Page 112 of The Witching Hours

“I had a disease and was cast out of my city because there was no cure. People were afraid, and rightly so, of contagion. I wandered in the desert until I came to a mountain inhabited by dervishes. They asked me if I wanted to be healed. I wasn’t sure that was possible, but said I would do anything to be whole once more.

“Upon saying so, I was instantly healed and prepared to bid them farewell. But they said, ‘Not so fast. You must’ve known there was a price to pay’.

“’How would I know that?’ I asked, but in my heart, I knew the answer.”

“Because there’s always a price to pay.”

“’Oh,’ I said. I could not deny it. It was true that no one, other than fools, reaches manhood without knowing everything exacts a price.”

“Your price is that you will spend the rest of eternity granting the wishes of others as we have granted yours.”

“I said, ‘You mean I grant the wishes of others and make them slaves at the same time as you have done to me?’”

“No,” they said. “You volunteered for this service when you proclaimed you’d do anything to be healed.”

“And there it was. I was trapped by my own words.”

I mulled this over as I took another sip of coffee. “They called it a service.”

“They did. Yes.”

“So, they didn’t intend for you to pervert people’s dreams and even twist them into nightmares.”

He smiled. “No. That was all my idea. My revenge for being imprisoned. If I could be undone by my own words…” He let that thought trail off with a shrug.

“So, you’re not as nice as you look.”

“Was there a compliment in there?”

“How did making other people unhappy free you?”

“It didn’t. At all. I did it a couple of times and realized it only made me feel worse. But by that time stories had reached the ears of taletellers.”

“Did you do things differently then?”

“I did what the dervishes intended. I gave people their wishes. Sometimes, if I could anticipate the outcome wouldn’t be what they wanted, I made little changes so the end result would be what they truly wanted. I found some satisfaction from this.”

“How do I know this is true? This sounds to me like what a devious genie, sorry, jin, would say if he was trying to gain my trust and get me to let my guard down.”

He looked around. “You have a guard?”

I shook my head. “Not the kind you’re talking about. It’s an expression. If I say I have my guard up, it means I’m not available to be fooled. Not gullible.”

“Not trying to deceive you, Veronica. I will make real your heart’s desire. Just tell me what it is. Money?” I shook my head. “Most people ask for money. You could go toallthe galas.”

“How do you know about the galas?” My profession comes with the ability to know things. “What about youth?”

“Stop it. You know that’s a sore point today.”

“I do know that, but it shouldn’t be. You are a beauty who needs no… What do you call it? Makeup. What about travel?”

“Déjà vu.”

“What?”

“My friend was asking me if I wanted to travel earlier today.”

“Oh yes. You crave the romance of earlier times.”