This Cursed Flame

Chapter One

*Please note: This book is now available through all major retailers with major changes! The Wattpad version is a previous (much different) version of the story. If you want to see all the changes (which make the story much, much better), please head over to your favorite retailer and pick up a copy! It is still called This Cursed Flame by Selina J. Eckert.

Fuego, Djinn Realm

Janan couldn't breathe.

She hurried to the side of the road, trying to hide herself in the pressing crowds. All the while, her eyes never left the hooded figure across the street. How did he find her, again?

Tiny white dots floated in her vision as her heart pumped blood faster than her brain was using it. They were obscuring the beige and white masonry of the city, the multi-colored throng pushing through the cobbled streets like strutting peacocks. The morning air held a bite, and she pulled her cloak closer around her shoulders to ward off the chill. Despite the hundreds of people milling about, Janan wasn't surprised to find she was the only genie visible. Those who recognized her for what she was either gave her a wide berth or cast vicious looks her way. She unconsciously covered her scarred arms and stepped further into the shadows.

"Janan!" a voice rang out over the roar of a thousand voices.

Janan cringed, her head snapping toward the hooded figure, hoping he hadn't heard her name.

"Janan!" the voice called again.

Janan searched the unfamiliar faces for the voice's owner, finally landing on a small, beige feline with ebony spots. If she didn't look directly at the animal, she could almost see the woman's true form beneath the spell.

"Safiyya!" Janan pushed her way back through the rest of the people separating them and knelt in front of her friend, willing the ocelot-djinn to quiet her voice.

Safiyya of the House Grimalkin studied her face briefly. "Everything okay?"

"Yes, of course," she lied, rising to her feet and refusing to meet Safiyya's bright emerald gaze.

Safiyya looked doubtful, her eyes traveling across the old scars marring Janan's pale skin, searching for any new injuries. She couldn't know that Janan's injuries were deeper than flesh, that they now manifested as panic resting just below the surface. That demon from the past hovered far too close for comfort.

Safiyya thankfully dropped the subject. "Have you heard from the others yet?"

"No, nothing." Janan touched the shining gem that hung around her neck, a simple piece of Torrebon technology carried by almost every djinn or genie in the Realm. It not only allowed them access to the human and djinn internet but also provided a simple means of communication with just a small spark of magic.

It was all the magic she could bear to use. She had almost convinced herself that if she didn't use any genie magic at all, maybe she could be human again. Still seventeen, still awkward and scared, but human. As it stood now, she didn't really fit anywhere, and she felt that weight every time she stepped foot outside.

Safiyya and Janan wove through the scores of temporary stalls lining the sidewalk for an annual street fair. Vendors on both sides hawked their wares. Fabric bolts here, jewelry there, tiny carved statues from the ifrit city of Prinnyn, mechanical toys from the ghul city of Torrebos. The road had been blocked off from automobile travel for the event, allowing the thousands of pedestrians to browse freely without fear of being run down.

Janan tried to focus on the fair and push the hooded man out of her mind. Maybe it wasn't really him. Her bag bounced against her thigh as she walked. It held only a few coins and her single purchase of the day: a bright glass bottle to add to her collection. To her, it was almost a joke. A genie who collected bottles. She could remember very little of her human life, though it had only been a few years ago, but for some reason, the idea of a genie in a bottle persisted. This bottle had felt special for some reason, somehow familiar, but the ghosts of memory were too slippery for her to catch. She had purchased it, hoping against hope that she could remember something later.

The sun was rising higher in the sky, but Janan still felt cold. Every djinn in a cloak, every turned back, every sideways look made her feel hunted. Somewhere in this mass of bodies hid Ahriman, the djinn who had stolen her humanity.

She glanced at Safiyya by her side. Ahriman was here, but so was her family, the one she had found after Ahriman. Ghadir had found her first, but she had never been the kind of person to settle in one place for long, so she had passed Janan on to Irina and Mahtab, whom she now considered surrogate parents.

She was endangering them with every second she spent near them.

Safiyya had stopped walking and was staring up at her expectantly.

"I'm sorry," Janan said, blinking herself back to the present. "What did you say?"

"I just asked if you wanted a drink. I'm getting a bit thirsty." Safiyya had stopped next to a vendor selling cold fruit drinks. Her eyes watched Janan's shaky movements, took in her shallow breathing.

Janan would tell her. Eventually.

"Oh. Sure."

Safiyya rubbed her head against a picture of a lemon below the counter. "This one, please."

Janan pointed to the lemon drink and a grape drink in the displayed pitchers, trading a coin for the two glasses. They walked a few steps away before she placed the lemon one on the sidewalk for Safiyya. Her own straw halfway to her mouth, she suddenly froze, her eyes locked on the empty space between a couple of passing ghul women, their eyes bright yellow against their pale blue skin, even shaded by their cloaks. She could have sworn he was there again. The hooded figure. Ahriman.

Whether or not that cursed ifrit was actually in the market, her heart began pounding all over again. Sweat shone on her pale skin, and she wheezed for breath. No longer thirsty, she set the glass down next to Safiyya.

Safiyya let the straw drop out of her mouth, concern filling her eyes. "Are you sure you're okay?"

"Yeah, fine," she mumbled back, turning away just enough so that Safiyya couldn't see the tears threatening to spill over. She clutched her hands to her stomach, willing the shaking in her fingers to subside.

She should tell her family. She knew she should. If he really was here, they were in serious danger. But they were having a nice day for once, and she had ruined so many of their nice days. She didn't want to ruin this one, too.

She watched the passing crowds of djinn, almost everyone looking much happier than she felt. She wrapped her arms around her body as if that could ward off the cold and anxiety building up within her. More and more, she just wanted to go back to their small apartment and curl up in the shadows. Out of sight and out of mind.

A small trio of smug-looking djinn leered at her as they passed. "Filthy genie."

"Don't worry, that's all about to change," another of them snarled.

Then Safiyya was at Janan's side, the fruit drinks forgotten. She bared sharp teeth at the djinn. "Keep walking," she growled low in her throat.

The last of the djinn rolled her eyes before following her friends, her sighed words meant for Janan's and Safiyya's ears. "Genie sympathizers. Just as bad as the genies."

But Janan's thoughts were stuck on the second djinn. What was about to change?