Lamp Riders: A Jinn Motorcycle Gang Novella (6 page)

The first thing she saw was Abdul, collapsed on his knees. Surrounding him were the other genies, some also seemingly hurt and dazed. The few that were still fully standing were desperately sending bolts of lightning and blazing rays of heat towards a large bubble in front of them. A look of desperation was etched onto every one of the men’s faces, and it cut to Celia’s heart. It did not look good.

She quickly turned her attention to the large bubble they were bombarding with magic. Taking up half the canyon, the bubble was translucent, but had a silvery shimmer that made its outline clearly visible. Whenever one of the attacks from the genies hit the shield, it merely bounced off, sending sparks flying dangerously out towards the dry vegetation in the canyon. Inside, Juan Reyes smirked with satisfaction as every blast of magic failed to penetrate his dome. He seemed to be holding up some sort of staff, bedecked with jewels and shining bright in the noonday sun.

“Well, the world is fucked,” Celia groaned softly, watching Reyes toy with the genies.

The cartel leader appeared to be alone, having no doubt the same cocky assuredness that the genies had earlier. His confidence in himself was evident as he swung the staff around suddenly, sending a shock wave towards the huddled genies. The last standing bikers fell over as the blast hit them. Reyes had clearly found whatever it was he was searching for, and Celia had no doubt that once he fully grasped its power he was going to steamroll over anything and everything in his way.

She looked around trying to figure out what to do. Escape was an option, and there was a good chance she could make it back to the car and drive away without being spotted. However, that would only delay the inevitable as Reyes came looking for victims to test out his new powers on. The other option was to join the fight, but her lack of lightning-shooting abilities seemed to preclude her from that.

“Think, think, think!” she muttered, searching for any sort of out. “This guy is like a Bond villain, and those guys are always dumber than they look.”

Just then, she noticed a tumbleweed rolling across the bottom of the wash. It rolled slowly, making its way towards Reyes’ bubble. The dried ball then popped right into the bubble, as if there wasn’t a barrier there at all. Inch by inch, it made its way to Reyes’ feet; no doubt pushed on by the wind created by all the spells bouncing everywhere.

“That arrogant bastard’s shield is only good against magic,” Celia whispered, smiling a little to herself.

The tumbleweed had been able to roll right in, completely ignored by all the men who were busy in their magic showdown. Neither side had considered using brute force, so the shield seemed completely penetrable by solid objects. All that was needed was something to penetrate the shield and get Reyes off guard. That something would have to be Celia.

The side of the gorge was steep and rocky, but Celia thought she could make it down. The trick would be to get to the bottom in one piece, unnoticed, and then somehow take out Reyes. She took a deep breath, said a silent goodbye to her parents, and then stood up.

Having grown up clambering up and down desert hills, Celia was quick on her feet. She flung herself down the cliff, hopping from rock to rock before a shred of doubt could hit her mind. That was the secret; if she paused long enough to doubt or think, her feet would slip out from under her, and she’d tumble. The momentum kept her upright, and she hopped down the side of the cliff, scrambling and sending rocks flying as she landed on the very edge of boulders. She’d always thought that walking on the edge was safer, because then she knew exactly where she was in relation to disaster. Today was no exception; she knew that she was straddling the very edge of chaos.

She hit the bottom of the gorge quickly, before anyone had even turned to see her. The sounds of the fighting had drowned out her wild descent, and she decided to take full advantage of the surprise. She flung all five foot two, one hundred pounds of her body against the shimmering bubble. She popped through with hardly any resistance and began to pick up momentum as she neared Reyes.

At the last possible second, Reyes turned with wild eyes, finding himself under assault from the last person that he probably ever expected. He raised the staff, preparing to fight her off, but he was far too slow. Years of being protected by gangs of henchmen and a terrible reputation meant Reyes hadn’t actually gotten his hands dirty in a long time. His body felt soft as Celia slammed her shoulder into it. All of her hard work in the shop, lifting big boxes of snacks, had developed her arm strength. She was able to grab the staff and wrench it free of his grasp with relative ease.

“Fucking hell!” he screamed, trying to regain his footing. “
Puta!”

