Page 21 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“Why?”

I gave him a pointed look. “Why do you think?”

He moved his head from side to side, like he was balancing two competing thoughts. “I’m sorry about them. They’re a bit extra, but all right once you get to know them.”

“I’m sure,” I said, pushing myself off the wall. “But I better go anyway. My dad’s waiting.”

He couldn’t hide his disappointment, his lips turning downward ever so slightly. The sight made me feel something funny in my stomach.

“Stay a little longer?”

“And why would I do that? You haven’t told me anything.”

He must’ve sensed that I was being serious, because he conceded. “If you stay, I’ll explain everything, I promise.”

Despite the warning signs telling me to go, my lips formed the words “Only for another half an hour.”

He led me a few doors down to a café. We found a small table in the back. We were handed sticky laminated menus. Zain and I ordered iced coffees. When the bored waitress left, I pressed my elbows against the table.

“Go on, then,” I said. “What really happened with that man?”That thing.

Zain’s eyes were steely, and it was like I could see the different angles he was deciding on for his story. He finally blew out a puff of air.

“This would be so much easier if you had left when I told you to,” he muttered.

“Maybe, but that’s not what happened.” I kept my voice level, pushing down my instinct to remind him that he couldn’t tell me what to do.

“I need to know I can trust you.”

“I mean, you barely know me, but I’m good with secrets.” I gave him what I hoped was a trustworthy smile.

Zain’s eyes bored into mine. “I’m serious.”

“In six weeks, I’m out of here. You won’t see me again, so your secret will be safe with me. And if I could forget about it, I would, but I need to know what I saw first.”And why you’re in my chaotic dreams.How everything connects, and how I can stop it.But he didn’t need to know those parts, not yet. I’d keep my own secrets.

I could see he was weighing his options. “You’re only here for the rest of the summer?”

I nodded. “My return flight is booked. Come September nineteenth, I’m moving back to England. So tell me.”

I thought this information would be leverage for Zain to confide in me, and I was under the impression that it was working, but then something washed over his eyes, almost like disappointment. He recovered quickly, though.

“I mean, first, what makes you think that was a man down the alley? Did he look like a man to you, Roxana?”

“What do you mean?” I asked weakly. I needed him to say it. It was one thing to suspect something—entirely another for someone to confirm it aloud.

The waitress returned in record time with our drinks. Both were ice cold, with condensation around the glass.

Zain pushed his drink to the side so he could lean forward. What he said next was uttered in a whisper. “You’re Iranian, so you must have heard of jinn.”

I gulped and managed to strangle out only a short “Yeah.”

“What do you know about them?” His eyes were laser focused on me, the intensity burning.

My mind went blank, so what came out was a word salad. “They’re evil, sort of demonic figures? Or they’re like ghosts, but evil. Something like that, right?”

“Almost. They’re more orchestrators of darkness. They come in different shapes—some look human and live seemingly human lives. They might poison the minds of humans to make them do evil deeds. Others look as demonic on the outside as they are on the inside. To put it plainly, they’re the reason for world wars, genocides, destruction, et cetera.”

He said this not like it was something he suspected but rather something he knew for certain. “Right…”