Tales of the Djinn: The Double (27 page)

She released everything but that, flinging her arms around him and letting him hug her back. He smelled just as she remembered, giving her the little growl of welcome he always did. She buried her face in his familiar shoulder. It had been two years since she’d embraced him. She’d honestly thought she never would again.

“You lost weight,” she said when she pulled back at last.

His dad wiped his eyes and laughed. “I fell into a volcano. The fat melted.”

That was her dad—always ready with a joke.

“Did you really fall into Mt. Etna?”

Her dad sobered. “I did.”

“Do you know about Uncle Vince?”

“That my brother is dead and that he arranged my ‘accident’? Yes and yes, I’m afraid.”

Elyse bit her lip. “I’m sorry. That must have been hard to learn.”

Her dad stroked her curls from her face. “Harder for you to learn, I imagine, since—at the time—he and your cousin were trying to force the secret to the brownstone’s portal out of you.”

“You were unconscious for a while,” Cade said when she shifted her gaze to him. “I explained that bit.”

His face was serious, the worry in his eyes not hidden by humor. Love for Cade expanded inside of her. She realized she’d never felt this way for anyone before—not her father, not her husband or closest friend. She was in love with him, and there was no going back. The realization was a little frightening. She found herself hoping she wouldn’t let him down.

“What?” Cade asked, noting the change in her expression.

She smiled and shook her head. Now wasn’t the time for sappy romantic declarations. “Thank you for explaining. You’re better at telling stories than I am.” She turned back to her dad. “You have one to tell us, I assume.”

“You want to know how I survived.” She nodded, and he glanced at the men. “You want them to hear everything?”

“I trust them with my life,” she said. “And I’d trust them with yours too.”

Her father accepted that. As at-home as if he’d never been away, he settled into an armchair and began. “It was a case of Solomon luck, though I didn’t feel that fortunate when the guide I’d hired to sightsee the crater shoved me in. You probably know Etna is an active volcano, the tallest in Europe. It was relatively quiet then. You can’t get close when it’s full-on erupting.

“Anyway, I thought I was done for. The caldera was hot and fumy as I fell, and my mind went to a protective prayer I’d read in one of your grandfather’s arcane books. I guess the volcano had a power spot, because as soon as I recited it everything flashed bright. The next thing I knew, I’d tumbled onto a forgotten island in the djinn world. The ifrits who live there call it Shadow Wood.”

Her father looked at Cade to see if he recognized the name.

Cade shook his head. “Our dimension has more corners than any of us knows.”

“Certainly more than
I
know,” her father agreed. “Wherever it was precisely, Shadow Wood wasn’t big. A few square miles and beyond that, nothing but dangerous ‘in-between’ banks of mist. Seeing I’d be stuck there for a while, I made friends with the natives as best I could. Possibly I did too good a job. The ifrits were bored and decided to make a pet of me. Every mention I made of leaving riled them up. I took a year to find their nexus in the wood and another year to charge it, bit by bit, behind their backs. They didn’t use the door themselves. They were hiding out from an upper level demon who was after them for I don’t know what reason. I escaped by the skin of my teeth, leaving them squawking with outrage as I went. I’d keyed the nexus to spit me out in Sicily—thankfully not in the volcano. From there, I made my way back here.”

He said this as if the adventure were ordinary. Perhaps for him it had been.

“I’m sorry you worried,” he added with comic offhandedness.

If her father had a flaw, it was that his sunny disposition didn’t comprehend darker emotions. Grief he might catch a whiff of but not despair. The homicidal envy Uncle Vince had experienced in the face of his brother’s charm was a mystery to him.

“Do other people know you’re alive?” she asked.

“The tenants do, of course. Your Aunt June was managing the place. I don’t think she knew what her husband did. She barely batted an eye when I turned up. You know how oblivious she can be.”

Aunt June’s grasp of what went on around her could be vague—a trait she’d probably developed in self defense married to a man who was, at best, a puffed up blowhard and, at worst, a murderer.

“How is she handling Uncle Vince’s death?”

“Well, she
says
she can’t get used to him being gone, but to be honest she seems cheerful. She doesn’t know Mario shot her husband, or that her daughter played a part. Mario’s underlings staged the scene so that his death looked like a robbery gone wrong.”

