The Binding Stone (The Djinn Series) Read Online Free PDF Page B

says.
    “Oh.
I must follow your command exactly. Have I done something that displeases you
when you’ve expected something else?” I ask, kneeling near him.
    “No.
Well, yes, but it isn’t that. I don’t think you mean to hurt me or anything.”
He is so young. So trusting. “But, you don’t think like we do.”
    I
cock my head to the side and consider him. One moment he says something so
naïve. The next he notices something no one has bothered to notice in a
millennium. He is a conundrum.
    “I
have never had a master like you,” I say.
    “I
suppose most of them become blinded by power?” Jered asks. I nod, eyes wide as
he smiles. “That’s what’s wrong with this world, Leela. Too many people think
only about themselves, and how they can get more. Never mind who they have to
use to do it.”
    “I
have a question,” says Gabe. “If you can step down off your soapbox for a
minute, Mr. World Peace.”
    The
light behind Jered’s eyes fades. “What?”
    “Does
this mean you aren’t going to wish for anything else?”
    Jered
rolls his eyes at Gabe as doubt creeps back to squeeze my heart. Jered may mean
well, but he’s still human.
    “Can
I borrow her?” Gabe asks. “You know, if you’re not actually going to use her?”
    “Gabe,
she isn’t a thing. She’s a person.”
    “No.
I’m not. I am not a person,” I say, standing. “I look like a person. But I am
Djinn. You would do better to remember that. I will wait for your command.” I
disappear in a puff of smoke. I wish I could be alone. But I must remain always
near him. I know he does not understand this. That when I disappear from view,
he thinks I go somewhere of my own. There is nowhere of my own, though. Not as
long as I wear the choker. And since I am bound to it for eternity, that is
going to be a very long time.
    “You
really should lighten up, Jer,” Gabe says. “She’s obviously dying to show you
those tits.” Obviously he doesn’t think I am listening either.
    “I
need to finish this homework, Gabe. Go play Zombie Squasher 4000 or something.”
    “Naw,
I think I’m gonna do a little research instead.”
    “Research?”
Jered asks.
    “On
Djinn.”
    “Whatever.”
Jered turns his attention back to his notebook.
    I
move over behind Gabe’s shoulder to watch on the tiny screen. Most of the
information is flawed, but as with any myth, bits and pieces ring true. Then he
searches for an app. Good luck finding one on Djinn , I think, but to my
surprise something shows up. Apparently an app called Djinn Tracker is
available for free. I am as curious as Gabe, who darts a look over at Jered
before starting the download.
    It
takes only seconds, then an icon pops up. It is an image eerily familiar to me.
An eye inside of a sun with a moon and star orbiting it. My heart drops into my
stomach. That is their symbol. But how can it still be around? Impossible. He
clicks on it.
    Fingers
of light filter out of the screen and climb through the air, searching
sightlessly. Instinctively, I back up, dodging the probing beams. But even as I
turn toward Jered, I know something is not right. His aura flares, colors
washing over him, reacting like a magnet to the intruder.
    I
reach out with a cry, and the phone shatters in Gabe’s hand, but not before the
light connects, for just a moment, with Jered.
    “Idiot!”
I scream, revealing myself.
    “Leela!”
Jered shouts in surprise.
    “He’s
done something,” I say, seething. “He has alerted someone to your whereabouts.
Someone that means you harm.”
    “What
are you talking about? What’s she talking about, Gabe?”
    “I
don’t know. She’s a psycho Djinni. She crushed my phone. I want a new one.”
    “Your
phone is insignificant compared to Jered’s life.”
    “What
happened?” Jered says, slamming his textbook closed.
    “I
downloaded an app,” Gabe says, casting his eyes downward. I smile triumphantly.
“Djinn Tracker. But it didn’t work. All I got was this cheesy