Despite a twisted ankle, I couldn’t stop now. I’d come so far. Letting my brother down was not an option. We needed a life free of stealing. A life free of squalor and grime. A life free of worry and illness. The chance to make a difference and help other kids in need. Those thoughts rocketed me forward with hopped steps.

About one hundred feet ahead, fire burned on sconces mounted to the wall. Golden light spilled out from an opening in the tunnel.

The dread in my stomach turned heavy and thick like quicksand. From my surveillance of the cave, I hadn’t been able to determine if guards were posted in the treasure cavern. But I had discovered that every few hours, the guards took turns to replenish the sconce kindling in the treasure chamber and the tunnel.

What if guards happened to be in the chamber doing so when I entered? Then how would I complete my heist? The little voice in my head reminded me that I’d come so far, and I couldn’t give up now. Heart still thumping, I snuck up to the edge of the wall. I pulled out a compact mirror from my bag and angled it to see inside the cavern.

My breath hitched. Treasure filled row upon row of shelves. Rubies, sapphires, emeralds encased in rings, necklaces, and earrings all winked at me, urging me to try them on. Candelabras and small statues offered to take their place on my new dining table. Chests containing secret contents begged to be opened. Gods, I had never seen such wealth in my life.

Fire scorched my veins. All this horde could feed the poor and starving people in Utaara. If only I could carry back more to help everyone who needed it.

Something scraped inside the cavern, alerting me.

I scanned with my mirror. Two guards. Brawny and probably lacking in brains. Dressed in standard-issue black pants, red sash, white vest, and turban. One took a leak down the opposite end of the cavern. The other wandered down the furthest row of treasure. Both carried curved swords capable of slicing me in half.

I swallowed the rock in my throat. With my injured ankle, I wasn’t fast enough on my feet to get in and out. But I’d be dammed if I’d come all this way, only to hurt myself then hobble back in agony with nothing to show for my painful journey. I didn’t have time to wait around all night for them to leave. My brother needed me. Looked as if Karim would have to do the honors tonight.

“Karim,” I said, my voice low and urgent. “Get the jewels, boy.”

Giving me a little squeak, he scampered off into the cavern, grabbing a necklace with enough rubies to make a queen jealous. He wrapped that and a pearl one over his neck.

Yes! I did a fist pump. Those would fetch a fine price. Good thing I had taught him so well.

He returned, gave me the items, along with a matching pair of earrings and a bracelet.

Gods. Selling these would garner me enough cash to last a lifetime.

I stuffed them inside my bag and fetched a bit of bread I’d been saving for this occasion. “Good boy.”

He wolfed down his reward and went back for more treasure.

I kept an eye on him in my mirror. On his next haul, he returned with a cone, fitted with bejeweled rings, and a hair clip set with jewels.

“Good boy,” I said, giving him another reward. “One more time, boy.”

Karim snatched the bread and went back for round three.

By now, the guard had finished his pee and was heading my way.

The other one admired a sack of coins, glanced around, and then stashed the pouch between the sash and his pants.

What a fool. No thief stole coins. They jingled and drew attention. But I’d keep that intelligence about them stealing while on duty up my sleeve in case I got into trouble. What would the sultan do if he discovered his guard had also stolen from his cave?

Karim was trawling through a treasure chest when one of the guards stumbled down his aisle. Alarmed, the monkey dashed behind a stack of golden plates.

The guard’s eyes widened as he spotted Karim. “Bring those back, you little rat!”

My heart beat to each of Karim’s furious scampers toward me.

Upon reaching me, he launched up onto my shoulder and dumped his stash into my bag.

Pain blazed through my ankle and foot as I retreated down the darkened cavern. But I ignored the extreme discomfort. We had to get out of there.

“Where are you, you little wretch?” roared the guard.

Shadows stretched down the tunnel as firelight illuminated it from behind me.

“Hey, get back here, thief!”

Echoes of his shouts battered my ear.

Oh crap. Now we were busted. I almost swallowed my tongue. We couldn’t get caught. Not now or ever. Adrenaline pumped through my veins, pushing me harder and faster. Gods, my ankle hurt like nothing I’d ever felt. But we had to keep going.

Karim twittered in my ear and jumped up and down on my shoulder.

“Going as fast as I can,” I said.

Boots thudded behind me as the guard gave chase.

