Page 55 of Into the Abyss
Rislen’s hand stilled on my knee, and aripple of unease went through the Faulted surrounding me. “Then whyhave you come?” she asked and glanced at Magnus.
“I’ve come to ask for your help in theAbyss. Can you aid us in freeing the rest of the innocents trappedthere?” I inquired.
“No.”
Never before had I seen Rislen icy ordistant, but she became both in an instant as she removed her handfrom my knee and settled it in her lap.
“Rislen—”
“No, Amalia. We do not condone what ourbrethren do, and we will havenopart of it, but we will notgo against the other jinn, and we will not interfere in what theydo. We do not stand with our kind in this, but we do not standagainst them either.”
“But it’s not standing against them!” Icried, and Magnus rested his hand on my shoulder. The touch helpedto calm my rising panic. “It’s not, Rislen. It’s helping those whoneedour help.”
“It’s helping those who kept us lockedaway,” Aral stated.
“They didn’t put you there,” I said. “Andthere are humans involved in this. They hadnothingto dowith Hell.”
Aral’s blue eyes were intense when they metmine. The yellow freckles spattering his nose and cheeks matchedhis hair. “They didn’t let us out either, and those humanswillingly participate in this war.”
“Can you blame them?” I demanded, and Magnussqueezed my shoulder again. “Look at what we have done since comingto Earth!”
“Not all of us,” Rislen said.
“No, not all of us, but you condone theactions of the others.”
Rislen’s calm façade slipped a little. “Wedonotcondone what they do.”
“By doing nothing, you’re allowing them towreak havoc on this plane and its residents. They’ve joined withAstaroth, demons, and the horsemen who want nothing more than torule Earth. Do you think any of them will be okay with you sittingon the sidelines throughout it all?” I demanded.
“The jinn will not allow anything to happento us,” Aral stated.
“So you believe Astaroth and the angels willallow the jinn oranydemon to survive if they eliminate thepalitons?” Magnus inquired.
Rislen glanced at him before focusing on atree over his shoulder. “We will not go against our kind.”
“Rislen, please,” I breathed.
“I’d advise you to take the same course ofaction, Amalia. We all helped to raise you, and we all love you. Ifyou do nothing to harm the jinn, you will be forgiven for trying tointerfere, but if one of them dies because of this, you won’t havea home amongst any of us.”
My breath sucked in, and I would haverecoiled if Magnus’s hand hadn’t kept me in place.
“I think it’s time for you to go now, unlessyou intend to give up this traitorous quest and reside with us,”Rislen finished.
“Many will die if we don’t help.”
“Many have already died, and many more willperish over the coming days and years of this battle. It is thenatural way of things.”
I gawked at her as I tried to think ofsomething that might help sway her to our cause, but there wasn’tanything I could say; she would not be moved.
“Can you at least tell me a little about theAbyss?” I asked. “I know nothing of it. How is it that thelightning is a life?”
Rislen didn’t speak for so long that Ididn’t think she would reply; then, her eyes met mine. “It’s notlightning but an actual lifeforceis striking Absenthees,and when it strikes, that life spreads to all the jinn within theAbyss.”
I rubbed my skin in a useless attempt scrubaway the remnants of life clinging to me.
“Absenthees is the monolith in the center?”Magnus asked.
Rislen’s lips clamped together before sheclosed her eyes and nodded.
