Chapter 1
Meticulously applyinga layer of polish to one toenail, Jacinth paused to glance over at the table, her gaze assessing. The bright pink shade sparkled under the light as she admired her handiwork. Lifting the small brush into the air in victory, she shouted, "Yes!" A smile of pure satisfaction spread across her face. Smirking, the pretty, petite Djinn replaced the applicator in the bottle with a practiced twist, and held out one hand, palm up and expectant. "You owe me a hundred bucks, pal."
Next to her, a slender woman with tousled short black hair and wide gold eyes groaned, slumping deeper into the plush cushions of the couch. She dug into her pocket and passed over the money, her movements slow and reluctant.
"Thank you, Katerina." Jacinth tucked the funky ugly yellow bill straight into her bank pile with a flourish, and swept four small green plastic houses off the board, her movements quick and precise. "I'm buying a hotel for Park Place." Her mahogany eyes sparkled with ruthless glee as she placed the bright red piece onto the coveted square.
"So unfair," moaned Talya, the teenage girl sitting hip-to-hip with Jacinth on the white-painted wooden bench they'd dragged into the room from the balcony. She grabbed up a handful ofcolorful Skittles from the bowl on the small end table beside her, and popped the rainbow into her mouth with dramatic flair. The fruity scent wafted through the air.
"Suck it up, buttercup," Jacinth told her, with an exaggerated sneer worthy of a cartoon villain. Her petite frame radiated smug satisfaction.
The room erupted in gleeful shouts and laughter as Jacinth rolled the dice across the board, the ivory cubes tumbling end over end before landing on the perfect combination to send her straight to jail. Karma, it seemed, had impeccable timing.
"Oh, darn," she grumbled. She snatched a sugar-glazed brownie from the serving dish at the edge of the table. "At least chocolate can mend my wounded spirit."
Alyssa, a Djinn who lived in Manhattan, had come up to the Hudson Valley and rented a room at the West Side Inn for the night. The four friends, Alyssa, Jacinth, Katerina, and Becca, as well as Jacinth’s adoptive daughter, Talya, had seized the opportunity to gather for a girls’ night out. They’d dragged the nightstand out from the wall to hold the Monopoly board, and Jacinth had magicked up a variety of small tables to hold the carafes of tea, lemonade and hot cocoa, and platters of cookies and brownies. A large bowl of popcorn sat on the bed between Becca and Alyssa, and pretzel sticks spilled from an open bag next to it. Next to the bed, a cooler held six pints of ice cream in wildly varying flavors.
The group lounged in an assortment of sleepwear, from comfy PJs to tank tops paired with shorts, while Jacinth had opted for an elegant flowing caftan made of silk. Assorted slippers dotted the carpet surrounding the bedside.
Becca, whose sun-kissed complexion and rich, dark tresses hinted at her Spanish lineage, dipped a spoon into the pint container she held and savored the cool, creamy treat. "Mint chocolate chip," she declared with satisfaction. "Absolutelydivine." She then grabbed the dice and tossed them onto the game board, clapping her hands excitedly as she bounced on the mattress, her legs folded beneath her. "Yes! I've acquired the Electric Company."
"Fun fact," Alyssa commented, scooping up a spoonful from her personal container of frozen dessert, "this board game started out as The Landlord's Game about a century ago." Like her companions, she appeared to be in her mid twenties, sporting unruly ebony curls that reached her shoulders and eyes that seemed to shift between azure and emerald. "My Chosen, Damien, actually funded the original creator's patent and marketing efforts."
Jacinth snapped her attention toward Alyssa, her expression animated with curiosity. "Is that so? I had no idea!"
Meanwhile, Katerina scrunched up her features as she rummaged through an assortment of miniature chocolate bars, finally selecting a Snickers bar. She bit into it. "I like the name Monopoly much better," she mumbled around a mouthful of caramel, chocolate and peanuts.
"I still don't understand about monopolies," Becca complained, counting her colorful money and eating another spoonful of mint chocolate chip. The cold dessert melted on her tongue as she glanced around at her friends. Her brow furrowed, and she paused suddenly. "Does anyone else here realize we all have black hair?"