My pulse skyrocketed. At this rate, I wasn’t going to escape, and the end of my life flashed before my eyes. Ali left alone in the world. No one to fend for him or get him his medicine. The Avestan, carrying away my brother’s dead body for cremation. Sobs racked my chest.

Up ahead, something glowed red on the walls. What the heck was that? Some sort of trap? The sultan’s weapon? Karim shrieked again and leaped off me, making for the pulsing void in the wall.

“Karim, no!” I hissed against the pain blazing up my leg now.

Ali would kill me if I didn’t return with his pet.

That was the least of my worries. Behind me, the tread of the guard grew louder, closer. Each step vibrated through my bones.

I glanced over my shoulder.

The guard was gaining speed, and only fifty feet separated us.

Dread squeezed my lungs. My hands tightly clasped the hilt of my dagger ready to make use of it.

In front of me, Karim hurried back, carrying something metallic, glowing with red letters I didn’t understand. What was that? Another treasure? Looked magical with the freaky-red radiance. Whatever it was, it’d fetch me a handsome price and was going in with the rest of my collection. In the Darkwood forest, a woman known as The Collector amassed magical items. Bet she’d pay me a fortune for something like the thing. So, when Karim bounced onto my shoulder, I snatched the item from him. About the length of a banana, it was smooth and rounded and had a spout, reminding me of a teapot or something. Probably inlaid with jewels. A thrill skated down my arms as I dumped it inside my bag.

The guard closed the distance between us.

“Get here, thief.”

A rough hand seized my shoulder, sending my pulse orbiting into the heavens. The guard twisted me around to face him. His eyes glimmered with the satisfaction of apprehending a thief.

I was tall and slender, built for sprinting, jumping, and fast getaways. Not for taking on burly soldiers much bigger than I was. Besides, with my twisted ankle, I wasn’t exactly in ass-whooping condition. But I gave it a shot, anyway, kicking him where I knew it’d hurt him most. A whoosh of air rushed out his mouth, and he bent over. His face and neck flushed red.

Wiggling from his filthy grasp, I backed away. My ankle was killing me. I’d used it to support myself when I’d launched my attack. Bad move. But necessary to save my life. I didn’t get two feet away before he grabbed my wrist. His fingers dug into my flesh so hard.

Now I was one hundred percent convinced the djinn had cursed me with bad luck. Never before had I been caught.

Repeated punches to the guard’s head and neck failed to gain me my release.

Karim joined in the fight, slashing at the brute with his claws.

Startled shrieks rang in my ears. The guard seized my monkey and threw him aside.

A scream tore from my lips. “No, Karim!”

The guard grabbed me by the throat. “Give me the treasure, bitch.”

Terror wedged deep in my chest. I pulled out my knife, slashing his arm, and he let go of me with a howl.

In return, he slapped me so hard I swear my brains rocked like a ship on stormy seas. The dagger dropped from my grasp and hit the rocky cave floor.

Karim hissed at the guard, and the man laughed, taking a swipe with his foot.

A hard punch knocked me to the ground with a crunch. I landed right on the large, metal object inside my bag. Scorching pain flooded my chest. I gasped for the air that had been knocked out of my lungs. That wasn’t the only pain riding inside me. My throat, wrist, ankle, and head all ached. Quicker than a striking viper, I rolled off the object digging into my breasts and scrambled across the rocky ground, out of the guard’s grasp. My hands fumbled for my blade, but he kicked the knife aside.

Shish kebab. Now I was in deep camel dung.

Something hissed in my vicinity. Red mist swarmed all around me. The vapor circled me. Terror clogged my throat. Crap. What was that? It seemed to be coming from my bag. Some poisonous vapor or something? Released when I fell on top of my bag? Had the sultan set up booby traps in his cave to ensure a thief never got away with his loot?

I don’t know why, but all this excited my monkey, and he jumped up and down, clapping.

The guard blinked and wiped his face. Then he licked his lips, as if tasting my death. He yanked my bag off my shoulder.

My stomach sank, along with my hopes of saving Ali. I shuffled across the jagged ground, trying to get back my satchel.

A cruel laugh echoed in the cavern as the guard scuttled out of the way of my grasp.

Coldness spread across my body as the guard emptied the contents of my bag. My breath hitched as I laid eyes on the brass lamp covered in glowing letters. Red steam piped out of its spout.

“That’s a genie lamp,” he snarled, trying to “Give it to me.”

A genie lamp? What planet was he on? My bag contained jewelry and a teapot that was probably loaded with a poisonous bomb that I accidentally set off.

