The Genie Rings Page 5

  ‘You cannot leave yet, little humans,’ it hissed. ‘For I have not told you the good news!’

  Max couldn’t help himself. ‘What’s the good news?’ he spluttered.

  The ghul cackled. ‘Why, the news of your death, horrible and prompt!’

  Max squealed in terror as the ghul opened its mouth wide, detaching its jaw all the way like a snake. The smoke around its head seemed to be condensing into more and more rows of serrated teeth.

  Anna tried to reach for the white knife, but her arms were being squeezed too firmly by the smoking fingers. Why wasn’t anyone from the campsite coming to help them? She remembered the large dining tent on the other side of the camp; imagined all the archaeologists tucking into their lunches together, laughing and smiling. Didn’t anyone realise she and Max were about to become lunches themselves?

  ‘You can’t eat us here,’ she said desperately, still trying to wiggle her arm close to the knife. ‘Someone might hear you. They’ll come and trap you in that jar again, and this time you’ll stay sealed up forever.’

  The ghul shivered. With a wicked snarl, it spat a gob of flame at the discarded brass jar. But as the ghul turned back to the children, Anna saw it cast a nervous glance up towards the campsite. Its tongue darted out between its rows of teeth, tasting the air again. Its eyes flickered.

  ‘I have waited long to feast,’ it said. ‘I can wait a moment more.’

  Two plumes of smoke erupted from the monster’s back. They curved strangely through the air, as if blown by some unnatural breeze: and then suddenly they were wings, tall and wide and black. The ghul grasped the children even tighter, so that the tips of its fiery claws were digging into their skin. Anna and Max cried out in pain as the big black wings began to beat – and then the ghul sprang up towards the clouds.

  Anna had flown on a lot of planes, but she had never been on a flight like this. The wind whipped at her hair as the ghul sailed over the desert plains, gliding through the air faster than any bird. For one fleeting moment the great blue lake was laid out beneath them, a perfect blue jewel in a ring of white salt, and then all Anna could see was the sand stretching out endlessly in every direction. She dared herself to keep squirming, still trying to draw the white knife from its scabbard.

  ‘You’re dropping me!’ squealed Max. ‘You’re dropping me!’

  The ghul grunted. It adjusted its grip on the children – and now Anna had all the wiggle room she needed. She unsheathed the knife in one swift movement, gritting her teeth as a surge of courage jolted up her arm and through her chest. Now all she had to do was wait for the right moment.

  They were beginning their descent. Anna watched carefully as the yellow dunes came closer and closer. How soft would the sand be? How big a fall could they survive?

  The ghul cackled. ‘Not long now, little humans,’ it hissed. ‘Not long now until my hunger is sated!’

  And that was the moment when Anna stabbed the ghul in the leg.

  The monster screeched. Anna gasped as a shower of fat black droplets sprayed against her arm, burning her hairs and scorching her skin; and then the claws of the ghul sprang open, and the children were falling through the air, spinning around and around until the sand and sky blurred into one. Anna screamed as she fell, trying to shield her face with her forearms, terrified she had made her move too soon, hoping they weren’t plunging to their deaths.

  The monster screeched.

  ‘It’s coming back!’ shouted Max.

  The smoke creature was swooping back towards them, so dark and so vast that it blotted out the sun. Anna lashed out with the knife just as the demonic face appeared beside her, its jaws open wide. She felt the blade strike hard – heard a shriek that sent tremors through her skull – and then the ground rushed up to meet her, and all her thoughts were knocked from her head, and the world was turned to black.

  8

  HEAT VISION

  ‘ANNA!’

  Anna smiled. She felt sleepy and warm, like her whole body was wrapped in a cosy blanket.

  ‘Anna! Come on!’

  She was so comfortable here. Peaceful, even. She did wish that Max would stop yelling, though.

  ‘Anna! You have to get up, now!’

  Anna opened her eyes – and immediately screwed them shut again. Sand was coated thickly inside her eyelids, raking against her eyeballs every time she moved them. She gasped in pain, waiting for the tears to flow in, trying to raise her hands to wipe the worst of the sand away. But her arms wouldn’t move. Neither would her legs. With a jolt of terror, Anna realised all her limbs were paralysed.