“What did you call me?” she yelled back, taking the staff and swinging it at his face. The scraps of Spanish her mother had taught her were enough to know that Reyes had crossed a line.

Thrashing wildly, she managed to make contact several times, smashing him across the arm and shoulder with the heavy metal staff. The rod was quite heavy, and her rage had turned it into a formidable weapon. Juan Reyes was soon on the ground, trying to crawl away from her while spewing the most hateful things he could think of. Every time he cursed, she just slapped at him again with the staff.

“Whoa, whoa, I think you have had enough,” a low voice said close to her ear.

Celia turned around to face Abdul, his face ashen and drawn. His eyes were bright though, and he flashed a tired grin at her. Celia heard a scuffle behind her as several more of the genies descended on the prone body of Reyes. It was only with the utmost hesitancy that she handed over the staff to Abdul.

“I take it this is what you wanted?”

“Yes...an object of such power that most humans couldn’t even comprehend its true might. And you used it as a sledgehammer,” he laughed softly, taking the staff gingerly.

“It was effective. Not pretty, but certainly effective,” she replied, turning around to watch the genies drag a now hog-tied Reyes across the ground towards their bikes.

“We can’t thank you enough. So please don’t be angry. I hate to do this to you after all you’ve done, but it is for the best. And...maybe I’ll see you around,” he said quickly, reaching out to touch her shoulder.

Celia felt a warm heat move through her body. It started at her shoulder, and then snaked its way up her neck towards her head.

“What are you doing? You better not be touching my memories! You promised!” she yelled at him, just before everything went black.

C
elia awoke the next day with the smell of cigarettes and stale beer surrounding her. Her head was pounding, and her mouth felt as dry as her backyard. She rolled over and groaned as her eyes demanded to stay shut against the cruel light of morning. It was the typical morning-after for a night at the Rusty Jug, a hangover and a hatred for humanity. She sat up and stretched trying to find her alarm clock in the mess that was on her floor.

Wait.

Something didn’t feel right. She looked around the room with bleary eyes, trying to piece together her scattered thoughts. The battle in the canyon came swirling back, filling her mind with the smells and sounds of fear. She shivered and shrunk into the bed, unable to decide if she had been dreaming or not.

Comfort soon came, though. From the kitchen, she could smell potatoes and eggs, and heard the mumbled voices of her parents. A feeling of safety filled her chest, and she broke into a wide grin.

“Mom and Dad!” she cried, hopping up from the bed and running out her door.

She rushed into the kitchen, realizing she was still wearing her clothes from the day before, covered with dust and sweat from her battle with the cartel leader.
If that even happened,
she thought to herself.  She had no idea what was real or not anymore.

Her parents were real. They were sitting in the kitchen, sipping tea and reading a magazine. They looked up in surprise as she came tearing in, her black hair sailing out behind her like a cape.

“Are you ok, Sweetie?”

“Where have you been? Is everything ok?” Celia jabbered.

“We told you, we went to Los Angeles to meet with the art dealer,” her mom said softly, looking Celia up and down in concern. “How much sun did you get yesterday? You were asleep when we came home last night, so we figured you must have had a long day. I hope you didn't get dehydrated.”

“I...I’m fine. Everything is fine!”

Celia went up and kissed both her parents on their heads. She pulled her feelings together and went to grab a breakfast burrito off the oven. She wasn’t sure what would be worse, knowing she had imagined everything, or knowing that what happened was real. Either way, she was glad that for now it all seemed over, and she could go back to her normal life.

KNOCK KNOCK

“Oh, that is the art dealer. He is coming to pick up even more paintings!” her mother chirped, getting up and heading towards their door. “Abdul is so nice! And attractive! You’ll like him a lot.”

Miguel snorted behind his paper and mumbled, “He is too young for you, Maria. Besides you already have the best husband in the world.”

Maria playfully swatted Miguel on the head and went to open the door. Celia stood by the stove, clutching a burrito and trying not to get dizzy.
No fucking way,
Celia thought, wildly looking around. Abdul’s last words rang in her head –
maybe I’ll see you around.

“Come into the kitchen, we are just finishing breakfast. I’ve got the paintings all wrapped up for you,” her mother prattled as she came back into the room.

