“I’m spectacular! That is my word of the week,” SingSing said in a loud aside. “Spectacular!”

“What have you been up to?” Kat asked.

“Oh, I just acquired this spectacular nik! Looky here.” SingSing produced a little ceramic cat out of thin air. It looked like a cheap statuette one might find in a secondhand store.

“Are you sure that’s a nik?” Kat asked doubtfully.

“What’s a nik?” Viève asked in a whisper to Kamen.

SingSing disappeared and reappeared right under Viève’s nose. Holding out the statue, she whispered, “This is a nik! A niknak to be precise. It is an object that holds magical energy. Energy Djynns use to fuel their magic abilities. Inanimate objects like this one are called niknaks. Animate ones, like my dragonlets”—she shook her corkscrew ginger curls and three little dragon heads poked out of them, the dragons’ eyes blinking blearily as if they’d just been woken up—“are nikkis. So that’s a nik. And this is a nik.” She showed the statue off with a flourish of her hands. It levitated and began to turn, an unseen light highlighting all its features. And yet it still looked like a cheap little ceramic cat. A black one.

“Are you sure that thing is magical?” Viève asked doubtfully.

“Of course it is, ghost girl!” SingSing snatched the statuette out of the air and hugged it close to her chest. She shot a sidelong glance at Kat. “And don’t you even try to steal it.” She leaned back toward Viève. “Keep an eye on that one,” she whispered loudly. “She steals niks.”

“Hey! I do not!”

“Then how’d you get that necklace?” SingSing asked. “And that bracelet?”

“Oh, well I…” Kat flushed.

“See? She stole them.”

“I found them,” Kat corrected.

“Also known as stealing. See,” SingSing explained to Viève, “all a Djynn has to do is touch a nik and it becomes theirs, so long as another Djynn isn’t touching it at the time. I’m sure those niks she’s wearing belonged to some Djynn somewhere and she just walked off with them.”

“I did not! These were a Templar priest’s!”

“See! She stole them.”

“I didn’t steal them I—Oh never mind! SingSing, can you help us or not?”

“Of course I can.” SingSing poked at each little dragon head until they disappeared back into her curls. “The question is…do I want to help you? After all, you’re a common thief.”

“Stop calling me that! You know, we’re just going to have to wait until Grey answers me. She’s no help at all,” Kat said.

“Of course I can help!” SingSing disappeared and reappeared back before Kat. “All you had to do was ask.” She paused a beat. “Now what is it you want exactly? Did you have a wish?”

“No, I do not have a wish!” Kat exclaimed.

SingSing disappeared and reappeared under Viève’s nose again. “What about you, ghost girl? You got a wish?”

“Do not, under any circumstances, make a wish,” Kamen warned. “There’s always a price to pay for making a wish with a Djynn.”

“You’re no fun,” SingSing said with a pout. “Little ghost girl’s just brimming with wishes. She wishes she was liked by the Wraiths. Wishes she wasn’t a half-breed. Wishes this and wishes that. She even wishes she’d had another orgasm with you this morning.”

“I do not!” Viève cried, her hands coming up to cover her cheeks as she looked at Kamen. “That’s not true!”

“Oh, so who cares if you want another orgasm?” SingSing said with a careless wave of her hand. “All women wish they’d had another orgasm. Nothing wrong with that. I’ve had several women wish their men were better lovers.” She snorted a laugh. “They just forgot to wish their men were better loyal lovers. Loyal to them. Men being men, you make them a better lover and they’re in demand all over the place.”

“That’s terrible!” Viève cried.

“Them’s the breaks, kid. If you’re gonna make a wish, you gotta think it through.” She stared intently at Viève and tapped herself on the side of the head. “Use the old noggin.” A little dragon head stuck out. It hiccuped a little fireball, singeing one of SingSing’s curls. The smell of burnt hair wafted over Viève.

“Well, I’m not going to make a wish. I don’t want anything that badly.”

“Hmm. Veeeeery interesting,” SingSing said, eyeballing Viève a moment. “Anywho! Back to my spectacular day!”

“Wait!” Kat cried before SingSing could finish her flourish of hands and disappear.

“What now, little thief?” SingSing asked.

“Grey?” Kat prompted her.

“Oh yes! Almost forgot. Who wants to go?”

“Go?”

“To Grey ’s! I can’t have you all go!”

“We will,” Kamen said quickly. “Viève and I.”

“Hmm. So ghost girl wants to see the big bad Djynn, eh? Well, be careful what you wish for!”

SingSing clapped her hands and said, “Tada!”

Kamen and Viève disappeared from the room.

—

Kamen and Viève suddenly appeared in a golden room. The walls were beaten gold, the floor was golden tile. There were piles of gold coins everywhere and golden jewelry was strewn about. There was even a golden throne at the head of the room.

They were just getting their bearings when a handsome man with dark skin and jet black hair appeared on the throne, sprawling indolently over the arms of the giant chair. Then he narrowed his eyes at them and sighed in frustration.

“Oh. It’s just you. What do you want?”

He stood up and snapped his fingers. The golden room disappeared and gave way to an opulent library. Grey walked over to the desk and poured himself a drink from the decanter sitting on its edge. He swirled the liquor in the glass, sniffing it a moment before tossing back a large swallow.

“Ah! Good stuff. Sorry about the golden room thing. Gotta give people what they want and everyone who rubs the lamps or whatever expects to see the Djynn in a golden room or some such nonsense. What can I do for you?”