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The one in yellow seemed to regain his senses. A small whirlwind bounced on his forefinger. He winked again, this time as if showing off, and released his magic at the vizier. His shot jerked around like a drunken tornado. Flushing red, he scratched his head and kicked the sand. But his efforts weren’t totally wasted. He’d managed to redirect one of the vizier’s blows, and it struck one of the guardsdead.
Now it was my turn to laugh and clap. Brilliant. Another round like that and there’d be no one to stop us getting out ofthere.
I glanced up at the vizier. He raised his hands to the sky, his fingers circling as if evoking something. Ominous, dark clouds brewed overhead. Black bolts of lightning flashed between them. Any moment, the heavens were probably going to unleash acidic rain down uponus.
My pulse banged in my head. We had to get out ofthere.
“Zand,” the one in blue said to the red genie. “Our magic is weak from ourcaptivity.”
The vizier had mentioned something about this back in thecell.
“We need to sit with the sacred fire, Dahvi,” agreedZand.
What the hell was sacred fire? Where were we going to get such a thing in the sand pit? Damn it. The gods must have really hated me if they gifted me three weak and pretty uselessgenies.
Just because I needed more camel dung to deal with, all the commotion of the exploding magic, genie smoke, and the dead guard had startled the tigers. One stalked behind the yellow-vestedgenie.
“Watch out,” I cried. But my warning wasn’t fastenough.
The cat slashed the yellow genie’s leg. He lost his balance and fell to the ground. Blood stained the sand. His face twisted in pain as he clutched hiswound.
Gods. Genies were magical beings. They weren’t susceptible to wounds. How many more blows did the gods want to dealme?
I clutched my throat. The sight of blood made me lightheaded and dizzy. Memories flooded back of having to stich up Ali’s hand after a bully pushed him into a wire fence. Thankfully, that had only happenedonce.
“Brother,” said Dahvi the blue genie, rushing to his downed comrade’s side. Dahvi kneeled beside his brother and held him upright. He tore silk from the bottom of his pants and tied it around the wound to stop the bleeding. Not once did he seem bothered by his own wound from the vizier’sdart.
Zand the red genie snuck past one of the cats, claimed the guard’s sword, and swirled it around, warning the tiger to back off. Both of the large animalssnarled.
Thunder sounded from the clouds overhead. A quake rocked the ground, and I stumbled over. The tigers scampered into the cell area, as if seeking shelter from the impendingstorm.
Some relief washed over me. One less thing to worry about. But for now, we had to get out of there, stop the genie’s wound from bleeding, and save mybrother.
The red genie lifted me to my feet, and I leaned on him to steadymyself.
“Get us out of here.” My voice soared into panicterritory.
His heavy brows pinched in confusion. “Where? We have littlemagic.”
Not even the pain of his wound dulled the cheeky grin of the one in yellow. “To her bedroom.” His gaze dipped to mychest.
My cheeks burned. Brazen. I’d love to take him to my bedroom. But not right now. I had to really stamp down that idea in order tofocus.
“Can’t you pool your magic together or something?” I asked Zand. “Otherwise, we have to get past thetigers.”
“I’ve never tried,” he replied. “Kaza, are you strongenough?”
“For her,” said Kaza a.k.a. Mr. Yellow. “Anything.”
All three genies stood together. Red, blue, and yellow bolts of magical fire sparked across them. A multicolored, magical flame sparked onZand.
Black bolts hit the ground, leaving long, drippingspears.
Shishkebab.
“Karim!” I screamed, racing over to the edge of the wall. “Come.”
He leaped into my outstretched arms. Clutching him tight, I spun around. Another black spear landed in front of me, so close I felt the darkness calling to my life force again. Legs shaking, I dashed back into the circle ofgenies.
