Chapter Eleven
Tanika stared at the spot Ophir had stood only moments before. She’d seen her djinn dematerialize a million times. It had always been a relief. Now, watching Ophir fade from existence, it felt like the world had cracked in two, leaving nothing but an empty shell. She stared at her palm again. The strong and unbroken heart line. The lifeline following the long curve of her thumb.
She walked to the car and climbed in, numb. Drove back to the salon without knowing quite how she got there. The security gate moved aside without complaint, as if sensing her inability to argue. Inside the familiar, dark space, she paused, staring into nothingness.
What was she doing? What could she do? Her life had no meaning left. No wish to live for. No wish to live against. Elim was gone. Ophir was gone. Her purpose was gone. Sure, she had an awesome new car, but it meant little to her without the sexy man who drove it.
Still in the dark, she flopped into her chair, staring at her shadowy outline in the mirror. Her wish had been granted. But not fulfilled. Didn’t that mean something? Didn’t Elim still owe her?
Some spark deep inside her ignited, like a fire against her breastbone. Narrowing her eyes she glowered at her reflection. Two pinpricks of lavender light had her spinning the chair around to look behind her. “Hello?”
Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. Rising, she scurried to the light switch and flooded the room. She was alone. She looked at the mirror again. Her grief-stricken eyes stared back. She must have been imagining things.
Shaking her head until her brain rattled, she decided to ready the shop for opening. It was all she had left. She wondered if Elim’s horrible spell still tarnished the place, and looked hard at the folding chairs near the darkened window and the shabby velvet curtain in the back. She’d never seen the taint, so she wasn’t sure why she expected to see it now. Well, if nothing else, she could try a cleansing, just to be sure.
By the time Birdie arrived several hours later, Tanika was airing out the last of the sage smudge and hand-scrubbing the floor. Birdie had to raise her voice to be heard above the Zen piano concerto playing loudly from Tanika’s phone. “I know you’re an early riser, but this is going a little overboard, even for you.”
Tanika sat up on her knees and wiped an errant curl from her cheek with the back of her forearm. She didn’t feel any better. All she could think about was finding a way to reach Ophir. A seance. A lucid dream. There had to be a way. “We needed cleansing.”
“If you say so.” Birdie clicked over the newly clean floor in her kitten heels and stopped the music. “This have anything to do with your date last night?”
Last night? Had it only been one day since she’d met Ophir? How could so much have happened? She felt like she’d been struck by lightning, and every emotion had been seared to ash. She dropped back to all fours and resumed scrubbing. “I found my soul mate.”
Birdie gasped and rushed over, slapping Tanika’s shoulder. “Get out. Your soul mate?” When Tanika kept scrubbing, she bent and snatched the sponge away. “Up. Now.”
Unable to summon the will to fight, Tanika rose and stumbled to her chair, her knees aching and damp. Once again she flopped, this time not facing the mirror. Birdie fisted one hand on a hip and raised both brows. “You don’t drop a bombshell like finding a soul mate and then say nothing else. Now tell.”
Tanika shook her head. Birdie would never believe the truth. Yet a lie was an impossible task. “He can’t be part of my world. So he left.”
Birdie’s mouth hung open in shock. “He left? You let him leave? Why?” Her gaze narrowed. “Is it because he was loaded?” She walked over and spun Tanika’s chair to face her own, then plopped down to look at her. “Did he leave you, or did you leave him?”
The barrage of questions would normally have made Tanika laugh. Today, it only made her jaw quiver, and her chest grow tight.
“Oh, girl, I’m sorry.” Birdie jumped up and raced over to pull Tanika’s shoulders into a hug. “I shouldn’t be so nosy.”
“It’s okay.” Tanika sniffed, leaning her head against her friend’s comforting warmth. “Everything is just too complicated to explain.”
“Why don’t I do your hair? You seem like you could use a little pampering.”
Tanika nodded. Perhaps some physical comfort would help relieve her ache. At this point she hadn’t much else left. She rose and followed Birdie to the wash sink, leaning her head back and allowing the hot water to soak into her scalp. Birdie’s fingers massaged fragrant suds into her curls, and Tanika closed her eyes, allowing tears to leak toward her hairline. If Birdie noticed, she didn’t say anything, just hummed under her breath and continued scrubbing.
