Page 58 of The Chosen Two

“It’s fine, George. Don’t worry about it. We’ll find them another way.”

We turn to leave when the bouncer says, “Yes, ma’am. I’m sure you will. In the meantime, isn’t it past your son’s bedtime?”

I smile at George, then turn to the bouncer, and give him a quick snap kick to the junk and a powerful uppercut into his face. In my heels! Booya Motherfucker! I stand over his knocked-out body, admiring my handiwork, when George prompts me that perhaps this could be our opportunity. So, we race through the door to the backstage area, trying to find Jake and the Muses.

Instead, we find a confusing jumble of hallways. “This place is worse than that maze of boxes you put me in with the Minotaur. Damn.”

“Uh, thanks? I guess? I don’t really know what to make of that statement.” He seems to be the slightest bit out of breath from running.

We follow the hall around a few more bends and hear giggling in a room ahead to the right, followed by a gravely, soulful woman’s voice, “You’re a natural, Baby! You were so good up there tonight!”

My eyes roll compulsively. Really, I want to puke, so I’m grateful that’s all my body does.

Then I hear Jake’s voice, crisp and strong. “Okay, ladies and gents. The ride is here. Time to head into the mountains!”

“Oh, Jakey! We’re going home. I can’t wait to get you back up there!”

“It’s magical up there, huh?” His voice sounds almost drugged, like he’s in a dream or something. Not at all like it sounded just a second ago.

I slide against the wall until I can peek around the doorframe. My eyes bug out and my brain and limbs turn to mush when I see Jake’s back to me, in that black suit and those shiny shoes, and another Jake a few feet away, gazing lovingly into Callie’s eyes. And no one else notices or cares that there are clearly two Jakes in the room.

“Off to the mountains!” One of the other Muses chants.

I slip back to George before I’m seen. My eyes and mouth are still frozen, and George is genuinely concerned. I motion that we should go get the car. Thankfully, the bouncer dude is still unconscious as we reenter the public hallway.

“We need to get to the car now. Do you know where there are mountains around here?”

“Uhh, no, can’t say that I do… Hold on, I’ll search for it. Why?”

“Because that’s where we’re going.”

Conveniently, the parking garage is right near the auditorium, so it only takes us about ninety seconds to get there and another two minutes to find the car, but I feel like an hour has gone by, and there’s no way we’ll be able to track down Jake and the Muses. (Oh god, that sounds like its own music group. I really hope that’s not the end game. He may be cute, but the man cannot carry a tune…)

On our way out of the complex, we have to drive around the colosseum, and as we approach, we see a few figures getting into a white stretch SUV limo. The last person in line is one of the Jakes.

I elbow George and point, “Hey! Check out that luck!”

He doesn’t share my enthusiasm but nods an acknowledgement before finding an inconspicuous spot to pull over our very conspicuous vehicle while we wait for the Muses’ limo to start moving. I have to give George credit. He’s really good at tailing them through the city. We stay behind them, albeit at a distance, for the rest of the drive into the mountains.

After what feels like a day and a half but is really only forty-five minutes, we reach the base of a huge mountain. George pulls over and cuts his lights while we watch the stretch Hummer limousine transporting my husband ascend the monster in front of us.

“So, how do you think we should do this?” The question is as much to me as it is to him. He looks ahead pensively. “Come on, oh mighty docent. My husband is up there with some over-sexed goddesses and a weird ass doppleganger, and we need to get him back.” I watch George as he watches the limo getting smaller and smaller. “Hey, George. What is that?” I point to a ball of green glowing energy slowly descending toward us.

George’s shoulders slump. “Oh, no.”

I look back and forth from the light to George, trying to read his mind or discern what it is, and suddenly my voice is three octaves higher. “George? What is that?”

“That, Miranda, is the Jinn we’ve been looking for.”

“Oh, shit.” The things in the park said they were going to summon him here. “Shit. Shit. Shit.”

“Miranda, please be quiet for one second. I need to think.” George stares at the dashboard like it’s a computer screen and mumbles to himself, willing his recall to pull something up from the depths of his memory. Finally, something pops to the forefront. “A magical object!”

“Come again?”

His eyes are sparkling as he speaks at a faster rate than I have ever heard before. “The Jinn has to be tied to a magical object. You know, like a genie lamp? You just have to destroy that. So there it is; there’s the plan!”

I’m skeptical of many parts of this so-called plan. “Um, okay. How do I find it? How close does it need to be to him? What kind of object am I looking for? If I do find it, how do I destroy it?”

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