Claimed by the Desert

Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Vera grunted and jostled awake as the train made yet another stop. Yawning, she picked up the book she had been reading from where it had fallen on the floor. She had been riding the train back and forth between local cities in an attempt to keep Amias confused of her whereabouts while she did research. She was riding third class to be able to afford it, and it was awfully crowded, but he had yet to make any appearance so she figured it was working. She had gotten the idea from the book she had been reading. According to it jinn and many other types of spirits were weakened and repelled by iron.

Flipping back to her current page, Vera rubbed her eyes and continued reading.

Legends say a few jinn have been sealed in prisons by angels, and in some stories, by King Solomon. This imprisonment often makes the jinni resentful and angry. When finally released from his prison, the jinni sometimes takes his anger out on the human who set him free and then continues to exact revenge on all creatures he blames for his long period of captivity-the human race being enemy number one...

"Yes, yes. They're dangerous. I know," Vera mumbled to the book. "But I need to know just how exactly they were sealed into the prisons."

She skimmed over the pages, looking for anything that seemed helpful. The problem was the person who had written the book based it on legends he had heard and had no real belief in the jinn. Not that she blamed him. A few days ago she didn't believe in them either. Something caught her eye at the bottom of the page and she perked up.

It is said that certain individuals - namely religious authorities and healers - have the ability to exorcize jinn through prayers, incantations, and issuing holy commands.

The smile on her face quickly faded as she kept reading.

However, exorcisms can easily go wrong when an unskilled exorcist challenges a powerful jinn; a person who performs this sort of task must be knowledgeable and powerful in his or her own right.

Vera wasn't certain just how powerful Amias was, but he seemed pretty dangerous to her. She wanted a fool-proof plan that wouldn't get anyone hurt or killed. So far the books she had read hadn't given her that. Besides, even if she exorcised the jinni from Kareem or her father what would keep Amias from just possessing someone else?

A person stepped into her light and she assumed it was the ticket taker. Holding up her ticket to be punched, Vera expected him to move on quickly as that had happened on the last four stops. When the new arrival made no motion to take her ticket or move out of the light, she looked up and immediately recoiled against the seat in fear when she saw Amias staring back at her.

"No, don't be afraid," he told her, holding up his hands to show her he meant no harm.

"How are you here? This train is made of iron!" she whisper shouted, looking around to see if anyone was overhearing their conversation.

"I'm not the jinni. He's not in me right now," he rambled nervously, sitting down on the edge of the seat across from her.

She glared at him, not trusting that he was telling the truth, but the train hadn't gone cold, there was no visible red in his eyes, and his voice didn't sound like Amias's.

"If you aren't Amias then how did you get away? And how did you know where to find me?"

Kareem rubbed his hands over his face. It was then she saw how very tired he looked, like he hadn't slept in weeks and with Amias possessing him, he probably hadn't. Compassion and pity warred with her suspicion and doubt and Vera had a hard time not believing him.