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Chapter 6
Everybody’s eyeslanded on me when I returned from thelamp.
Karim jumped up and down on one of the boxes. I gave him a quick scratch on the chin and he pipeddown.
“What’s it like inside?” Ali asked, spooning a mouthful of what smelled like spiced lamb stew. Karim jumped onto his shoulder to sniff my brother’s meal. Ali fed him little bits ofvegetable.
Where had that meat come from? We certainly didn’t have the money for expensive treats like that. I wondered if some collective genie magic had been responsible for our goodfortune.
More amazingly, color had returned to Ali’s skin. For once, he was free of sweat. Was he getting better? My question was answered with a big, fatnowhen a coughing fit racked his frailbody.
Dahvi was seated beside Ali, and patted my brother on the back until his fitended.
My heart fluttered with appreciation for Dahvi, who’d obviously been taking care of my brother while I wasgone.
Guilt pinched at me for leaving Ali. Talk about selfish. I shouldn’t have put my own interests first or lost myself in a lustful episode with Kaza. Did the other genies know what we’d done? I studied Dahvi, who offered me a smile. Zand stood at the kitchen sink, doing what I think were the dishes. His eyebrows arched as he examined the scrubbing brush and bar of soap as if he didn’t have a clue what to do withthem.
I held in a laugh, wanting to see what happenednext.
The soap slipped out of hands and splashed into the water. As he searched for it, he stirred up a sink full ofbubbles.
This had me instiches.
He swished around in the sink to find a plate. But when he grasped one, the slippery sucker slithered got away and dropped back into the water. If only he had his magic, this might have worked out a littlebetter.
I couldn’t hold in my mirth any longer and burst out laughing so hard Isnorted.
“What?” He flashed a smile, showing a bit of parsley stuck in histeeth.
That got everybody going. Even Karim clapped andhooted.
Gods. I hadn’t felt this lighthearted inside in years. It felt wonderful to have such laughter in my home. For so long, the atmosphere had been toosomber.
“Brother,” said Dahvi, pointing at Zand. “You have some mess in yourteeth.”
Zand checked in the window’s reflection. “Light my lamp!” His tongue bulged in his mouth as he swiped it across his teeth, cleaningthem.
By the time I calmed down, my stomach growled a demand forfood.
I leaned over the stove to inhale the cinnamon and nutmeg odor of the delicious, Fesenjan stew. “Where’d this comefrom?”
“I got the meat from the market,” repliedZand.
Gods.My muscles clenched, giving me pains in the gut. “You didn’t use magic, didyou?”
His heavy brows pressed down. “No.”
Thanks the gods.Then I didn’t care how he got it; I just needed something toeat.
It was nice to see his dark mood had blownover.
Zand slapped his brother on the back. “Dahvi needed something to pass the time in the lamp, so took up cooking as ahobby.”
I guessed having everything at their fingertips would get a little boring after awhile.
“How’d you eat inside the lamp if your magic was weakened?” Iasked.
“We’re like bears,” said Zand, pretending to growl as he handed me a bowl. “We have a hibernationmode.”
