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"What is wrong with you," Noreen said, freeing her hand from Zim's light grip as soon as they teleported to an unfamiliar place. She was furious, and her earlier good humor vanished at his high-handedness. How could he bring her with him without so much as a by your leave?
"No harm meant." He took a step back and raised his arms in surrender. "I didn't want to leave you with that Grim Reaper." He shrugged and gave her a lopsided grin as if his explanation was perfectly acceptable.
She thought not. "First, he has a name–Sameer." She put both her hands on her waist and glared at him. "Second, he is my partner and a close friend. We have been working together for months. And you shouldn’t have grabbed my hand and teleported like that. There was no need for that. Now, he must be worried." She muttered the last sentence as if talking to herself.
But she was glad he didn’t follow them. She had no intention of playing referee between a Grim Reaper and a demon. She cringed at the thought, and a sigh left her lips. Tiredly, she rubbed her eyes and prayed for strength of mind. This mission—they had appointed themselves to—might be the death of her yet.
"I don't know why,” he said lamely. “But I didn't want to leave you there with him. Besides, this way, you can monitor my progress and make sure I find your witch." He winked.
By god, the guy was infuriating. Did he think his ridiculous attempts at flirtation would work on her? Ignoring her frustration, she said, "She's not my witch." She realized the conversation made her angrier and thought it better to focus on something else, like their surroundings.
Only then noticing that they had landed in a dark room that was eerily quiet. She couldn't see much, and instinctively, she didn't trust the demon. "Why are we here? Wherever here is." She walked in a tight circle. Suddenly feeling hot, she shrugged off her coat. "And why is it so dark?"
Without responding to her query, he walked toward the far corner of the room and played with the switchboard. After a few seconds, the room became colder. “We don’t feel the difference in outside temperatures. But I installed the cooling system for guests like you.” Then, he muttered something under his breath, and the room lit up with at least a hundred candles floating above their heads.
Was he trying to be romantic? Noreen wasn’t impressed. Nonchalant, she took another look around and realized they were in a spacious sitting room. The door to their left was closed, and she couldn't tell where it led. On the right side, a small open kitchen gave the place a homely look. The odd designs decorated the wall in front of her. They seemed like words. But she couldn't be sure because she couldn't read the language. It could be art or something. Drawn curtains made it impossible for her to tell what was outside or what time of the day or night it was.
Time moved differently in different realms, and she didn’t know where she was. Though guessing by his relaxed manner and devil-may-care attitude, they could only be on his turf. Still, she hoped not. Maybe it was his home away from home on Earth.
"Noreen?" Zim said to get her attention.
She hadn’t realized how deep in thought she had become. “Huh?” She looked at him and noticed that while she had been observing the room, Zim had taken a seat on the sofa and was now looking at her. "What?" she said in irritation.
"Why don't you take a seat?" He gestured towards the couch opposite where he was sitting. "I will explain everything." He smiled and quickly added, “At least, everything I know.”
Although the room was now well-lit, it was still silent. She couldn't hear a single sound other than their voices. It was as if the outside world didn't exist. She couldn't tell if the house was in a city or the wilderness. How odd, to live in such a muted place. She would go crazy with only her thoughts to keep her company.
Then, it occurred to her she was assuming a lot. “Do you live alone?”
“Yes,” he feigned indifference, “I’m a demon, after all.”
She could see beneath the facade. He was lonely, and for the first time, her heart softened toward him. “Oh,” she fidgeted, not knowing how to proceed with this line of conversation, but decided to change the subject, “So, about the witch. How soon can you find her?”
"I think I know who the witch is. I hope I'm wrong, but I rarely am," he said with conceit. “And if my hunch is right, I can find her in my sleep. It wouldn’t be an issue now that I have tapped into her energy through her victim.”
Noreen rolled her eyes and said, “If that’s the case, why are we even here? Shouldn’t you find her as soon as possible? So that we can be done with the deal and move on with our lives.”
“That’s the thing,” he looked at her in a way she couldn’t read his intent, “I don’t want to be done with it. More precisely, I don’t want to stop seeing you.”
She knew he was serious. It was obvious from his tone and the warmth in his eyes. He wanted to get to know her better, and she didn’t know how she felt about it. But there was no time to dissect their emotions. People were dying, and an evil witch was planning something big. They needed to find her and not start new relationships.
Breathing deeply, she said, “Let’s put a pause to this conversation and get back to the witch. Why do you think you know her, and who do you think she is?”
