Stopping only a few feet away, Nadira wrung her hand nervously as she stared at the stone.
"Hello?" she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
Her stomach knotted in fear as she stepped closer, stopping right in front of it.
"Hello?" she said again.
She waited, but she heard nothing. Shifting restlessly on her feet, she froze as she watched the red and orange hues of the stone shift dimly. Was that a trick of the light, or did something inside actually move?
Going against every instinct within her, she reached out and plucked up the stone. Instantly it brightened in her hand, radiating a soft warmth like a tiny flame.
Encouraged by this, she backed up and sat at the edge of her bed, keeping the stone in the palm of her hand. "You spoke to me, didn't you?"
For a brief second, she feared she was losing her mind when there was no response.
Finally, it spoke that familiar gravelly voice. "I did."
Alarmed but intrigued, she brought the stone closer. "Who…"
"I felt your pain, I understand your loneliness," he admitted. "I am all alone too."
His voice was echoing in her head she realized. She should be screaming right now, instead of sitting here listening as something spoke to her from inside of an ugly stone necklace.
"Who are you? What are you?"
"I am Idrak," it said, its deep voice filling every nook and cranny of her mind until her chest felt full with warmth. "I am a djinn."
Frowning Nadira looked up to the opposite wall as her mind tried to search the word "djinn" for any recognition. Whatever a djinn was, she knew it couldn't be human. She wanted to know why he or it lived in a necklace and why did it take him so long to talk to her but her thoughts stuttered to a halt when a little needling feeling at the back of her mind finally stopped and she realized something.
"It was you, wasn't it?!" she stared accusingly at the stone. "In my dreams, it was you."
"Yes," dark amusement colored his voice.
Incensed by his glib tone, she began to bounce her knee in pent up frustration as she sputtered back a reply. "You-y-you have been messing with me somehow in my sleep, haven't you?!" The voice was silent at her accusation, which only made her want to let out a growl in frustration. She wanted answers, dammit. She wanted to know how or at the very least why he was talking to her and invading her sleep, leaving bruises in intimate places. "The vivid dreams—the bruises," she continued. "What have you been doing to me?!"
"Did you know that you clutch the stone in your sleep?" he asked with an evil mirth to his tone as he evaded the question.
Nadira shuddered as she snuck a quick glance over her shoulder. Nothing was there, but it felt as if he was right behind her, leaning over her, encompassing her in a heat she never once felt speaking directly into her ear.
"I can feel you, Nadira," his voice lowered until she could swear, she felt puffs of warm air hit her cool skin sending goosebumps up and down her body. "I can feel your needs, and your wants radiate around my prison, calling me to fulfill them. How could I deny such a simple wish?"
He said, "prison," that had to mean he was locked within the stone against his will. Just what was he? "What wish?" she asked with a frown. "I wished for nothing from you.
"Ah, but you have," there was a gleeful smile in his voice that made her heart twist in fear. "I can feel your yearning for someone to save you, someone you can trust, someone…to hold you."
The meaning of his words felt like stone shattering through the glass surrounding her heart. Everything seemed to stop.
"Have you…" her voice stopped midway, she could barely utter the words.
"Taken your maidenhood? Touched you deeper than any man ever has?" he offered with a taunting purr. "Not that I could in this form, though I can promise you that if I did, you would remember every last detail.
"I do not want that, do you understand?!" she stressed. She was so tempted to shake the blasted stone to get her point across, but she resisted. She couldn't help the thought of shaking some poor trapped creature inside.
He said nothing.
Standing up, she spoke firmly. "Tell me you understand or I will throw you into the trash or—or—the ocean." The sudden animalistic growl at the mention of the ocean nearly made her drop the stone. Her blood raced as she froze in silence, judging if she should continue or not. Softening a little, she held the stone tighter. "Please, I know you may think I want your…attention like that, but I don’t. It makes me uncomfortable, please tell me you will stop."
The smile was gone from his voice, replaced by a tone that almost felt void of life and rehearsed. "If that is your wish."
Not sure what else to say or do, she sat the necklace on her nightstand and stepped back. She needed to go to the bathroom, but the sudden thought of her mother coming in and seeing the necklace gave Nadira pause. Taking the necklace from the nightstand, she stuffed it on the underside of her pillowcase, feeling much more confident in its safety, she left the room.
Long after the Gurung family finally left, there was a long conversation that mostly consisted of her parents yelling at her before eventually turning on one another to continue their argument. Each one blamed the other for the "embarrassing scene" as they coined it, but Nadira knew as she slunk away, that they would eventually simmer down, and both agree that somehow, it was her fault for everything anyway.
Laying down in her bed that night, she stared at the stone in her palm. As if sensing her, it began to glow dimly in her hand.
After minutes of debating internally, she finally asked. "What do you want from me?"
For a while, the voice did not speak, and she feared it wouldn't.
"The same as you," he said finally. "...freedom."
Chapter 4
The plastic shell of her phone case vibrated sharply against the wooden desk for the third time, causing Nadira to let out a sigh. Turning the phone over, she quickly scanned the irate text from her mother, wondering when she planned to come home. Glancing up at the top of the screen at the time, Nadira winced, it was late. Her parents, no doubt, were wondering when she was planning on coming home to cook. Turning her phone face down again, she forced herself to push it away with a resolute nod. She already told them she was working late in the library, which more than insinuated that they would have to fend for themselves tonight. Besides, she thought with a brief influx of determination, she was not a child anymore, if she needed to stay out a bit later than normal, there should be no reason she couldn't.
Feeling a bit more confident in her decision, Nadira turned back to the book that was open in front of her. Shifting in her chair, Nadira was thankful she was able to reserve one of the library's study rooms earlier that day. Tiny soundproof rooms with large enough tables to seat two people, the tiny rooms were completely enclosed by a half glass wall and a glass door, giving students just enough privacy to study. Sitting with her back towards the glass wall, Nadira subconsciously toyed with the stone in her hand as she read the text in front of her. This book stated that the djinn were creatures created by Allah made from “smokeless fire” according to the Quran. Djinn were said to have their own societies and the abilities to move through any atmosphere, but were limited from traveling beyond the earth's atmosphere.