Free Circle of Jinn by Lori Goldstein

himself—the thing she most wanted.
    Okay, so that part isn’t true. Of all the ways Nate and Henry are alike, that’s the strongest.
    Don’t forget about their feelings for you.
    Shut up, Azra.
    Henry opens then closes his mouth. He’s taken it all in—well, all but one thing. And so he says for the fourth time, “But a male Jinn? How do you know you can trust him?”
    Same way I knew I could trust you.
    To my unhelpful shrug, he says, “Just be careful, Azra.”
    â€œWhen am I not careful?”
    â€œYeah, I don’t think we have enough time before the sun sets to cover that.”
    Down on the field, Nate catches a ball with something that looks like an old mop and raises his head to make sure I’m watching. I am, and so is Henry. I cringe, not wanting Henry to move away with things weird between us. When he told me New Hampshire was happening, he said maybe it was a good thing—maybe it’d be easier for me to be there for Nate without having to worry about him.
    Am I horrible for starting to think he was right?
    â€œOne of your texts said something happened with Laila?” Henry says.
    â€œNot something. Me.”
    And the answer is: yes. I am horrible for contemplating for even a second that Henry was right. Because when I tell Henry how I stole Laila’s locket, vowed for weeks to return it to her, and then, simply, for no real reason other than cowardliness, laziness, and a preoccupation with other things, didn’t, which led to her finding it all on her own and realizing how I’d lied to her, Henry does what a best friend is supposed to do.
    â€œShe’ll forgive you,” he says. “She’ll want you in her life in whatever way she can.”
    It’s not just the Laila sin Henry’s absolving me of.
    â€œI’m going to miss you,” I say.
    â€œYou better.”
    But why should I have to? Why can’t I help him stay? My mind control opens a whole world of ways I could help him and his family stay.
    I drum my long fingernails against the cold bleachers. He’s going to say no like he has before. I know it. But I still have to try one last time.
    â€œI’m not on probation anymore.” I wiggle my wrist to draw his attention to the silver bangle he knows I’m wearing. He was there when my probation was lifted and the bronze bangle meant to restrict my use of magic save for the granting of wishes was replaced with this one. He’s well aware of my ability to use magic to help his family. And I’m well aware of him refusing to let me.
    â€œI could whip out the help wanteds,” I say. “See what I can do about getting your dad a job somewhere that doesn’t require you to wear hiking boots and plaid all the time.”
    â€œMassachusetts snob.”
    â€œIs that a yes?”
    â€œHow does that sound like a yes?”
    â€œThe lack of an n and an o .”
    Henry points to his face and his overexaggerated “N-O.”
    I want to fight him on this, but I know he’s right. I can’t pretend there aren’t consequences for defying the Afrit anymore. And doing magic for a human, especially with that human’s knowledge, is the biggest defiance there is.
    â€œIt’s too late anyway,” he says, running his hand through his haphazard hair, longer than it used to be and getting even longer. “Renters are moving in this week.”
    I sigh a long, hard sigh. “That’s it, then.”
    â€œIt’s not like I’m moving to Guam. Which wouldn’t matter anyway since you can blink your eyes and magically appear anywhere you want.”
    â€œThat’s not how we do it, you know.”
    â€œThe point is, we’ll see each other.”
    â€œAs much as we’ve been texting?”
    His gaze zeroes in on the metal bleachers his foot now taps against.
    We’re finally getting to it. The reason he hasn’t been texting back, the reason