80. Elevator to Hell

{Duffy}

"Janus, I think he's had enough," Duffy said. He stood with his boss, looking through the glass into the holding room. Inside, the changeling was feeding on demons that Janus had forced Duffy to glamour so that they looked like the girl the changeling had traveled with.

He never told Janus that he had met the girl before. It didn't seem right that they had to torment the changeling like this just to get him to eat and grow strong.

In response to him, Janus said, "I need him to forget about her and what they had. He must only crave power if he's to be strong enough to be my ifrit."

Duffy sighed, "You're making the same mistake with him that you did with Sabur. It's dangerous to establish a bond with him this way."

Janus closed his eyes. "Did you forget, Duffy? The changeling must be strong enough to stand a chance against Sabur."

"Janus, I don't like how this feels. Think about it, the bond between the changeling and that girl suddenly dissolved out of nowhere. We know that they have a magus helping them. Don't you think that –"

Janus turned his back on the glass. "I'm not in the habit of looking a gift horse in the mouth. An opportunity presented itself and I took advantage of it. Sabur, come."

Duffy shivered when the ifrit's presence suddenly entered the room. He'd be surprised if Sabur hadn't figured out what was going on by now. That Janus was pitting him and the changeling against each other to see which one would come out alive. The prize for the winner of this barbaric death match? A chance to be Janus's eternal slave.

"I can't watch this," Duffy grumbled and walked off. Just before leaving the room, he paused and looked back. Janus didn't seem to notice or care that Duffy was on his way out. He was giving instructions to Sabur, no doubt making him swear to show no mercy on the changeling and to fight until he could fight no more.

+++

{Uriel}

Uriel smelled fire.

Not his. It was older, and more stable than his own. He licked his lips. It reeked of power.

He had eaten all of the djinniyah that had come to lay with him. They hadn't tasted as good as he thought they would, and they barely filled his belly.

The ifrit with the black aura spoke. "Changeling."

Uriel rose to his cloven feet and scraped the remains of the lesser demons against the stone floor.

"My master has ordered me to kill you, but I promised it would be a fair fight. Are you ready?"

Uriel's fire roiled and burped inside of him like ripe magma. His opponent's words made it rise up his throat. The veins along his pectorals and shoulders sparked to life. His mouth watered at the thought of consuming the dark ifrit's power.

Uriel thought back to all the times he had been denied power, freedom . . . how he had been denied love.

That was all about to change.

Grenadine fire consumed him. Lava leaked from the corners of his mouth when he spoke.

"Do you want to know how I survived for five thousand years?" Uriel scraped his hooves against the stone floor again. "My rage. It saved me every time. It's the only thing that I can really trust."

Something inside him told him that wasn't true, but he paid the flutter of thought no mind.

"You can see it, can't you. My aura? Have you ever seen one so red? Does that frighten you, big brother?"

With a billowing snap, Sabur unfurled his wings. His veins sparked like white lightning.

"You talk too much for a baby goat."

The dark ifrit was right, Uriel decided. He was done talking.

It was time to eat.

+++

{Naya}

Aqua was gone. The pain was gone. My powers were gone. Standing before the thirty-five story apartment complex, all I had was my guitar. And of course, my friends were by my side. Zayn and Sinbad were on my left while Ritsu and Usher hovered by my right.

Now that Usher and I had switched essences, I could shift into a cat. But if things went according to plan, I would have my human form back soon. Zayn said that Uri had spent enough time building up the strength of his human vessel, which meant that he no longer needed our original contract to sustain him.

"All Uriel has to do is accept his human form completely. Doing so will sever his connection to his suit of fire and restore your full humanity. Uriel's fire is probably well aware of this and doing everything in its power to get Uriel to commit to the ifrit form. The fact that you destroyed your bond will only help the fire build its case against you."

"I just need to talk to Uri," I said. "The marid I met said that love might not be enough to bring him back, but it's all I've got."

