Smokeless Fire (19 page)

A.J. scowled. “A kid’s movie?”

“No.
Harry Potter
.”

“Yeah, a kid’s movie.”

Ari made a face at him. “It’s a wonderful fantasy adventure for children and grown-ups alike.”

“It’s got my vote.” Nick shrugged.

Staci nodded, smiling sweetly up at A.J., her eyes glittering mischievously. “Mine too.”

So it was with much grumbling from A.J. they bought tickets for the movie, some popcorn and drinks and wandered casually into the screening. Ari’s heart immediately began to race a little harder as she talked the guys into taking seats near the aisle so she wouldn’t have to shimmy by people when the time came for her to leave.

Which should be pretty soon
.

Sure enough, just as they were settling in and Nick’s arm was casually sliding along the back of her seat, Ari’s cell beeped and she opened it to see the text she had been waiting on.

I’m outside. Bring Emily Rose
.

Charlie

Here goes.

Pulling on her best acting chops, Ari muttered a curse and turned to Nick with big wide soulful eyes. “It’s Charlie.”

“Charlie?” Staci squeaked, leaning over Nick. “What’s wrong?”

“He’s outside. I told him I was coming here with Nick. He’s upset. He wants to talk.”

“Oh God, no, Ari.” Staci shook her head. “I mean you know I like Charlie, but…” she glanced at Nick meaningfully. “Not now.”

“I have to.” Ari grabbed her bag and then looked back at a scowling Nick. “Will you come with me? I just… I don’t want to leave him out there but I don’t want to go alone.”

Nick’s expression cleared and he smoothed a hand down her back comfortingly. “Of course. Let’s go.”

As they walked across the cinema foyer the sickly scent of popcorn made Ari’s already nervous stomach turn. She couldn’t believe they were doing this. They were actually doing this.

“So what do you think he wants?” Nick asked, trying to appear casual, but she could see he was struggling
not
to ready himself for a fight.

Ari shrugged. “I don’t know. He just said he wanted to talk, but last time we spoke we had a huge fight. I just don’t want to deal with him alone.”

“You’re not alone.” He gripped her hand tight in his and she had to force herself to not tug it back out of his hold.

Charlie was waiting way across the thankfully empty lot by Nick’s SUV. She noted his eyes flicker down at her hand clasped in Nick’s and she scowled back at the dark look he gave her.

“What do you want, Creagh?” Nick dropped her hand, striding towards him aggressively.

Great, he’s being a chump
.

Charlie nodded at her over Nick’s shoulders and she shoved a hand into her bag, pulling the pouch that Jai had given her out. While Nick squared up to Charlie, Ari opened the pouch and scrunched it down on her palm, revealing the glittering black dust inside. “Nick, don’t,” she said, tugging on his shoulder.

“Ari—” He turned and as soon as he faced her Ari blew onto the pouch, the black dust coating Nick’s face. He flinched and then stiffened, his eyes rolling back in his head before his legs gave way. Jai hadn’t explained exactly what the dust in the pouch was, only that it would incapacitate someone without leaving any physical trace of injury. The incapacitating also only lasted on a possessed human for five, ten minutes tops. They had to move fast.

Charlie gripped Nick’s collapsing body into his strong hands and together they shoved him into the back of the SUV. He dug in Nick’s jeans, pulling out the keys, his eyes darting around the lot to make sure no one had witnessed the attack. As they jumped into the front of the car, he turned his dark eyes on her, noting her trembling hands. “You OK?”

She nodded, clenching her teeth together to stop them chattering. Her heart was racing out of all control.

Charlie decimated the speed limit and they pulled off at a quiet spot in Vickers’ Woods where Jai was waiting at the edge of the trees for them. Together, he and Charlie dragged Nick’s lagging body into the woods to the clearing the Aissawa Brothers had taken up residence in. Ari watched from the sideline as Jai gestured for Charlie to get back. He stepped beside her and she tried to capture his attention but his eyes were glued to Jai, Nick and the Brothers. He seemed mesmerized by what was going on. Feeling a tingling of unease at his expression, Ari turned back to the group, watching as Jai tied Nick’s hands and feet and left him to lie on the dirty ground. He then stepped out of the circle the Brothers made around Nick’s body and took up his place on her other side.