The mention of Cara reminded Elyse of a whole ’nother can of worms. “What about Cara? She can’t have been happy you’re not dead.”

“Not even a little.” Her father cracked a grin. “She hid it, mind you. Gave me a big hug and exclaimed how ‘amazed’ and ‘over the moon’ she was. For my part, I pretended I hadn’t figured out my accident wasn’t one. She and Mario are engaged, by the way. Not by Cara’s choosing, I don’t think. She put that love whammy on him, and now she’s stuck with the results. She must not have realized him falling in love with her wouldn’t guarantee she could control him.”

Elyse could vouch for the whammy’s effectiveness. Her now-deceased husband had bound her to him with the same enchanted book of poems. He’d gotten the volume from Cara originally. Cara enlisted David to marry Elyse so that she and Uncle Vince could steal the secret to controlling her dad’s portal. Mario started out as Vince’s hired muscle, but developed ambitions of his own. Failing to notice that had cost Uncle Vince his life. Though Cara hadn’t meant for her dad to die, she’d unwittingly caused it by bespelling Mario. He’d thought her dad’s continued existence wasn’t in his beloved’s best interest.

Apparently, Cara had decided to stick with him anyway.

“You spelled the door to keep Cara out,” Elyse realized. She rubbed her brow in the hope that it would help her brain wake up. “She must have stayed behind in New York when Mario crossed dimensions.”

“Yes,” her dad affirmed. “I changed the locks after I took back control from your Aunt June. I wasn’t sure what your cousin and Mario planned to do in the other world, but I figured I’d make it harder by blocking the nexus here.” He shrugged philosophically. “I should have guessed he’d find a portal there that he could get back with.”

“And you evicted Mrs. Goldberg?”

“She evicted herself. Since her unit was empty, I moved in. You shouldn’t have to give up this apartment just because I’m alive again.”

Elyse sat back with a little jolt. That was something else to get used to. She supposed she wasn’t a landlady anymore.

Her father had no trouble reading her expression. “The brownstone is yours as long as you want it. I’m happy to hand back the reins.” His gaze cut to the two listening djinn. “Unless, of course, you’ve made other plans for your future?”

Sorting out her future was a nut she couldn’t crack right then. “I don’t know what I’m planning. We need to find those djinn kids who went missing.”

“We should watch your cousin,” Arcadius said. “If she cast a love spell on the sorcerer, he’ll go to her sooner or later. In truth, he may be with her now.”

“We should catch a few hours sleep,” his double contradicted. “Elyse is exhausted.”

“
I
can go,” Arcadius said. “All I need are directions to where she is.”

“You don’t look much better than Elyse.”

Arcadius glowered. Now that she checked, he did look dead on his feet.

“He’s right,” Elyse said. “We had an eventful night
before
we got here. We all need rest, food, and human clothes. And maybe a nice hot shower. We can start fresh tomorrow.”

Arcadius frowned harder.

“It’s the
strategic
choice,” Cade said. “You shouldn’t flail blindly around this dimension just because you’re impatient.”

“I concede your point for now,” his double relented grudgingly.

Elyse’s father laughed and bent to kiss her cheek. “Perhaps I should leave you to it. I can see your hands are full. I’ll be across the way. Call me if you need anything.”

She needed him. She wasn’t done reassuring herself that he was back.

“You’ll be fine,” he said. “These men of yours will take good care of you.”

Arcadius opened his mouth, probably to deny that he was hers. He must have decided not to explain. He looked extremely stubborn when he clamped his jaw shut again.

~

Arcadius was alone in Elyse’s living room. Elyse was showering and singing—not very well, if he were honest. Cade had descended to the basement to retrieve his old human clothes. Had Cade and Joseph truly not minded staying in a dank cellar? Roughing it on campaign was one thing. Taking up residence underground was another.

Djinn weren’t meant to live like mushrooms.

Arcadius stood drawn slightly back from the window, gazing out at the lamplit street while remaining unseen himself. He was half on the watch for danger, half simply surveying the area. The narrow connected houses had a sense of age like the ones he knew but not as much of one. Though Elyse’s neighborhood seemed cared for, there was more dirt here than in his city—more
grit
, he guessed he’d say. Their environs weren’t wholly unpleasant. The parked cars squeezed up against the curb were intriguing.

Would he be here long enough to drive one?

