The Harder I Work, the Luckier I Get Read online

“Please state your business before you come any closer,” Rick announced.

  “I would like to speak to the queen, if that would be possible,” a man’s voice replied.

  I didn’t hear anything threatening in that voice. There was a subtle accent I couldn’t immediately place, but other than that, it sounded normal.

  “As long as you can do it without having to actually see her, that can be arranged,” Nate said.

  “That is understandable. I know the threat you face more than most of you. I am only here to offer my services,” the man said.

  “Thank you, sir. Before I can decide if that would be acceptable, could you please tell me who and what you are? My colleagues like to keep secrets from me, and even though I’ve asked many times about you, they haven’t told me anything,” I said, trying to peek out from behind the wall.

  “My name is Makrammaramisam and I am jinn,” he said, bowing as I finally got a look at our stranger through a small crack between bodies.

  He was relatively short and seemed like he could be Middle Eastern, judging by his accent and general look. Granted, I was basing that off of what I‘d seen in movies, so I really had no clue.

  “You just gave her your real name, didn’t you?” Charlie asked.

  “But, of course. It would be rude not to do as the queen asked,” the man replied.

  I was stuck trying to sound out and spell the man’s name in my head. Until my mind made sense of it, it wasn’t letting me move on to the more important question of what the man wanted.

  “You could have given a nickname,” Rick pointed out.

  “For my queen, I can do no less than give my full name. My fate is in her hands,” he replied.

  “Before we go any further, can I just ask if it’s okay to call you Mak? There’s no way I’m going to be able to properly pronounce your name,” I said, giving up my mental exercises.

  “You honor me, by choosing not to use my full name,” Mak said with another bow. I assumed that meant it was okay.

  “What’s the deal with his full name?” I asked. Eventually, I wouldn’t be the only person in the room who didn’t know what was going on.

  “He’s a jinni. When I say the singular, can you guess what that means?” Charlie asked.

  “It sounds kind of like you’re saying genie. Does he grant wishes or something?”

  Mak started laughing. He was lucky it didn’t sound like he was mocking me. I wasn’t sure what he found amusing, but he seemed talkative enough that I was sure I’d find out.

  “You really don’t have your memories, my queen. My previous master mentioned that, but I thought he may be lying. I’ve found there’s very few trustworthy people out there.”

  “Sweetie, a jinni isn’t exactly what you see in the movies. They’re magical beings, but they don’t really grant wishes,” Nate informed me. “The only way to capture one is to know their real name. Because of that, they keep their names secret and tend to make them complicated. When they’re captured, they must do whatever their master commands them until they’re either freed, which rarely happens, or their master dies.”

  “They like to play tricks, similar to my people,” Elan added. “You have to be very careful with what you command them to do, because it can sometimes backfire.”

  “You mentioned your previous master, did he release you?” I asked Mak.

  “No, you killed him,” he replied. “That’s why I’m here to offer my services. It is in repayment for you freeing me from years of servitude.”

  “I haven’t killed that many people, but I still can’t guess who you’re talking about,” I said, thinking back to the few people who’d died at my hand. There was really only one who stuck out, but I didn’t think he had the kind of backup a jinn seemed to be able to provide.

  “He went by Alexander. I was in the clearing during your battle, but kept myself hidden. He commanded me to be there in case things went badly. He forgot, however, to give instructions on what I should do to help him win the fight. Since he wasn’t specific, I let you kill him.”

  “Rick, I don’t remember you or Liam telling me there was another threat once you guys were allowed in the clearing,” I said. They were usually sticklers for making sure stuff like that didn’t happen.

  “It’s not their faults,” Mak replied. “I’m able to mask myself and that was part of the order, for me to be in the clearing, but invisible to all your senses.”

  I was still trapped peeking from behind the wall, so I said, “Guys, I believe if Mak was going to try anything, he would have by now. Why don’t you clear the way a little, so I can suitably greet him?”

   “You sure?” Rick asked. “He’s already admitted to being in the service of one warlock. What if another one picked him up after Alexander was killed.”

  “What if he was never a servant of Alexander and is actually working for someone else who told him to say that?” Joseph asked.

  “Can he kill me?”

  “No,” Nate replied.

  “Then we have no issue. Now, make the guys move,” I instructed.

  “You heard her, guys. Big bad phoenix queen wants her guards out of the way,” Nate told them, like they didn’t hear the request directly from me. They reluctantly cleared the path, so I could make my way to Mak.

  “Mak, I would be honored if you stood beside us in the world we’re creating for ourselves. It’d be really nice to add another being to our group of advisors who isn’t of the shifting variety. The changes so far to our society mostly effected them, so it made sense for there to be a lot of them, but I’m sure there will be other adjustments to be made that will spread to the other uniques.”

  Some people may say I’m too trusting, but I thought we were picking up a strength for our side. It was a little strange that I’d always had issues trusting, but when it came to meeting new uniques, I tended to welcome them with open arms.

  “My queen, you honor me more than you should. I came to offer my servitude, nothing more,” he replied.

  “Since servitude isn’t in my dictionary, you’re going to have to settle with the position on the panel. I think you’ll be a great asset, because you’ve been behind the scenes and can answer many of our questions,” I countered.

  “You would truly use me for my knowledge and not my abilities?” Mak asked.

  “Avery doesn’t believe in exploiting people’s abilities, other than maybe her own, and we have to all keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn’t overdo it,” Elan informed him.