“What happens now?” she asked him, watching curiously as one of the Brothers produced a small drum and began beating on it. She winced, hoping it wouldn’t attract any attention.

“Don’t worry,” Jai murmured in her ear and she couldn’t help but shiver at the feel of him so close, his dark, exotic scent tickling her every sense. “I’ve put up an enchantment to muffle the sound of what we’re doing. The Brothers will do their thing and probably make Nick drink an herb called Indian Costus. It repels Jinn from the possessed.”

Ari frowned. “Couldn’t you have told me that? I could have just slipped the stuff into his Coke at the cinema or something.”

Jai shook his head. “Doesn’t work like that. There’s a whole ritual. You’ll see.”

And she did.

The Brothers began to chant ominously in a language Ari couldn’t understand. The sound of it, however, made her shiver and shake, like she was coming down with the flu. When she threw a quick glance up at Jai she noticed he looked similarly affected, his skin pale, a bead of sweat forming on his forehead. She touched her own clammy forehead with a trembling palm and fought to keep upright.  She wasn’t given much time to ponder the ill feeling that came over her so suddenly because at that moment the Brothers each produced a knife from their boots and drew the sharp blades over their wrists.

Ari gasped at the horrifying action and looked up at Charlie to see what he was making of all this creepiness. She was terrified that what happened here would reflect badly on her and he would never want to speak to her again. But instead he watched in utter fascination, his eyes rapt on the scene, chewing on his lip, something he did when he was busy concentrating. Shaken, Ari looked back over at the Brothers only to feel her stomach turn as they drank from their own bloody wrists and began chanting again, thick blood slipping down their chins as they did.  Nick’s body began to shudder on the ground, his eyes rolling back in his head.

“No,” he croaked. “No, stop it. You can’t…”

One of the Brothers stepped forward, a cup clasped in his hand. Carefully he tipped a vial of the herb Jai had spoken of into the cup and bent down next to Nick. He whispered something in that strange language that made Ari sweat cold sweats and then he pinched Nick’s nose closed, tilted his head back, and forced him to swallow the drink. When he was sure Nick had, he returned to the circle and the Brothers chanting grew louder. Nick’s body began shuddering harder until he was thrashing on the ground, groaning and choking on screams. Ari tensed, disturbed by the sight, and was glad for the warm hand Jai placed on her shoulder when she visibly flinched as some weird black stuff oozed out of Nick’s eyes and mouth and ears. “Oh God,” she breathed and Jai squeezed her shoulder harder.

Finally, to Ari’s everlasting relief, Nick cried out one last time before flames burst from his body. One of the Brothers dropped to his knees, a bottle, like the one Sala was trapped in, clasped in his hands as he muttered frantically. The flames gave off a high-pitched hiss, almost like they were screaming, and then they spiraled tighter until they were sucked down into the bottle. The Brother promptly stoppered it and gasped out one last chant.

The woods were deathly silent.

The Brother with the bottle stood up and turned to Jai. “It is done.” He bowed formally at him and he and the Brothers began making their way past the three of them like they hadn’t just cut open their own wrists and exorcised an evil spirit from a teenage boy’s body. One of the Brothers stopped before Jai, who handed him over a wad of cash. Ari frowned. She hadn’t known this was going to cost Jai money. Great. Now she was even more in his debt. Literally and figuratively.

“Thanks,” Jai said gruffly. “Appreciate it.”

The Brother merely nodded and followed the others out of the woods.

Ari gaped. “Where are they going?”

“To call a cab back to the airport.”

“But what about…” she trailed off, tentatively taking a step towards Nick who lay unconscious on the ground. She gulped down guilt. “Will he be OK?”

“He’ll be fine,” Jai said and then seemed to think better of it. “He won’t remember a thing of the last eighteen months so… actually he won’t be fine. But he’ll be physically fine.” He pulled out a cloth and handed it to Ari. “Clean the gunk off him and then you and Charlie load him back into the SUV.”

