The Angel's Humanhood

18. The Power of Name Calling

"By the name of the only one worthy of worship, we put you under arrest for the safety of all what's in the glorious Chasm of Haffaf," one of the guards declared after everyone was cuffed.
"Did you just say the city's name is Chasm of Hafaf?" Wahag broke the serious air.
The men looked at one another, but weren't bothered.
"Do you know that just means the hell pit of the devil? Actually, one of the sons of the devil," Wahag added even though none of the men seemed interested.
Dow's eyebrows, on the other hand, threatened to merge into one, the way it does when she thinks hard. Sammy gave Wahag a sidelook, it looked like something finally made sense to him.
"Riza, hand in the pixie dust," the biggest of the armed men commanded.
Riza slammed a small plastic bag into the armed man's extended hand and followed it by a deep sigh of dismay.
The man opened the bag and emptied a few pinches of its contents, "Boy, this is a day to celebrate. Three bounties and two bonus," he finished by blowing some of the pixie dust at Dow's face, which she dodged smoothly by turning her face, the defiant expression unchanged.
In the back of an armored vehicle, Wahag could see through small side windows the passing streets. The village was an odd scene. They passed a person who was dressed in rags, and reminded Wahag of the first of the human race. They passed another one who was barely dressed at all, showing parts of his body that made Wahag want to turn away. Then they passed a group who were covered beyond recognition. You could barely see their eyes. The buildings varied as much as the people did. One building was bedazzled, few were entirely made of glass that you could see people doing their business on glass toilets, but most houses looked like they were barely holding up with their dwellers using whatever materials they could gather to shelter themselves. But it seemed that the passersby were blind to their condition. As a matter of fact, they seemed blind to everyone around them. Everyone had a hazzy look looming over their eyes.
"Is everyone drunk?" Wahag asked without directing the question to anyone in particular.
When no one answered, he turned to see that everyone was giving him a strange look.
Dow shook her head discreetly at him and pierced her lips together.
Wahag was confused but he didn't say another word.
The armed man was the first to speak, "Hey, this is not a joy ride, quit it," he kicked at Wahag who returned to staring from the gap in the vehicle.
They quickly came to a stop in front of a building that reflected the sun too brightly. Wahag guessed it was made out of gold. The devil and his sons were known for their obsession with it. He saw it plenty in the remains of the Pharoahs, giant buildings covered in gold dedicated to the worship of the sons and daughters of the devil masked under many different names.
It suddenly hit Wahag, that he was about to meet Haffaf, one of the devil's most powerful sons, the one assigned to keep humanity afraid using delusions. He wasn't sure what Haffaf wanted with Jonah, but he was sure that if Haffaf finds a jin in a human body, it won't bode well. He will sure try to take the body or force him to bend to his will. The good news, however, was that neither angels, nor devils, nor jin could see into the human mind. They can sense the flow of energy which gives them an idea of what a human is feeling, but they can never read through their thoughts.
Inside the building, they were led to a huge hall with a few floors filled with small barred chambers. Each one of them was locked separately.
When the guards were gone, Prince started yanking at the bars trying to shake them out of place.
Dow leaned on the bars, "Priiince, you're gonna get yourself hurt. Stooop!" She said hopelessly.
"Don't worry, Dow. I will get us out of here," Prince didn't lose motivation.
"I told you. Don't call me that here," Dow whispered audibly.
Prince paused, "Dona, I said Dona!" he added in an attempt to fix things.
Prince continued with his loud attempts, but nothing worked. Their only hope was to attempt an escape on the way to or from meeting the son of the devil. But Wahag felt no hope since they couldn't even set up a plan without being heard by a room filled with inmates and potentially guards.
The hours passed without anything happening. A whole day was gone and the worst part was that they were offered only water.
"Don't drink," Dow said, "It will only make you go hungry faster."
Wahag felt like he was going to die and the voice in his head was starting to panic. He lifted the bottle that was left in front of his cell.
"Wahag, you won't die from thirst that quickly," a calmer Prince than the one that yanked at bars for hours, said as if reading Wahag's mind.
Wahag held the bottle tight, "Don't call me that here."
Riza laughed without any joy, "You think being Jonah is going to save you? Picking and choosing who you get to be based on what works. Typical!" 
Wahag wasn't sure how to explain to him that he had nothing to do with Jonah, and yet he was trying to impersonate him.
"They don't want us dead yet. If they did, we would all be dead already. They just want us to be desperate," Sammy interrupted Riza's whining, "I don't know what do they still want from us, but it all has something to do with you, Jonah. We have been on the run for years. We were never caught. It all makes sense now, they were betting on you finding us," he added.
Sammy's words landed on Wahag's conscience like bolders, and it felt familiar. Something told him that Sammy was always the voice that carried the heavy truth. The cold floor that Wahag was sitting on, felt colder and he couldn't think of any way out. The minutes passed heavily. And Wahag couldn't think of anything other than to ask for another favor.