I tightened my grip on my guitar strap. I remembered all the times when Uri had tried to get me to open up. Writing and playing music was when I was my most vulnerable. Right now Uri's emotions were probably unchecked and raw. I had to show him that if I could draw strength from my own insecurities, he could too. And I also had to convince him that even though our supernatural bond was gone, we still had the memories we formed over the past couple of months. I still loved him – that would never change.

"Ready, Naya?"

Usher's deep voice echoed all around me. I looked up into the face of the new marid. She was huge, blue, and absolutely gorgeous. Apparently, she could do a lot more with marid essence than I ever could.

"No," I said.

Ritsu took my hand and squeezed. "We'll be right here. We're not going to let anything happen to you, Mistress."

I gave a wordless nod. The five of us proceeded towards the building. We walked inside, my companions forming a protective shield around me. Zayn had warned us ahead of time that the entire building was likely guarded by Janus's djinn. It felt as if we were the champions of a video game entering an enchanted dungeon labyrinth.

The inside of the lobby, however, seemed pretty normal. I didn't want to let my guard down, but I also didn't want the desk clerk to think I was some crazy lady that had wandered in off the streets.

"Hello, can I help you?" The clerk asked as he came around to greet us. He looked friendly, but Zayn whispered, "It's a hinn. Get Naya to the elevator. Now!"

The man's eyes changed color. I saw the tufts of furry ears materialize around his head. Usher swept me up into her big blue arms and we bolted for the door.

Sinbad stayed behind, brandishing two scimitars. He cut the hinn off from attacking us.

"Go on without me," he called out. I protested, but Zayn didn't hesitate to close us inside the elevator. I wormed my way out of Usher's arms and screamed, "We can't just leave him behind!"

Despite my breakdown, Mr. Naim remained calm. "We can't waste any more time, Naya. Sinbad can handle himself against a hinn. He's a pirate, remember?"

The elevator jolted to a halt. Usher and Ritsu got in front of me and pushed me up against the wall.

"Mistress, transform," Ritsu ordered.

"But –"

"Now!"

I shrugged off my guitar and did as I was told. The sensation was awkward and left me dizzy afterwards. I heard the bell ding and the elevator doors open. Ritsu picked me up and tucked me snugly between his arms. While my head was trying to catch up with everything, I could hear Zayn talking to someone else on the other side of the elevator.

At first I guessed that Janus must have caught us, but something about the voice sounded familiar. I couldn't quite place it.

Finally, my vision cleared up. I wiggled myself so I could get a glimpse of the stranger.

What? But how?

It was that guy from the pizzeria!

What the heck was he doing here and why was Zayn walking out of the elevator? My questions came out as garbled mewls. Apparently speaking English in the body of an animal took practice.

The pizza guy tried to fight his way to us, but a wall of fire flared up. Usher surged forward and pressed the button. I howled as the door was shut on another one of my friends.

"Naya, hold on. You just transformed. It's too soon!"

But I wasn't listening. We were nowhere near the penthouse on the thirty-fifth floor, but I was already unconscious because like always, I overestimated how much I could actually take on.

Way to go Naya, I thought as I slumped against Ritsu and Usher after shifting back into human form.

You're supposed to be saving your boyfriend from the evil djinn collector and look at you – sloppy as hell. What else is new?

+++

{Zayn}

Finally.

Zayn would finally be able to put a face to the mastermind behind Janus Bergman's relentless pursuit. Despite the danger, he couldn't help deny the thrill of such a face off. Janus's protege was clearly more than adequate at his craft. As Zayn stepped off the elevator and into a vast, hollow space, he grew more and more excited to test the limits of this match.

The magus looked around, realizing that the lift had dropped him off at a sparring hall. In the center of the room stood, if his body language was any indication, a nervous-looking man. His eyes were protected by some Victorian-era goggles. He was strapped from chest to hip with overlapping suspenders and belts. Hooked to the leather apparatus was a diverse collection of keys, vials, pouches, and charms. A rabbit's foot here. A monkey's paw there.

The young magus carried a censer that burned with a healthy dose of sage. One glance at the floor and Zayn's suspicions were confirmed. His adversary had already drawn the necessary alchemic circles.

