Jinn Part 6

Horun was a much quieter and more reserved child than the rest of her
class. She kept mostly to herself and her books. She loved to read.
Mostly about the old world. Her older sister was a very gifted
scholar and would often send her books that she had found on her
travels. Most other people preferred the digital books but Horun
adored the feel of the page. The sound of each one turning over, the
weight of the book and the touch of the text. She amassed a huge
collection. It's how she originally got to know Sam. Sam's father
owned a rather large collection of pre-collapse literature and
offered to lend Horun one book every month if she would write a short
paper on it and hand it to him. She'd since written eight papers in a
little under two months.

Her mind was purely abstract, she loved the intangible and the
creative realm. She had excelled at any artistic subject which many
had deemed pointless in society but art was always used as a way of
expression, a way to release the deeper emotions and once a year
everyone gathered for an arts festival where all of the neighbouring
villages would gather and have a huge feast and celebrate surviving
another year and to remember the lost souls.

Horun had spent the last month creating a special piece with the help
of her sister, Sula, who had sent over special pieces of art and
literature to inspire her. It was to be a giant landscape image
showing the last two hundred years as depicted in literature and art
from other cultures and villages. She had amassed sixty two pieces to
incorporate into her work and with her sister returning the next day
she had planned to finish with her then. Sula had said that she had
found the perfect piece to place at the centre of the image and she
was bringing it back personally. She would arrive just after dawn the
next day.

After school Horun had rushed off home to complete her work. She
locked her door, closed her window and blackened the room. She liked
to work with a single white light from her clear sapphire crystal her
father gave her. She let it hover about just above her desk so as to
light her work better. It cast wondrous shadows that danced around
the room as they refracted in the single blemish at the bottom right
corner of the crystalline sphere.

“You are so close to being completed. All that's missing is the centre.
And a little touching up here and there. Oh Sula is going to be so
proud when she sees this! I can't wait!”

Horun began furiously sketching around the centre piece, Sula told her to
draw a perfect circle in the centre and nothing more for now. Don't
get carried away like you always do. Just draw the circle, no
embellishments, no fancy line work, just a circle. But remember,
perfectly circular okay?

She had spent all that day practising the shape of a perfect circle
and she was confident that she had it. Carefully putting charcoal to
paper she began sketching the circle. Gently curving around. It's
edges were completely flawless, connecting together to form the
perfect shape. The centrepiece was ready for whatever Sula had in
mind for it.

“There we go. Finished”

Horun sat back and let the pure light flood the page. Everything was
exactly how she had pictured it. The timeline ran from the edges to
the centre where it would end as the most recent views of the
landscape. Horun sat admiring her work when she heard a knock at her
window. She hadn't realised but hours had passed while she was
engrossed in her work. She carefully got up and went to see what it
was.

“Horun, it's me Kai! You've got to come outside, Sam has something amazing
planned and we need your help. It's a challenge for us all, one last
test before we begin the next stage of our lives!”

She sighed. She liked Kai but he was rather unsubtle and forward. She
got her coat and shoes on and went to the front door.

“What is it Kai?”

He was clearly excited, almost bounding on the spot. Horun was less
than pleased to be disturbed at this time. She wanted to get plenty
of sleep to be ready for tomorrow.

“I don't know but I've never seen Sam this excited about anything
before. She seems really up for it, whatever it is! And she says that
we need you to do it. Please come?”

Horun sighed and closed the door behind her. Normally she wouldn't go
out but something about Kai's excitement got her nervous. He was only
ever this happy about something potentially dangerous and stupid. And
seeing as Sam was supposed to be the pragmatic one, the fact it was
her idea makes it even more worrying.

“Come on! We've got to meet her outside her house in two minutes”

Kai grabbed Horun's arm and hauled her off at great pace. She could
barely keep up and almost tripped before regaining her balance. They
ran off into the ever darkening night.