I laughed long and loudly, hamming it up. “You? In here? You’re so big and fat you can’t even stick one finger in here. Good luck, little genie.”
“I can get into your bottle.”
“Yeah, maybe your dick’s small enough to get into that opening, but not your fat ass.”
“You know nothing about the djinn!” he roared. “We can be any size or shape we wish!”
The genie shifted into a tornado of sand, air, and flame. The tornado dwindled down to a huge dust devil, then solidified into a twenty-foot-tall man.
Only now his skin was blue, and his clothes had changed slightly. He was much more handsome, and there was a mischievous grin on his face.
This change tickled another memory—some movie Logan’s daughters had been watching when I’d visited. Was the genie taking his appearance from my memories?
“I’ve seen this genie in that Disney movie, and his other form looked a lot like an old movie actor,” said Mike. “If Ashton was here, he’d know the name.”
The blue genie tried to squeeze an arm through the opening of our globe but stopped at the shoulder. He grunted with effort, then pulled his arm out. Why a creature of air and fire needed to grunt was beyond me. Method acting?
Smoldering anger came from Ariel through our pack link. She was pacing around with her head down, occasionally trying to speak against my wishes. No use—I was keeping her on a tight leash.
I laughed again. “Gee, an all-powerful genie who can’t even squeeze his fat head through that big hole. Go back and tell your master what a loser you are!”
The blue genie stood on our globe, crossed his arms, and started spinning. Once more, he transformed into a whirlwind. It jittered over the entrance to our globe, then slithered through like a snake of burning sand and air.
Mike, Ariel, and I spread out. None of us wanted to be within arm’s reach of this inexplicably powerful creature when it regained human form.
The genie’s new form appeared in a blink. He was now she: a well-endowed woman with cascading honey-blond hair escaping a red fez with a scarf attached. Her breasts were visible through her sheer bra and she wore bikini bottoms under her transparent harem pants. Red felt pointy-toed slippers studded with diamonds adorned her feet. Still no belly button.
She gave a dimpled smile and winked. “Call me Jana. I won’t hurt you.” She took a step toward Mike. I side-stepped to put myself beside him.
“I Dream of—” Mike began.
“—Jeannie!” I said as I dragged Mike back a step. “Stop right there. Just because you can look innocent doesn’t mean we’re stupid enough to trust you.”
She pouted, showing the cutest dimples, but stopped. “The rules have changed,” she said. “I will not attack you now.”
“Why not?” interrupted Ariel. Then she rattled off several sentences in Hebrew. Her glare at me showed she wasn’t extolling my virtues. I hated that they spoke the same language and I couldn’t understand.
Jeannie responded warmly to Ariel in Hebrew, and my heart dropped.
I looked at Mike and raised an eyebrow in query. Maybe he understood what was being said. He shook his head and held his forefinger and thumb an inch apart.
It seemed the little bit he could understand was not good for us. His face grew grimmer.
I tugged on Ariel’s mental leash, choking off her words. She glowered and bared her teeth but shut her mouth.
Two could play at Ariel’s game. “If you please, Lady Jeannie,” I said in Fae, using the mode reserved for greeting strangers of unknown status, “I feel it would be impolite to have a discussion in a language not shared by all of us.”
“Oh, how nice! You speak Fae. I haven’t heard this language in centuries. And your accent is flawless. We must have a chat about Queen Mab.”
“The Queen of Air and Darkness? We’re acquainted, but not close.”
Jeannie winked at me. “And her baby? Little Perla?” Was she teasing me? Her smile was open and endearing, but her eyes shone with hidden knowledge. I trusted that smile as much as I would a tiger’s grin.
“I have a feeling that you already know all about Princess Perla and myself.”
“Oh, I have sources, but nothing beats hearing the story from those who were there. It gives it so much flavor.”
“Thank you,” I said. “I look forward to a chat.”
Ariel growled and twisted her head. She was seething in anger at not being able to understand us.
“Still,” I continued, “I would hate to leave my companions out of the loop. Shall we change languages?”
“Well said,” Jeannie responded in English. “English it will be from now on.”
I loosened Ariel’s leash and she spat out some more Hebrew.
Jeannie raised one finger, and Ariel choked again. Her mouth moved without making a sound.
“English!” Jeannie and I said at the same time.
“All right,” she snarled. “In Hebrew or English, I’ll be the one who deals with the djinni.”
“Deal with?” I gave her my alpha glare. “You left your command behind when you jumped out of that exploding plane. Then you vowed obedience to me, accepted my leash and my healing. You’ve been trying to slip your leash ever since.”
“You know nothing of the djinn. It takes an expert to make deals with such potent creatures.”
“Make a deal?” I asked. “Why would anyone want to make a deal with a genie stuck in a bottle? Anyway, she’s trapped in here with us.” I realized that I’d stopped using the foreign word to refer to her and wondered if she would take offense.
Jeannie cleared her throat. “Actually, you’re trapped in here with me.” Her mischievous grin turned malevolent.
5
“That’s my line,” I snapped. “We’re stuck here.”
Well, not exactly. But she doesn’t know about my escape hatch. “Welcome to your new permanent home.”
“My new home? Thank you.” The malevolence faded as she smiled and showed her dimples. “That makes you my guests.”
Crap. Had I just changed the inside of this sphere from my domain to hers by misspeaking?
“We’re still
