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I APPROACHED THE DALETH with heavy footsteps. Not only was I late, but for the thousandth time I contemplated not going at all. If only Asher hadn’t seen me. If only the others hadn’t found out. If only I didn’t have this Gift in the first place.
My mother had been right. People only want to use you. And foolish girl that I was, I’d given them something to use. I should’ve pretended with Asher that I couldn’t change him. But I’d given in to curiosity. I’d wanted to know for myself.
Now, if I didn’t show, there was a chance—however big or small I wasn’t sure—that one of my friends would reveal my secrets to the Jinni Guard.
Or tell my father.
I didn’t know which was worse.
Closing my eyes against the worry, I forced myself to step through the portal into the human world.
Bird song greeted me, cheerful and carefree. Completely discordant with my current mood. Other than the wind blowing through the trees, I didn’t sense anyone. The others must be in the little clearing already.
A small part of me hoped that somehow they’d all stayed home. As I thought this, however, laughter reached me through the trees. Muffled voices.
Though I did my best to approach silently, their conversation died off when they spotted me. Already our friendship had changed, maybe forever.
“We’re all just a little nervous,” Asher said at my expression, swinging his arm over my shoulder. I appreciated him trying to pretend the tension wasn’t my fault. It barely broke through my concentration. I was too busy watching the others’ reactions to me, looking for any warning signs. When I didn’t say anything, he continued, “We decided to go back to the human town and try being humans for a day.”
As his words hit me, I pulled back, confused. “What? Why?”
Grinning, Asher shook his head. “I’ll tell all of you when we get there. For right now, we just need Bel to shift all our features to look like humans. Not a lot—just enough to fit in.”
I expected one of the others to put up a fight, especially Miriam, who always argued against Asher’s ridiculous schemes. Instead, she stepped forward, surprising me with an unexpected request. “I was thinking...” She hesitated, then spoke in a rush, “Can you make us look like anything at all?”
Biting my lip, I slowly nodded. “I think so...”
Miriam’s thin face lit up. Her hand flitted past her nose and eyes self-consciously. Leaning toward me, she whispered her requests in my ear. “My nose is so sharp and pointed.” I could barely hear her, she spoke so softly, “Can you make it rounder? And can you make my eyes a less dull shade of blue? They look like human eyes. And they’re too small.”
“Human eyes are what we are going for right now though,” I whispered back. Why am I going along with this? “All our eyes need to be human shades if we want to blend in.”
Reluctantly, she nodded. Glancing over her shoulder at the others, she paused, then asked, “Can you enhance them when we come back home, then? Will they stay that way after you change them?”
My spine stiffened at the assumption that I’d simply agree.
Miriam’s normally flat, insolent expression was bright and hopeful for once as she gazed up at me.
Some of my tension faded. I could understand wishing to be different. After all, hadn’t I just yesterday added enhancements to my own features? Sighing, I nodded.
With those requests out of the way, she let me remake her short dress in the longer human fashion without comment, and when she turned back to the others, she was a different person—not only on the outside, but inside too. Her smile lit up her entire face. Even if I hadn’t changed her nose per her request, she’d have been stunning, though of course, she’d never believe me if I said so.
“I don’t want you to change anything except my clothes,” Simon snapped as he stepped forward next, not moved in the slightest by Miriam’s unusual excitement.
I crossed my arms.
“Simon, be reasonable.” Asher stepped between us before my glare could turn into anything more. “You have to at least change your eyes.” He waved to Simon’s iridescent green, common in Jinn, but an otherworldly shade for a human. “We’re trying to blend in, remember?”
“Fine.” Simon braced himself, lip curled in disgust.
His dislike of being touched by me was the biggest issue; every time I started shifting him, he jerked back, and the change stopped. “Hold still!”
Though he continued to squirm, I tried to make quick work of his eyes and clothes, lengthening the tunic but not bothering to do much more, wanting to be done with him as much as he wanted to be done with me.
Asher went next.
He sauntered up to me with a half smile and quirk of his brow.
My face stayed flat and expressionless.
“Bel,” he murmured, leaning closer, blocking the others with his back.
I glared up at him.
Whatever he’d planned to say, he swallowed it and stayed silent.
I did the same changes for him that I’d done for Simon, giving them both brown eyes and simple clothes. Though Asher squeezed my fingers afterward and gave me a smile meant to be comforting, that sensation of butterflies was missing.
We each removed some of our more decorative outerwear—arm bands, belts, hair pieces, and armor—and tucked them beneath some bushes next to the daleth tree. This allowed me to save my energy. Though I didn’t reveal it to the others, I noticed that these more minor changes had barely made a dent in my strength.
Phillipa pulled me aside, waiting for the others to stop paying attention—which happened quickly as they admired each other’s new features—before she timidly asked, “Could you make me taller? And maybe stronger?” Unlike Miriam, I knew immediately she wasn’t asking for these changes out of vanity. The last visit to the human world had left its mark.
