Djinn (6 page)

We both stepped inside and I closed the door. I put my bowl in the sink and fetched Dad's meal from the microwave. He slumped into his chair and I placed his dinner in front of him.

"Thanks," he said. "Smells good. How was school?"

I turned on the tap and filled the sink. "Same old, same old," I replied, washing the dishes.

"Make any friends today?"

I cocked my head at him and give my usual "Did-you-just-ask-that?" look.

He put his hands up in defence. "I was just asking. People need friends, Kyra."

An image of the Lab flashed in my mind. He was my friend, but he wasn't human, and Dad would never let me keep him.

"I don't get on with anyone and, even if I did, we'd just leave. It's easier not to let anyone in," I said, lowering my head to focus on the dishes.

"Hey!"

The alarm in his voice made me turn to him. He caught my eye and held my gaze; his eyes were a strange red colour, like he needed sleep, but it was more than just the white areas—it was his iris, too.

"You should have friends, Kyra," he said, sternly. "I want you to have friends. I want you to have a normal life. I—"

"Dad," I cut him off and took his hands in mine. "I know you want the best for me. I do want those things, but I can't have them; at least, not now. I'm okay, though. Really, Dad, I'm good."

He sighed and for once looked his age, with baggy eyes and wrinkled face.

"I think you need to go to bed," I said, moving closer. "Your eyes are all red—"

Dad jumped from his chair and turned away from me.

"Dad?"

"Ah, you're right, kiddo," he said. "I'm just going to go to bed, night."

I'd never seen Dad move so fast out of the kitchen without eating his meal. He didn't even kiss my forehead goodnight.

I counted it down to him being overworked. He wasn't used to these late shifts, but if he wanted that promotion he had to put in the extra time.

I cleaned up the kitchen, putting Dad's dinner in the fridge in case he wanted it later. I did the dishes and, by the time I was done, the clock read 10:46 pm. I wasn't going to get anything done tonight and, after my nightmare the evening before, I felt as tired as Dad looked.

Double-checking all the doors were locked, I headed upstairs in an attempt to get enough sleep to get me through the next day. Even as I closed my eyes I still couldn't help but feel a presence around me, watching me. I wished the Lab had stayed.

Chapter Six

I woke the next morning, having managed to fight off my dreams and come out the other side, feeling refreshed. The strange feeling from yesterday had left me and I was glad to be rid of it. I showered and dressed in no particular hurry and headed downstairs for breakfast.

Dad was feeling much better this morning, too, having two servings of breakfast. His face was as youthful as ever, and his eyes, their usual brown colour.

Apparently, I'd gotten my golden eyes from my mother. The only time Dad ever mentioned Mum was when he stared into my eyes and said they reminded him of her.

"Dad, when is Mum's birthday?" I asked, shovelling cereal into my mouth.

Dad paused for a moment, milk dripping from his half-raised spoon. "October 2nd," he replied, but didn't elaborate or ask why I wanted to know.

"I think we should have a little party on that day," I continued. "I think we should celebrate her. She is my mother, after all."

"Kyra …" He had the usual tone of exhaustion, not really frustrated, just tired of me asking. I couldn't help it though; she was my mother, and I wanted to know more about her. How could he not see that?

I let my shoulders slump and turned my head away from him.

"We better go or I'll be late for school."

Dad drove me again, but we didn't talk much. I think he was feeling a little guilty over the conversation about Mum. He shifted in his seat, the way he did when he was uncomfortable or wanted to say something. I realised this might be the perfect opportunity to ask him about Lab.

"Hey, Dad," I said, turning from the window to face him.

"Hey, Kyra," he replied and I knew I'd used the "I want something" voice. He smiled at me. "What do you want now?"

"Just listen to what I have to say first and then you can have your say, okay?"

"Okay." He raised an eyebrow at me. "This is going to be good."

"Shhh," I said. "No talking. So there is this stray dog, a Labrador, that I've sort of become friends with and I was hoping you might possibly consider letting me keep him."

Dad's face said it all, and it wasn't the answer I was looking for.

"Just hear me out," I pleaded. "He's smart and helpful. He's a good friend—"

"Kyra …"

"I can train him to be a watch dog. He'll earn his keep—"

"Kyra, we've had this discussion before," he said.

"Yeah, but I was younger and you were unreasonable." Shouldn't have said that.

"It's not unreasonable. Dogs are a lot of work and mean more money being spent to keep them alive."

I was clearly losing this argument, which meant I would revert to the only thing I could do.

"I've never asked for anything before," I said, pretending to cry. I didn't do this often. I felt guilty about guilt-tripping Dad, but I wanted Lab more than anything. "I hardly have anything that's mine, and I just want something constant."

"I'll think about it," he said.

"Please I—wait, what?"

"I said, I'll think about."

Dad had never said that before. Had I actually gotten though to him?

"Thanks, Dad."

"It'll probably be another late one, kiddo," he said as we pulled up to the school, clearly done talking about Lab.

"I promise to be careful and have dinner waiting." I put my left hand up. "Scout's honour."

He laughed. "You never were a scout."

"No, because I would have been far too good for them," I joked. Dad's reasoning for not letting me join the scouts when I was younger was that I was much better than them and it wouldn't have been fair. Really, he didn't want me getting attached because he had planned to move away the following weekend. It upset me, so he took me camping for a month to make up for it; although, now that I think about it, he probably just wanted to save more money.