  “But she does use your ability, right?” Mak asked Elan.

  Introductions hadn’t been made, so I assumed either Mak knew from the beginning what Elan was, or he was able to put it together when Elan had compared their two species. Either way, Mak seemed smart to me.

  “Yes, but she asked if it was okay and never tried to deceive me. Because of the way she is, I was able to convince two other Kapres to join us at the main compound and assist with training simulations. That frees me up so I can infiltrate the warlock camps and be available when Avery travels,” Elan replied. “She makes everyone feel welcome. It’s the first time in my life that I have felt like I belong to a family.”

  Mak turned and studied me. “You are so much more than the warlocks are going to expect. Most leaders torment their troops and that leads to dissension in the ranks. You really are just taking everyone under your wing and trying to protect them, aren’t you?”

  “If I could fight this battle alone and make sure none of my people received even a broken nail, I would. Their leader, who we have recently decided may be Malphas, wants me dead. He isn’t requesting the head of anyone else, but without all my marbles securely fastened in my brain, I need assistance to at least guide me in the right direction.”

  Mak dropped to his knees and bowed. The bowing thing was getting on my nerves, and I was going to comment about it, but Nate put a hand on my arm, indicating to me I should wait.

  “I swear my allegiance to you alone, my queen.
From this day forward, only you may call upon me. With my blood,” he said, pricking his finger with a pin that he pulled out of nowhere, “I do swear.”

  He finished his little ritual by taking his finger and making a vertical mark down his forehead, and before I knew it, he was in front of me doing the same to my forehead. I felt a small charge of energy and looked around, waiting for someone to explain what just happened.

  “Well, I guess we don’t have to wonder if he’s still working for someone else,” Charlie said. “He wouldn’t have been able to do that if he was.”

  “So what in the world just happened?” I asked.

  “He bound himself to you,” Nate replied. He didn’t seem happy or sad about the revelation. It seemed like it was just another thing that happened in my everyday life.

  “Okay, who, what, where, when and why?” I asked.

  “The who, is me and you,” Mak started. “The what, is the fact that we are now bound together. The where, is right here. The when, was about thirty seconds ago. Finally, the why, is because this way I can never be summoned by another again. I will only serve you, and from following you around recently and this conversation, I have determined being with you is better than any life I could ever have dreamed of for myself.”

  “Isn’t there a way you could have made it so you wouldn’t be summoned? It sounds like you’re a strong magical being. There had to be some way for you to get around it.”

  “No, believe me we’ve looked for centuries and there isn’t a way. We’re destined to be slaves to others. You’ll be my first master who, I’m hoping, doesn’t take advantage of my abilities.”

  “I don’t really even know what your abilities are. I’ll ask now that it seems you’re with Team Unique, that if you have abilities that you think will be helpful in our battle, to please let me know, so we can try to keep our wounded down to a minimum,” I said.

  “You really don’t know what you have here, sis,” Rick interjected before Mak could answer. “He has to do, and probably can do, anything you tell him. Short of murdering a unique, he can basically do anything.”

  “I’ll take that into consideration, but I’m not going to just start bossing him around,” I said.

  “Why not? You boss all the rest of us around,” Kyle replied.

  “Yes, but you guys aren’t required to do what I tell you. I’m one hundred percent behind the concept of free will. I’ll have to start working out a spell that will allow him to use his powers as he wishes and not have to be ordered to do so,” I declared.

  I couldn’t believe what a crummy life any jinn had to have. I wanted to do some research to find out how they’d been bound to servitude to begin with. There had to be a way to let them live their lives as free people.

  “You would really work to find a way to release my metaphorical chains?” Mak asked. The disbelief in his voice was abundantly clear.

  “Well, yeah. I worked an odor smell out for Elan here, so others won’t know he chain smoked for years, and he can now live like a normal person. Granted he’s a very tall normal person, but he won’t be persecuted because of the traditional stigma that a Kapre carries.”

  “I’m not sure they want me to mention them yet, but I do have two other jinn travelling with me. I wanted to come and test the waters to see what you were really like. Would you welcome them into your circle as well?” Mak asked. “Their names have not been called for a very long time, so they won’t have any insider information like I do.”

  “Is the only way for them to be protected the way you did it? I want to find a spell for you guys, but I might not be able to until next week. I’m getting married in a couple of days and there are some things I need to prepare,” I said.

  “I will tell them what you’ve said today. They will have no problem binding themselves to you,” he replied.

  “Does it have to be me? Can it be one of my other friends?” I asked. Having one jinni attached to me was bad enough. I didn’t think I’d handle three very well.

  “They will want to have it with you. I’m sorry, but I don’t believe I can convince them that someone else would be okay,” he said.

  “Fine, if it means they’ll be safe, tell them to come to me and I’ll do everything I can to protect them.”

  “I hate to break this up, but I have a pretty good sniffer and I do believe I’m smelling kerosene somewhere in the building. It’s strong enough that I think we should be on our way,” Joseph informed us.

  “Joseph, since you can smell where it’s coming from, please lead us out of here with a quickness,” I said. If I was sure I could do it, I would’ve just transported us all, but our group was abnormally large.

  “Follow me,” he replied, taking off towards an exit that was hopefully safe. On my way out, I saw a fire alarm and pulled it to alert anyone who may have lingered in the building.

 

  CHAPTER 6

  Being pulled in ten different directions is hard