  Biting her lip to stop herself from crying out, Anna forced one eye open.

  Her first thought was that her body had disappeared. She was lying on her back, but as she looked towards her feet she could see no chest, no waist, no anything. All she could see was sand – hot, boiling sand. She could feel it now against her face, burning her cheeks and chin, scratchy and torrid and full of fire. The afternoon sun leered angrily from the sky.

  Max was crouched on the dune beside her, digging with his dead fingers. His face had turned a furious red, and the skin of his good hand was now scarlet as well. His jaw was set in a determined grimace as he shovelled the sand away.

  ‘Max,’ started Anna, but there was sand in her throat, too, and before she could say anything else she was overcome by a fit of coughing. Max fell back in surprise, but recovered quickly, wiping the sand from Anna’s mouth as she spat it up.

  ‘You’re alive,’ he whispered. ‘We’re both alive. But I need to get you out. If you stay buried much longer, you’re going to roast.’

  He turned back to his shovelling. Anna took a deep breath, trying not to panic.

  ‘What happened?’ she said.

  Max shrugged. ‘You hit the ground hard,’ he said. ‘And that thing hit the ground right beside you, and it blew up the sand like dynamite. It took me ages to find you.’ Max sat back and caught his breath, running a hand through his tufty, sand-filled hair. ‘Can you wriggle out yet?’

  Anna tried again to move her arms and legs. Her limbs were sore – incredibly sore – but still she tried her best, gasping as her muscles strained against the weight. Slowly, surely, the earth began to tremble – and then her arms burst free, spraying sand high into the air. Max took her hands and pulled with all his might; Anna groaned as her legs were dragged up from the depths of the desert.

  ‘Is it gone then?’ she muttered. ‘The ghul?’

  ‘I think so,’ said Max. ‘I found this while I was digging.’

  He held out the white knife. Its tip was stained darkly with an oily liquid. Anna remembered how the ghul had bled as they fell from the sky. Nervously she checked her arms and hands. The skin was black and pockmarked where the ghul’s blood had squirted against her. It looked as if she had been jabbed with a burning stick.

  ‘I think I need to see a doctor,’ she said, sheathing the knife. ‘A real one this time.’

  Max scowled. ‘Sassan must have known we’d open that jar. He wanted the ghul to eat us – to stop us telling Ali what we know.’ He choked back a sob. ‘Who’s going to save Dad now?’

  Anna frowned. Her bones were still aching, but a new and frightening thought had just crept into her mind. Her stomach lurched.

  ‘This is bad,’ she said quietly. ‘Really bad. If Sassan knew there was a ghul in the jar, he knows that fairies are real – and now he’s out looking for the tomb of Zareen. He wants to find the magic ring and control the marid. And if he can do this much damage to us with just a ghul …’

  A look of fear passed over Max’s face. ‘We need to get back to camp,’ he said.

  Anna nodded. She took a step forward, blinking away the last of her tears. Now that her eyes were clear, she could see the horizon was covered in dunes. Which direction had the ghul taken them in? Anna turned around. There were dunes behind them, too.

  ‘Do you know where the camp is?’ she asked hopefully.

  Max bit his li
p.‘I think it’s that way,’ he said. ‘But I’m not sure anymore.’

  His face was as red as a beetroot. Anna knew it wouldn’t be wise for them to stay out in the sun much longer. ‘Come on,’ she said. ‘I’m sure we’ll find our way.’

  She took another step forward. Max fell in line behind her, puffing quietly as they climbed back up the sandhill. Anna inhaled slowly, trying to calm the anxiety that was building in her chest.

  A dark shape sailed above them in the vast blue sky. Anna flinched, afraid the ghul might have returned, but it was only a bird, circling and wheeling high over their heads. Eventually the bird was joined by another, and then one more. As Anna and Max struggled across the desert, all three birds followed, their black wings sailing on the breeze, their pale heads gleaming like skulls.

  The vultures were waiting.

  There was no path.