Genie lamps only existed in the bedtime tales my mother used to tell Ali and me before she left us. Surely, if such a treasure existed, I’d have heard whispers of them or would have been asked to steal one. If what the guard said was true, where was the genie? I didn’t see any bald, fat-bellied, hairy, old man with a moustache leering over me, ready to blink me back home. A thief like me wasn’t lucky enough to find something so rare. Karma had come back to bite me and leave me in deep crap.

“What lamp?” I panted, wrestling the guard. No way was he stealing my loot. Even if it was laced with dust, poison, or whatever. “This is my dinner.”

“Sure, it is, thief.” The guard reached out with grubby fingers to snatch up the lamp, but the treasure lurched away, as if sucked by an invisible magnet. It disappeared into the blackness…taking with it any hope I had left of ever seeing my brother again.

Karim's screams echoed in the cavern as he raced after the lamp.

A cold shock ran down my spine. Way to go. Abandoning me when I needed him the most.

The guard loomed over me. He sized me up with his cold, pebble-sized eyes, like a lion preparing to kill a gazelle. “What did you do to it, witch?”

He stomped at me, and I scrambled backward, hitting the wall of the cave.

“Nothing.” My throat constricted at the notion of being cornered. Every part of me ached, and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could continue to try to fight my way out of trouble.

An idea came to mind, one I thought might distract him and allow me time to escape. “If you want it so badly, why don’t you go look for it?”

A war of choices waged in the guard’s eyes. Duty to apprehend me and take me to the sultan versus claiming the stupid lamp and never having to work another day in his life. In the end, the later apparently won out, and the creep took off.

Yes! I stuffed the jewels back inside my bag and staggered in the direction I had entered. My breaths came hard and fast. It hurt to breathe where my chest had struck the lamp. My flesh there felt tender, telling me a great bruise had formed. A trivial matter compared to the life ahead of me now I had my treasure.

Where the hell was my rope? I scanned the walls, not finding it. Had I taken a wrong turn? Now I might need to climb out.

Gods. What was I going to do about Karim? He better come back soon. I couldn’t leave there without him. But if waiting around for him meant my death, then I had to make a choice. My brother would hate me for abandoning his pet.

Boots thumping on the rock echoed down the tunnel. Firelight illuminated my path.

“Hamid, where’d you disappear to?” a man called out.

Crap. Someone was coming. The other guard. Armed with a torch.

My bowels turned to water.

“You’re not stuffing more coins down your pants, are you?” He laughed.

My gaze landed on an opening in the ceiling thirty feet to my right. I wasn’t going to reach my rope in time, so I had to change my plan. Climbing the wall was going to hurt like hell but had to be done. I shuffled across to the opening.

“Hey, what are you doing in here?” the guard shouted.

Damn it. I’d been spotted. Firelight bounced everywhere as he sprinted toward me.

Hooking my fingers into the rook, I hoisted myself up. A whimper flew past my lips. I stuffed back the burn and reached for the next handhold. Fear propelled me higher.

“Your buddy lost his genie lamp,” I called out, hoping this one might join in on the search, giving me a free ticket out of here.

No such luck. He reached the wall, dropped his torch, and began his ascent. Of course, he was much faster than I was. Then again, he wasn’t sore all over and carrying a rolled ankle.

He grabbed my foot and yanked.

I dug my fingers into the rock for grip. My nails scraped from his repeated tugs. Shish kebab. If he did that again, I was going to fall.

“Get down here,” he yelled. “In the name of the sultan.”

A final jolt tore me loose, and I screamed. My back jarred as I crashed to the ground. Tears stung my eyes, and I rubbed my back. Now I couldn’t run if I wanted to. I could barely move without raging pain.

The second guard stripped my bag from me and emptied the contents “My, my…stealing from the sultan. Let's see what his vizier has to say about this.”

My stomach hardened like rock as he dragged me along beside him.

The vizier? Gossip on the streets of Utaara told of his cruelty. Torture to extract information. Sabotaging his colleagues to claw his way to the top.

My whole world crashed to the floor and split into thousands of pieces.

Ali. The medicine. Our future.

* * *

Shadows swallowed me as two guards from the cave hauled me into the depths of the dungeons beneath the palace. Prisoners moaned. Hands stretched out, as if begging for assistance. But I had nothing to offer them. The place stunk like blood, sweat, piss, and excrement. Water dripped, staining the walls with red.

