Scorched Skies by Samantha Young Page A

alright.”
    “Alright isn ’ t good enough.”
    Relief washed through Ari at the sound of Jai ’ s voice and she pulled away from Charlie to see Jai striding towards them. Four other bodies lay on the ground, including Jai ’ s original attacker. “Are you OK?” she stumbled towards him on adrenaline-shaky legs.
    His stern face stopped her in her tracks. “I ’ m fine. A little dizzy, but fine. Their concoction needs tweaking. There wasn ’ t nearly enough strength in it to keep me placid for long.” He looked around them. “I don ’ t know what happened here but we ’ ve got to get back and call on The Red King. This was…”
    “Weird?” Charlie offered, kicking aside one of the guy ’ s legs. “These guys were human. What were they doing coming after Ari?”
    “One of them said something.” Ari peered down at the man whose nose she ’ d broken. Charlie must have rendered him unconscious too. Oh swell… didn ’ t that make her feel useless. “He said, ‘ Master Dalí can ’ t wait to meet you. ’ ”
    Jai ’ s face darkened. “I ’ ve never heard of him. But the Master part, the fog…”
    “Jinn?”
    “Oh definitely. Charlie, give me a hand to get these guys off the road.”
    Ari glowered as Charlie immediately bent to toss an unconscious guy over his shoulder, heading towards the thick woodland to dump him there. “Hey, I can help.”
    Striding by her with his own unconscious attacker, Jai pointed at the car. “Get in the car. I ’ m pissed at you for getting out of it in the first place.”
    Outrage lit through her. “Hey, I ’ m a big girl, I can make my own decisions.”
    “Get in the car, Ari!” Charlie yelled now, his own eyes glittering with anger.
    Her mouth fell open, her cheeks blazing with indignation as the two men in her life stared at her, their expressions implacable. She made a ‘ pfft ’ sound and whirled around, stomping like a child towards the car. “Too much testosterone, infuriating cavemen, need someone else to boss around, stupid jerks…” she kept muttering insults under her breath until Charlie and Jai had cleared the road. Charlie jumped into the passenger seat as Jai pressed a hand to the bonnet of the SUV. The engine immediately started and he walked around, pulling the driver ’ s door open, bristling with aggression. He was probably pissed because he let himself get incapacitated.
    Neither of them said a word to one another. The drive back to the house was painful and Ari had to shake herself when she remembered she ’ d buried her dad today. It already felt like days ago. Time had been moving in a blurry mass of nothingness. Not anymore, Ari mused, thinking about her attackers and this new threat.

    ~8~
    Rain is Not Enough. I Want the Lightning

    OK, so his father had been right about where the Seal was and about the guardian Jinn covering her ass. But he hadn ’ t mentioned anything about the unpracticed sorcerer. Unless The Gleaming King didn ’ t know anything about him. Dalí sighed, shaking the liquid harmal concoction in its test tube. He leaned back in his office chair and fought the urge to smash the damn thing against the wall. He ’ d thought he ’ d gotten the Jinn poison just right. Instead of repelling it was supposed to drug them, numb their system so they couldn ’ t move and couldn ’ t think. But that Ginnaye had come out of the dose too quickly. Back to the drawing board. The phone on his desk sat too quietly, taunting him into deeper exasperation. As soon as his team had come back from their failed ‘ kidnap the Seal ’ mission he ’ d had his healer and scientist head back down into the labs to work over two human-living Jinn. Patience had never been Dalí ’ s forte and the thought of someone like Ari Johnson just walking around out there with all that power drove him nuts. He had to have her.
    The White King seemed to believe that controlling Ari was the only way to have use of the Seal. His uncle had his own