  Anna breathed in carefully, savouring the air as it ran down her throat. If she could only keep her mouth cool, she thought, then maybe the rest of her would feel cool as well. Maybe her skin would stop burning, and her heart would stop pounding, and the dizziness in her head would fade away. Maybe she wouldn’t catch fire.

  Maybe they wouldn’t be lost.

  Endless dunes lined the horizon. Anna had already lost count of how many they had climbed. The desert sucked at her feet with every step, dragging her back so far that she might as well not have stepped at all.

  Max was trudging ahead of her now. Anna followed in his footsteps, not bothering to wonder if they were heading in the right direction. Somewhere, somehow, the desert would have to end. All they had to do was survive.

  Anna took another breath, but the air didn’t feel so cool this time. She stared again at the horizon. The dunes stared back.

  There was no way they were going to make it out in time.

  Heat tore through Anna’s mind. She winced, her vision blurring. Where were Max’s footprints now? She’d been able to see them just a second ago. She could always follow Max, no matter where he went. She’d followed him when the vampire took him. She’d followed him across a magic bridge and under the earth to the troll’s slimy lair. Fairies had stolen her brother away, but she’d followed him every time.

  Now they were finally going to pay the price for meddling with monsters. Now their bodies would sink down into the sand, and the vultures would come and pick their skeletons clean, ready to be displayed in a museum. Lost children, the plaque in the museum would read. Found alone in the desert because they stuck their noses where they didn’t belong.

  Anna blinked. Her eyes were woozy, but she knew Max must be nearby. She tried to call out, but the words melted away before they passed her lips. She needed help. From Max – from the Professor – from Isabella – from Jamie – somebody needed to come to her aid.

  Something swept past Anna’s side.

  Anna tilted her head.

  The vampire stood beside her, its long spider-limbs perched gently on the sand. Impossible shadows swirled around its body, curling around its arms and neck like a flock of bats rustling in a deep, dark cave. Its eyes were brighter than the desert sun as it lunged at her, mouth open wide, needle-teeth dripping with blood.

  ‘Don’t worry,’ said Isabella. ‘I can handle this.’

  Anna fell into the sand, gasping, as her friend stepped forward to protect her. Isabella grinned, laughing as the vampire flailed its arms, luring it away from Anna in a dance of lunges and parries. The girl and the beast disappeared together down the side of a dune, gone in a tangle of shadows and curly hair.

  ‘I will catch her later,’ growled the troll. ‘All of you must pay the toll.’

  Anna rolled away in terror as the great stone beast burst up from the sand beneath her, its stalactite claws raking at the sky. She grabbed for the white knife, but the pulse of heat through her arm almost made her pass out; she scrambled away instead, crawling desperately across the dune, the troll roaring behind her. The shells on its belly let out a terrible rattle as the beast leapt forward.

  ‘Get away from her,’ called Jamie. ‘Go back to your bridge this instant!’

  Birds swooped down from the sky to peck at the troll’s face: sparrows and vultures and owls and shrikes, all of them squawking and flapping their wings. Jamie winked at Anna as he commanded the feathery host, beating the troll down with beaks and talons until the top of its stony head sank under the ground. Jamie jumped down after it, vanishing without a trace.

  Anna lay back on the sand, panting. A fresh night sky stretched out above her, but there were no stars. A great brown bear ambled past, stopping to lick her cheeks. A shaggy white goat with curly horns butted her gently in the side.

  ‘No,’ said Anna. ‘I’m too tired. I don’t want to get up.’

  A small black cat jumped up onto Anna’s chest. Its eyes were a bright golden yellow, and the ends of its whiskers were tinged an electric blue. Anna smiled happily as the cat stared at her, its tail flicking back and forth.

  ‘I know you,’ she said. ‘You’re that cat from the hotel in England, where Jamie lives. What are you doing here?’

  ‘Get up, Anna,’ said Max. ‘Get up.’

  The cat crept slowly up to Anna’s face. It inched forward until their noses were almost touching, and then the black fur and the night sky became one, and all Anna could see were the cat’s golden eyes, shining like two glorious yellow moons.

  ‘I really wanted to pat you,’ murmured Anna. ‘But you wouldn’t listen to me. The bear and the goat both did exactly what I said when I pointed the knife at them. Why didn’t you?’

