Page 29 of Perfectly Perplexing Zombie

“As usual, Johnny is correct,” Mr. Moony agreed. “The question remains, why?”

“Curiosity?” Johnny offered while waving a hand in my general direction. “Our Wendall here’s pretty unique. That’s one theory Ray and I bounced off each other last night.”

“Ray?” I perked up, attention sharp. “Why were you talking about it with Ray?”

Johnny dropped his eyes, looking abashed. “Sorry. I didn’t mean to be intrusive or anything. It’s just Lizbeth said something to me, and I was afraid it might be what I thought. I caught Ray while he was leaving, and unfortunately, that’s where his brain went too. I, uh… There seems to be some type of genuine interest there.” Again, Johnny waved a hand in my general direction, this time focusing on Trinket. “Djinns aren’t something to mess around with, and I thought it best to let him know.”

“I agree with Johnny’s assessment of the situation and am pleased he took action.” Mr. Moony supported Johnny. “Fairies fear very little, and although I would not say they fear djinns either, they are properly wary of them. Few creatures wield as much power as a fairy. Brownies are the obvious exception. Djinns are another.”

“Whoa,” I ineloquently let slip.

“Whoa is right.” Muriel stepped in closer, her gaze skipping from me to Johnny and Mr. Moony. “You’d need to ask a witch to truly get all the details, but djinn are crazy powerful. If it wasn’t for the object they’re bound to and the restrictions placed on them at creation, they’d be scarier than fairies. They might still be.”

I swallowed around that fear, going over Muriel’s words before latching on to “Witches? Why would they know?”

“Because,” Mr. Moony calmly replied, “they are djinns’ creators.”

Wait, what?“Could you explain that, please?”

“As much as I’m able,” Mr. Moony replied. “As I said earlier, for a full tutorial, we would need a learned witch. Not all know the history, and thankfully, very few, if any, living witches know how to create a djinn. I have been told the knowledge has either been lost or destroyed. I do not know if this is a truthful statement. I have a suspicion that somewhere the knowledge still exists, but I do believe that it would not be common knowledge for today’s witches.”

“And that’s a blessing.” Muriel all but sighed. “Despite the restrictions, most, if not all, witches fell at the hands of their own creation. Fear of death is probably the only stronger motivator than lust for power.”

“They died?” I asked. “How? Did the magical drain kill them?”

“Not as I understand it,” Mr. Moony answered. “Djinns don’t like being held captive and doing another’s bidding.”

“None of us would,” Johnny threw in.

I nodded my agreement.

“Djinns are intelligent creatures and were able to twist their creators’ wishes into their worst nightmares. It took time and patience, but since djinns are essentially immortal, they had a wealth of both. Death eventually claimed all those who created them, most at the hand of their djinn.”

“Shit.” Another completely ineloquent statement. Licking my always-dry lips, I asked, “Are we sure that’s what I saw?” I didn’t like the constipated looks on Johnny’s and Muriel’s faces. As was typical, Mr. Moony’s expression was unreadable.

Finally, Johnny said, “I suppose not, but I think the combination of what you saw and what she said sounds too much like a djinn to sweep under the rug. I’d like to say otherwise, but I can’t.”

“Agreed,” Muriel said with a nod.

“Unfortunately, we are still unaware of what the djinn was doing here.” Mr. Moony’s gaze drifted toward the corner of my encounter. “Her words were vague.”

“Maybe she was just talking about how I’m deteriorating,” I hopefully offered. “Johnny’s right. I’m kind of a zombie anomaly. She could probably tell something’s wrong.”

“I suppose,” Johnny slowly drawled.

“But you don’t believe that’s it?” I pointlessly asked.

Johnny’s raised eyebrows and wrinkled brow more than indicated he thought otherwise. In response, Johnny gave me an apologetic shrug.

“Somehow, I don’t think it’s that simple,” Muriel said. “It’d be a lot easier if it were.”

“Is it just witches, or do warlocks know about them?” I asked, thinking of Vander Kines. I knew him more in passing than personally, but he seemed on friendly terms with Mr. Moony and Johnny.

The room went silent, and even Trinket picked up on the tension. Gaze flicking between worried sets of eyes, I asked, “Did I say something wrong?”

“No,” Johnny finally answered. “Not really, it’s just…”

“There’s not a lot of good history there,” Mr. Moony finished what Johnny couldn’t.

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