“No, please, let me go,” I pleaded.

Hay on the dusty, stone floor kicked up as the guards dragged me into a grimy cell.

“My brother's sick and needs medicine. Please, don't kill me. Who will care for him?” I asked.

The guards slammed me into the wall. I wheezed from the impact.

One of them put chains on my wrists. I flinched as he clamped the latch.

The two men stepped back and looked me up and down. The guard who had arrested me clutched the hilt of his sword, as if reminding me of my punishment.

My heart pinched. “Please.” My shackles clanged as I yanked at them. I straightened my back, even though the heavy chains weighed me down.

I wasn't below begging when it came to Ali’s life. But my appeal to the guards’ hearts failed to soften their resolve. With sinister smiles, they left me there. The slam of the heavy, iron door vibrated through my bones.

Darkness crashed in my mind. Here I would remain for the rest of my life. Torturing myself over the death of my brother. Adding more scratches in the wall to mark the number of days of my captivity.

My mind jolted. What about Karim? Where was my monkey? Left to die in the cave? My heart crashed to the bottom of my rib cage. I’d let the monkey and my brother down.

My ankle and back throbbed. I inched up against the wall, stretching my legs out straight. There I sat until I fell asleep.

* * *

Golden rays of morning light filtered through the gloomy cell from iron bars in the window.

What was Ali doing now? Was he worried sick because I hadn’t returned home? How could I have been so stupid to get caught?

The clunk of the iron latch on the door jolted me from my thoughts. Creaks tore through the cell as the door swung open. In strode a man, dripping in robes of the finest silks, his fingers laced with jeweled rings. He had a steely gaze, stiff jaw, and cold eyes. The savage cut of his moustache ended in a sharp point like a knife. Judging by the snake symbol on his necklace, this was the vizier. My punisher. The taker of my hands—the one tool I needed to keep my brother and me alive.

Coldness spread from my stomach to my toes.

The two guards who had brought me there followed him inside.

The vizier gave an irritated flick of his wrist, as if telling the guards to proceed. “What are the charges?”

The guard emptied the contents of my satchel at his feet. “Stealing from the sultan's cave.” His words came out stuttered as if the vizier terrified him.

But his statement caught his superior’s attention, and the polishing of his snake-headed staff ended.

He grabbed my chin and squeezed hard. “A crime punishable by death.” He twisted my head from side to side. “Pity. An exquisite street rat such as yourself would have made an excellent addition to the sultan's harem.”

Disgusting pig. Is that all he regarded me as? A plaything for the sultan?

“Never!” I wrenched my face free.

“Spirited,” said the vizier, apparently amused. “I like you. Perhaps I shall keep you for myself.”

Every nerve in my body screamed at me to spit in his face.

The guard cleared his throat. “One other thing, Grand Vizier. The thief found the genie lamp you’d asked us to keep an eye out for.”

Oh ,here we go…not this topic. The stupid guard had cursed me about losing the lamp for the whole camel ride back to the palace. Well, if there really was a genie, then where was it? Certainly not here, saving my ass. Stupid thing had abandoned me to die.

“You’re confusing some other piece of the sultan’s treasure for the lamp,” snapped the vizier, as if the guard wasted his time.

For the first and probably last time during this unpleasant visit, I felt inclined to agree with the vizier.

The guard gripped his sword hilt tighter. “Smoke came out of the lamp. When I tried to grab it, something…magical sucked it from my grasp. I searched everywhere. It just disappeared. Unless the thief’s rat has it.” The last part he growled as he glared at me.

“He’s not a rat,” I countered. “He’s a Capuchin monkey.”

“Where is the lamp, street rat?” snarled the vizier.

Whoa! He believed in it, too? Was everyone around there going mad? There was no genie. Just a smoke trick causing red steam to pipe out of the lamp.

I frowned. Okay…say there was a genie, then maybe Karim had claimed ownership of it. That would explain why it hadn’t come to my rescue. Gods. I hoped he hadn’t wasted the wishes on bananas.

My heart splintered at the reminder of the loss of my ticket out of Utaara. My cure for my brother. Our future.

“I lost it,” I mumbled to the vizier. “Why do you care anyway?”

Darkness brewed in his eyes. “I’ve been searching for it for centuries.”

Good one, you crazy, old creep.

He raised clenched fists to the sky like a living cliché of an evil sorcerer. “With the genie’s power, no one can stop me.”

