The Jinni Key Read online

  But it wouldn’t turn.

  With a huff, I let go and dropped back onto the kelp, letting the vision disappear. My greatest desire hadn’t really changed. The Key still couldn’t give it to me.

  Even so, Gideon was different. Maybe the Key couldn’t help me, but as soon as my tail stopped bleeding, I wanted to see him again.

  AFTER A FEW MORE DAYS of solitude, the scab on my tail finally healed enough that swimming wouldn’t make it crack open and bleed again. The moment it felt safe, I left the pocket of air and swam back to my rooms.

  No one had missed me.

  I considered the oyster shell that would let me see Gideon from afar. More than anything, I wanted a glimpse of him—but not just through a soundless screen. I wanted him to see me too, and this opportunity was too perfect. No one would even know if I left.

  Slipping out of the palace and past the stone sentries, I swam toward the surface. What if Gideon was looking for me too? Maybe this time, I’ll be brave enough to speak with him!

  I reached the shore where he’d crawled out of the water. Slipping behind a small boulder, I stared at the village beyond. The land grass was dull here. Only one color, and barely moving unless a strong wind came by. Everything felt too bright, but my eyes adjusted over time.

  Though many villagers took boats out to catch fish, Gideon was absent. Maybe he hadn’t stayed after all.

  My hopes sank with the sun, until finally, avoiding the fishermen, I gave up and swam home.

  My only consolation was knowing I could visit the hidden oyster shell periodically to see him again.

  I SWAM TO THE SURFACE often, but never saw Gideon again. Those stolen moments watching him in the shell were all I had.

  One day, Gideon simply sat staring out at the human world, shoulders slumped. He seemed so defeated. Is there a chance he’s looking for me too? That he wants to know who rescued him?

  I bit my lip to stop myself from grinning at the thought over dinner. Nothing my sisters said or did could ruin my mood. Even when Yuliya came home from a shark hunt and tortured me for information on her missing shell, I never told her or anyone else about him.

  As the months wore on, though, I grew more desperate. I’d never been terribly interested in any of the Meremen before, but my sisters had loads of experience in that area.

  I found Yuliya in her room, seated on a twisting coral chair like it was a throne, surrounded by my other sisters. They didn’t notice me enter, too busy weaving sea flowers through their hair, trying on different shells and seaweed wraps. Each of them could pass for a siren with their stunning beauty, yet they still played with dyes, inks, and all kinds of jewels to accentuate their looks.

  I drifted over to listen.

  “Egor is the handsomest, but Ruslan is stronger,” they were saying. I rolled my eyes at them.

  “Rena,” Yuliya sung sweetly. She hadn’t missed my entrance after all. “I feel certain that your Key would help me decide which Mereman I like more. Perhaps you’d be willing to use it for your big sister, hmm?”

  I sighed. She tried to make me use the Key almost as much as Mother, although I rarely said yes.

  Once, Yuliya had even stolen it from me when I was still a little-Mere.

  “Ha!” she’d sneered at me then, “It’s mine now. I’ll be the favorite and you’ll be nothing—”

  Before she’d even finished speaking, the Key had vanished from her hand and returned to its original place around my neck.

  “Mother said the Jinni spelled the Key so it could never be stolen,” I’d reminded her in a mocking tone, stroking the Key, which had only infuriated her more. I’d paid for that. Still, no one tried to steal it from me after that.

  Now their eyes were on me. Waiting. Yuliya’s held a hint of buried anger that made me want to avoid stirring up any more sand. I took a deep breath and my gills fluttered nervously as I nodded.

  It wouldn’t hurt to peek at her greatest desire. Only to fulfill it. Which I wouldn’t do.

  Pulling out the Key from the shell where I’d taken to hiding it, I wrapped my fingers around the long stem, feeling it warm like blood, twisting into a new silhouette as I spoke Yuliya’s name over it.

  The inky black cloud appeared with a vision of Yuliya inside. In it, she plucked the Key from my outstretched hand, holding it up in triumph as the new owner, while I slumped back. She wanted me to give it to her willingly—the only way she could ever get it.