The spray of rinse water was a blessed white noise Tanika found surprisingly soothing. Hypnotic. Birdie wrung her hair, and worked conditioner into the ends.
The salon bell jangled, and Birdie’s fingers paused a moment. “I’ll be right with you!”
Her bright voice jarred Tanika from semi-meditation. “Thank you, Birdie. I can finish myself. Go take care of our client.”
“I can wait.” A man’s voice said.
Tanika’s entire body tightened. She bolted upright in the chair, blinking runnels of water from her eyes. Standing just inside the open doorway was Elim.
Her words choked her, filled her throat and cut off her air without emitting a sound. She clutched her middle. How could he be here?
Elim glanced her up and down as if she was inconsequential, then turned his brilliant smile toward Birdie, one hand extended as if to shake. “You must be Birdie. I’ve been dying to meet you.”
“No!” Tanika shot from the chair, intercepting his outstretched hand and smacking it aside. She rounded on Birdie. “Leave. Immediately.”
Birdie’s face paled with shock. “Is everything all right?”
“Please, Birdie. No questions. Just go.”
Gaze darting between Tanika and Elim, Birdie scurried past. “Should I call the police?”
“No. Just get away from here as fast as you can. Far away. Don’t come back until I call you.”
Birdie fled.
Tanika squared her shoulders and advanced on Elim until she was nose to chest, looking up into his face. “How the hell are you doing this?”
“You thought my connection to Earth was through Ophir?” He clucked his tongue and turned away from her, surveying the salon as if seeing it for the first time. “You cleansed in here. I wondered if you’d ever notice.”
“You said your connection to another djinn gave you a portal.”
“No, I said my connection to djinn blood was enough for a portal.”
Her stomach fell. Djinn blood. Ophir had believed she might have a trace within her. “He went back for nothing?” Her words scratched from her throat.
“Oh, my poor Tanika. So lost without a man.”
Her cheek twitched, and the fire she’d felt earlier against her breastbone blossomed once again. “I’m lost without my soul mate.” She stalked toward him once again, punching a finger into his chest with each word. “You owe me a wish.”
His face paled. “Now slow down. You—”
“My wish was for a mate.”
He back pedaled, holding both hands up, palm out. “I’ll find you a new one. Just give me some time.”
“I already have a mate. A mate for eternity. What I don’t have is my happily-ever-after.” A sudden realization hit her. He couldn’t fulfill his end of the bargain. Ophir was immune to his spells. What did that mean in the world of djinn, with their rules about truth and deal brokering? “You took your payment up front. And now I’m calling your deal.”
“I can show him how to come back.”
“He won’t. We decided it was more important to be rid of you than it was to stay together. As long as you’re alive, we’ll deny ourselves.” She crossed her arms, her victory a bittersweet bile in her throat. “I think the term in chess is checkmate.”
Two overhead lights shattered, and he swelled like he had so many times in the past to intimidate her. “I didn’t have to show myself to you. My range is quite far, now. I only returned to be sure you were all right.”
“You returned to gloat,” she gritted between clenched teeth. “And I want my wish.”
His figure began to shimmer, the purple spark in his eyes guttering like a candle at the end of its wick. “You can’t. Tanika, I beg of you. You don’t understand.”
“I’d ask you to bring back Mom and Grandma, but you can’t revive the dead. So there’s no way for you to repay your debt to me except with your life.” She bared her teeth at him. “I want it. Now.”
His eyes grew wide, the flame shrinking to minuscule pinpricks. He shook his head and opened his mouth, but no sound emerged. Instead, the oval formed by his lips grew. And grew. Impossibly huge, it consumed his face. Opened into a pit of nothingness before her eyes, as if he was swallowing his own body backwards. Larger and larger the oval grew, drawing him in, shrinking him. Swallowing him. Sucking down with a whoosh into a florescent purple globe of light.
It hovered there, the flames within it flaring and swirling in patterns like galaxies being born. She stepped closer, mesmerized. She’d won?
The globe shot forward into the burning spot in her chest, slamming her backward to the cold, hard floor.
Tanika woke to gentle fingers on her brow. Without opening her eyes, she assessed every square inch of her body. Every nerve tingled, and she could feel the blood coursing through her veins. Breathing was a magnificent experience, the sweet licorice scent of anise filling her nose. She opened her eyes to meet a chocolate brown gaze.