He turned at a sound. The door to the apartment opened. “It’s me,” Cade said, coming in. “I have clothes for both of us. Plus Joseph’s survival supply briefcase. He left it lying under a chair. I guess Mario and his boys didn’t notice it.”

Though Arcadius wasn’t sure what briefcase he referred to, he nodded. Cade draped a pile of garments over the spine of the leather couch.

Curious, Arcadius went to look at them.

“Underwear,” Cade identified. “Business shirt. Trousers. I grabbed a couple T-shirts and jeans in case we need to look casual. We never bought pajamas, but the underwear is fine for sleeping in.”

The pair Arcadius picked up was soft and formfitting. It certainly wouldn’t hide much if he had any . . . reactions to Elyse.

“They’re clean,” Cade said. “Not that my germs are anything you haven’t met before.”

Arcadius guessed he’d looked dubious. A fear of germs wasn’t the reason. He decided it was time to stop beating around the bush. “How are we going to handle this?”

Cade sat on the sofa arm. “You’re not talking about what to wear, are you?”

“How do we handle being together with Elyse? How do we handle both of us wanting her?”

Cade met Arcadius’s eyes. “You don’t just want her.”

“I don’t just want her,” he admitted.

“Do you love her?”

He started to deny it. “I’m not certain,” he said instead.

Cade scratched the knee of his djinn trousers. “I didn’t realize I was in love with her until Fate shoved it in my face.”

That was vaguely alarming. “I’m not you—or not entirely.”

Cade looked away toward a wall of nice bookcases. Arcadius knew the other man was gathering his thoughts. Because it was what he would have wanted, he didn’t interrupt. Finally, Cade was ready to speak again.

“I think we should focus on what we agree on. We both want her safe and we both want her happy. We won’t be able to stop her from helping us find those kids, so it’s important we work together to protect her.”

Arcadius saw no cause for argument in this. There were, however, more matters to discuss. Following Cade and Elyse through the portal had taught him a few new things about his sentiments.

“What about Elyse’s bed? Would you be agreeable to both of us pleasuring her?”

Cade’s lips twisted into a less comfortable expression. “You’ve healed from your injuries. We don’t have to do that again.”

“Are you implying you didn’t enjoy sharing her?”

“I . . . enjoyed it,” Cade admitted.

“As did I. As did Elyse, I believe. She might have stronger emotional ties to you, but she finds me attractive.”

Cade’s chest sank with a sigh. “I can’t speak for her.”

Arcadius wanted a straighter answer. “If she wishes to repeat the experience, would you object?”

“I don’t know,” Cade said.

“Would you be unhappy?”

“I don’t know,” he repeated a little angrily. He stood and strode to the bookcase. Once there, he pulled out a book and shoved it in again. “What we did was exciting, but it complicates matters. And I feel strange about how much it appealed to me.”

Arcadius felt strange about it too. He sensed this wasn’t the moment to mention his interest in sleeping with Elyse solo. “Perhaps we need more time to consider this.”

Cade nodded and sighed again. He was facing Arcadius, his shoulders against the shelves. “She’s happy to be back,” he said as if he wanted someone to confide in but wasn’t sure Arcadius ought to be that person.

“This is her home,” Arcadius said. “I’m sure that’s natural.”

“I was happy too when I realized where we’d landed. This place grows on a person.”

If Cade was suggesting this was a problem, Arcadius thought they had bigger ones. “I’m sure it’s possible to love more than one city.”

The question for him was: was it possible for a woman to love more than one djinni?

Cade wasn’t thinking along those lines. He rubbed his mouth and contemplated the apartment door. “Now that she’s discovered her father is alive, she’ll be even more attached to New York.”

Ah,
Arcadius thought.
That’s the ill wind he’s conjured up.

“Don’t borrow trouble,” he advised, surprised he could see the issue clearly when the other him could not. “For one thing, her father isn’t averse to exotic travel. For another, should it become necessary, I have no doubt Elyse will choose to stay with you.”

“You can’t know that,” Cade said.

“Can’t I?” Arcadius asked. “Perhaps in this instance I have a cooler head. Emotion clouds reason.”

Cade grimaced, but didn’t get a chance to retort. The distant waterfall of Elyse’s seemingly endless shower cut off. As if it were on a swivel, Cade’s head yanked around in the direction of where she was.