They still wouldn’t let us take our phones into class. We had to leave them in our lockers, despite numerous protests from various parents.

I always left mine turned off, and when I remembered to turn it on I had three missed calls and voice mail.

It was from Clara. “Jane. I need you.”

I released a swear word from between my teeth. A Norse one, perhaps thankfully. She gave a location. Out in Old Town. I ran home at full speed to gear up. The frantic calling possibly meant her cover was blown.

It meant she was in danger, and I found myself wishing for a fast way to get there with everything that was in me.

When I came back out with my sword and gun there was a motorcycle outside. I had no idea how it had gotten there, and it wasn’t Thruor’s. Even if it had been, she’d probably have let me borrow it.
The keys were in it. I hopped on board, not bothering with a helmet, and peeled off, activating a bit of a ‘don’t notice me’ field because I didn’t want a cop to stop me for not having a helmet. Or for speeding, which I was certainly doing. Through town, across the river, as fast as I could get there safely. Mostly trusting what I was pretty sure was not, in fact, a bike.

The steed must have heard me calling. Hopefully whoever his or her owner was, she didn’t need her right now.

Definitely her, I decided. I swung through a narrow street, crossed King Street, and was on the receiving end of quite a few loud horn noises.

Screw them. I was in a hurry far more important than their dinners. And I felt good about it, which might have made me a horrible person.

No, I wasn’t glad Clara was in trouble. I was glad I could be the one to help her.

And then I felt the presence of heat and fire. The efreet.

“You on my side or against me?” I asked as I swung the bike to a halt.

“You are not a valkyrie.”

I patted the fuel tank. “Borrowed.” Then I hopped off. “My friend’s in trouble.”

“Then perhaps we are on the same side, perhaps not. It depends on which side she is on.”

“Are they trying to trap you and make you give them wishes again?”

He laughed. “If they were, I would let them, and then turn their wishes into disaster. No. They had something else in mind.”

I nodded. “If it has to do with sex, we’re trying to nail them for…not paying proper attention to the niceties of consent.”

The efreet laughed again. “Well, they are in trouble. I wasn’t going to help them, but if you have a friend in there…”

“She called me. I have to help her.” An obligation. A duty. No matter how much power I had, I would always help my friends.