Deliverance (9 page)

But if Nakissa had power, it was something else entirely. I could recognize essence in her, which I had a difficult time doing with shamans. Their magic was too well balanced. Grounded. So what was it? Was she related to the Jinn? I was driving myself crazy trying to reason it out alone. I needed someone to talk it out with.

I didn't worry about calculating the time difference. Gargoyles don't need sleep, so if I woke them up, it wasn't a big deal.

Guillaume answered on the first ring.

"Aude?"

My heart sank. There was something wrong back home. "It's Garnier. What's happening?"

"Why didn’t you text me back? Aude is missing."

"What do you mean, missing?"

"She didn't show up at band practice after school."

"Did you go to the school? To her house? Did you look for her?" I was so far away. So helpless.

"Of course I did all those things. Garnier, you have to come home."

My first impulse was to agree. I was needed at home. I had to find Aude. If something happened to her after I walked away from the responsibility I shared wouldn't it make it my fault? I couldn't leave it to them to find her could I?

"I’ll see how quickly I can get a flight back," I said.

When I hung up the phone, my hands shook. I knew there were still answers to find here and I didn't know how I could abandon them now. I also couldn't abandon Aude, could I?

If I planned to leave as soon as possible, then I had to get as many answers as I could before then. And if anyone could help (or harm) me, it would be the Jinn.

I opened my laptop and researched as much as I could about Jinn in Tehran, but it seemed that they, like most supernatural creatures, didn't hold a very strong online presence. Still, I gathered what information I could. Ghost stories, descriptions, even historical accounts. After several hours of research, keeping in mind they were often deceitful, I realized the only way I could get what I needed was still to actually talk to them myself.

I dressed conservatively, lest I incite their sensitivities or attract too much unwanted attention, and, as dawn was about to set in, I set off for the streets of South Tehran.

My private taxi dropped me off in what he said was a safer neighborhood. This area didn't suffer from as much devastation as the one I’d previously visited and still exhibited signs of life. As the sun began to rise, many people had risen with it, preparing for a day of hard labor and struggle. The smell of bread wafted to me from a shabby bakery outside of which a lineup of mostly black-clad women had already formed.

My stomach grumbled. Without Aude to supply me with essence, I was very much tied to human needs. My worry for Aude rose. It would be wise to go home for more than one reason.

The people I passed looked worn, as if life had taken all it could from them. Many more women covered themselves in the tent-like chador here, and the men were dressed differently as well. More unshaven faces stared at me blankly as I passed them by. I kept my eyes to the ground, not as a sign of deferral, but to watch their feet. Several accounts indicated that the Jinn's feet could appear as hooves. I didn't know if I believed this, but I couldn't let any clue pass me by. My time was short. I planned to be at my hotel booking my plane ticket back home before the morning had ended.

My hike took me out of this neighborhood to a quieter one. I felt a hint of unease and promised myself that this time I wouldn't run away. I kept my eyes open and scanned the ruins and empty buildings for signs of life. Now and again, I saw human movement, but nothing supernatural. I cut over to the next street, and continued my search. When I encountered a pair of young dirty children, I asked them if they knew where I could find the Jinn. Their eyes widened. The younger one, a little girl with pale brown eyes and skin made dark by the sun and the dirt of her surroundings, spoke to me in the strongly accented dialect of Afghanistan.

"We don't go looking for Jinn, mister. That way, we hope they leave us alone. They can't be trusted and we don't need more trouble." Though she looked to be too small to be older than eight or nine, her hair was covered. She glanced at the boy, only slightly bigger than she and lowered her voice. "My brother says he's seen them at night, but I think he just tries to scare me."

"I do not!" The boy answered her, and then turned his attention to me. "Listen, the earthquakes here didn't just affect us. The Jinn are upset and angry. They're not the type you should disturb."

"How do you know that? Have you talked with them?"

The little boy nodded his head upward once in a negative. "Na, but the people I work for at the bazaar told me about them. Said we should be careful in these parts."

The boy didn't wait for me to ask more questions. He grabbed his sister's hand and disappeared down a narrow alleyway. 

I watched them leave, feeling sad by their circumstances. Though I, myself, had had a difficult childhood, I hadn't known the suffering and pain that these two most likely had. I didn't know their story, but in my short time here, I had heard the stories of similar children. Orphans. Refugees from the war in Afghanistan, here illegally in the hope to find work and to feed a starving stomach.

