53 - Final Fortune

“Well, I guess that snobby vampire wench was telling the truth after all,” Maia heard a familiar voice say.

Maia spun around and immediately recognized the evil genie she had last seen when she had been abducted in Al Simhara.

“I’ve been looking for you for a long time, witch. So long that maybe you thought you’d escaped me forever, but not long enough for you to forget about me entirely— I can tell you remember me,” he sneered. “So are you going to come willingly now, or would you rather try fighting me first?”

Maia would’ve rather run, but there was no way she would leave her defenseless children behind.  She had to fight, but she didn’t think genies were particularly weak to any type of witch powers, and she knew she was no match for him physically.

Suddenly Maia’s phone began to ring and she heard pounding on the door along with the voices of the Delling brothers calling for her, but those sounds seemed very far away at this moment.  There was no one who could help her in time.

Desperately, she tried remembering her fortunetelling session with Kizzy; hadn’t there been one last prediction?  Some foresight that might be helpful now?

Maia tried to focus, but she could only recall part of it. Kizzy had said, Numerous clouds are obscuring my vision; I can’t see further beyond them. But I know these to be the powerful forces which surround you, some of darkness and some of light, as well as others that are a mixture of both. This makes it difficult at times to tell a friend from an enemy... But what was the rest? Maia couldn’t remember.

But she knew this genie was her enemy. Keeping eye contact with him, Maia tried to unobtrusively pick up an object from the table, hoping for a potion to throw and distract the djinn, or something heavy to hit him with and stun him long enough to escape her magical workshop, grab her kids, and run.

Instead, her hands closed on a soft object covered in fabric.  She had no idea what it was until something sharp jabbed her. She had grasped the voodoo doll and one the pins had pierced her finger.

Having no better ideas and knowing she had to do something, Maia used the voodoo doll on the genie.

Instantly, he responded to the black magic Maia wielded, and fell under her control. Maia decided to use the compulsion on him to extract some information. She needed to know what she was up against.

“Who else is here with you?”

“Valafar,” the genie answered, fear evident in his eyes.

“Is Valafar a genie like you?” she questioned, driving the pin deep into the doll.

The genie doubled over, gasping.  “Yes!”

“And what about Kadru?  Is she here, too?”

“No!” the genie shouted as he writhed in pain.

So Hamilton had been correct in his guess that Kadru would send her minions for her rather than coming herself, Maia thought.  “Does she know where you are?”

“No!”

Maia was surprised at the genie’s answer. “But didn’t Lady Delling tell you to inform Kadru? Why didn’t you?”

“Yes! But... we wished to keep the rewards Kadru promised for ourselves.”

Maia thought quickly. If Kadru had no idea where her henchmen currently were, Maia and her children could disappear entirely and Kadru would never know she and her family had ever been in Moonlight Falls. Her older children who were staying behind would also remain safe. Maia needed to do away with them both somehow.  And fast.

She looked around at her shelves of magical supplies, looking for something to spark an idea. And then something clicked.

“Call for Valafar,” Maia ordered.  “Tell him you’ve captured me.”

“Valafar, I have her!” the genie called out.

Maia hid on the side of the door and waited.

Soon the second genie walked into the room and looked around. “Adramelech! Where’s the witch?” he shouted in frustration.

Before Valafar could react, Maia began to chant a spell.

For past acts, vile and vicious,

You must offset the cost

By granting beneficial wishes;

Your dark craft forever lost.

With this spell you shall forget

Your task and whom you’ve found,

And so you may repay your debt

To this lamp you are now bound!

Maia held out one of the old oil lamps, and Valafar was forcibly drawn into it and trapped, disappearing in a puff of purple smoke.

Then she repeated the same binding spell on Adramelech, who though fearful, didn’t try fighting her as he was still under the compulsion hex of the voodoo doll.

Now that both genies had been imprisoned in the lamps, Maia wasn’t quite sure what to do with them, but at least her family was safe once again.  Perhaps she would send the lamps to Aashif and their sons in Al Simhara for safekeeping, but right now she needed to let the vampire brothers know she was alright before they busted down her door.

As soon as the Dellings saw Maia coming to the door they shouted for her to invite them in, but she opened the door and went outside instead.

“Maia, there’s someone in your house!  Invite us in so we can help you!”

Maia put her hand up.  “It’s fine; I’ve already taken care of Kadru’s minions with my magic. How did you know anyone was here, though?”

“We were scouting the town like usual and saw a car we didn’t recognize. We followed it and found it parked in your driveway with no one in it, so we figured someone got in your house,” Alex explained.

“Are you sure you’ve eliminated the threat?” Braeden asked. “And is there anything else we can do, like get rid of any uh... statues or something?”

“Yes, I’m sure.  And there is nothing for you to get rid of inside. But I’d appreciate it if you got rid of their car. I don’t care what you do with it; as long as you make sure you dump it somewhere far away from Moonlight Falls. Kadru never knew her henchmen were headed here, and I’d like to keep it that way.”

The brothers agreed to get rid of the car for Maia, and she hugged them goodbye, since it was the last time she’d be seeing them before the move took place.

“Please help keep the town and my children safe once I’m gone. And thank you for everything you’ve already done.”

After the vampires took the vehicle and left, Maia headed to bed to get some sleep before they began traveling to her new home tomorrow.

But Maia tossed and turned and couldn’t sleep. 

Something about the two genies she had bound to the lamps nagged at her mind. And suddenly Maia recalled the last bit of Kizzy’s final prediction. You will also find that even those who seek to harm you can bring you closer to your goals, if only you seize the opportunities these challenges provide.

Maia got up and pulled out one of the lamps at random, summoning one of the genies. 

And then she seized the opportunity that would bring her closer to her goal.

Early the next morning, Maia packed the last of the boxes in the car, and she and the kids left Seven Towers for the last time.

On their way out of town, Maia drove past the Gypsy’s Landing.

On a whim, she stopped to see Kizzy Tem, thinking perhaps the fortuneteller would be able to scry her future one more time. All of her previous predictions had been accurate, and Maia thought it would be good to know what kind of future the new town had in store for her.

Kizzy tried scrying in the crystal to no avail.

“That final fortune I gave you appears to be the last,” Kizzy told Maia.  “Your future is still clouded and closed to my Sight, and I’m afraid I can predict nothing more for you.”

“But,” Kizzy went on, “you have no need of my powers anymore. I have the impression that you have had strange dreams recently... you have, haven't you? These dreams are a sign that your own Sight is beginning to awaken.  You will learn to See far and read your own Fortune.”

As she drove away, Maia pondered Kizzy’s words.

She remembered the odd dreams she’d had on the day she’d destroyed Tessa. She would need to pay attention to these kinds of dreams and try to decipher their meaning since she wasn’t sure of their significance now.

But there was one thing Maia was certain of. Her foretold path as a mystic was about to begin in a land of sun and sand—a place where fortunes could be made or lost in the space of a single breath.

And when she finally arrived with her children in Lucky Palms, Maia could indeed see far.

She had a feeling she was going to need to.