Leila reappeared in front of a mountain.

She screamed.

It was unlike any mountain she’d seen. Instead of the gentle rounded peaks of the Blue Ridge, this was a tall, jagged crag, its tip covered in clouds. Sand dunes whirled and shifted around her, the geography completely alien. She tried to catch her breath, but her brain refused to compute how she had been in front of her neighbor’s burnt barn and was now here — in front of what looked like one of Bianca’s fantastical desktop wallpapers.

“Young Mazanderani, of the salt marsh sea, of the river of silver,” a husky voice said from behind her. Leila whipped her head around. There stood a boy, over six feet tall, with raven-black hair and bright red eyes. His cheekbones stood out sharply from his face, and his long nose had the trademark crick of many Iranians. He was handsome in a harsh, brutal way. His round, full lips looked like they were trying hard not to sneer at her.

Leila stared in shock. Yet the more she looked, the more he seemed familiar. Sure enough, his body seemed to shimmer and shift like a mirage. It was the fire demon! The same creature that had rushed them in the Elmhursts’ field was now a human, staring back at her.

Instead of flames, he wore a regal-looking outfit, with a fur-lined cape and an obsidian uniform with shining gold buttons. He bowed low, almost mocking her. “Your debt must be paid.”

Leila finally found her voice. It sounded thin against the whipping wind of the dunes. “What debt? Where am I?”

“The promise of your ancestors is your burden to bear,” the boy’s low voice growled, not really answering her. “Even if you are innocent, a debt is a debt. Now you are of age to pay it.”

Of age, the words repeated in her head. She had just turned eighteen. Is this the age he was talking about? And what did someone gamble away to make her in debt to this… this… thing ?

Leila sank to her knees, her skirt puddling into the warm sand. She didn’t understand. Where was she? Why her? And what did this demon have to do with it? Maybe I’m just dreaming again…

“But… who would bargain me away?” she finally asked.

The boy laughed. It was that same cruel, cold laugh she had heard in her dreams, the voice cackling over and over in her head. He was the demon from my dreams too, Leila realized, the horror setting in.

Then: I’m not dreaming now, either.

Leila stared helplessly at the mountain. At first glance it looked like a pillar rising to the sky, but the closer she looked, the more she realized it wasn’t just a mountain: it was a city.

Nestled into each crack of the mountain were homes, stores, and mansions. At the very top was a palace, so big she could see it from here at the mountain base as it kissed the sky. There were terraces and balconies spilling over every square inch of mountainside, each home carved into the rock face. Flickers of flame dotted each curve and crag, the whole peak blinking like a million fireflies.

Emeralds and rubies, diamonds and sapphires, all twinkled from the summit, giving the mountain a kaleidoscopic effect. The whole thing looked like it was fit to burst, and that a stray gust of wind could topple the overburdened mountain any second. Everything felt surreal and hazy, the rules of reality shifting. Her brain simply couldn’t believe that she was somewhere different from Ayers.

“It’s not all bad,” the boy chuckled, interrupting her stares. “Should you want to prosper, this could all be yours.” He gestured to the twinkling city with a lazy wave. “The djinn plane needs a princess, after all.”

“What?”

Here the boy dropped his pompous act. He crouched, meeting Leila’s eyes from where she stood on tiptoe to look into his.

“Help us grow our numbers,” he said, his voice suddenly desperate. “Help us swell our ranks. All we need is one bridge, one aide, and we could expand our empire.”

Leila was tired of asking questions, tired of being completely out of her depth, but still, she couldn’t help herself. Her body shook. Her throat was dry as sand. “What?” she asked again. “How?”

“My father, the king, thinks we should just move.” The boy shook his head in disgust. “It’s the coward’s way. This mountain has been our home for millennia. It has been our home since humans were shaped from clay! But if we took over the human plane, we wouldn’t need to leave. We could live in both worlds, prosper on both sides.”

Leila’s heart raced, trying to keep up with everything he was saying. The human plane? Clay? What is he?

“Help us,” he said, holding out his hand. “You could be my bride. Together we could rule both planes, you and I.” His hand glittered with jewels, each ring as big as a knuckle.

Leila recoiled. “I don’t understand,” she said firmly, stepping away from him. “What debt?” she demanded. “What are you?”

The boy snatched his hand back, sneering again at her. “I never thought a dirty human would ever turn down a djinn.” He tucked his hand back into his fur cloak, the offer clearly gone.

A djinn. He’d said the word djinn.

“Never mind,” he said, more to himself. “We’ll just do this the hard way.”

Leila struggled to remember where she’d heard the word djinn before. There were genies in American pop culture, but djinn felt like something from her father’s side. Images of his Quran swam in front of her, his tasbih — black prayer beads — resting on top. Djinn had something to do with Islam, she was pretty sure.

She looked back at the boy, ready to demand even more answers, but it was clear the conversation was over. He snapped his fingers, using the two-handed snap her father insisted on, and flames grew around his body, swirling out to reach her.

