Page 81 of Into the Abyss
I thrashed against their restraining hold asthey carried me across the pit, away from Magnus. When they set medown, I saw the third jinni, the one who’d held my feet, was Nalki.The closing hole in his chest revealed the start of his reformingheart.
I lunged forward, but my father and Nalkigrabbed my arms to restrain me as Olgon strolled a few steps ahead.Half a dozen jinn were forming a circle around Magnus.
“Don’t hurt him!” I cried.
Magnus bellowed and started rocking himselfback and forth until he tore himself free of the debris pinning himto the ground. Getting to his hands and knees, he crouched for aminute and leveled the jinn with a look promising destruction.
Then, Magnus sprang to his feet in amovement so fluid I barely saw it. His shoulders hunched as hishorns curved out from the sides of his head. He didn’t make anothersound as he lowered his head and charged the jinni closest tohim.
The jinni braced himself, but before Magnusreached him, three more versions of Magnus emerged from theoriginal and circled the jinni. They were all identical to theoriginal, right down to my bite on him. The jinni spun as he triedto figure out which one was real, and for a second, I wasdisoriented by the duplicates too, but when I focused on the oneslightly to the left, Iknewit was Magnus.
Then, Magnus buried his horns in the jinni’sthroat and jerked upward. The jinni’s feet came off the groundbefore Magnus swung his head to the side and severed the jinni’sneck in half. The jinni’s head plopped onto the ground and rolledover.
My stomach twisted, and I tried to lift myhand to cover my mouth, but my father kept it pinned down. Deathwas the last thing I wanted for the jinn or Magnus, but more bloodwould spill before we escaped here.Ifwe escaped here.
And that blood would forever stain my handsas I’d brought Magnus here, but the jinn started it when theyaligned with the horsemen who theynevershould have broughthere.
Fresh anger surged through me as I recalledthe three monsters seated on their mounts close to Absenthees. Ididn’t dare take my attention off Magnus to look at them, but Icould see their smug expressions from the corner of my eye.
What the jinn did to the Abyss was atravesty, and bringing those things here was a betrayal that cutfar deeper than my bringing Magnus here. They were as eager to seejinn blood spilled as they were to see mine or Magnus’s. How thejinn couldn’t see that was beyond me, but the horsemen couldnotbe allowed to remain here.
More images of Magnus sprang up around thepit. They weaved in and out as they circled the jinn until it wasimpossible to keep them all straight. I tried to remain focused onhim, but a few times I lost him in the blur of movement.
Three more jinn fell at his hands while someof the others battled the illusions he created. Those jinn wereleft gaping at them when, if they hit them, the miragesdematerialized. The horsemen’s twisted pleasure emanated from themas they watched Magnus destroy the jinn even though the jinn weretheir allies.
“Don’t you see what the horsemen are? Don’tyou feel their malice?” I whispered to my father as the corners ofLust’s mouth curved into a smile.
“Don’t you see him killing jinn?” Olgonretorted without turning toward us.
My father’s, troubled sun-colored eyes metmine before he glanced away.
“And you are trying to kill him,” I said toOlgon before turning my attention to Nalki. “He has a right todefend himself, and he let you live when I asked it of him. Doesthat mean nothing to you?”
I sensed Nalki’s uncertainty, but hewouldn’t look at me as he whispered, “It does,” so low that Ibarely heard him, but it didn’t matter, there was nothing Nalkicould do against so many.
Olgon’s electric blue eyes were filled withhate when he looked at me over his shoulder. “He shouldn’t behere!” he spat.
“And neither should the horsemen or thejinn!” I cried. “I spoke with Rislen; I know the truth! This was afae land. We took it from them and twisted it into thisatrocity!”
When Olgon turned dismissively away, furyblazed through me. I wasnolonger a child, and when it cameto the Abyss, I understood it far better than the other jinn.
“Amalia, you are a sensitive being, but youmust understand conquering is the way of all demons. Our ancestorstook what they wanted and made it a land for the jinn, that isall,” my father said as my mother walked over to stand next tohim.
“Paupi,” I whispered. “That’s not all, andyou know it. You must sense this place wasn’t supposed to be likethis. You are part fae too, youhave tofeel the Abyssaching to come alive again.”
He refused to look at me, and I knewpleading with him would get me nowhere. “You feel it, don’t you,Nalki?”
Nalki kept his gaze steadfastly on thebattle. Even if they all felt it, they would never admit it. Iblinked away the tears of frustration burning my eyes as Magnusdestroyed another jinni. There were more than a dozen duplicates ofhim moving throughout the crater. The illusions couldn’t kill butthey provided a good distraction as Magnus made his way towardme.
Three of those mirages circled a jinni whospun as he tried to figure out if any of them were real. Two of theillusions dispersed when Magnus charged through them. The jinniturned toward Magnus as Magnus grasped his head, placed his foot onthe jinni’s chest and shoved him back.
The jinni’s body flew across the pit whilethe head stayed in Magnus’s grasp. Magnus released the head as ifit were nothing more than a shoe he removed. Having regroupedenough to remain undistracted by the mirages and to focus on thereal Magnus, four jinn jumped onto him.
“No!” I lunged against my restrainers holdon me.
Unprepared for the movement, or the ferocityof it, my father lost his hold, and I jerked Nalki forward threesteps before my father snatched me back again.
“NO!” I shouted, nearly wrenching myshoulder from its socket as I struggled to tear free of them.
