Chapter 23: Chapter 21

Poppy and Ius looked at each other. So far, they had remained silent during Joe and Altan's conversation. Ius moved his eyes, trying to tell Poppy something.

She mouthed, ‘’ I don’t understand what you mean.’’

‘’ Come on, you too!’’ Said Joe. ‘’ We don’t want you to miss the bus.’’

Poppy was about to get up when Ius quickly grabbed her hand. She felt the pressure of his fingers on her wrist crease, followed instantly by an electric bolt through her entire body, which lasted for a few seconds.

She let out a loud gasp. 

Ius grabbed her as Joe and Altan rushed to her side. 

Joe grabbed her face with his hands. Her cheeks looked red and were warm.

‘’ Are you ok, sweetheart?’’ He asked anxiously.

Poppy glanced at Ius, then nodded. ‘’ I’m ok. But I don’t think I am up to joining the others for this afternoon's activity. Maybe I should stay and rest a bit more.’’

Altan placed a hand on her shoulder. ‘’ Yes, you should.’’ He then looked at Joe. ‘’ She will be fine. It may be a side effect of the sleeping spell. It happens. Nothing to worry about. Ile Ulagan will stay with her.’’

‘’ I was really looking forward to the papyrus making, but you are right uncle, I should stay and monitor her,’’ Ius said.

Altan nodded, then took off a stick pin from his shirt’s side pocket and showed it to Ius

‘’ Take this. If she feels unwell again, open a portal. It will take you to one of our Terra’s offices. They will know what to do.’’

Ius excitedly extended his hand to grab the pin, but Altan moved his hand back. ‘’ This pin is to be used only for emergencies, nothing else. Am I making myself clear?’’

Ius nodded. ‘’ Yes uncle.’’

Altan then clipped the stick pin onto his t-shirt. ‘’ If you are not here when we returned, we will come for you. Wait for us there.’’

Altan looked at Joe. ‘’ We can go now. They will be fine by themselves.’’

Joe nodded. ‘’ We’ll let the front desk know you are upstairs.’’ 

He stroked Poppy’s cheek before leaving the room with Altan. 

As soon as the door closed behind them, Poppy grabbed Ius’ arm, “what are you playing at? And what was that?”

Ius giggled. ‘’ Relax! I just press on one of your pressure points. I had to get them to leave us behind.’’

Poppy stared at him with her arms crossed on her chest. She knew he was up to something.

‘’ Okay! Sorry! I should have warned you, but there was no time. Anyway, the reason I wanted to stay back was to look more at the restaurant. And don’t say that you haven’t been thinking of it. I saw your research on your laptop.’’ He said, while tapping her laptop with his fingers.

She smiled. ‘’ Yes, I was. I’ve kept hearing uncle Theo’s warning about the place, so I had to check. But I couldn’t find anything out of the ordinary. Just food ratings and reviews. Do you have anything?’’

Ius smiled. He got up and grabbed a small notebook and a pen from the table. He doodled something quickly and show it to Poppy.

It was a symbol; a silhouette with fangs, spikes on the head, and long nails. 

Poppy grimaced, “this creature is scary. I wouldn’t like to meet with that in the middle of the night.’’

She then flinched. ‘’ Wait, a minute! The sign on the exit wall was like this. Do you think it must have something to do with the restaurant? Or the warlock who cast the spell?’’

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“I think the two are connected,’’ Ius replied

‘’ Are you sure?’’

He nodded and took a seat next to her. ‘’ Don’t you find it strange that Theo said nothing about the sign but warned you about the restaurant?’’

Poppy shrugged her shoulders. ‘’ I don’t know, we were rushing against the clock. He may have forgotten.’’

Ius shook his head. ‘’ He didn’t forget. Instead, he rushed us out to make sure we wouldn’t notice the sign.’’ He tapped violently on the piece of paper. ‘’ The fact that, that SIGN was there, and he insisted on us not going back to the restaurant, just tell me we have to go back.’’

Poppy frowned. ‘’ Wait. Maybe that’s why uncle Theo insisted on talking to me at the restaurant. He must have felt something like I did, but stronger. Maybe he even saw that sign at the restaurant. Do you think that the sign is the warlock symbol?’’

‘’ No, it’s worse. It is the symbol of a type of Jinn called the Vetala. They are blood-sucking jinns. They are often confused with vampires. They need a warlock to do their bidding, and after your reaction to the place, then Theo; I am pretty sure that he is doing it from the restaurant.” Ius explained.

“Vampires?” blurted Poppy, visibly spooked. ‘’ I think we need to call your uncle now. This is way above us, Ius. We can still catch them before they leave.’’ She said, standing up quickly.

‘’ We don’t need his help, Poppy! And they are not as bad as you think. Please seat down.’’ Said Ius calmly.

Poppy crossed her arms and sat on one corner of the bed. ‘’ I don’t know Ius. It seems very dangerous to just go by ourselves.’’

‘’Fine! Let’s stay here and twirled our fingers. Don’t you want to know who the warlock is? Or where are Lucy and the others?’’ He shrugged, ‘’ maybe you are right, we should just let it wait for uncle Altan to figure it out. Perhaps one day it will all make sense.’’ 

Poppy bit her lip. Deep down, she too was dying to know. 

‘’Okay, fine, but first, tell me more about the Vetalas. I want to know who we will be up against before jumping into your crazy plan.’’

Ius smiled and started explaining confidently, “the Vetalas are earth Jinns. They can possess corpses which make them undetectable by other jinns. In addition, they have psychic powers.”

Poppy frowned and looked at him, “so the Vetalas are behind the abductions? They are taking people to feed on them?”

Ius shook his head. “Yes, and no. The Vetalas live in small groups away from people and invite humans to live with them. Usually, people who are into the occult. In exchange for that, they will occasionally feed on them.”

He paused as he could see Poppy’s face changing to a disgusted look as he was talking. Then, he laughed and said, “they don’t suck too much blood, maybe just a cup. I mean, those people are all there willingly and aware of this before going.”

“Well, if that’s the case, why kidnap anyone, then?” asked Poppy

“I don’t know. They are changing their ways—which is very unusual for Jinns,” said Ius, rubbing his chin. ‘’ 

‘’ By the way, you’ve explained it. It does sound odd.’’ Said, Poppy.

‘’ And that’s not all. Uncle Altan’s sudden trip to Baatinn. Why would the High Council care what humans are doing in their own realm? Unless a Jinn is involved, I don’t see the need to alert Baatinn. He is trying to keep us in the dark. That’s what it is.’’ Ius added.

At that moment, they heard a knock at the door; it was Hanane. She was holding a tea tray and said in a friendly voice, “sorry, I hope I am not disturbing you. Your uncles mentioned Poppy was not feeling well, so I brought a pot of ginger tea for her.”

Poppy’s heart was pounding. She felt a lot of emotion just thinking about what they were about to do. 

She lowered her gaze, avoided looking into Hanane’s eyes and said in a soft voice, “Thank you, Hanane, it is very thoughtful of you.”

Hanane made a sad face, which quickly turned into a smile. “Poor thing! Have some tea. It will make you feel better. I promise, I won’t keep your uncles away for too long. Have a good rest.”

Ius grabbed the tray from her and closed the door.

He swiftly said to Poppy, ‘’ do not leave the room, I’ll be right back and do not drink that tea either.’’ And he vanished before she could say anything, leaving her standing in the middle of the room speechless.

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