Zayn's eyes shot back up when he saw movement. The magus was bringing some kind of comm device up to his mouth. Most likely to call for backup or to warn Janus.

Zayn, who had drawn all the necessary circles on the palms of his hands, reached out and yanked on a string tied to the most basic of natural laws – gravity. The motion ripped the comm from the hand of the other magus.

Agile as a hummingbird, Zayn used his other hand to pull taut on yet another invisible string, which resulted in the device exploding in an electric shower.

"Let's keep this between magi. Leave the djinn and sorcerers to their fire dance." Zayn made his tone more friendly as he added, "My name is Zayn Naim. I would like to know yours before we begin."

"Just call me Duffy," the magus sounded tired. He rubbed the side of his face. "You're not going to make this easy for me, are you, old man?"

By now, Zayn had looped several strings around his individual fingers, like a puppeteer about to go live for a courtyard of revelers.

"Oh, I'm not so old. Not like your dear collector."

Duffy grunted some affirmation before swinging his censer and leaping to the center of one of the wide circles drawn on the floor. It lit up like a neon sign, nearly blinding Zayn. He braced himself for the incoming attack.

Numbers. Symbols. Subscripts. Equations came at him from all sides. Zayn dodged, but it took focus. He was not as young or as slippery as he used to be.

The magi gave themselves over to the more elusive forces that governed all things.

"Tell me about yourself, Duffy," Zayn said. "Why do you serve this Janus? Where did you learn thaumaturgy?"

Zayn's strings helped him avoid the brunt of Duffy's attacks, which struck him at uneven angles, but in powerful bursts all the same. Each attack felt different depending on the ring Duffy was standing in.

"I studied numerology in China and the Middle East. Astrology in Egypt and Greece. As for alchemy, I picked up a little bit of everything from all over."

Zayn lost his footing as the ground beneath him glowed and knocked him forward, closer to Duffy. Mid-flight, he made a net to catch himself. But that broke when Duffy's crude equations sliced through the fine threads. Zayn landed hard on an intersection of transmutation circles.

"And Janus?" The younger magus drew closer. Zayn's head swam with the force of the last blow. He struggled to stay present, counting the remaining strings tied to his knuckles.

"I know Janus doesn't have the best moral compass as far as sorcerers go. In fact, I'm pretty sure he's the absolute worst." Duffy came to a stop by Zayn's head. "But he's the only family I've ever known. He's the only person on this earth who hasn't treated me like a freak."

Zayn could feel the tension in Duffy's form as a new force built up in the glowing circles beneath them both.

"Numerology, astrology, alchemy," Zayn said softly. "You treat them as if they're separate. But they are more connected than you realize."

The elder magus shifted to his elbows and swung his legs out in a wide arc. His shin caught onto Duffy's ankles, sweeping them out from under him.

"Gah!"

Weighed down by leather and metal, Duffy came down hard. Zayn, now on his feet, maintained his stance on the lines where the circles intersected.

"When in fact, there is very little that divides them." Zayn stood up straight. "These delineations that you cling to, this imaginary structure that you project onto them... no one has told you what a folly that is until now, have they?"

Duffy looked up at him in desperation. Without much finesse, he tried to cast out his equations, but Zayn snatched those ungainly numbers and signs out of the air as if they were just another one of his strings.

"What you understand as separate concentrations are all connected. Just as you and I." Zayn took Duffy's equations in both hands and stretched them out like a rubberband. The wider the band stretched, the brighter all of the circles under their feet glowed.

Zayn's own numbers interrupted Duffy's, smoothing their edges, simplifying each formula into something more elegant and sublime. Duffy gaped about in wonder as a multi-neon brilliance overwhelmed the ceiling of the gymnasium. 

Zayn's strings looped again and again on each other until they became something more like a halo. No longer needing to wrangle them, Zayn let go. The strings that held together the forces, internal and beyond, hovered lazily around both magi.

"Your collector is a monster. I see now that you've grown out of him. You don't need to give up yourself to show your loyalty. I look at you, Duffy, and see a magus who deserves a chance to start his own family. And trust me, it's possible."

Zayn offered his hand.

"Because we are the same."