There was a sudden silence as they all looked at each other. Alyssa touched her own dark curls, her lips curving into an amused smile. Katerina snickered, brushing a few errant strands away from her golden eyes. "We should have a group name."
Grinning, Jacinth picked up the bottle of nail polish again, and started to apply the bright pink polish to another toe, her movements precise and delicate. "Two Djinn, two shapeshifters,and a witch walked into a bar..." she began, her chocolate eyes twinkling with mischief.
An alarm, muted but insistent, brought an end to all laughter. The sound reverberated through the air like the hum of a thousand angry bees.
"Where is that coming from?" Becca asked, looking around the bedroom. The noise seemed to come from every corner of the room, pulsing and urgent. The sound crawled up her spine, raising goosebumps along her arms.
"It's magical," Alyssa said, standing up quickly. Her aquamarine eyes narrowed as she scanned the room, her body tense. "Something's wrong."
"Everyone get dressed," Jacinth instructed in a firm voice, her usual playfulness gone. She moved toward the door, her steps quick and purposeful across the plush carpet, but before she could reach it, a firm knock sounded, echoing through the room. Throwing it open, she found the innkeeper, Angus, standing outside in the hallway, the lines of his dark face stern and grim. His normally warm brown eyes held a shadow of worry, and his deep voice carried an edge of urgency.
"You need to come downstairs. All of you. Right now."
Stopping only to don robes and slippers, together the five of them hurried downstairs. Without a word, Angus shepherded them into the lounge, with the inn’s dining room beyond. The large screen television opposite the fireplace was turned on, and was playing a commercial. They looked at Angus.
“Wait,” he said grimly.
From the dining room, Angus' wife, Renee, pushed a trolley filled with carafes and cups. The wheels squeaked against the hardwood floor, a discordant note in the heavy silence. "You'll need these," she said, her usually pleasant countenance equally solemn, dark eyes reflecting concern. "I'm thinking none of us will be sleeping tonight." She began arranging the cups withmeasured precision, her silver-streaked black hair gleaming in the dim light as she moved with practiced efficiency.
The commercial ended with a jingle fading into silence, and the local news came on with its familiar blue backdrop. The news anchor, a woman in her forties with carefully styled blonde hair, looked serious as she gazed at her audience, but there was an underlying current of barely-suppressed excitement in her widened eyes, the quiver of her jaw. Her manicured fingers gripped the edge of her desk, knuckles white against the polished wood.
"For those viewers joining us, here is a replay of a most unusual rescue, filmed in a national park in northern California this evening." She leaned forward, her pearl necklace catching the studio lights. "This is only one of a number of videos which captured the event, and I must warn you - what you're about to see might challenge everything you believe about our world."
She shifted in her chair as the monitor at her back displayed shaky footage of a guardrail spanning a turbulent stream, while a grass-covered meadow stretched toward a wall of forest, its canopy dark against the blazing dusk sky. The camera panned to capture a dense cluster of pines when a terrified hiker staggered into the frame, fleeing in panic, his expression frozen in horror. He'd made it only partway through the field when an enormous brown bear exploded from the treeline, jaws gaping in a ferocious bellow.
The footage wobbled as it swept sideways, revealing a woman and her little girl gathering blossoms in the meadow near the overpass, perilously close to the charging predator. Panicked voices rang out from offscreen, warning cries of "Bear! Bear!" echoing as the camera operator was bumped and shoved. The mother snatched her daughter and bolted for the bridge. She tripped and fell, curling herself around her child defensively, yetthe massive creature paid them no attention, its focus locked on its fleeing male target.
From the trees opposite, a young woman burst into view, her foxy-red hair streaming behind her as she sprinted across the field. Her back remained to the camera while her course swerved to intercept the bear. She flung an arm out, gesturing wildly at the mother. "Go!" she yelled, her voice cracking with urgency. "Keep running! Don't stop!"