"See ya, Dad." I kissed his cheek.

"Bye, Kyra."

I watched him drive away before heading inside for first period, English. English was by far my favourite subject, even before sport. Sport was fun because I was good at it, but English was like my hobby; it was something I chose to do because I loved reading and books. There was so much interesting stuff to learn about.

Miss Bree was one of the best English teachers I'd ever had. She liked to pick books outside of the curriculum, far more interesting books. I always sat in the front of her classes because it wasn't often I had a teacher I actually liked teaching my favourite subject.

"Morning, class," she said with her usual smile. She was one of the youngest teachers at the school and her baby face didn't help her any. She looked like a student, really, except she dressed in suits to distinguish herself from the rest of us. "I have the results of your tests here."

We'd just finished reading about King Arthur and Merlin, a great story full of castles and magic. I'd always been much more interested in the magical worlds of books. Magic just seemed much easier to understand.

Miss Bree handed back our tests and I was pleased to see I'd received an A+. Not that I was surprised; I'd read everything I could find on King Arthur, spending three times as long working on the essay than I did my math homework.

"Well done, Sally," Miss Bree said, handing a paper to the girl next to me. "I love the extra effort you put in."

I gave her a genuine smile. First Dad actually listened to me, and now I was being praised by my favourite teacher. This day was getting better and better.

"Alright," Miss Bree said as she made her way back to the front of the class. "We've finished with King Arthur and we're moving on to one of my favourite books: Arabian Nights. Now, can anyone tell me about the book?"

A few uncertain hands rose in the air. I'd never read the book before.

"Yes, Rachel," Miss Bree said.

Rachel was the girl sitting next to me. She had a pointed face that reminded me of a chipmunk but with her heavy makeup, skimpy clothes and bleached blond hair she was clearly a popular girl in school.

"Umm … it's the one about the boy from the streets who finds a lamp and gets a blue genie to grant him three wishes? I think he was voiced by Robin Williams."

"That was
Aladdin
, Rachel," Miss Bree corrected. "And that was a movie."

The class erupted in giggles and Rachel's face burned bright red. She was popular, but not very bright—just the way teenage boys liked her.

"Settle down." Miss Bree silenced the class with her hands. "Rachel's not completely wrong.
Arabian Nights
does have genies in it, but they are called Djinn. They are tricksters who turn the wishes granted against the wisher."

"Sounds mean," Rachel said.

"There are other creatures in the book, like mermaids, and there is lots of fighting to survive, and stunning locals," Miss Bree said as if she were reading it in the moment. "I'm going to break you up into groups and I want you to write down everything you know about mythical creatures."

Miss Bree began breaking everyone up in small groups. I loved the sound of the activity but the fact I had to do it with someone else wasn't great.

"Sally, Rachel and Mia. You three can work together."

I glanced at Rachel, who in turn looked back at me. We had the exact same look on our faces. We did not want to work together.

"Who's Mia?" Rachel asked Miss Bree.

The same question flashed in my mind. I knew all the girls in year twelve, and there was no Mia.

"I'm Mia," said a voice behind us.

I turned to see the goth girl from yesterday sitting behind me. I hadn't even noticed her when I came in. How could I have missed her? The way she looked set her apart from the other students like a beacon, which seemed ironic, given her black outfit.

"Gross," Rachel said, looking Mia up and down. "What are you, emo or something?"

"Shut up Rachel," I said, before I could stop myself. I didn't usually stand up for people, but I guess I knew what it was like to be the new girl.

"Losers sticking up for each other, how cute," she said with a devious grin. "There's no way I'm getting stuck with you two as partners. Later, losers."

Rachel rose from her seat and strutted across the room to her friends. I watched her leave. At least we wouldn't lose any marks with her absence. If anything our grade would get better.

"Soooo, you're Mia," I finally said, like an idiot.

"Yeah, I am, obviously."

"I'm … Sally. Sally Fox," I said, remembering my fake name. It wasn't often I had to say it.

"Should we do this thing?" Mia asked, holding up a blank piece of paper.

"Sure."

Mia was surprisingly knowledgeable about mythical creatures. Even though we tended to disagree on key points, it was really nice to have someone to talk to, and time passed quickly while we argued.

"So mermaids are half-human, half-fish," I said, moving on to our fourth creature. "I think I read once that they were cursed to have tails. Something to do with the Greek gods."

Mia shook her head, her black bob swishing in place. "I keep telling you, mythical creatures aren't made by curses or spells. It's all evolution. Mythical creatures are just mutated humans."

"They're magical though," I tried to explain.

"Doesn't matter, it's all genes." She glanced up at me, eyes framed with heavy black eyeliner. Mia kept throwing looks like she was studying me, trying to figure me out, perhaps. It was unnerving, but nice, like she was trying to see who I really was.

"How about we write both answers, then," I decided and scribbled Mia's weird thoughts onto the page, mostly so I didn't have to watch her stare anymore.

"Did you just move to town?" I asked.

"Yeah, a few days ago."

"I saw you yesterday with Pyke. Are you two related?"

"He's my brother." She stumbled a bit with the word brother. "He said you'd been here a few months."

I was shocked that Pyke had talked about me to his sister. What else had he told her?

"Yeah. I was the newest kid here before you two showed up," I said, hoping I wasn't rambling.

"Where do you live?"