Free Mistfall by Olivia Martinez

offered you a gift of
protection.”
    I opened my mouth to decline the offer.
Nothing good could possibly come from evil incarnate. Hailz stopped
me before I had a chance to say anything. “Don’t even bother
arguing. Neither of us have a choice in the matter. You’re
receiving his protection whether you like it or not.”
    I sighed in frustration. “What’s the catch
Hailz and what does it have to do with you?”
    “There is no catch. The Master just prefers
you alive and relatively unharmed.” She slithered to the base of a
tree, curling up on herself once more.
    “You’re not going to tell me why that is are
you?” I asked.
    “She laughed in her weird snake voice and
shook her head no.
    I put one hand on my hip and waved the other
in the air. “So, where’s this mysterious gift of protection?”
    “You’re looking at it,” she gestured to
herself with her tail.
    “Let’s be honest,” I stated, “you and I
barely put up with each other in small doses. Who’s going to
protect us from each other?” It was a good point. Once in awhile my
meeting with Hailz would end up in a fight. There was no way we
could travel together without one of us killing each other.
    “I would rather make flower necklaces and
sing ‘Kumbayah’ all day with the pixies rather than walk all over
the Otherworld with you,” Hailz spat. “Unfortunately for me, the
Master decided it would be prudent for me to bind myself to you. I
agreed, albeit reluctantly.”
    Binding a jinn was perpetual slavery. Amongst
otherworldly creatures it was rarely used and only then for the
most serious of crimes. A jinn had to agree to be bound, which led
to some pretty nasty alternatives for criminals refusing the
binding. Torture, starvation, and threatening the lives of loved
ones were common persuasion techniques.
    The jinn once walked openly among humans,
like most otherworldly beings. We would exchange help for their
goods or services. We often helped purely out of the goodness of
our hearts. Once in a great while a jinn would become like a member
of the family to some of the humans.
    Out of love for their adopted human family, a
jinn would bind themselves to an object, usually a heirloom that
belonged to the family. This was a marriage of sorts, a lasting
commitment between the jinn and its family. The last member of the
family still living usually broke the bond before their death so
the jinn could once again be free. A jinn was always permitted to
request their freedom at any time. Out of love and mutual respect,
they were generally released by the humans.
    At some point in history, the humans became
greedy and cruel. Instead of releasing the jinn, they would pass
ownership down the family line or steal the heirlooms from others.
Because they were still bound to the object, the new owner became
the new master.
    A bound jinn must do what’s asked of it aside
from murder, creating love, and creating money. Human empires were
created and destroyed on the backs of these enslaved jinn.
    A smart jinn will never bind themselves to a
container type of object. They can be trapped inside of it if they
do. The humans have a story of that happening to one of us.
    Trapped in an old oil lamp, one of us was
buried with an extinct civilization for many millennia. The human
story has a happy ending. That jinn, the one Disney has made
millions off of, went and destroyed part of a country. I believe
it’s called the Empty Quarter.
    Being bound and forgotten in a container is
the worst thing that could happen to a jinn. Today when they are
found, they are killed immediately out of mercy.
    One day, I may have to kill Hailz and I’m
alright with that. I will not have her indentured to me though.
Hades only knows what may befall me and I won’t have her a slave to
some unknown person.
    “NO.” I was adamant. “I won’t allow you to be
bound.”
    “It’s not your choice,” she responded
nonchalantly as if she were commenting on the weather. “Now what