Darkness, Kindled (Fire Spirits #4)(14)
Author: Samantha Young

He knew.

How did he know? Ari blushed.

“Morning,” she mumbled and hurried to pour herself a white coffee, a black one for Jai—his only vice. Ari wondered if in Jai-Land, she could be considered a vice too.

“Ari, you’re positively glowing this morning. What could have possibly brought such a—ow!” Trey yelped and Ari turned to see him rubbing the back of his head as Jai moved innocently away to take a seat. She snorted and slipped into a chair beside Jai, pushing the coffee toward him.

He smiled softly, his eyes blazing with heat as he looked at her. “Thank you.”

Ari flushed. “You’re welcome.”

“Do Glass and I act like this?” Trey asked.

Ignoring his teasing, Ari studied his painting. “That’s beautiful. Can we hang it somewhere or are you selling it?”

Trey studied his own work. “Nah, I think we’ll hang it. It should stay with this house.”

“So I hate to destroy a pleasant morning, but …” Jai sighed heavily. “Trey, we have a problem.”

His best friend caught the serious note in his voice and lowered his paintbrush. Bracing his hands on the back of a chair, Trey nodded. “Okay, hit me with it.”

Ari was silent as Jai filled Trey in on the situation with Charlie and Asmodeus. It didn’t surprise her that she’d agreed they should confide in Trey. After all, he was on their side and if they were going to be handling this alone, he would be a welcome help.

Shaking his head at the news, Trey sat down at the table. “So … you’re not telling Michael?”

The thought of keeping secrets from a man who’d helped them made Ari ill. It was with a heavy heart she replied, “We can’t tell him, Trey. You know what the Guild will do to Charlie, and I just need one more chance to save him.”

“To save him? Ari, he’s blackmailing you.”

“Trey,” Jai asked softly, “what if it were me?”

Trey groaned. “Oh. Okay, fine. So we need a plan, right?”

“Actually, I think I might already have one,” Jai offered quietly.

That was news to Ari. She sat up straight, anticipation zinging in her blood. “Yeah? Since when?”

“This morning.” He sat forward, his gaze drifting between her and Trey. “What if we try to dry Charlie out?”

Ari frowned. “Like you would a drug addict?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay …”

“How?” Trey asked.

“We tag him ourselves. Bind him with magic and keep him in the basement until the emerald is out of his system and he’s functioning like a human being again.”

Ari’s chest felt heavy at the thought but she’d also begun to feel restless. It was a plan, the only plan they had to save her friend, and she wanted to get started on it. However, they had another issue to deal with first. “And the Ghulah and Pazuzu?”

Jai shrugged. “The Ghulah we can kill. Pazuzu … well, for him we’re going to need to get our hands on a Secretum.”

“A what now?” Ari raised an eyebrow, wondering what it was and how hard it was to get.

“It’s a powerful binding item. It’s created from the wood of a Conessi tree, packed with tellicherry bark and harmal and also treated with harmal. A strong-enough Jinn can entrap another lesser Jinn within the box, and once locked, it’s impossible for the Jinn to escape. If we use Charlie’s help to lure Pazuzu to us, I think the three of us can do it.”

“You think?” Trey made a face.

“We’re talking about freakin’ Pazuzu here.”

Jai smirked. “Trey … there’s two of us and one of her.” He indicated Ari with admiration in his expression. “That ugly bastard doesn’t stand a chance.”

Ari laughed nervously. “Are you using overconfidence to give us confidence?”

“I’ll never tell.”

She chuckled but her fingers trembled around her mug just thinking about the damage Pazuzu had done to her and Jai when they’d last faced him. He’d tried to rip Ari to shreds, and the pain, the excruciating pain, like a million paper cuts all over her body, wasn’t something she’d soon forget. Neither was the memory of watching Jai almost die.

The only thing that had saved them had been the power of the Seal inside of her. Now that was gone. Did they really stand a chance?

“Baby, it’s the only way.”

She nodded.

“Jai’s right.” Trey stood, rubbing his hands together, a simmering energy crackling around him. “We can totally pull this off.”

Jai stood too, his expression grim again. “For now, we wait until Charlie contacts Ari and we’ll take it from there. We go about our lives as normal. Don’t act weird, and don’t give anything away to the Guild.”

Because of their sudden secretiveness, the loud knock on the front door startled them. Ari pushed her senses out toward it. “Michael,” she whispered.

Jai squeezed her shoulder and left the kitchen. She and Trey exchanged slightly worried glances at the sound of murmured voices, their guilt over keeping this a secret from Michael conjuring worst-case scenarios for the reason behind his surprise visit.

When Jai entered the kitchen followed by their Guild leader, Ari stood and smiled naturally. “Morning, Michael.”

He smiled back at her but the expression didn’t reach his eyes. “Ari. Trey.” His gaze drifted back to Jai and then to Trey again. “I … uh … I’d like to have a word with you alone, Ari, if that’s okay.”

Right then, Ari didn’t want to be alone with him. In fact, she couldn’t be. She was afraid anything she said might give her away. “Oh, you can say what you have to say in front of Jai and Trey. We’re family.”

Michael took a step toward her, his eyebrows drawn together in a deep frown. “Ari, please. I think we should speak alone.”

Her heart sped up, the rhythm of its beats growing steadily faster. “Okay, well, now I really want them to stay.”

“Ari—”

“Just tell me what’s wrong, Michael.”

Their Guild leader sighed wearily. “Fine.

Luca Bitar has been in contact.”

“My father?” Jai strode past him to stand between her and Michael. “What’s going on? What’s that got to do with Ari?”

Michael eyed Ari. “Are you sure you don’t want to speak alone?”