Chapter Thirteen

SLOWLY, THE GIRL STEPPED BACK from the tree and turned to face him. They stared at each other warily.

“Who are you?” the girl asked in halting English.

“Nathaniel Fludd. Who are you?”

“Fadia, daughter of Khalid Jabbaar.” She lifted her chin. “This is our oasis. You shouldn’t be here.”

“I-I have been sent to watch over the phoenix,” Nate said.

The girl narrowed her eyes. “The phoenix!” She studied him a moment, then looked over her shoulder at the tree. “They say that is but a myth.”

Nate shook his head. “No. It’s real.”

Fadia took a step closer. “You have seen it?”

“Yes. It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen,” he said simply.

“If there was a phoenix, it belongs to us.”

“I don’t think something like a phoenix really belongs to anybody,” Nate said.

“Perhaps that is true,” she said. “But you do not belong here. This oasis is ours.”

“I just need to stay for another day or two. I promise not to harm anything.”

Fadia shook her head. “It is not my place to say yes or no. I have a duty to report you to my tribe. They will decide.”

“No! Please don’t tell them.” Nate couldn’t risk getting captured like Aunt Phil. Who’d be left to tend the nest?

“I must. It is my duty to my tribe.”

Before Nate could think of something that would persuade her, Greasle crawled up to his shoulder, and glared at the girl. “He’s not going to hurt anything, you big dolt.”

Fadia recoiled. “A jinni! You command a jinni?”

“No. It’s a gremlin. Not a . . . whatever you said.”

Some of the fear left Fadia and she grew haughty again. “What is this gremlin?”

Nate looked from Fadia to Greasle, then back again. He whispered out of the side of his mouth to Greasle, “Just go along with what I say.” Then, louder: “Actually, it’s our name for jinni.”

“How do you have the power over a jinni? You are no older than I?”

Nate tried to look powerful. “It’s what my family does. Have power over jinni.”

Worry creased Fadia’s face. “Please do not set it upon my people.”

“Will you keep my presence here a secret?”

She stared at Greasle. “I will do as you ask. I will not tell that you are here.”

“Will the rest of them return for water tomorrow?” Nate asked.

Fadia nodded. “Yes, it is our daily chore.”

“We will hide again, but try to get them to collect their water and leave right away. No exploring like you did today. If you do exactly as I say, I will not let the jinni harm you.”

“Oh, brother,” Greasle muttered in his ear. “As if I could hurt a big lug like her.” Nate reached up and rubbed away the tickle.

“I promise,” Fadia said. With one last nervous glance at Greasle, she scurried over to her camel. She mounted the animal, then left the oasis.

With Greasle still on his shoulder, Nate went over to the palm tree. “That was close,” he said. It seemed they’d been saying that a lot lately.

Greasle tugged on his ear. “So what’s a jinni, then?”

“I’m not sure,” Nate said. “I think I read about them in a book once. They’re like an elemental spirit. One that can be controlled by sorcerers and told to do bad things.”

Greasle snorted. “You ain’t no sorcerer.”

“Well, I know that. And you know that. But Fadia doesn’t. It was the only bargaining tool we had. If she’s afraid you’re a jinni and will hurt her people, she’ll do what I say. So if we run into the Bedouin again, you be sure to look as jinnilike as you can.”

“Right-o.” Greasle put her fingers into her mouth and drew it wide open, then wiggled her ears.

“Perfect,” Nate said.