I told Rawlins everything. I explained how Jinn had woken my powers and then proceeded to try and kill me. I told him about Dev-Tech, escaping the cops, and Jinn’s last attack. I didn’t hold anything back. For his part, he did as instructed. He sat and listened without making a sound. When I was finished, no one spoke.

Em was looking at me with an odd expression, and Rawlins kept opening and closing his mouth. It was only a matter of time before one of them spoke, and with my luck, they’d start at the same time.

“Paper, rock, scissors for the first question?” I said.

My words jolted them back to the here and now, and they started to speak…at the same fucking time.

“How did you know that would work?”

“There’s no way I’ll ever be able to explain this.”

They both stopped talking, then started again at the same time. They tried again, same damn thing. I sat still, letting the train wreck go on. Eventually, they’d figure it out. After a couple more failed attempts, Em held out her fist in front of her. Rawlins followed suit. They both chose rock. Then they both chose scissors, then rock again, then paper, then rock, then—

“Oh my fucking God!” I yelled.

My outburst frightened a few seagulls, and they screeched into the night. Em and Rawlins nearly drowned them out laughing their fucking asses off. I threw marshmallows at them, which only made them laugh harder. Once again, I was left to pout. Finally, they stopped laughing.

“I’m sorry,” they said in unison.

This time I picked up a beer bottle. Rawlins held out his hands in resignation.

“Ok, ok,” he said, still smiling. “I’m sorry, man. I really needed that.”

“I’m sorry too,” Em said.

“Whatever,” I said. “Mike, since you’re the newbie here, you go first.”

Rawlins put his cop face on and sat up straighter, and his eyebrows knitted together. He might have been trying to take a massive shit.

“I was going to hold this back, but I guess there’s no point now,” he said. “Nearly every statement we took mentioned this Jinn woman. Most of them agree she instigated all of the incidents.”

“So, wait,” I said, “then why did you come at us so hard at the station?”

“Because I’m an investigator,” Rawlins said, “I was investigating, and you were lying. I wanted to know why.”

“You already knew we weren’t guilty?” Em said.

“Do you think the D.A. would have made that deal otherwise?” Rawlins said.

Of course, I thought. Monica had only put up a token fight at my demands, and there was no way she would’ve given into that ridiculous amount of money if she had any actual plans to prosecute us. And I thought I’d been so damn smart. Well, at least there was little chance of her changing her mind now.

“I do have a question,” Rawlins said. “Why didn’t you just wish the investigation away?”

Em, and I looked at each other. If my expression was as dumbfounded as hers, then we made one hell of a sight. That would have made so much sense.

“It didn’t occur to us,” Em said.

“Honestly,” Rawlins said, “that eases my mind more than anything else you might have said.”

“Why is that?” Em said.

Rawlins pulled a beer from the cooler. “It means you’re honest.”

My estimation of Rawlins went up quite a bit. I assumed he’d jump on the what can you do for me bandwagon, but he only seemed interested in his investigation. I looked at Em, ready to eat a little crow for not trusting her sooner, but she had that there’s a syntax error somewhere, and I’m going to find it look on her face. I grabbed a beer and waited. There was no point interrupting her, she’d speak up when she put her thoughts in order.

“We need to talk about what happened with Jinn,” she said. “First, are you sure she’s really dead, and second, what did mean there would be a reckoning?”

I made a show of drinking my beer. I’d watched Jinn be pulled apart by chance, and at the time, I thought that was the end of it. Now, though, I wasn’t so sure. Djinns weren’t mortal, but were we immortal?

“I’m not sure,” I said. “I thought so at the time, but the whole not mortal thing bugs me.” I threw the empty bottle at the cooler. “I just don’t have enough fucking information. As for the reckoning, I have no idea. I pulled every thread of negative probability out of the area to destroy that bitch. What was left behind saved you, and everyone else. I don’t think that kind of imbalance will be ignored.”

“But,” Em said, “Is that really an imbalance?”

“Yeah,” I said, “big time.”

Rawlins watched us and listened. His expression didn’t give any hints as to his thoughts, but I didn’t think he was done asking questions. His reality was justice, and whether or not Jinn was dead didn’t matter; there was no one to answer for the devastation left in her wake.

“The Zaiem Aljiniy,” Rawlins said. “They’re some kind of government, right?”

“That’s what Jinn said,” I answered. “But I don’t know. She said they were her enemy, but I wasn’t born with the knowledge that all Djinn are supposed to have, so I can’t say for sure.”

“If we take her at her word,” Rawlins said, “then she’s a terrorist. I can’t imagine they’d just let her get away with this.”

“They might,” Em said. “From what David told me about his talks with Jinn, and what I saw with Haliniel and Rockslide, mortals are little more than playthings. All any of them seem to care about is the Universal Probability.”

“Not exactly,” I said. “I believe Jinn when she said the Zaeim Aljiniy was trying to kill her. But, she never said why.”

Rawlins groaned. “This feels like the opening exchange in a war. What’s your next move?”

“Get more information,” I said. “If I can figure out what I’m dealing with, and where I fit in, maybe I can do something about it.”

“Do you want some help?” Rawlins said. “Not sure what I can do next to a genie, but a trained set of eyes can’t hurt.”

I looked at Rawlins and saw steely determination. I didn’t think he gave a shit about Em or me, but I could tell he would climb through the asshole of an elephant if it would protect his city. I wasn’t in this for anything as altruistic as that

“I don’t think so,” I said.

“We might need—” Em started.

“No,” I said. “I can’t take the chance of you zigging when I need you to zag. You’re in it for the people, which I respect, but I’m in this to get my fucking life back. If you want to help, keep the cops off my back.”

“I can’t accept that,” Rawlins said. “I have a whole city to look after, and I can’t have it turn into a war zone. You can accept my help, or I can make your life so miserable that you leave.”

And there it was. Just like that, Rawlins had drawn a line in the sand; you’re either with me or against me. I didn’t want to get anyone hurt, but I already had Em to look after. I could trust Rawlins’s motives, but could I trust him?

“Alright,” I said, “let’s say I let you help, what would your first move be?”

Rawlins looked a little relieved. “It seems to me, you’re not taking advantage of the genie thing. Why not just wish for the knowledge you’re lacking?”

“If you’re just going to keep making me feel stupid,” I said, pulling the ice chest closer to me. “I’m going to take away the beer. Em, you mind?”

“I wish for you to have all the knowledge a genie is supposed to have,” Em said.