Solomon' Daughters

Chapter 18

Anthony slowly rose to consciousness and stretched his sore muscles. Realizing the bed beside him was empty he looked around for Sar-Rah or Liz. They were absent but on one of the pillows beside him was a sheet of paper. Picking it up he read that they had gotten up to go to school and had been unable to wake him so they had left a note. They had both signed it with a kiss at the bottom. They were both wearing the same shade of lipstick. Looking to the clock he realized he would be late for his first class so he just decided to skip it for the day. He could borrow the notes and he'd never missed a class before. Sitting up to get ready so he wouldn't miss anymore then that one class today he noticed a flicker of color from the corner of his eye. He turned to look but saw nothing. As he started to turn toward the bathroom he saw it again, a flash of prismatic white before it vanished as quickly as it appeared.

"What the ...," he said as he turned back. He could have sworn it came from the bottle but as he stood there staring at it remained that flat black color. Then it flashed again and went blank, then flashed again. The flickering color began to alternate between the flat black and the prismatic white. Slowly the flashes went from a few seconds between flickers to a continuous strobe that was starting to make Anthony dizzy. Just as quickly as the flickering began it stopped with the bottle that prismatic white color. Cautiously moving to pick up the bottle Anthony noted that the seal was back on the bottle but the design on it was different than before. Thinking that this meant that one of Sar-Rah's sisters was could be freed now he reached for the drawer of his desk and pulled free a pocket knife. He quickly jabbed his thumb and squeezed a drop of blood out it fell directly on the symbol on the seal. He then set the bottle on the desk and pulled the stopper free and stepped back as the familiar mist began to pour from the bottle.

Anthony waited patiently as the mist finished forming into the girl. She was really tall standing six inches taller than his 5'10" height. She had long flowing brown hair braided into a thick braid that hung forward over her shoulder and down over her small breasts nearly to here slim waist. She wore a ancient looking set of spectacles and behind them were the same piercing black eyes that Sar-Rah possessed. Her eyes were distant and unfocused. Her skin had the same tan as Sar-Rah's but it looked even softer. Behind the girl on the desk the stopper snapped back into the bottle and returned to that flat black state of magical charging. The girl's eyes focused as soon as the stopper clacked into place.

"@!(*&^#$&()&*," she asked. Her eyes flicked rapidly around the room and alarm began to grow in her eyes.

Cursing himself for an i***t he should have waited until Sar-Rah was with him to let out her sister.

"Can you understand English," he asked knowing it was futile but having to try something in order to ease the panic on her face. She seemed to calm slightly and stared at him for a second just when he thought she wasn't going to answer she spoke.

"I understand," she said haltingly. "Who are you and where is this? This is not my room where I went to sleep."

His face paling, at the realization that she didn't know what had happened to her, Anthony felt a little sick to his stomach. His mind raced to come up with what to tell her. Sar-Rah had said that Razark had told her that knowledge and understanding would be placed directly into the minds of the other six. Apparently he forgot to pass on the knowledge of what he had done to them or something went wrong with this one specifically.

"Um, look I'm Anthony and this is my home. What is your name?"

"My name is Eliza."

"Ok, well there is a choice of how we do this. I can tell you what Sar-Rah told me and you probably won't believe me. Or we can wait until your sister gets back and you can have her tell you what is going on. She is at school with my little sister so we will have to wait all day for them to get back."

"I will listen to what you have to say," she replied calmer now after he had mentioned Sar-Rah's name.

"Ok, to shorten it down to the basics it goes like this. Razark, your father's genie, took advantage in a moment of vulnerability and managed to mortally wound your father. With his dying breath your father made a wish to have you girls find happiness and to have the genie destroy itself. Your father as he was obviously rushed with the wish worded that wish badly leaving a great many loopholes in it. So the genie took Solomon's seven daughters and tearing his own soul into seven pieces he transformed them into Lesser Djinn so his race would not die with him. He then sealed the seven of them into a bottle with Sar-Rah being the first to emerge each time. She was to judge the person who opened the bottle and decide if he would be a fitting husband for her and all of you. The bottle has been opened a few times before but she found those men lacking, me she chose as worthy. That about sums it up, any questions?"

Eliza stood there for a few moments just assimilating the information. She found the story unbelievable but she sensed that the man before her wasn't lying. She thought back hard for memory but the only thing she could remember was falling asleep in her room in her father's palace then waking here in this strange room with it's strange decorations. She was rather impressed with Anthony's patience she had just been standing there thinking and looking around for five minutes already and he showed no sign of impatience. As a matter of fact he looked like he was just going to stand there until she replied.

"I believe you believe what you are telling me. I can detect no deceit in your words," she told him then stopped talking and again went back to her silent contemplation. He studied her for a few second then an idea popped into his head.

"Look I have to go to school so I need to take a shower and eat to get ready to go," he said then a thought came to him from what Sar-Rah had told him earlier of her talk with the genie before she was imprisoned in the bottle.

"What is your aspect as a Lesser Djinn," he asked. Eliza a little annoyed at his question opened her mouth to tell him she wasn't Djinn so she didn't have an aspect but the words she meant to say didn't come out.