of the exchange with Vishmar." I turned away from the mirror. "I can't leave the resort looking like this!"

Ritsu said, "Uriel uses magic to cloak his ifrit features all the time. You could probably do the same. Also, who is Vishmar?"

"It's a long story."

Knock. Knock.

Both of us turned our heads at the interruption. I approached the door even though I wasn't prepared to face humans just yet. I needed time to work out with Aqua how to cloak these new changes. At the moment, she was satisfied and full on Vishmar's power. But who knew how long that would last?

I fluffed my hair over my ears before tentatively opening the door, making sure my normal eye was the only one that could be seen.

"Mr. Naim!" I breathed a sigh of relief and opened the door wider. "And . . ."

That's when I saw who he brought with him.

"Mom?"