[2] The Great Orangenie | FRED WEASLEY

Chapter Fifty Five

Lexy's hands gripped George's arm tightly, "Is that the - "

"Yep."

"Did his eyes - "

"Glow before?" George gave a soft laugh before clinging to her too, "Nope."

"How the hell do you sound so calm?"

"Internal panic, Lexy, internal panic. Nifty trick."

"Khora ..." The blue haired man spoke again, seemingly unaware of the other three judging by his intense gaze that was fixed on Saskia alone, "You really have sculpted yourself in a strange fashion haven't you, so human..." He slinked off the stairs in one swift, gliding movement. Suddenly, his hand was on Saskia, long fingers holding strands of dark hair aloft, "This hair is very genetically correct ... your face looks human ... why, there are no identifiers at all ... if it weren't for the sense I'd believe you were one of them."

Saskia bowed her head, "I ... I chose it - "

"But why ... " The blue haired man turned his glowing eyes onto her face, moving slowly closer, "You had such a beautiful form already ... why, the Jinns who saw you ... what they would have given to have a form such as yours ... you were ... sculpted they said by Zultana herself. None of us knew why but ... it's all made sense of now, don't you think? No happy accidents for Khora."

Even though there was very little she could do, Aubrey suddenly felt such a deep sense of unease that she rushed forward, gripping her friend's arm. The blue haired man leapt back as if she were toxic, his eyes wide and then suddenly narrowed, "What are you - "

All of them jumped as the man sat on the road that Lexy had pointed out before groaned. To Lexy, George and Aubrey it was pretty evident that the man was delirious, caught up in his potion-riddled mind but the Jinns didn't know that. The Blue haired man and Saskia were both suddenly terrified and alert, backing towards the door.

"Come inside ... come inside - " He hissed, tripping on the stairs before whacking his leg hard against the wall with anger, "I hate these, they are ... inconvenient!"

"I think that too!" Saskia whispered aside to Aubrey, "Floating is so much more - "

"Come inside!" He hissed again, "Come in before ... before they alert their authorities ... they may be slow, Khora, but Aali warned us not to underestimate them truly after what they did to her..." The four of them stepped forward but the man suddenly stiffened against the doorway, his fingers suddenly becoming tinted at the end with gold smoke, "Not you! This is no business for you - "

"But they're with me," Saskia cried, "They're my humans!"

"All of them?" He replied cautiously, "We only have one, Khora - "

"This one's mine, this one!" Saskia suddenly gripped Aubrey's arm tightly like a small child, "Let her come in with me or I won't come in at all!"

The man considered this before stepping aside, "You may ... Aali would allow this."

With that he stepped back into the shadowy abandoned house so only his golden eyes were visible, retreating ever further back. George and Lexy turned to Aubrey who quickly held her hands out in a reassuring manner, "I'll get him back - "

"We're not leaving you with them!" Lexy whispered loudly, her eyes wide.

"You're mental if you think we're letting you go alone - " George began.