Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

He laughed. “No.”


She snorted and shook her head, rolling her shoulder, feeling an ache at her shoulder joint. The same type she used to feel after a hard workout. Paz rubbed her arm, reveling in the ache that made her feel more alive and real than she had in days. “Good, because for a second there I was about to totally wig out--”

“I’m infinitely older.”

The words died on her tongue. Did ghosts lie? Were they capable of it?

Even though she was a ghost now, Paz had no idea what it really meant to be one.

“Wow, that’s…”

His molten brown eyes sparkled and she giggled.

“Yeah, ancient. You’re ancient. So genies don’t fade into the light like we do?”

Paz eyed the cup of lukewarm coffee before her. Jinni had brought it to her hours ago, it’d steamed then. The scent rich and bitter and so mouthwateringly tempting she’d been sure she’d have learned the trick long ago. If only because her desire for the cup of java had been so strong. But no beans (pun intended).

She’d abracadabra’d, open sesame’d, and counted to three, none of which had worked. The coffee had gotten colder and colder and Jinni had laughed harder and harder.

He shook his head. “No, we don’t fade like that. But we do fade. Gradually.”

Giving the coffee up as a lost cause, she settled her chin on her fist and shrugged. “So you don’t fade, but you do. Trippy,” she teased.

When he laughed again, she sighed. That smile of his made her belly squeeze and her body tingle. “You have such a nice smile.”

The laughter died on Jinni’s tongue and Paz froze the moment she realized she’d said it out loud.

“What I meant to say was--”

He held up a hand. “No need to apologize. There was a time in my life once when I enjoyed laughter. Medicine for the soul Aria had called it.”

“You miss her?”

The flicker and buzz of the fluorescent lighting suddenly dimmed, leaving them in near darkness. But his glow was so bright, Paz had no problem making him out. He reminded her of a movie she’d seen once long ago, a corny stupid movie Richard had made her watch…

“You’ve a smile in your eyes. What are you remembering?” he asked.

“Oh, it’s silly.”

“Stories go both ways, Paz, and I do recall you saying you would share yours with me.”

She flicked her wrist. “Just when I was ten, my brother was really into aliens and space crafts, you know, U.F.O. nonsense. Which is probably why he’s working on his astronomy doctorate.”

Jinni nodded, and it felt so easy to talk to him. Memories she hadn’t thought of in days assailed her, but not only the memories, also the warm feelings associated with them.

“Aliens do exist, but continue,” he said with a regal nod.

Her jaw dropped. “Really? You’re yanking my leg.”

A twinkle danced in his dark eyes. “As much as I would love to yank your leg,” his voice reminded her of the slow burn of whiskey sliding down her throat, “I do not jest. He is correct. I am one, in the human sense I suppose.”

She frowned. “But I thought you said you came from Kingdom?”

“And Kingdom is another planet, ergo…” he lifted his brow, a smug look on his face.

Snorting with laughter, she shrugged. “I guess you’re right.”

“Anyway, you were saying?”

“Oh, the movie. Yeah. Well, he wanted to watch some stupid movie about an alien coming to our earth. And the only thing I can really remember about that movie was that the aliens glowed blue at night and how pretty I thought that was, and you reminded me of that movie. You glow too.”

Neither spoke, each one letting the words settle in, maturate and root. If she could have blushed, she might have. But it seemed pointless to pretend something she didn’t feel, they were both semi-dead after all.

“Have you ever been in love, Paz?” Jinni asked, so quietly she’d barely heard it.

“I thought so. Once. I even got engaged. But I broke it off two weeks before the wedding.”

“Why?”

She rolled her eyes, fingering the table, attempting to push some of her energy into the tip. Just so she could feel it, but apart from the brief shock of static, she felt nothing. The “touch” sensation was fading rapidly. The first day she’d felt the world around her still, now… it was getting harder to even remember what “touch” felt like.

“It would be so much easier to say he cheated on me. Or he was a jerk and I was na?ve and the injured party. But Harrison was a good guy. He and Todd, my brother’s partner, work together in the same chiropractor clinic. He was really nice.”

Saying it only made her feel worse, she couldn’t look Jinni in the eye. Didn’t want to see his scorn or anger. Richard and Todd, bless them, had been two of the few people to stay on her side after the messy break-up.

“You left him?”