Part 20 (2/2)
”A poor copy of your right hand?”
”No! I asked for my hand back. And you know what? it gave it to me! it gave me back my old hand!” I gulped. ”that's impossible.”
Amesh sighed. ” I'm sorry. The story I told you about how I lost my hand was a lie. The truth is I was attacked by four guys and they cut it off. The police caught them and there was a trial but it was a joke. The judge let them go.”
”Why?”
”I don't know. Hire the best lawyer in town and you can get away with anything. Anyway, during the trial, my hand was exhibit A. The doctors couldn't sew it back on, but the prosecutor used it during the trial. To keep it fresh, they put it in a gla.s.s jar filled with some kind of weird liquid.”
”Formaldehyde,” I said.
”Huh?”
”It's called formaldehyde.” I could smell it on him.
”Whatever. The chemical didn't keep it fresh enough.
When I asked the djinn for my hand back, it went and got my original hand.” there were tears in his eyes. ”I didn't know it was going to do that. I thought it would give me a new hand, not this old rotten thing.”
”G.o.d,” I said. Be careful what you wish for; you just might get it. It was the oldest saying in the world, and it was the truest when it came to the oldest beings on earth. Darbar had set Amesh up perfectly. Even if Amesh had not made the third wish yet-which I sensed was somehow partially true-it already had him under its thumb.
Amesh lowered his head and sobbed. Moving my chair close, I hugged him and stroked his hair. It felt good to be able to comfort him. At least, I thought I was comforting him. Suddenly he stood as if he were about to leave.
”I'm sorry, I have to go,” he said.
Again, I grabbed his coat and forced him back in his chair.
”Would you sit and listen? I'm here to help.” I paused. ”I brought back another djinn.”
”The last thing I want in my life is another djinn.”
”What if I order this djinn to help you?”
Finally, he showed interest. ”What are you going to wish for?”
”I don't know. I need to get a handle on what's going on with you. You swear you've only made two wishes, but you act like Darbar controls you. I don't get it.”
Amesh was silent a long time before he answered.
”Darbar can't find them,” he said.
”Find who?”
”The people who ordered the attack on me.”
”But you know who they are.”
”I know who attacked me. But I don't know who paid them.”
”Is that your third wish? the one you say you haven't made yet?”
”I'm not a fool, Sara. I learned from my mistake. I said my second wish wrong and look what happened. I didn't make the same mistake with my third wish.”
”Did you make a third wish or not?” I asked.
”I made a deal with Darbar. I didn't just want the guys who attacked me to suffer. I wanted the people who hired them to suffer, too. But Darbar can't find them.” He added, ”so, like I told you, there's been no third wish because the djinn can't find them.” I shook my head. ”this deal you've made with Darbar sounds like a third wish to me. The only thing that's keeping him from making you a thrall is that he hasn't been able to fulfill it.”
He stared at the ocean. ”I hate them.”
”Amesh, maybe that's the way out of your jam. Drop your need for revenge, and maybe Darbar won't be able to collect on the third wish.”
”You don't understand; I want revenge. It's all I've thought about for the last year.”
”I don't believe that. The time we spent together, we had a great time. You weren't thinking about revenge then.”
”How do you know what I was thinking about?” he asked.
”Because I know you; I care about you. I know that you care about me. You told me as much in that temple, just before Darbar came between us. Amesh, I came back from the island to save you. It's the reason I'm here.”
”If that's true then call your djinn and order it to fix my hand. And order it to find those monsters who were responsible for what happened to me last summer. The monsters Darbar can't find. That's only two wishes. If you care so much about me, Sara, you can do that. Right?”
”More deals with these devils might not be the best way out of this.”
”You're afraid, aren't you? You're afraid you'll say the wishes wrong and end up like poor Amesh. Well, at least on my first wish, I got it right. Do you know how much my jewels are worth?”
”Probably a hundred times more than you've been told.”
He pounded the table with his good hand, upsetting his drink. A waiter came and tried to clean it up, but Amesh sent him away. It was fortunate we were outside on a balcony and basically alone, or half of istanbul would have known our business.
”There's the Sara I'm used to! Always ready with the sarcasm. Sure, you cared about me as long as every thing was going along fine. But now that I'm in trouble, do you really want to order your djinn to help me?” He stood and glared at me. ”Don't answer. We both know what the answer will be.”
”The answer is yes. I'll do anything to ease your pain. But taking revenge on the people who hurt you isn't going to help.”
He held up his yellow hand. ”then fix my hand. Fix it so it works the way it used to and doesn't hurt. The pain is kill ing me. If I can't stop it, I'm going to have to do something crazy.
You know what I'm saying?” I stood and gently tried to take his hand.
He winced and jumped back. ”Ouch!” he cried.
”I'm sorry,” I said.
”Don't say you're sorry. Just call your djinn. Help me.”
”I will, I promise. Give me a few minutes.”
”What for?”
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