  “Your greatest desire hasn’t changed,” I told her on a sigh. Shaking my head, I braced for a wave of anger. “And I’m still not giving it to you.”

  Though she scowled, she didn’t say anything right away.

  After a long pause, she turned back to her mirror, lifting the long, red flower crown from her head to replace it with a sea urchin crown, which she kept alive while she wore it for the soft blue glow of its long tentacles. “What are you here for, anyway?” she asked calmly, as if the last few minutes hadn’t happened.

  “Nothing,” I said, clearing my throat and letting myself sink onto a nearby coral bench. “I just overheard some talk of Jinni last week and was curious to know more. You’re old enough to have been at one of the treaties. Did you ever see a Jinni face to face?”

  Yuliya scoffed. “Of course.”

  She adjusted the crown, ignoring the way we all waited. Even my other sisters were intrigued at the mention of the Jinn.

  “Are they as dangerous as Mother says?” I dared to ask.

  Yuliya smirked at that. “Hardly. We are their equals at the very least. Believe me, they wouldn’t have given you that Key as a goodwill offering to the Mere, if they didn’t fear us enough to want peace.”

  I played with the pointed tips of my tail as I took in Yuliya’s words, feigning indifference. “Would you really know? I doubt you ever had to fight one.”

  That earned me a glare. “This coming from a girl who’s never met a Jinni in her life.”

  I looked away.

  Out of the corner of my eye, Yuliya’s hand stilled when I didn’t immediately agree.

  “Is it true they’re as large as a whale?” I asked to throw her off the scent.

  MONTHS PASSED, AND I didn’t dare ask Yuliya or anyone else about the Jinni again. Instead, I found excuses to disappear to the small caves underneath the palace, where I’d hidden the oyster shell.

  “Show me Gideon,” I’d whisper, and spend hours watching him. He was searching for something. Or someone. It was hard to tell, without any way to hear him.

  One thing I knew for sure though, without hearing a word: he never hurt anyone. He was nothing like the Jinn in the stories. I wished I could’ve seen their legendary home in the clouds, or even better, that Gideon could somehow come visit me here.

  Every so often, I’d use the Key to see if my greatest desire had changed. It never did. Gideon continued to appear, unwavering. If anything, the vision grew stronger. More focused. And more importantly, this was the first time that my desire seemed as if it might truly be possible. If only I could meet him again.

  On the one-year anniversary of meeting him, after an unremarkable feast in the dining hall with my family and a few hundred other Mere, I decided to celebrate my seventeenth birthday with a gift to myself. Using a small woven bag, I snuck the oyster shell up to my rooms so I could see Gideon again.

  He was already asleep when I called up his image. I set him on the bed, curling my arm under my head as a pillow, and touched his cheek. “I wish I could see you,” I whispered. “Do you even remember meeting me?”

  My door burst open and my sisters swam in without warning. “Your birthday isn’t over yet, little sister! Time for—” Yuliya cut off. “My shell! You little—”

  “What’s this?” Nadia interrupted, catching my wrist before I could slam the oyster shell shut and hide Gideon. “Or should I say, who’s this?”

  “No one,” I said, tugging at my arm without success. “Just a Mereman.”

  “Just a Mereman,” Yuliya repeated s
lowly, floating closer. She picked up her oyster shell carefully, studying Gideon’s face as he slept.

  I kept my hands away from the shells around my neck, wanting to appear poised and confident, though my fingers twitched.

  “Look who has a crush,” Misha purred, grinning as she settled onto my bed.

  Sasha swam over to sit by the door, closing in the last opening of the semi-circle they’d made around me. “Why haven’t you told us about the Mereman before Rena?”

  Nadia let go of my hand, but Yuliya was too suspicious to believe me so easily. I had to let her stare at Gideon, studying him.

  “This is no Mereman,” she said finally, bringing her gaze to mine. “Rena is staring at a Jinni.”

  Chapter 4

  Rena

  “COME,” YULIYA SAID, WAVING toward the bed. “Sit with us and tell us about this Jinni. How did you first see him? Was it while you were using your Key for someone?”

