Page 85 of Heavensent & Hellbent

“And when I was in the gym, he came into the locker room to take me away. I don’t really get how he moved from only being accessible in our subconscious to visiting us while we are awake, but he said you summoned him? And that was enough to let him enter our lives.” The blood must have drained from my face at those words, because Azar quickly said, “I mean, I’m not blaming you or anything.”

“But you should,” I said, realizing how much of a mistake it was to have read Jamshid’s summoning spell. “This is all my fault.”

“If I’d told you about what we are…you wouldn’t have tried to summon him.”

My throat was suddenly exceptionally dry, which was likely because I’d vomited all my fluids out into the corridor.

“Were you sick when you got here, too?” I asked.

Azar smiled. A small smile, but present. “Yeah, vomited right in Zahhak’s face.”

The image made my lips quirk up, too. “Well, there’s that, at least.”

37

Our innate strength did not extend to breaking down the doors leading out of our adjoining rooms. No matter how hard Azar and I kicked, even together, the locked doors remained in place. Each time we booted the center of the doors leading outside, our feet felt like they might shatter.

“The material’s either immune to our powers or it’s warded,” Azar observed.

“Warded?” I repeated, confused, not for the first time, about this world my sister had known but never shared with me.

“Magic put in place on the door to specifically stop us from using our powers to get out. Only the person who warded it can take it away, unless you’re a sorcerer.”

“Let’s try another way.” I didn’t wait for her to reply when I willed the flames to lick my palms until they roared from my hand. Small fireballs emitted from both my palms, Azarwatching me closely. They were smaller than normal, the heat from them mild. I supposed it was because the only other times I had used my power I had felt anger, whereas now fear overtook everything. I threw the fireballs at the door, but they hit the wood and then disappeared in apoofof nothingness.

“Great, just great,” I muttered. “It’s normally less pathetic. I’m still getting the hang of it.”

“That is pretty cool,” Azar said, sounding impressed.

“Can’t you do that too?”

She shook her head. “No, I have…other abilities.”

“Care to share?” I said. Why was she being so vague?

Instead of telling me, she showed me—or at least attempted to. One second, she was next to me, and the next, smoke replaced her body, moving smoothly across the room until she was on the other side of it. I was just as impressed as she’d been, until I noticed her frowning.

“My powers…” she muttered. “They’re weaker. I can normally move really quick, but here…it’s different. Slower. Like I’m wading through mud.”

Something in the house must have been dimming our powers. “They wouldn’t want our powers to work properly here.”

“Right,” Azar said, shaking her head, looking disturbed.

We searched every nook and cranny of the rooms, for both weapons and a way out. The cupboards were mostly bare, though inside each of our wardrobes were women’s clothes that appeared to be brand-new, in dark colors and heavy fabrics like wool and velvet. I had a sinking feeling they were intended forus to wear, like we were dolls our deranged relative wanted to dress up.

“Are we the only relatives he could kidnap?” I snapped to Azar.

She rolled her eyes. “I asked him this once. He said all his direct descendants were killed in a revolt years ago. None have been reborn, and their souls linger in an in-between space.”

“He hasn’t mentioned Ehsan, has he?” I asked in a small voice.

“No,” Azar said, eyes blazing. “He did mention in passing trying to find his son—our dad from the last time we were sisters? It’s confusing, I don’t get it. But I guess because he never died in the seventeen hundreds, he wants to get the gang back together? He’s lonely, I think.”

“Fabulous.”

Hours had passed. Azar was slumped on the floor by my bed, her back resting against the bottom of it. I crouched down on the bed after searching under the quilts and pillows. I didn’t know what I expected to find. I reached down between the mattress and the headboard, shoving my fingers through the gap. I’d watched enough TV shows to know that captives often left weapons or clues to help any future captives escape. However, my fingers met no such object.

Groaning in frustration, I joined Azar on the floor, resting my back against the wall by the door. Just in case someone came in, maybe they would be distracted enough by Azar that I could slip out…It was wishful thinking. Sitting opposite her,I rested my chin on my knees, dropping my gaze. I thought of Ehsan again. Did he still think I was in the bath right now? Did he think I’d left him? Dad would be freaking out when he got home and saw I wasn’t there.