Genie-Us

Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Noise unlike anything I've ever heard assailed me. Stifling heat was the next thing. The sun beat down upon me with it's burning rays. Having such pale skin meant it wouldn't take me long to burn in this blazing sunlight.

I shuffled my feet, and the ground under me shifted like grains of loose dry sand. It was sand, I realised a moment later. The whole area surrounding us was nothing but golden dunes of sand. At least that's all I could see from where I stared up at Jene.

Scents so exotic tantalised my nose. I couldn't place anything in the spicy aroma, but it appealed to me. I wanted so badly to look around us, but I remembered Jene's stern warnings, so I focused only on him.

"We move forward into the market now, Little One. Remember to stay quiet and look only at me. I promise to answer any of your questions once we are back in your world." Jene spoke in a low voice, but I heard him.

I didn't reply, because apparently that's not what a genie's pet does. The collar scratched against my neck, but I remained quiet. When Jene took a cautious step forward, I followed him with no hesitation. We walked into a covered area together, which relieved me. At least I wouldn't fry with sunburn anymore.

Staring up at Jene still gave me an idea of what surrounded us. People stood everywhere shouting out the weirdest words. It certainly was a market, but not anything that I'd heard of before.

Someone flapped what looked like an octopus into Jene's face. I knew it wasn't an octopus because it had double the tentacles and it glowed an iridescent orange. Jene shook his head and kept walking. Nobody even noticed me. I guess that was the point.

Every step we took, had more people trying to offer Jene the weirdest things. One was a squid that was apparently a pen. Another was a bright light used not to lighten the darkness, but to make the sun hotter. Who would want that? The last one left me wanting to shake my head and laugh hilariously. A woman offered Jene a blown up balloon claiming it would cure what ailed him. These people were ludicrous.

The moment I heard her was when I wanted to back away. I didn't know her, and I sure as hell didn't want to know her. The way she talked to Jene made me shiver in disgust. I momentarily wondered if there was something between them, then quickly dismissed it when Jene treated her so coldly.

"Jene, did you finally take on a pet?" the smooth, sultry feminine voice made me want to avert my gaze, but I didn't. It took me a lot of effort, but I kept my eyes only on Jene.

"Yes, I have." Jene answered in an icy, brusque tone that encouraged no reply.

"Maybe we can share sometime." The female sounded too inviting and I bristled.

"I do not think I could ever spare the time nor have the inclination, Hemiera. The She-Gen requires my time." Jene sounded genial enough, but his tone rebuked her, and his dislike seemed obvious to me.

"Have much fun with your new pet. Until next time, Jene." Hemiera farewelled us with a sexy little laugh.

I wanted badly to see what this woman looked like. With gritted teeth, I kept my eyes on Jene. This was turning out a lot harder than I thought it would be.

"We cannot use the orb within the Realm. We must move with all of the swiftness we can towards the She-Gen." Jene said to me in a quiet voice.

I didn't know whether to answer or not, so I said nothing. We continued through the crazy market without another word between us. People kept offering Jene weird or useless items. Some of them even talked up their product as if they were in an infomercial. It became quite entertaining to listen to all these strange items and the sales pitch they came with.