Jinni's Wish (Kingdom, #4)

Paz’s heart skipped a beat. He, as in he. The one? Prince Charming? Her Todd?

“Yes. The one. Your Prince Charming. Your Todd.”

Her mouth flopped open. Probably wasn’t pretty, but holy freaking cow batman, how had she done that? “I didn’t say that--”

“Out loud?” Pandora lifted a pencil thin brow. “You didn’t have to. I told you, I’m good at what I do.”

Heart thudding almost painfully in her chest, Paz’s left leg began to bounce up and down. So many different reasons why that was a cracked up idea floated through her mind.

Pandora pressed her lips into a thin line. “Stop over thinking this, Paz…”

“Wait?” She held up a hand. “How do you know my name? I didn’t tell you--”

She waved her hand. “You need to go. He needs you, he’s waiting. And he doesn’t have much time left.”

“Alaska?” Her voice sounded strained. Why was she even listening to this woman? This was so stupid. Totally dumb. And yet… “Where in Alaska?”

“Book a flight to Anchorage.” Pandora leaned forward, intense eyes never swerving from Paz’s face. “You have to leave tomorrow.”

“Tomorrow?” she squeaked. “This is nuts. You’re crazy. I’m crazy.” She laughed, voice sounding totally unlike hers. So why was she suddenly sweating, suddenly desperate to believe this lie?

“He’s dying, Paz, and only you can save him. If you don’t leave tomorrow, it’ll be over. He’ll be over.”

Something close to pain hammered behind her closed lids. Paz squeezed her armrests, nails digging in so hard she felt one break.

“You’re… lying?”

Pandora shook her head. “I never lie.”





***





How had she wound up here? Thirty thousand feet up in the air, flying to Alaska? Alaska of all places. Paz had gone to sleep last night, desperate to forget it all. But an ache, a gnawing need for truth, had begun to bloom in her chest.

What if it was true? So she’d be out a couple hundred bucks-- which would make her royally pissed, since she’d been saving for a screen press-- if it wasn’t true. But there’d been dreams last night. Lots of them.

A blue faced man, features distorted, but with hope shining in liquid black eyes. She’d woken up in tears and within seconds phoning the airport to confirm a roundtrip ticket to Anchorage.

Turbulence seized the plane and she yelped, biting down on her lower lip hard as her gut toppled to her knees. She hated flying.

Hated. It.

Why oh why, was she doing this? Time away from the carnival, the dream, made her think suddenly this was the stupidest idea she’d ever had. Richard and Todd had certainly been shocked, for a brief thirty minutes their wide eyes had made her feel brave, powerful. But now… the plane dipped, and she flopped in her seat, now she was just scared.

From the moment she’d stepped foot on the plane she’d gotten a strange sense of something being off kilter. Weird. But she’d ignored it, thinking she was just being the chicken Richard always accused her of being.

So she’d found her seat, not needing the compartment space, she’d packed light.

Literally she was flying to Anchorage with tickets back the very next day. Why had she done this?

She groaned when another round of turbulence tilted the plane.

She had no idea what she was looking for. Who she was looking for. She’d scanned the faces boarding her flight with an obsessive need to know if maybe one of them was Mr. Wonderful.

Then he’d sat next to her.

Heart pounding, trying to hold down the saltine crackers she’d noshed on earlier, she glanced at Mr. Tall, Dark, and Decadent sitting next to her. He was gorgeous.

Bronze skin two shades darker than her own, dark unruly hair that curled against the nape of his neck, and liquid black eyes. The eyes had made her think of her dream. It hadn’t been a huge stretch for her to think maybe it’d been him.

So she’d waved, and smiled.

He’d sat next to her, his delicious scent of clover and moss, teasing her senses. Paz had waited for the friendly smile in return. Nothing.

Like he’d not even seen her.

When the attendants had taken drink orders, he’d ignored her too.

He didn’t read, didn’t move, didn’t do a single thing. Which totally creeped her out. Stepford wife, or husband in this case, total weirdo.

The plane jolted again, this time listing deep to the side.

“Ladies and gentlemen,” the pilot’s voice came on over the loudspeakers, “please put your trays in the upright and locked positions, we seem to be experiencing a bit of turbulence--”

“Oh sh--” the co-pilot cried and then there was static.

But that wasn’t the worst part, because now the plane was dipping forward, faster and faster.

Suddenly Mr. Creepy latched onto her hand, squeezing tight.