Page 23 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“Why would an angel go around killing jinn? Aren’t angels meant to be good and pure? Snapping necks doesn’t really scream ‘angel.’ ”

“Well, that all depends on what you think an angel is.”

I paused. “It’s not something I’ve given much thought to, but I definitely didn’t think an angel would be a teenage boy who looked likeyou.”

Zain smirked. “I don’t look like an angel? My angelic hair doesn’t give me away?” He flashed dizzyingly perfect teeth. “Your idea of angels is warped. It’s not your fault, though. Humans just have no idea.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Well, as a human, enlighten me. What does being an angel even entail?”

“That’s a big question, but in short, we help support the good in the world.”

That didn’t help my understanding, but I nodded anyway. “And jinn are your enemies? And they go after humans, too?”

“Yes, we are opposing forces, though we recognize there has to be a balance of good and evil in the world. One can’t exist without the other, but as with most things, there are rebels orstragglers who intervene beyond what is allowed. Those jinn might bother humans in an obvious, physically harmful way, but that’s rare. You have nothing to really worry about.”

“That’s not reassuring. I hope you know that.”

Zain barked out a laugh. “I mean, I’ve never had to explain it to a human before. The world that you’ve been ignorant about is too complex to sum up.” He took another sip of his drink. He seemed too relaxed as he said all this, almost relieved, which convinced me that he was telling the truth.

“So what’s the real story behind jinn?”

“They’re supernatural beings brought into creation by Shaitan to bring evil and sadness to the world. They influence humans to do bad things. Some look like they are on the inside—like the jinn you saw—and others look human.” Strangely, that some appeared human was more the frightening information.

“How exactly do they influence people?”

“From what I’ve learned, there are lower-level jinn who have the basic powers of strength and persuasion. Upper-level jinn have one key power that they harness—it could be the ability to fly, to move objects without touching them, things like that. I’ve heard some can have multiple, but I have yet to encounter any who do.”

I couldn’t help but wonder if my sleep paralysis demon was somehow linked to all this. Could the dark figure haunting me be a jinn?

I opened my mouth to speak, when my phone vibrated inmy bag. Retrieving it, I saw, unsurprisingly, that my dad was calling. I let it ring.

“Aren’t you going to get that?” Zain asked.

I shook my head when the call ended and said, “It’s my dad,” like that was a sufficient explanation.

He nodded as if he understood, though. “You and him aren’t close?”

“He…” I trailed off. I didn’t want to talk about this with Zain, not after everything he had just told me. “He’s a difficult man. But that doesn’t matter.”

Zain’s brow furrowed, and he gestured for me to continue, like he cared about what I had to say, more than most of the people close to me. I wasn’t sure if that was true, but that was how it felt. My sister, my dad, my brother, even Nic, to an extent, didn’t hear me—they often heard what they wanted to hear. My neck warmed from the attention, and I took another sip of my overly sweet coffee.

“Stop looking at me like that,” I finally said when it was apparent he was going to stay quiet, like a TV detective using silence to make a witness talk.

“Looking at you like what?” he said.

I let out a noise of frustration. “It doesn’t matter.”

“So you don’t get along with your dad. Is it because you moved here for his job?”

I sighed, figuring it’d be best to answer his questions so we could get back to mine faster. “No. We argued about my mum. She died four years ago. In a car accident. It’s a long story.” Ispoke with a forced light tone and kept my gaze on my drink before taking another long sip.

He rested his elbows on the table. “I’m sorry.”

“You don’t need to say sorry.” I understood yet hated it when people said sorry; the word was often uttered quickly and awkwardly.

Zain nodded like he had heard my thoughts. “I get it. My mom’s dead, too. She died when I was really young, though.”

“Oh,” I said, not quite expecting that. “That really sucks.”