As soon as Ius shut the door, Hanane’s smile disappeared; she clenched her fist, bit her lip and walked back down quickly.

She pushed open the back office door; Selma and Naima were having some tea.

“She is not coming; she says she is unwell, and the young Jinn is staying with her. And it’s not the worst of it. I have Joe outside waiting for me with ALTAN! How do I get rid of him?”

Selma put down her teacup. “Well, it sounds to me like we need to change our plan.”

Hanane and Naima exchanged a look; Naima said, “continue.”

Selma crossed her legs. “First you need to go out there and pretend Altan’s presence doesn’t bother you. Take him with you. You’ll think of something by the time you get there.’’

Hanane nodded.

‘’ Second, we just need to grab the girl and eliminate the young Jinn. That sleeping spell was an epic fail. And playing the charming hostess was a waste of time. ”

Hanane frowned, ‘’ not completely! How do you think I got the other guests to trust me?’’

‘’Yes, but we don’t really need workers, do we? What we need is both Southills,'’ shouted Selma.

Naima shook her head, ‘’ of course, we need workers. Do you remember what life was like before? We had no money, surviving on a few pop-up tents and feeding on the weak. Now we have the best and most luxurious occult resort; our waiting list is two years. You don’t get that without forced labour. And when it comes to the Southills, why do we need both?’’

Selma shrugged, ‘’ orders are orders, my dear sister.’’

‘’ Fine! I’ll take care of the uncle and the Marid while you deal with the kids. I have a tool that may neutralise his power. We’ll try that on him.’’ Said Hanane while rapidly typing on her phone.

‘’ But let me tell you something, I’m getting really tired of following orders.’’ She yelled before storming out of the office.

Meanwhile, outside the hotel, Altan and Joe were waiting for Hanane.

Joe cleared his throat before saying to Altan. ‘’ I’m glad you insisted on coming. I won’t lie. Having you with us makes me feel a bit better.

Altan smiled, ‘’ do not worry Joseph. I will do my best not to upstage you.’’

Joe laughed and blushed. ‘’ Is it that obvious?’’ He asked.

‘’ Yes, it is, Joseph.’’ Replied Altan as Hanane was coming out of the hotel.

She smiled at them. ‘’ Are you joining the crew, Altan?’’

He smiled and nodded.

She then took Joe by the arm and said, ‘’ I have the best team. Let’s go and get the bad guy!’’

And Joe chuckled.

They walk around the hotel and entered a small beige car parked on a small street. Hanane jumped behind the wheel while Joe took a seat in front and Altan in the back.

‘’ We should be there in about an hour if there is no traffic. We should be back before dinnertime.’’ She said in a sweet voice, glancing at her rearview mirror.

Or more like, I should be back before dinnertime. She thought before starting the vehicle and pressing on the gas pedal.

Back in the office, after Hanane had left, Selma reclined in her chair, smirking.

‘’ I understand how she feels. We all feel the same way.’’ Naima said to Selma.

‘’ She is free to change the rule when she becomes the new leader, but right now, the benefactor wants us to bring that girl to the island. Let’s go sister!’’ She said while looking at Naima.

Smiles simultaneously appeared on the sisters' faces, and their eyes lit up; their appearances started to change. Their skin turned grey, and wrinkles began to appear on their faces and hands. Their noses lengthened slightly, followed by their foreheads, which became more pronounced. Long fangs grew out of their mouth and over their bottom lip.

Selma stood up and looked at her sister, who was now holding a silver blade knife.

“Just be ready for that one. He is a troublemaker and after coming out of that sleeping spell, it seems he is a fighter, too. Make sure you have dipped your silver blade in venomous snake blood; I don’t want a repeat of last time. Ali’s cut barely left a scar on him. He was hopping all over this morning at…”

Suddenly, Naima raised her fist, and her sister stopped talking. She slowly got up, her nails grew longer and spikes came out of her head as she walked as silently as possible to the door and flanged it open.

No one was there; she dropped her shoulders and laughed, “It’s ok, I was just being paranoid”, and she closed the door back.

At the same moment upstairs, Ius had re-appeared in Poppy’s room.

She jumped. ‘’ That was quick.’’

“We need to run,” he said in a panic, taking her by the shoulders; Poppy frowned, “wait, what?”

He ran to the door to listen.

He explained quickly. “Hanane, Selma and Naima are not what they seem; they are Vetalas. Hanane is leading our uncles into a trap as we speak. ’’

‘’ Oh, my God! We have to warn them.’’ Shouted Poppy. ‘’ Maybe they are still downstairs. We can stop them.’’

Ius shook his head. ‘’ It’s too late. Besides, uncle Altan can take care of the situation. I knew something was off with her. Always smiling and trying to help; aaww! Poor thing! I brought a pot of ginger tea for her.’’ He said, imitating Hanane’s voice then rolling his eyes.

‘’ And the tall one, Selma, ugh! Such a vicious woman!’’ He said, making a disgusted face. ‘’ They have orders to take you; we need to leave now.”

Ius heard footsteps in the corridor. He got up, ran towards Poppy, who quickly grabbed her bag. A few seconds later, they saw the doorknob twist. Ius threw his arms around Poppy and quickly pinched the pin under his collar. A circular, giant concentration of bubbles formed instantly in front of them, and a gateway appeared.

Poppy didn’t get the chance to ask any more questions before she was pulled into the wormhole by Ius, and they disappeared just as Selma and Naima walked in.

‘’ Where are they? She said that she left them in the room,’’ said Selma furiously.

Naima went around the room, sniffing and bobbing her head at the same time. ‘’ They’ve teleported. I can smell the residue from the portal. They are kids; they probably just sneak out to explore or something. When they return, we will be here waiting.

Selma shook her head. ‘’ We have to be on our guard; I find their sudden disappearance sort of timely. This young Jinn has a lot of tricks under his sleeve; sound of the alarm. We need to find them, or they will compromise our entire mission.’’

Naima nodded, and they left the room.