Ophir’s face spread into a grin. “Wake up, my love.”
She sucked in a breath. Blinked. Reached a hand up to trace the hard line of his jaw. Solid. Warm. Her head was cradled in his lap, and the salon’s flickering florescent bulbs backlit his hair like a halo. “Am I dreaming?”
“If you are, then so am I.” He gently slid from beneath her and rose, holding a hand down to help her up. “Are you well enough to stand?”
Gripping his hand, she stood. Easily. Lightly. She felt more alive than she’d ever thought possible. “I’m… confused.”
Ophir pulled her close, enveloping her. “Oh, my brilliant Tanika. You don’t know what you’ve done.”
She shook her head, wrapping her arms tightly around his solid waist. “I really don’t. Please explain?”
A chuckle rumbled through his chest, filling her with joy. If this was death, it was the happiest thing that had ever happened to her. He kissed her hair, then her forehead, then pressed his mouth close to her ear. “You caught Elim in the bargain of bargains. An impossible debt.” He pulled away just far enough to look down into her face. “A debt that could only be repaid with every ounce of his being. You are now immortal, my lovely bride.”
Her legs suddenly refused to hold her, but Ophir was there. Catching her, he carried her to her salon chair and set her down. She stammered, “Immortal? What does that mean?”
“We can be together for eternity.”
The hope swelling her heart threatened to burst. She shook her head, sure she must be dreaming. Or dead. “I thought no wish could ever make me immortal.”
“A regular wish couldn’t.” He grinned at her. “A human soul doesn’t carry enough energy for such a wish. But the soul of a djinn is a different matter.”
The memory of that purple globe embedding itself within her rocked her again. She shook her head in disbelief. “He gave me his immortality?”
Ophir nodded. “Not gave, exactly. More like made restitution. It was the only way he could fulfill his bargain.”
Tears overwhelmed her, and she buried her face in her hands. “I can’t believe it.”
He cupped her head with both hands, showering kisses over her hair and the hands covering her face until she lowered them and accepted his touch on her eyelids, cheeks, and lips. He breathed against her, a life-giving sensation. Grabbing handfuls of his shirt, she pulled him closer, kissing him for real. Lips hungry against his as if this one kiss had to last forever.
After a long moment, she pulled away. “But how are you here?”
“Our mate bond drew me as surely as any portal.”
When he said it, she felt the connection between them, like an unbreakable ribbon around her heart. “Bound.” Excitement made her nervous. Unsure where to look or what to do. She had her happily-ever-after? For real? “Can we have children?”
“Of course.” He smirked. “But one thing at a time, my love. We have a very long honeymoon to enjoy first.”
The jangle of the shop’s door drew Tanika’s attention. Birdie burst into the salon with Mr. Daniels and a police officer close behind. Birdie stopped short, her brows knit as she took in Ophir kneeling next to the salon chair. “Oh!”
The police officer moved into the room, looking around with a concerned eye. Tanika felt a shimmer of magic ripple from Ophir. The tension in the room relaxed. Mr. Daniels winked and said, “Glad to see you two lovebirds getting along.” With that, he left.
Tipping his hat, the police man left as well.
Birdie wiped a tear from the corner of her eye and fanned herself. “Oh. My. God. I knew he was meant for you the moment I saw him.”
Tanika nudged Ophir. “Don’t do that to her.”
“Do what?”
“Make her all gushy.”
He laughed and rose from his knees. “I’m not, believe me. Birdie is gushy all on her own.”
One hand fluttering over her heart, Birdie rushed to the chair across from where Tanika sat. “You two are perfect together, just like I thought.” She settled into her chair and looked expectantly between them. “I want to hear the whole thing, from start to finish. A love story right here in our Seance Salon.”
Tanika beamed at Ophir, her heart light as she thought about their future. Their very long future. “There’s really not much to say. He came back for me. That’s all that matters.”
Ophir smiled back. “Soul mates are meant to be together, bound for eternity.”
Tanika threaded her fingers into Ophir’s, the chaste touch warming her as surely as his fiery kisses. “I’m so glad you found our little salon.”
“And I’m so happy to have finally found home.”
Happiness surrounded her like she’d never imagined possible. She’d finally reached her happily ever after. And it was one she would never lose.
The End
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