Nick lay in
the back of the SUV, unconscious but black goo-free. Ari gripped the dashboard as they pulled back into the cinema lot.

Charlie sighed, cutting the engine. He turned to her, his dark eyes concerned. “This isn’t your fault. You didn’t get him possessed OK. It happened.”

Ari laughed humorlessly. “He’s going to wake up any minute now and he’s not going to remember anything about the last eighteen months. How will he get over that?”

Her oldest friend reached across the seats and took her hand. “He’ll get through it. Just like you’re getting through all of this. Did I tell you how proud I am of you?”

She smiled sadly. “Me? What about you? I want to throw up all the time but you — you’re handling all of this amazingly well.”

He shrugged. “It fascinates me. Plus… I feel different.”

Glad that Charlie was no longer carrying around the weight of his brother’s death, she squeezed his hand. “Freer?”

Just like that the temperature in the car dropped and the momentary happiness she had been feeling fled as Charlie’s eyes darkened and he withdrew his hand.  He didn’t say a word in response and Ari felt her skin prickle uneasily.

“Ari!”

She turned at the sound of Staci yelling. She and A.J. were running across the lot towards the SUV. Ari and Charlie jumped out and walked around Nick’s car to meet them. A.J. looked ready to launch himself at Charlie so Ari dived between them.

Staci’s pretty face was pinched with concern. “You were taking so long we decided to come out and check everything was OK. Where’s Nick?”

Reciting the story they’d come up with, Ari put on an innocent and, not entirely untrue, frightened expression. “He passed out. We were just talking and he collapsed so we were taking him to the hospital.”

“Passed out my ass!” A.J. yelled, moving towards Charlie. “What did you do?”

“A.J., A.J.” Ari grabbed his arm, pulling him towards the back of the SUV and away from Charlie, who looked far too willing to engage in a fist fight. She wrenched open the back door and pointed in at Nick. “See, not a mark on him. We have to get him to the hospital.”

Nick chose that exact moment to groan and A.J. practically shoved Ari out of the way to lean in and slap his face gently. “Dude, dude, you OK?” he asked frantically, making Ari feel terrible for their deception.

“What happened?” Nick mumbled, smacking his mouth open and shut. “My mouth. Oh God, my head.”  A.J. put an arm around his shoulders, helping him sit up and Nick opened his eyes wide, taking the four of them in, staring at him. “What happened? Where am I?”

“Ari said you passed out,” A.J. explained.

Nick frowned. “Ari?” He looked over A.J.’s shoulder and his eyebrows drew together in confusion. “Ari? Why? Where am I?”

“Dude, at the movies. The four of us came here together.”

“We did?” He glanced around, shaking his head. “I don’t remember.”

Staci tutted. “A.J. we have to take him to hospital if he can’t remember even getting here.”

Charlie sighed and pushed forward. “What’s the last thing you remember?”

Jesus Christ, Charlie!
Ari pinched him for asking such an asinine question and he winced, batting her hand away.

Nick looked near tears now and she watched A.J. grow pale with concern. “I don’t know. I was in my bed. I just got home from my date with Louise.”

“Louise?” Staci frowned.

Nick nodded, glancing warily at Ari. “Louise.
Louise
. Louise Buckman.”

“Your ex-girlfriend?” Staci looked up at A.J. in horror. “Were they dating again?” she whispered.

He shook his head. “No. Definitely not. He can’t stand her.” He gulped and turned back to Nick. “Nick, what year is it?”

“W-why?” Nick asked frantically now, his eyes growing larger and brighter with unshed, confused tears. “Why? You’re scaring me, man.”

“You’re scaring me. What year is it?”

“2009. December 2009.”

As a collective they gasped, even though Ari and Charlie knew it had been coming.

A.J cursed and patted his friend’s shoulder. “We’re going to take care of you, man.” He turned now to Charlie, glaring at him. “Give me the keys, I’ll take him.”