  I hesitated.

  Glancing at Dina where she reclined in the windowsill, and then at Sasha who blocked the door, I admitted defeat. I followed my other sisters over to the bed. They raced me to it, leaving only enough room for me to perch on the edge.

  Still I kept calm, at least on the outside. “You guessed right. I saw him with the Key—”

  “Whose greatest desire was it?” Nadia interrupted.

  “Ah... it was—it was a while ago, so I don’t remember...”

  Misha’s eyes narrowed. “You’re lying.”

  Yuliya was already bored. “You know what?” she said, flicking a hand through the water as if tossing my words away. “I think I’d prefer to see for myself.”

  She snatched the Key from my neck, snapping the string, clutching it in her hand as she spoke my name over it.

  Misha and Nadia held my arms. “It will come back to me,” I yelled, thrashing in their grip, but they only held tighter.

  Gideon appeared before all of us in the inky black vision, standing before an image of me. I looked like one of the humans, standing on land, gazing up into his eyes. He lifted one of my hands to his lips and kissed it, smiling down at me. My heart ached at the sight.

  The Key vanished from Yuliya’s hand, disrupting the vision as it returned to its original place around my neck. Just like I’d said it would, but not quite in time.

  “Who. Is. He?” Yuliya’s voice was low.

  I heard the threat. Her hand lifted toward her shells.

  Before she could attack, I acted first. Grabbing the shell nearest my belly, I spoke the spell in a rush.

  A blast of air blew out from me, slamming into all five of my sisters, knocking them off the bed and across the room. Yuliya hit the wall. Hard. I winced, but caught myself. I didn’t want to grovel. Instead, I tried to make myself seem bigger, like a pufferfish, floating higher with a little flip of my tail.

  “You little witch!” she hissed as she got her breath back. “You’re going to regret that!”

  Her hand lifted to her neck where she kept her own assortment of shells—some of which were new to me and held unknown torture.

  I yelled without thinking, “Wait! I’ll tell you!” So much for not groveling.

  “Don’t listen to her,” Nadia snapped, pink as an anemone with fury. Her small school of pet fish churned around her anxiously. “No story will protect you from paying for that.”

  I rolled my eyes, lifting my chin high. “So dramatic. I guarantee you’ll change your mind.”

  Sasha’s gaze turned from repairing her hair in the mirror to watch us with interest. Misha was less convinced, but considering, as she crossed her arms over her shell-covered chest—she had almost as many as Yuliya and was equally quick to use them. Even Dina stopped fixing the loose diamonds on her tail to pay attention.

  But it was Yuliya who spoke next, surprising me. “Alright. Tell us about the Jinni—every single detail—and I’ll consider a truce.” She drifted back to lounge on the bed, the picture of ease, as if nothing had happened. Only the tip of her black tail twitched back and forth, exposing her true feelings.

  Sasha swam closer, choosing a comfortable spot on the kelp where she could lean back and listen, while Nadia sighed so deeply that bubbles flowed from her gills.

  “Just let her tell her story,” Dina said as she sank down next to us, patting Nadia’s dark tail, not quite affectionate, but not quite a slap either.

  I regretted offering up my secret. I’d held out for a full year. Then, in one hour of weakness, they’d caught me. But after seventeen years with my five elder sisters, I knew there was no backing out now.

  I shrugged, leaning back to rest my head against the bedpost. “His name is Gideon.”

  Their stunned silence was almost worth it. I grinned.

  “You spoke to him? You’re an even bigger idiot than I thought,” Nadia said with a chortle. Her pet fish rubbed against her, soaking up her delight.

  Misha had gone a bit pale. She and Yuliya had lived more than a century; long enough to have experienced more than the one small Jinni war.

  “How are you still alive, may I ask, dear sister?” Yuliya lifted a jaded brow. “Considering you can’t even face a catfish, let alone a Jinni? Was he dead?”

  “No!” My cheeks reddened. “It was when I visited the surface on my last birthday. He was a little... unconscious. But not the whole time!”

