Djinn (24 page)

"What are you doing here?" I asked, closing the door and taking a seat on the bed.

"Isabelle let me in," he said. "I just came to check if you wanted to have a lesson today."

"It's almost nine o'clock. Don't you think it's a bit late for that?"

Will was acting strange and I wasn't sure why. Maybe something had happened? But what?

"You're right, it is too late. I'll just see you tomorrow."

He was still avoiding look at me, like I was on the other side of a wall.

"I have training tomorrow, so I might be too busy," I explained, twisting my head to catch his eye.

"No problem then." He reached the door.

"I'm sorry, training just might have to take priority now. I really want to work out what my ability is, and it's hard." I hung my head. "I'm not even sure I'll ever figure it out."

He turned back, actually looking at me. "Don't say that," he said. "It's been one lesson, and you've only just started."

"If you start telling me how everyone else has been learning for years, I will punch you."

"Wouldn't dream of it." He smirked, coming to sit next to me on the bed.

"It took me ages to find my ability," he confessed. "I was one of the last of my year to figure it out."

I cocked my head at him. "Really? I imagined you would have had it nailed in lesson one."

"I wasn't. It was because my ability was unusual. We do tests on the normal abilities; the abilities most Djinn tend to develop, but sometime we just get strange ones."

"How did you eventually work it out?" I asked.

Will laughed. "I was training as a Guardjinn. I was the only Djinn to have found out I was a Guardjinn before my abilities had been found. I was practicing knife fighting with Pyke and it got a little heated."

"Pyke's like that," I said, thinking back to the night they took me. Pyke had been furious with me; although that probably had to do with the fact that I'd kicked him in the balls.

"Actually, it was me," Will said to my surprise.

"You?"

He scratched the back of his head. "I wanted to prove myself as a Guardjinn, because I hadn't developed my ability yet. So I was reckless and spontaneous, trying to beat everyone. Anyway, it got so heated that Pyke accidentally stabbed me in the stomach. Everyone freaked out, like I was about to die, but I felt fine. When Pyke pulled the knife out, there was barely even a scratch."

"That's amazing," I said.

"We have records of every ability ever manifested in the palace library. They figured out that my skin was stronger than everyone else's, which explained why I'd never hurt myself as a kid. Turned out, I had my ability all along, and never knew it." He took my hand in his and gazed into my eyes. "What I'm saying is, give it time. We go through the traditional powers first, and get into the rarer ones later. So the longer it takes, the better your ability might be."

"Or it'll be something rare and useless, like being able to change the colours of things I touch," I said.

"Wel,l at least you can work as the palace painter then," Will replied with a smile.

He was so close to me I could feel life breath on my lips. He was stunning, his hair glowing as bright as his golden eyes. Will wore his usual white t-shirt, but it smelled of sweat from training.

I felt myself leaning in, searching for his lips, desperately wanting them pressed against mine. I was centimetres away when Will jumped from the bed.

"I have to go," he said, his face pink and flustered.

"Will. You don't have to," I replied, moving toward him.

He backed away like I was contagious or something. "I shouldn't have come."

"I want you here," I said, reaching out to touch him, but he was at the door in moments. I was only just skimming the surface of feelings I didn't completely understand.

"I won't visit you this late again," he said, not looking at me, which broke my heart. "Goodnight, Miss Greenwood."

And then he was gone, closing the door behind him.

"Will," I called desperately, wondering what on earth I had done wrong.

Chapter Twenty-Three

Keisuke comfortably slept in bed with me that night while I fought back tears. It was silly to cry. What was the point? So Will didn't like me in that way—what did I care, really? He was my friend, and friends were what I needed now, not complicated love interests. Keisuke snuggled in closer to my face and licked my cheek.

"Thanks," I said and hugged him tighter.

The night was long, and I didn't get much sleep at all. What little I did achieve was plagued with nightmares that involved people yelling at me for various reasons. Ivan screamed at me for being a dog. Isabelle screeched about not wearing dresses, and Will yelled at me for flirting with him.

In the end, I gave up on sleep and rolled out of bed into a dark room. I glanced at the clock on my bedside table: 4.37 am.

What on earth could I do at that time of the morning? Training was still hours away. On the plus side, Isabelle and Ivan would surely be asleep.

I was still angry with them. The initial sting had faded after everything with Will, but the red-hot ball still burned in my gut.

"What to do?" I asked myself, while pulling on jeans and a shirt.

The sudden damp of Keisuke's wet nose touched my hand as he tried to snuggle inside my palm. His blues eyes stared at me, with an affection that I shared.

"How about a walk?" I asked him, but he only cocked his head at me and stared. Not as smart as Lab; but then again, Lab had actually been Will.

I found dog food in the corner of my wardrobe and scattered some on the floor. Keisuke nibbled up each piece like he was following a trail. A box of dog toys sat next to the food, but I couldn't find a lead anywhere. In fact Keisuke didn't even have a collar. What if he got lost? I supposed that, really, he could only be somewhere in the compound, and there were so many dogs that he'd turn up sooner or later.

I pulled on some runners and a hoodie, knowing the chill of an autumn morning would bite worse than Keisuke ever could.

"Come on Keisuke," I called from the door.

He chewed on the last piece of food and then bounded after me with a bark.

"Shhhh," I said, pressing my finger to my lips. Keisuke stopped instantly.

I guess he was still pretty smart.

I crept down stairs, but it didn't really matter. This house didn't have creaky floorboards like I was used to. This house was too new, too clean and too perfect. I didn't like it.