Leila felt her own body grow warm like before, and flames tickled her toes. Before she knew it, the fire he’d made engulfed her, her view of the mountain blocked.

“Wait!” she cried. And then, the boy rushed at her, his body turning to flames as they poured directly into Leila.

She screamed.

She reappeared next to Bianca in the field, the sunshine of the mountain burning an afterimage into the wintry Ayers air. The sneering boy was gone. She was back.

Silence. Bianca stared at Leila like she’d seen a ghost.

Then Bianca screamed. “WHAT! THE! HELL!”

Leila stood still, completely thunderstruck. This is really happening, she repeated to herself. I’m not dreaming anymore.

“You were just there” — Bianca gestured with both hands like a football referee — “and then you were not there. And now my brain is broken.”

Leila tried to verbalize what she had witnessed, but it was no use. “I went to a mountain.… It was like nothing I’ve ever seen. Who was that guy? There was something about a bridge…” She was babbling now, but she didn’t care. How to explain what she’d witnessed? How did she communicate the wildest, most jaw-dropping thing she’d ever seen to her estranged sister?

Bianca’s body stilled. “What?”

She doesn’t understand, a small voice inside Leila said. She’ll never understand.

“Slow down,” Bianca finally said. “A mountain?”

Leila took a deep breath, pushing her reaction inside. “It was this mountain covered in gold and jewels and it was full of houses, and then this guy said…” She trailed off, realizing how ridiculous she sounded.

Bianca frowned. “If you hadn’t just disappeared, I would think you hit your head pretty badly.”

Leila toed her boots in the ground, embarrassed. “Never mind. This is stupid.”

“No! That’s not what I said! I meant — ” Bianca cried.

“Why are you yelling at me?” Leila demanded.

Once again, Bianca seemed to be punishing Leila for reasons she didn’t understand. Her sister’s brusque, direct manner was scolding her even now, after a supernatural run-in. Bianca’s hysterics left little room for Leila’s own.

Foster’s limp body lay between them, completely forgotten.

“I’M NOT YELLING!” Bianca replied, practically hyperventilating now. “This makes no sense.” She began to pace. “There was a fire next door and at the train station, and some demon thing tried to eat us, and you somehow disappeared?”

Now Leila felt like she had to be the calm one despite the major bomb that had just dropped on her life, this huge fever dream she needed to dissect immediately once she was on her own. Bianca’s emotions always sucked the air out of a room, and today was no different. “We need to get Foster home. Mom and Dad will be here soon,” Leila said evenly, shoving the last ten minutes out of her head.

Bianca opened her mouth, closed it, then opened it again. “That’s it? That’s all you have to say? You just… well, you, I mean — ”

Leila said nothing, even as her own thoughts raced. Where did that boy go? What did he mean by “helping” them? What’s this debt, and how can I pay it? “Foster. We gotta move him,” Leila repeated.

Bianca searched her sister’s face, as if looking for something, then exhaled. She turned to Foster. “Hey, asshole, wake up.” She nudged Foster’s shoulder, but he didn’t budge.

“Bianca!” Leila said, horrified.

Bianca sighed, blowing a strand of hair out of her face. Leila noted how ragged Bianca looked then, her sweater coming apart at the chest, her mascara running down her cold cheeks. Had she been crying? She couldn’t remember the last time she’d seen her sister shed a single tear.

“Fine,” Bianca said. She bent over Foster’s body and rummaged in his pockets, pulling out his keychain, the one with the Tennessee Titans bottle opener on it. “Be right back.”

“Where are you — ” But Bianca was already off, jogging toward Foster’s car. Leila bent down next to him. “Foster? Babe?”

She put a hand in front of his mouth and confirmed that he was still breathing. His forehead felt cold, her palm much warmer by comparison. He had no visible bruises, no cuts or scrapes. She wondered if the demon had hurt him, or whether Foster had just passed out from fear.

She looked at the back of her hand, suddenly so much tanner against Foster’s pale skin. The olive undertones of her coloring stood out now, giving her complexion a full, healthy glow. But before she could think about what that meant, the sound of Foster’s Jeep came crunching up the frosted ground behind her.

Leila blinked in the bright headlights. Bianca had driven Foster’s Jeep up the Elmhursts’ drive and off-roaded it to the scorched earth by the barn, following the tracks of the fire trucks and cop cars from the night before.

Bianca hopped out. “Okay, I gotta admit, that thing is fun to drive.”

Leila frowned. “Help me move him. We can use one of the blankets in the trunk and slide him over.”

“And why would Foster need blankets in the back of his car, sister of mine?” Bianca asked innocently, opening the spare-tire door in the trunk.

“Shut up,” Leila growled.

Bianca stopped in place, giving her sister a long look. “So, we’re feisty now, huh?”

Leila groaned. “Just help me!”

She didn’t like this familiarity with her sister, didn’t like how Bianca had witnessed this big transformation Leila hadn’t even had time to parse for herself.

