Page 43 of Releasing the Djinn
*
Nadira shifted deeper into her pillows that night, enjoying the cool cushioning softness enveloping her head. Vaguely she could sense that she was on the precipice of sleep and waking. Frowning, she tried to relax her mind and body and delve back into the peaceful abyss. A faint, almost whispering feeling tickled at her senses, setting alarms off in the back of her mind. Slow scrawling motions whispered over her back and arms. What was that? Annoyed but compelled to know, Nadira turned her head to look over her shoulder and saw a set of large white teeth ready to snap.
Nadira jolted awake. Sitting up, she placed a hand over her thrashing heart. Blinking through the darkness of the room, not even the nocturnal light from outside shined through the windows, she was completely blind. The curtains must have been closed before they went to bed, she realized. Blindly she sat for a few minutes completely blanketed by the oppressing darkness and her memories of her nightmare. What was that? Surely, she would not have dreamed of Idrak like that, but who else could it be? She didn’t know any other being with teeth like prehistoric animals. Taking a few calming breaths, Nadira patted for the empty space behind her and began to lower herself down when the two white eyes appeared in the dark, like two fallen stars.
"What's wrong?" he whispered, his voice sounding as if it were surrounding her instead of coming from beside her.
Blindly, she looked up at the empty white eyes hovering in the darkness and gave him a tired smile as she shook her head. "Nothing, it was just a bad dream."
Strong hands surrounded her and she shuddered at the gentle scrape of his claws gliding across her ribs as he pulled her to him. "Come," he coaxed, easing her down beside him again. "Sleep."
***
Sitting at the linen-covered table, Nadira smiled at the young waiter who poured her a glass of deep red wine. Idrak, who was in his human glamor, was speaking to another waiter who nodded with wide vacant eyes at whatever the djinn was telling him. Taking the heavy glass in hand, Nadira turned to look out over the cathedral's ledge to the breathtaking city of Tbilisi below. With just a whisper, Idrak had taken her from their living room that evening to the rooftop of an ancient cathedral halfway around the world. Lights from the stair-stepped houses that lined the sloping city landscape reminded her of a picturesque postcard. The Kura river that flowed through the city eventually spilling out into the Caspian Sea twinkled with reflected lights of its residents. It was all breathtaking, but yet her mind could not stop from wondering about her dreams.
For the past few days, she had dreamed the same dream over and over again. Claws, familiar long black claws, scrawling unknown symbols across her body, but when she woke, nothing was there and the images faded like a dream. But the lingering feeling never went away. Even now, if she closed her eyes, she could feel the tracing claw run down her neck and arms.
Artfully she had tried to ask Idrak about it, asking if he had maybe touched her in his sleep or had maybe tried to wake her but each time she hedged and danced around the question, Idrak simply smiled and shook his head.
The sound of Idrak's footsteps next to her stole her attention from her worries and brought them back to him. Two men now carried silver trays covered with aromatic dishes. One by one, they sat the platter brimming with food down before them until there wasn't an inch to spare. With a dismissive wave from Idrak, the vacant-eyed young men left through the metal door on the other side of the roof, leaving her and Idrak alone.
Waving his hand from the food to the enchanting view of the city around them, Idrak gave her an expectant grin. "How do you like it?"
There was a need for her approval glimmering in his human eyes and Nadira felt her tension leave her shoulders. She was worrying for nothing, it was all just weird stress dreams. Idrak cared for her and wanted her to be happy, how could she think otherwise?
Giving him a bright smile, she nodded. "It's perfect. I can’t believe you did all of this just because I told you about the chapters on the Iberian wars we are covering in class."
With a blink, his human façade disappeared and Nadira smiled even brighter. Winking at her, Idrak gave her a piercing look as her eyes roved over his true form appreciatively.
"Do not tempt me, my love," he warned playfully. "I would fuck you here and now as the waiters watch."
Nadira set down her fork with a clatter as she hurriedly picked up the glass of wine and took a big gulp washing down the piece of lodged food down her throat. With nearly watering eyes, she glared at the djinn as he laughed.
Taking a bite of his own khachapuri, Idrak grinned at her. "Of course, I would have to bring you here," he said, referring to her statement earlier. "I cannot imagine what that fool is teaching you in that class of yours. I bet he is just going to gloss over Tamar's rule if the cur even deigns to mention her."
"He was going to mention her," she felt the insane need to defend her professor. He may not be as knowledgeable as the immortal wishmaster sitting across from her, but he was nice and his lessons were always interesting. Though secretly, she knew the professor would indeed probably gloss over the famous Queen's legacy.
Idrak let out a derisive noise as he finished off his second helping of food.
Taking another bite of the cheesy delicious bread bowl, Nadira thought of something. "Can you travel back in time?"
He was quiet for a long moment as he considered her question. Lifting his clawed hand, he stared at the long black tips of his claws in quiet examination before answering. "I can stop time, a technique I used to pull you from certain death," he gave her a grave look as if just remembering it angered him. "Though I can say I have not actually traveled back through time myself, but I am sure I can if I wanted and I know I have done it to others in the past." Seeing her confusion, he explained. "I have made armies vanish with a snap of my finger and didn't give it a single thought in that moment. But with my capture, my thoughts and my memories became my jailers, my friends, and often the source of my torture, which gave me immense time to think that maybe they simply did not vanish."
"As in they were sent somewhere else or maybe another time?" she offered excitedly.
"Maybe even another dimension," he added thoughtfully.
"Dimension," she repeated in awe. "I mean you hear of the possibility of these things in scientific journals and TV but…" her voice trailed off as she considered the possibilities.
Smiling Idrak rested elbow onto the table and his chin onto his palm. "With my guidance, you will soon understand that the world you know now is only a fraction of the truth."
*
That night when they got home and showered, Nadira lay propped up in bed as Idrak sat cross-legged at the end of the bed flicking through the television channels. Secretly she knew he loved TV though, the djinn was too proud to admit he was overly impressed by much of anything humans came up with, but she knew deep down he was fascinated by human technology, especially TV.
Swiping through her phone, she felt her stomach drop at the guilt-laden text message from her mom and accompanying voicemail. Clicking on the voicemail icon, she held the phone up to her ear and begrudgingly listened. After a few seconds, she dropped the phone with disgust onto the nightstand next to her.
"Let me guess," Idrak spoke without even turning his head as he stared down at the remote, most likely looking for a particular button. "Your mother?" he speculated.
"Yeah," she groaned, hating the words that were about to leave her mouth. "She wants me to come to dinner."