  Yuliya exchanged a knowing glance with Misha, and they burst out laughing. “Her greatest desire is for a Jinni who wasn’t even awake to meet her!”

  “He did wake up!” I yelled back. “And he said I was beautiful, and he was kind, and I love him!”

  I froze as I heard my words. I’d never said it out loud before. My sisters stared at me, glancing between themselves, wide-eyed.

  “Did she just say she’s in love with a Jinni?” Dina gave a soft laugh of disbelief.

  Yuliya only shook her head. “I feel sorry for her. Rena doesn’t even know what love is.”

  “I do too!” I snapped, flinging myself off the bed away from them. “If I could get to him, I’d prove it.”

  “Ha. Love is just a tale for little-Mere, Rena. It isn’t real. And certainly not with a Jinni. The Jinn are liars. They have their supposed code, but they also have a million ways around it, especially when it comes to dealings with the Mere. They can’t be trusted.” Yuliya was more serious than I’d seen her in years. “If you’d spent more than a short little sunset with him, you’d know who he really is. You’re a fool to even consider him.”

  “I have seen who he really is,” I reminded her, crossing my arms.

  My sisters shook their heads at me, but I didn’t care. I’d been watching him for a year now. I did know him, and he was better than all of them combined.

  Yuliya fiddled with her shells, thoughtful, and finally broke the silence. “You believe he could actually love you?”

  “Yes,” I hissed. I wasn’t as unlovable as they seemed to think. And Gideon would recognize me as the one who’d saved him. I’d wondered many times if the search he seemed to be on was for me. Maybe he loved me a little already.

  But Yuliya wasn’t done. “Would you go to the surface for him? Leave the ocean?”

  My eyes flashed to hers. I crossed my arms as my other sisters drew closer. “What do you mean? Like use the Key?”

  “Better,” she said, holding up a shell she’d always worn but I’d never seen her use. “I used this only once, years ago, when we visited Jinn. It will get rid of your tail and give you two stumps instead.”

  “They’re called legs,” I snapped. I knew at least that much. “And the Key could do that for me.” If that became what I wanted most and most likely with unbearable pain for such a high price. But I didn’t mention that.

  “Sure.” She waved a hand in dismissal. “Legs. Whatever you prefer to call them. This spell is far simpler than your precious Key. It will guarantee you can wander around the human world to find your precious Jinni.”

  I couldn’t help but touch my tail. The beauti
ful red scales shone from careful attention. What would having legs feel like? My eyes narrowed. “Why do you want to help me? What’s the catch?”

  “Why does there have to be a catch? Can’t I help my little sister? All you’d have to do in exchange is give your Key to me. Willingly.”

  “That’s not a fair trade, and you know it.”

  “Fine,” she said, shrugging. “I’m feeling benevolent. If this Jinni truly loves you, you can keep your Key. But, if you’re wrong, it’s mine. And of course, we will need a deadline.”

  “What kind of deadline?”

  “Once you have legs,” she continued thoughtfully, as if she hadn’t heard me, “you will have only one month to find your Jinni and get him to fall in love with you.”

  I tried not to smile and give myself away. That didn’t worry me at all. Like most Mere, I had tracking spells that would help me find him easily. And after our first meeting, I felt confident a month would be ten times longer than I needed. In fact, it was quite possible Gideon would know me instantly. But on the other hand, I’d never been to the human world. Who knew how large it was and how long it might take to reach Gideon?

  “Two months,” I bargained.

  “One.” Yuliya’s voice was harsh and unbending.

  “What if, for some reason...” I tried to find the right words. “He’s shy and needs more time?”

  “Or if he says he can’t stand your ugly face?” Nadia added with a chortle.

  I glared at her. “He won’t do that!”

  “If you do not have some proof of his love for you after one month on land,” Yuliya crossed her arms, “then you will forfeit the Key to me. No exceptions.”

  My other sister’s eyes widened at Yuliya’s words, disbelief written in the glances they exchanged with each other.

  The Key was nearly all of my magic. I’d never grasped the full scope of the sea magic; I hadn’t needed to.