“Of course,” I agreed immediately. Shifting her soft, yellow eyes into the same human shade of brown as the boys was quick work. With some difficulty, I also played with the round, innocent shape of her face to make it narrower. Without a visual to base it on, it was like creating a complicated painting from scratch for the first time as an amateur artist. It took a couple tries, before I surreptitiously tried basing it on the way Simon was glowering at me. That helped it look more natural.
Giving her additional height forced me to exert myself in a different way. Taller was simple in theory, but the stretching took more energy.
Adding muscle definition, especially to her arms, which I left bare in her new gown, proved to be the most simple of the changes she’d requested.
When I finished, she flexed them in awe, standing taller for the first time in weeks. Maybe months. I hadn’t realized how much she’d slouched before.
For the first time since this whole experience began, I was happy to use my Gift for someone else.
This time when we entered the town on a busy main road, the sun was nearing the horizon and there were humans everywhere.
Everywhere.
Without meaning to, we all froze at the outskirts like deer caught in a hunter’s gaze.
The humans didn’t even notice us.
Going about their evening, they moved at different speeds or not at all, dawdling in small groups to gossip. Some left town via the main road, while others were just arriving. The humans filled the air with yelling as they tried to sell their wares, while banging and hammering sounded from down the street, and children squealed as they raced past us in a group with a leathery ball made out of an animal intestine.
Such a primitive culture.
“Get out of the way!” a deep voice yelled, making all of us jump and then scramble to the side of the road as a driver prodded his horse and cart forward, nearly running us over.
“Where to?” I asked Asher, since this was after all, his idea.
He blinked his now dull-brown eyes, unsure.
Pointing to a sign partway down the road, he said, “I think that’s a human tavern? Why don’t we try one of their drinks?”
“We don’t have any money,” Miriam reminded him, but without her usual malice. She was smiling at the humans who passed by us, and beaming when some of them smiled back.
“I’ll handle that,” Simon said, disappearing from the middle of our group without warning.
“Fool!” Asher hissed under his breath, as all of us scanned the crowd in a hurry, worried that a human had seen.
We couldn’t risk starting rumors of Jinn in this town. We weren’t supposed to be here.
While the reaction of the Jinni Guard back home would be terrifying all by itself, the humans were actually far more dangerous to us than most Jinn realized. For one thing, they had superior numbers to the five of us—four now.
When Simon reappeared in the exact same place, we were ready this time. Standing in a protective circle, we acted as nonchalant as possible and studied the passersby carefully, searching for any hint that someone had noticed.
No heads turned.
No one screamed or fainted.
An oof sounded behind me, and I nearly leapt out of my skin.
Turning around with the others, we found Simon doubled over, clutching his stomach.
“What was that for?” he groaned to Asher.
“Next time you’re stupid enough to travel in broad daylight in front of humans for no good reason, you’re done,” Asher’s voice was low and furious, enunciating every word. “Is that clear?”
“Done?” Simon tried to joke, wincing as he stood back up. “With what?”
“All of it,” Asher said in a flat tone, not smiling back. “Us. Coming here. You make a move like that again, and you’re out.”
“Fine.” Simon scowled. He held out a little cloth bag and shook it, making whatever was inside clink together. “Sounds like you don’t want the money I got us then.”
Phillipa and I glanced at each other. She stepped forward a bit more, blocking the small bag with her body from any curious eyes around us, and whispered, “Simon, what did you do?”
“Don’t worry about it,” he waved a hand at her, smiling again as if he thought she was impressed. “The human I took this from was fast asleep.”
Stole. The human he’d stolen from. What Simon had done technically broke the Unbreakable Laws. Even if it was a minor infraction, being that he’d used his Gifts on a human rather than a fellow Jinn.
Asher didn’t praise him, but he didn’t chastise him again either. Instead, he just turned on his heel, leading the way toward the tavern he’d pointed out earlier. The others followed.
I trailed along behind them, staring at their backs.
It didn’t make sense.
Why didn’t the others fear Simon and his Gift, when he used it with reckless abandon? Especially then? I’d only ever acted with extreme caution, yet they still feared me.
Though I was here with them now, it wasn’t the same as before. As we entered the dimly lit tavern, none of them seemed to care if I followed or not.
We sat at the closest open table, furtively glancing around. The room was mostly empty. Meaning it had about a dozen humans too many.
Near the back, a young woman wearing a white, stained apron wove through the tables toward us.
I leaned forward and hissed, “Who’s going to talk to the human?”
“Not me,” Miriam said immediately. Both Phillipa and Simon were quick to agree.
“I vote you,” Asher said to me. “You can use your Gift to calm her or something.”
“It’s shape-shifting, not hypnotism,” I snapped, but I didn’t have time to say anything else.
The woman came to a stop at our small table, and we all took in her freckles, red hair, and how her dress came up to her chin.
Simon’s eyes had grown wide, whether in fascination or fear, I couldn’t tell. Head tilted slightly, Miriam studied the woman’s freckles, touching her own cheeks. Phillipa kept her hands pressed in her lap, sitting still enough to be a statue, while Asher merely turned to me, expectant.
“Welcome to the New Kings Inn,” the serving woman intoned, wiping her dirty hands on her apron. “What’ll you have?”