I wondered (not for the first time) if there was something better I could do with my life than chasing stone monsters and worrying about my own survival. Why was I chasing Ramtin? Trying to save the world? Or merely trying to save myself? I wasn't sure I could claim selfless reasons for my actions and that bothered me.

Lost in thought as I was, it took me a few seconds to realize I was being followed again. Yet, like last time, I couldn't see what trailed me. I was more desperate now, so I stopped and turned abruptly over and over again. When I saw a shadow dart into ruins, it was small, like a dog or a beast of sorts. My muscles relaxed. I didn't know what it was, but it was obvious it didn't want to cause me harm. At least not immediately. I tried to search for it but came up empty. The sun rose higher and took some of the early end of winter chill out of the air. I needed to return to the hotel and plan my next course of action. 

I was still followed while I looked for a taxi to return to my hotel. Though I attempted to spy it again, the closest I came was to see its shadow one last time. Finally, I found a shared taxi and I left the creature – whatever it was – behind.

The man already in the taxi wore business attire. His brown suit looked of good quality and his facial hair was kept trimmed close to his face. He looked at me pensively.

"You look like you've had an encounter with 
the better than us creatures
. Unless – " He looked to my feet and frowned. "There is something about you that is a little like them. You surround yourself with them too much, no?"

"I am looking for them, but have yet to find them."

"They do not see us that well, just as we cannot see them, but someone like you they could find if they wanted to. I wonder why they do not."

"What do you know about the Jinn?"

"I know what any learned man knows. But do not be fooled. They were made by Allah; they are not superior. And they cannot be trusted." The man asked the taxi to stop.

He paid his fare and told a blessing to the driver. Before the taxi drove off, I noticed him place a black turban on his head and walk towards the Mosque.

I didn't know enough about the clerics to know if their claimed connection with the supernatural was true or not, but I wished I had known I had been sharing a taxi with a Mullah so I could have asked him more questions.

When the taxi stopped in front of my hotel, a couple eagerly entered it, making it difficult for me to exit. After a few mumbled apologies and a bit of a standoff where we each told each other to go ahead, I finally exited and paid off my taxi, even though he, like every other taxi I had so far taken here, first insisted I didn't owe him anything and then proceeded to rip me off.

I was mentally calculating how much that fare had cost me in Canadian dollars while I approached the hotel. I opened the door and was then hit by a force that knocked me to my knees. When I looked up, an old man walked passed me and into the street. I rubbed my face trying to make sense of what happened. My stomach heaved and tried to empty itself, but I hadn't eaten anything in too long.

Once my breath returned to normal, I shakily regained my feet and looked behind me. The man who had knocked me down without even touching me rounded a corner. Though I knew I should chase him and get answers from him, my muscles didn't cooperate. I collapsed back to the sidewalk where I sat for several seconds before someone rushed from the hotel to help me up.

"Sir, are you a guest here?"

I nodded.

"You shouldn't be in the street in this state, my friend. It would not do for them to find you like this."

Did everyone know about the Jinn? And were they after me?

"At least you do not smell like it. But to be safe, take this, my friend." The man offered me a breath mint and I realized he thought I was drunk.

I straightened myself and smiled at him. "Thank you for your assistance, but I'm okay. I must have eaten something that didn't agree with me."

The man nodded eagerly. "I am happy you are okay, my friend." He patted me on the shoulder a few times so I smiled and nodded at him. Still, he insisted on walking me to the elevator, not leaving me until the doors closed between us.

Once I reached my room, the door was open. Inside, nothing was in its place. My clothing was scattered all over the floor, my personal effects randomly tossed on the desk, and my computer was missing.

Someone was worried about what I was doing here and I wasn't sure if it was supernatural or government forces at play (or if perhaps they were one and the same).

All my clothes fit weird. It's like I had a growth spurt or something. My pants are slightly too short, and saggy in the butt. I was never overweight but, like my friends, I could probably point out half a dozen features I wouldn't mind seeing improved. Now I'm scared I look too skinny. I’ve lost my curves.

I scrutinize my reflection in the floor length mirror. I don't exactly look like a different person. Though my clothes are fitting me differently, there’s nothing unfamiliar about the girl in front of me. My hair is straight now, but it should have always been.