Free The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) by Lisa Gail Green

by the time I’m
done here. I search through the heavy smoke for the woman and find her beneath
a beam, which has fallen from the ceiling. Her eyes are closed, her face
covered in grime. I don’t know if she’s alive.
    Exasperated,
I throw the beam from her with the wave of a hand. I lift her in my arms and
reappear before Jered. I am relieved to find him alone and unharmed. Without a
word, I lay his mother at his feet, and he throws himself on her, crying and
shaking her shoulders.
    “Jered,
move. I must save her.” My body jerks toward them, desperate to fulfill my
master’s wishes. Jered nods and allows me access.
    I
examine the woman on the ground. I place my hands on her chest and focus my
energy on her aura. Breathe , I will. She draws deep on the night air,
and I feel Jered’s hands on my back. I shiver despite the heat pulsing from the
fire.
    “You
did it!”
    “She
needs a doctor, Jered. I can’t reach her.” I stand, searching his face. I watch
the glow of the rapidly expanding flames reflect off the surface of his eyes.
    “What
do you mean you can’t reach her?” He grasps my arms desperately, jostling me
like a flashlight he can make work.
    “I
tried. Truly. And she’s in there, but...but I can’t get her to wake up.”
    I
would do anything to take away the pain I see through the flickering shadows on
his skin. But I cannot. I feel helpless.
    “Mira
will find us any minute,” I say. I must make him see the danger he is in.
    “Take
us all to the hospital.” I nod, and we are in the emergency room where, after a
moment of chaos and confusion, doctors rush out with a stretcher for Jered’s
mother. We follow in their wake, two teenagers who’ve escaped a horrible
accident.
    I
hurry things along without a word. Once she is set up in a room and a nurse in
light blue scrubs has taken Jered’s information, I squeeze his arm. He remains
limp.
    The
nurse shuffles from the room with a smile that does not reach her eyes, and
silence falls over the tiny space, punctuated only by the mechanical beeps and
whirs of modern medical equipment. The smell of rubbing alcohol burns my nose.
I reach up, and the curtain that separates Jered’s mother from the other bed
snaps closed.
    “We
should–” I begin.
    “I
won’t leave her.” He says this without taking his eyes from her pale face.
    “She
won’t know whether you’re here or not,” I say, cupping his face in my hands.
“And if we stay, Mira will find us. She could kill every human in this
hospital.” I say this hoping his need to protect others may outweigh his need
to be with his mother.
    “I
wish I’d never bought that ring,” he says, and I believe he means it as a
command.
    “I
can’t rewind time,” I say, dropping my hands and pushing back the lump climbing
up my throat.
    He
nods. Swallows. As he turns to face me, a fierce new determination fills his
eyes. “Take me to my father’s house.”
    “Jered–”
    “Leela,
I’ve heard it said that you can’t control the hand you’re dealt. But I can stop
avoiding it.” He pulls a hand back through his hair, and I watch the cloud of
debris spread out from his fingers. “I guess I’ve always known I was different.
But I talked myself into believing that was how everyone felt. Well, I think
it’s pretty obvious now. So it’s time I took control of the situation. I need
to confront him. He’s got to know about it. You said yourself he’s a Magician.
He can help me.”
    “Jered,
you are hurt. You are in shock.”
    “Now!
I gave you a command.” I flinch at his words, but do as I’m told. I don’t have
a choice.
    We
materialize on the neatly manicured lawn as dawn breaks over the horizon,
bathing the large Tudor style house in its own golden aura. The sky behind it
is pink and raw, like the skin beneath a scab. Crickets still sing in the quiet
of the early morning hour. 
    I
reach for Jered’s arm, but he shifts away from me, and my hand falls on empty
air.
    “I
have to talk to