Pirates vs. Ninjas,
A Love Story
“I’d like to make my last wish,” said the girl with uncharacteristic hesitance.
Tal drifted closer, leaving a trail of luminescent smoke in his wake. As soon as she was done wishing, he planned to kiss her. He’d wanted to ever since she found his bottle, but it wasn’t allowed. His first time out of the bottle as a fledgling djinn and already the cuffs rankled.
“I wish,” she said, and now the words tumbled over each other in a rush, “to sentence you to a year of performing on a Vegas stage in a pink sparkle tutu and clown makeup.”
There was a shocked silence.
“What?” demanded Tal.
“You heard me.”
His cuffs began to buzz with pent up magic, a low key rattle that already made his teeth ache. The longer he waited, the worse it would get. Too freaking bad. He intended to yell at her, but all that came out was a pitiful whine unlike his usual melodious tenor.
“I was going to kiss you,” he said.
“I know,” she replied, but she couldn’t meet his eyes.
“Then what the heck are you doing?”
She grabbed his arm and pulled him close, whispering fiercely in his ear. “You should thank me. They wanted me to kill you.”
“Yeah, right.” It came out harsher than he intended, but the cuffs were starting to burn. Needless to say, having his wrists broiled made him a little irritable. “Who would want to kill me? I just got cuffed a month ago; I haven’t had time to make any mortal enemies.”
“Your mother was Black Margaret, captain of the pirate ship Dusky Twilight, right?”
“So what?”
She didn’t answer, just tossed a ninja mask on the floor at his feet. He didn’t need any other explanation. Pirates and ninjas were sworn enemies. Even mortals knew that, and they were completely oblivious about most things.
His wrists were smoking. It was freaking aggravating. And it hurt like blazes.
“Well,” he snapped, “I’m a djinn. I don’t care what kind of whack ninja moves you’ve got. Unless you’re one of those fabled ninja cat-people, you’re not going to be able to touch me.”
She burped. It wasn’t a gross burp or anything; she kept her mouth closed. But when she opened it again, a canary feather floated out.
“Oh,” he said, and now the cuffs were excruciating. “Well, I don’t care who or what you are. I want my kiss. I’ll come find you when the year is up.”
“Not after a year of Vegas purgatory, you won’t,” she said sadly. “I’m counting on it.”
It took Tal a year and two days to find her again. The year was a whirlwind of tulle, greasepaint, and generalized misery. Two days after he was freed from Vegas purgatory, he found her at a prom…
TO BE CONTINUED
Sign up for my newsletter to be informed when the story is continued!