Bianca made an annoying zipper motion over her lips and shook out a ratty plaid blanket next to Foster’s body. They rolled his frame onto it, and Leila noted how much lighter Foster felt than before.

“Now we gotta shimmy him up into the car somehow,” Bianca sighed. “Why does he feel way heavier than he looks?”

Leila shrugged. “Muscle is heavier than fat?”

Bianca shook her head in disgust. “I hate how hot he is.”

“Bianca!”

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll grab his legs; you grab his shoulders,” Bianca said, waving off her sister’s scandalized expression. Leila had known that Foster was attractive in a general sense but never knew her sister agreed with public sentiment. It was still shocking, though, to talk about something as banal as which guys they thought were hot. Just asking the other to pass the salt at dinner was excruciating.

Leila reached under Foster’s armpits again, but before Bianca could get a good hold on his legs, Leila was already dragging him up into the passenger seat.

“Whoa!” Bianca exclaimed. “Did you get super strength and a makeover?”

Leila pushed Foster into the car, then bent over to buckle his seatbelt. She yanked it hard, locking the belt in place to keep him from tipping over. Then she looked at her arms, marveling at how she barely felt winded.

“I do feel stronger,” she admitted. She walked to the back of the car and gripped the bumper. She’d read somewhere that mothers got superhuman strength when their children were in danger. Maybe this was something similar.

She gripped the bumper, trying to lift it, and gasped with effort.

Nothing.

“Wow,” Bianca said flatly, arms crossed over the hole in her sweater. “That was embarrassing.”

“Oh my god, shut up, Bianca!” Leila said, exasperated. “Just give me the keys. Mom and Dad’ll be home soon.”

“What are you gonna tell Foster?” Bianca demanded. “That a fire demon knocked him out?”

Leila bit her lip. “I’ll just tell him he fell asleep. You know… after…”

Bianca made a vomiting motion. “After you two did it in the back of his Jeep? Just write a country music song already.”

Leila blushed, furious at Bianca for being so difficult in what was already an unbelievable series of events.

“Keys,” Leila repeated.

Bianca tossed them to her, and Leila climbed into the driver’s seat.

“Wait!” Bianca called out. Leila stopped, about to turn on the ignition. “Text me when you get there! I can pick you up.”

Leila would rather clear her savings account on the town’s one Uber than call Bianca for a silent, uncomfortable ride home. Better yet, she’d just take her chances with Shivani’s Lexus and ask her for a ride. Shivani’s driving was terrifying, but still, it wasn’t as awful as sharing a tense ride with her twin.

“Fine,” was all Bianca said, reading her face. “Don’t call.”

Leila reversed out of the field, her sister’s face still frowning in the light of the high beams.

Heat surged through Leila’s hands as she gripped the steering wheel. She knew, somehow instinctually, that there was a new fire simmering underneath her skin. Whatever had happened in the last hour had changed her, and she didn’t feel the same.

Could she make flames dance the same way as the boy by the mountain? She found herself wanting to know, instead of compartmentalizing this power into some dark basement in her mind, like the rest of her questions about herself.

In that moment, Foster stirred awake.

“Babe?” he said, his voice thick. “What…” He trailed off, seeing that Leila was driving away from her house.

“You fell asleep, babe.” Leila remembered to smile sweetly at him. “How do you feel?”

“Fine,” Foster said, his expression still bewildered. He ran a hand through his thick hair, yawning. “Man, I must have been exhausted.”

“Yeah,” Leila agreed. “You must have been. Do you remember anything?”

Foster turned to her. Leila tensed, feeling his eyes on her.

“You look different,” he said slowly. “Did I see the barn?”

Leila exhaled. He didn’t remember the fire demon. “No, sweetie, you fell asleep before you got a chance to look.” Inside, her heart raced. Did he remember the fire demon rushing him in his flame form? Did he see her disappear from the human plane?

“Makeup, huh? That stuff is like Photoshop.” And then Foster promptly fell asleep again.

Leila exhaled, relief cooling the rising heat in her blood.

This is who you choose to stand beside? a small, petulant voice inside her began. This fool?

Leila almost bit her tongue. She was surprised to hear herself think those thoughts. Foster wasn’t the smartest, it was true. But did she really think he was a fool?

She signaled to turn off their road and looked in the rearview mirror. She squinted. There, in the field, Bianca was still staring after her, arms crossed.

Leila looked away, finally catching her own reflection. Foster was right: she did look different. She looked like someone strong, someone who radiated confidence and conviction. Her lips were redder, her cheeks sharper. She stared into her golden irises, and there, for a quick second, she registered a flicker of flame that almost made her swerve off the road.

She shook her head, pressing the accelerator. She didn’t want to think about that mountain in the desert now, didn’t want to think about what the djinn had said to her. Now that she was in the safety of the car, it all felt like a hallucination, a concussion dream that was surely made up.

Whatever you say, the voice inside her chuckled.