"I’m sure she is my friend, Meena. When she was a kid, I gave her sanctuary. She came to the Otherworld by mistake. And I could see how lost she felt. I was ready to be left alone by then but wasn’t enjoying the lonely existence. So, she stayed with me. We were together for about ten years before she returned to the earth. She had a restless soul and wasn't ready to forget her past." Without going into details about Meena's life, he only outlined their lives together.
But Noreen was interested in her past. She knew most of the time, past trauma would lead to the present disaster. Whatever the witch had experienced, if it was bad enough for her to seek sanctuary in the Otherworld, then it was no wonder she became a twisted enough person to steal the essence of souls.
After a momentary pause, she said, "What happened in her past?"
"Sorry, but it's not my secret to tell,” Zim said and frowned, “I'm not sure why I even mentioned it."
"Don't worry," she said with a smile. "It's my fairy magic. Fairies are very easy to talk to." He was powerful too. Otherwise, he wouldn't have stopped the way he did. And he would have told her everything without realizing how much he revealed.
"I don't know." He gave her an odd look. "Maybe it's you and not the magic."
"That’s something most people don’t understand,” she said mysteriously, “Fairies are magic. It’s very much a part of us, unlike others who learn to do magic.”
He stared at her incredulously. Noreen smiled and continued, “I should be angry with you for high jacking me, but I'm not." She sighed, as if not believing herself. For the first time in months, she wasn't sure of herself or her feelings. But then, demons were strange beings.
She didn't know if she could defeat Zim in a battle. So far, he didn't seem to threaten her. He practically kidnapped her was bothersome, and she wondered why she wasn't more afraid of the whole situation. "That's why fairies should stay away from demons," she muttered, but of course, he heard her. Demons and their super hearing.
"What do you mean by that?" Zim asked, looking at him quizzically.
"Don't you know the legend about fairies and demons?" she asked.
She had forgotten about it because she never truly believed in it. But after meeting Zim, she was starting to remember as well as believe. That could be the only explanation for why she felt at home with him. And why she hadn’t left already. Even when her brain told her to be on her guard, her heart wanted to relax and enjoy this moment. She should have listened to Sameer and stayed away from this mission. No, that would have been a disaster of another kind. There was no way Sameer could have handled the demon on his own.
The only reason Zim agreed to find the witch for them might have been because of her—because of the legend. Otherwise, why would he want to help them when the witch was his friend? Or did he think they wouldn’t be able to defeat her? Still, why make a deal with them at all?
"Hey," Zim said, snapping his fingers near her face he demanded her attention. "What legend are you talking about?"
"Oh, there is this legend..." She struggled with words, and her voice trailed off. She felt uncomfortable talking about it and wondered if she should mention it to him at all. He seemed like a decent demon, but stories about their deceit couldn't be that exaggerated. What if she told him, and he used it against her? That was a real possibility. Sameer would be angry. And if he found out that she chatted away with the demon as if they were friends... Oh, he would definitely be unhappy then. "Never mind that," she tried to change the subject, "We have bigger problems."
"Like what?" He raised his eyebrows in a challenging gesture.
But she wasn’t the one to back down. "Like where are we, and why the hell am I here?" Channeling her earlier irritation, she glared at him and reminded herself she shouldn't take this situation lightly.
"Well, sorry. I forgot to welcome you properly. This is my house, and we are in the Otherworld."
"What? Are you kidding me?” Though she had feared that was the case, knowing made it worse. “You can't just bring me to a different realm without my consent. That's..." She was at a loss for words. "That's... This is insane! Do you have any idea what you have done?" The emotions she couldn't express brought tears to her eyes, and she averted her face to hide them from him.
"Why are you so upset? I don't mean you any harm. I wanted to bring you to my house and have a friendly chat. That’s all." He paused and then said, "Okay, so that's not entirely true. I got jealous and, in my jealousy, didn't think clearly. I teleported to the first place that came to my mind. Anyway, what's the big deal? It's not like fairies can't come to the Otherworld or anything."
"You took away my choice, you idiot," She was fuming, but there wasn't anything to be done now. The damage was irrevocable.
"What choice?"
"I made a deal with the Grim Reapers when I decided not to cross over to the Beyond. I can only travel between the three realms of my choice. Earth is one, and now, thanks to you, Otherworld is the second."
"Awe," he chuckled, not caring at all. "Don't worry, you might fall in love with this place. Who knows?"
Did he take anything seriously? 'Demon,' she thought to herself, 'selfish to his very core.'
Pouting, she crossed her arms and slumped onto the couch. She wondered what else she and Sameer must endure as they tried to find Rayan and uncover the truth behind the human murders. She hoped dealing with a self-centered demon was the worst, but her instincts told her that might not be the case.