  ‘I’m not leaving without you, Anna,’ said Max. ‘You need to get up.’

  The cat purred. It leant forward until its claws were digging into Anna’s neck, so that its tiny chin was pressed against her mouth. It slowly stuck out its tongue, delicate and pink, and licked Anna roughly across the lips.

  The colour flooded back at once.

  Anna gasped. The sky was so bright and blue that it singed her eyeballs. Her skin was so hot that she was sure it must be charred, but now a strange coldness was washing through her limbs, cooling her body from the inside out. Max was standing beside her in the sand, looking exhausted – and also extremely confused.

  ‘I’m so sorry, Max,’ rasped Anna, standing up. ‘I’m okay now, really. I was just having the strangest dream – about all the monsters, and Isabella and Jamie and Billy and the bear, and that black cat, too, the one we saw in England.’ She paused, lost in thought. ‘The cat brought me back. I dreamt that I saw it again, right here in the desert.’

  ‘Yeah,’ said Max nervously. ‘I believe you. I see it too.’

  Anna frowned. She followed Max’s gaze, twisting her body around. She froze.

  The cat from her dream was sitting right behind her.

  9

  A FAMILIAR SENSATION

  ANNA PINCHED HERSELF. SHE KNEW SHE was awake now – knew that the monsters had only been a dream – but still the cat was there in the desert, casually licking its front paw with a long pink tongue. The cat glanced up at Anna as she stared at it, its golden eyes sparkling in the sunlight. In England those eyes had watched them from atop staircases and under hedgerows, spooking the children as they uncovered the greater mystery lurking in the mist. How could the cat be here?

  ‘Get the knife out,’ muttered Max. ‘Make sure it’s on our side.’

  In the past, the white knife had allowed Anna to befriend the animals she pointed it at – every animal except the black cat sitting before them. Anna slid the knife from its scabbard nonetheless, holding it out before her like a wand. Light danced merrily along the blade. The knife seemed pleased to be free once more.

  Anna cleared her throat. ‘Hi,’ she said. ‘I mean, hello, cat. Would you like to come any closer?’

  The cat did not move. It stared up at them, unblinking.

  ‘That wasn’t a command,’ whispered Max. ‘You usually start with a command.’

  ‘Oh,’ said Anna. ‘Right
.’ She stood up to her tallest height, pointing the knife directly between the cat’s blue-tipped whiskers. ‘Cat. Come here.’

  The cat’s ears twitched. Its tail whipped from side to side, spraying sand into the air. The blue whiskers quivered.

  But still the cat did not move.

  Max stepped cautiously behind Anna. ‘Do you think the knife doesn’t work on all cats?’ he said. ‘Or just this one?’

  Anna was wondering the same thing. Ever since they had found the white knife in Transylvania, strange things had happened to the siblings wherever they went. A little black cat seemed far less strange than a vampire, or a troll, or a ghul. But was the cat a friend, or yet another foe?

  Anna sheathed the white knife, trying her best to smile. The sun was starting to feel dangerously hot again. Max’s face looked a bit like the crater of an erupting volcano.

  ‘Right,’ she said to the cat. ‘Have it your way, then. But we’re lost. Really lost. If we don’t get help soon, I think we might die – and if we do, there’s a whole camp full of people who might die as well. But now you’re here, and I’m really glad you’ve come. Thanks for waking me up. If you know the way back to the camp, please show us. If you can get us to safety, we’ll find you a bowl of milk, or something else you’d like. Okay?’

  A drop of sweat dripped down her chin. Max peered out from behind her. His body was so tired that his legs had started to tremble.

  The cat’s tail stopped whipping. In one smooth movement it turned and padded away across the dune, leaving only the faintest trail of paw prints behind. It didn’t look back.

  ‘I guess we’d better follow it,’ said Anna.

  Max frowned. ‘Are you sure?’

  ‘I’m sure we don’t have any other choice,’ said Anna wearily. She glanced up at the sun. ‘What could be worse than being roasted alive?’

  Max grumbled something under his breath. For a boy who had been bitten by a vampire and kidnapped by a troll, it wasn’t a very reassuring question.