I wanted to laugh in his face. But I held it in. Maybe I could bargain my way out of this. I was a thief. Maybe I could steal another lamp for him.

Before I got my chance to barter, he turned to the guards. “Find it,” he barked. “Bring it to me at once.”

Both guards stomped out of the cell and down the passage.

The vizier’s glare drilled into me. A black flame sprang up on his palm.

My stomach pinched. He had magic? Gods. Talk about putting my foot in my mouth. The vizier really was an evil sorcerer. That explained his desire to find the genie lamp. He wanted its magic for himself. Images of destruction crashed in my mind. I shoved them aside, not wanting to contemplate that possibility further. This guy was a lunatic.

Smoke poured off his flame and snaked through the air, hitting me. Nausea rocketed through me, and I hunched over, groaning. Every muscle and tendon in my body ached and weakened, and I could hardly hold my back upright. Something about his power caused a violent reaction within me.

Alarm coursed through me. “What are you doing, you creep?”

Malice swept across the vizier's face. “Taking your life force, dear street rat.”

Streaks of green traced through the dark flame—the same color as my eyes. The plumes of green turned black as the evil power consumed my life force. Dark clouds poured into the vizier’s chest. In my mind’s eye, I saw a dark flame burning in the place where his heart should be. I almost shit my pants. He smiled and released a sinister laugh. For a fraction of a second, his skin turned gray, and then it flushed with youth. My youth!

My throat seized, and I gasped, unable to breath.

“With the power of your life force,” bragged the vizier, his eyes turning black from the power radiating within him. “I will be able to live another fifty years without aging.”

Fear thrashed in my head. Fifty years? Is that all my life was worth? That bastard!

Coldness crawled across my body, as if I were trapped in the snowy mountains of White Peak. It consumed all my warmth, slowing my heartbeat and pulse. All my strength and energy flowed out of me and into the dark flame. The skin on my arms pruned like a date. I felt my cheeks and jaw sag with age. So, this was what death felt like. Panic squeezed my chest. I yanked at my chains, trying to escape.

My feeble actions only made the vizier laugh.

Repeated attempts to break free tore at my wrinkling skin, bruising me.

Unable to get loose, I considered again the sinking reality I’d die here.

Ali.

Karim.

I’d let them both down.

An unexpected heat chased away the iciness consuming me. Ruby-red fire swirled around me in a protective blanket, cutting off the dark smoke nipping at me.

My chest heaved, and I gasped. At last, my breath flowed again. Pity the dark magic had drained me. It felt as if I’d had that nasty flu again ten times over, my lungs stinging, breaths raspy.

A ball of ruby fire exploded out of my mouth, flinging the vizier backward. He hit the wall with a loud crack.

Shock pressed the back of my throat. What had just happened? Some sort of magic had saved me. But how? I didn’t possess any.

A vague recollection swept through my mind. That same color red had glowed on the lamp as Karim had carried it to me. The genie! I glanced up, expecting to see some hairy-chested, fat, old man standing at the door, Karim on his shoulder, both waving at me as the chains on my wrists fell off. No such luck.

Then how the heck was I going to get out of here?

That question didn’t get an answer. The vizier climbed to his feet. How? The impact of that crash should have injured an old fart like him.

Words tacked to the back of my throat.

Black smoke trailed behind him as he stalked forward.

My insides iced over again.

He grabbed me by the hair and yanked my head back. “You claimed the genie?” A sinister edge clung to his words.

“What?” I was so drained of energy I could barely think straight.

“You rubbed the lamp.”

The vizier stamped his long staff, and I flinched.

“I cannot kill you with magic if you are protected by the genie’s power,” he said.

What was this creep on about? I hadn’t rubbed the lamp. I only touched it to jam it into my bag. That hardly counted as rubbing it to release a magical creature from inside.

A menacing gleam captured the vizier’s face. “Your genie will be weak after its release from captivity. Presumably hiding somewhere, regaining its strength. But it will turn up soon.”

A threatening laugh spilled forth as he rubbed his hands.

“I have the perfect plan to draw it out of hiding,” bragged the vizier. “I shall kill you the old-fashioned way. With my pets. Then I can claim your genie and its power for myself.”

A vice clamped around my lungs. I’d believe in the genie when I saw it. But for now, I wanted to scratch the vizier’s eyes out. That bastard! Wanting to kill me for his own sick pleasure.