Behind her came Abdul, looking as handsome as ever. He was wearing a black cowboy shirt that barely held in his muscled arms. He was dutifully listening to Maria, but his eyes immediately sought out Celia. As soon as he saw her standing there with a look of shock on her face, he flashed his biggest smile yet.

“Thank you so much for inviting me in and letting me meet the rest of your family, Maria,” he said softly. Maria giggled slightly and left the room to grab her paintings.

Abdul then turned to Celia and held out his hand. “I’m Abdul, nice to meet you.”

“Nice to meet you too,” she said mechanically, putting the burrito down on the counter to shake his hand. “You...are here for the paintings?”

He nodded pleasantly and was about to say more, but was interrupted by Maria. Celia’s mom had quickly come back, carrying a huge bundle of cottage paintings. Each one was individually wrapped in green paper covered with pictures of Santa. Celia wondered idly if perhaps St. Nick was also real, since genies weren’t fictional; she decided it was perhaps something she wasn’t prepared to find out.

“The only thing I had to wrap them in was some old Christmas paper. At least they look pretty! I hope you can handle all of these,” Maria mused, before fleeing the room to get a second stack.

“I’ll find room. I might need some help getting these all packed into my car, though,” he groaned from under the weight of twenty canvases.

“Celia will help you!” Miguel broke in. “Celia, why don't you help him carry these out to the car?”

“That’d be great! Then she could show me around the town a little,” Abdul responded, his face beaming with mischief. “I’ve never been here before.”

“Uh...sure,” Celia said meekly, allowing her mother to overload her arms with more paintings.

Before Celia knew it, she was trudging down the front steps, following Abdul towards the store's trailer. She didn’t say anything, not trusting her ability to keep silent about magic in front of her parents. So they went on in an awkward silence, him leading the way and her trying not to stare too much at his butt. He claimed to be parked just on the other side of the store, but as they walked up to the parking lot all that was sitting there was his bike.

“Where is your car?” Celia asked, frowning.

“I can fit those on the bike, trust me,” he said, snapping his fingers once.

The paintings suddenly whizzed out of their hands towards the bike. Then with a
POP
the pictures shrunk down to the size of postage stamps and slid into a pack on the side of the bike. Abdul smiled widely, obviously pleased with himself.

“So I wasn’t crazy when I remembered the magic part,” Celia said, stifling a nervous laugh.

“Nope. I didn’t wipe your memory.”

“I appreciate that.” She focused on the ground while speaking, avoiding his dark eyes.

“I just needed to make sure you were okay after all of that. And after touching our Grand Staff. It can make some people a little...well, you saw Reyes.”

Celia rolled her eyes. “Obviously I’m fine. What was that thing, anyway?”

“Don’t worry about it. Just one of our little objects that someone let loose into your world by accident.”

“Hmm,” she replied, not believing him.

“Would you like to come with me?” he said suddenly, moving close and putting a heavy hand on her shoulder.

Celia looked up at him, blinking slowly in surprise. “Go...where...with you?”

“To my land. We don’t let just anyone come, but since you are such a badass I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“Don’t you mean, ‘pure of heart’ or something like that? I think that is how it goes in fairy tales.”

“No, I think ‘bad-ass’ is the technical term,” he said while grinning and squeezing her shoulder. “Come on, just come for one day.”

“I don’t know, Djinnestan seems pretty far and someone needs to help my parents run the store today. This community relies on it, you know.” Celia shuffled backward and stuffed her hands in her jeans, unwilling to walk away entirely but unsure of what to say next.

“Let Pico handle it. He’ll take care of things while you are gone.”

“The...tortoise? With the shell and no hands?”

Abdul’s black eyes twinkled mischievously, and a brief flash of pure amusement passed over his face. He reminded Celia of a boy who had just placed a tack on his teacher’s chair. “Pico is more than a tortoise. And he’ll handle things just fine. Come on, you don't need to grow old in this town, slowly turning into a giant stick of jerky. Come with me, just for one day. You will be back before your parents even notice Pico is running the place. Besides, I’ll miss you terribly if you don’t come.”