Keisuke and I walked along the sidewalk as a brisk morning wind swept up the falling leaves. There was a chill to the air, but Keisuke barely noticed; he chased windswept leaves like a true hunting dog. I trailed behind him, hand securely inside my warm pockets, and let my feet guide me.

I loved the empty streets. There were no other dogs or people to get in my way. It felt like I was the last person on earth, and I couldn't have been happier.

My footsteps pounded the pavement and, with each step, a little anger dissipated. You're a jerk, Ivan. I thought you trusted me, Isabelle. You've got no ability, Kyra

Wait.

Was that what I was really angry about?

It made sense. If I could just work out my ability then maybe I'd fit in, maybe people would start to tell me things, and I could be accepted.

Will had said the Djinn would test me on all the common abilities before the abnormal. I didn't want to be abnormal—not that Will was—but I was already such an outcast that I hoped my ability would be something simple and easy to master.

Keisuke stopped to pee on a nearby tree and bark at a squirrel scampering up the branches. I gazed at the surrounding area and realised I didn't know where I was. I was certain I was in the lower ring, judging from the difference in housing size and shape, but I'd definitely never been in this part before.

Keisuke continued to bark at the squirrel as it leaped from branch to branch, as if teasing him. He jumped at the tree but had no hope of catching his prey. Then, as if hearing something I couldn't, Keisuke's ears pricked and his head darted toward a metal fence. It was made from iron bars covered in ivy, clearly worn and old.

"What is it?" I asked him as he sniffed the air. Before I could stop him, Keisuke darted off toward the fence, squeezing through a small gap where the fence was broken.

"Keisuke!" I shouted, but he didn't come back, and there was no way I was fitting through that tiny hole. I ran around the outside of the barred fence, searching for a way to the other side and calling Keisuke's name. The bars began to blur until I felt dizzy, but I kept on running.

I stopped at the entrance, a large iron archway with matching gate. A word was crafted into the ironwork:
Cemetery
.

I pushed on the gates, but they were held together with a chain and lock. I rattled them, as if it would somehow magically open, but nothing happened.

There were cement pillars on either side of the gate breaking up the scary, spiked iron bars. I'd never had a problem with climbing, or running, or anything athletic, really. I'd been trained to handle any situation that involved me needing to get away in a hurry, so scaling that fence was easy. I took a running leap at the gate and held on tight as it swayed under my weight. I climbed as well as I did when I'd scaled the drainpipe my first night in the Djinn world; although that felt like a lifetime ago now. In minutes I was sitting on the top of the pillar, swinging my legs and jumping down the other side.

I'd never been to a cemetery before. It had always been just me and Malcolm, so we had no need to visit one, but I'd seen them in movies and laughed at how people could find themselves scared.

Standing in one then, I finally understood. The cold morning had produced an eerie mist wafting over the patchy grass and headstones. It was hard to see anything in front of my face, and a shiver ran down my spine. Every single horror film I'd ever seen was playing through my mind, and I wondered if a chainsaw-wielding maniac was about to burst out from behind the nearest tombstone and slash me to death. I tried to push the thought from my mind and told myself not to think about those things, but once I'd started, I couldn't stop.

I crept along what looked like a path. My hands twitched at my sides, sensing for danger.

"Keisuke," I called, keeping my voice low. "Come here boy."

I passed gravestone after gravestone, reading names and dates that meant nothing to me, though a feeling of sadness stuck in my throat for those who were no longer here. I passed yet another row of stones when one caught my eye.

Sasha Greenwood. Greenwood … that was my name.

I moved in closer for a better look and found a whole line of Greenwood graves. Hansen. Benedict. Sophia. The names went on and on.

These were Ivan's family. My family. I hadn't realised there were so many buried here, but what shocked me most were the graves themselves. They were ruined, crumbling around the edges, covered in weeds and mud—unkempt and uncared for.

I brushed away some overgrowth from Sasha's grave.

"Loving mother and wife of Benedict," I read.

I remembered from my tour of the house with Isabelle that Sasha and Benedict Greenwood were Ivan's grandparents. Ivan's grandparents were right here, my great-grandparents, and it looked like he'd never even come to visit them. How could Ivan not come and see his parent's graves? If it was my dad, I'd be here every week just to talk to him—although, now I knew Ivan was my Dad, I wasn't so sure I'd be seeking grave visitation. I remembered the portraits in our house that Isabelle had shown me. Every one of the faces Ivan hung so particularly on the wall were here.

I realised the truth of it. Ivan only cared about image. He hung the portraits to show off to others how great his family was, but in reality, he couldn't care less about them or what they'd done. It only mattered how it affected him, how it made him look.

"Kyra?"

Hearing my name made me jump. I turned to the mist and watched a figure materialize from the nothing.

"Pyke." I realised as his Mohawk came into focus. "What are you doing here?"

"I was going to ask you that," he said, flowers in his hand and my Husky pup at his heels.

"Keisuke," I said with utter relief.

"So he's yours," Pyke said, bending down to ruffle Keisuke's fur.

"Maybe not for long," I replied, "if he keeps running away like that." Keisuke's ears drooped, as if sensing I was annoyed.

"Don't be so hard on him," Pyke said. "He probably just smelled another dog and came to investigate. I am extremely interesting, after all."

Pyke flashed me a contagious grin, and whatever annoyance I felt melted away. Keisuke, sensing the shift in mood, perked up once more and nuzzled my hand.