A Master of Djinn

Fatma, a woman in an expensive, white, Western suit, sits in a seedy coffee shop with Gamal, a young boy about 17 years old, and Saeed, Gamal’s nervous and even younger compatriot. Fatma, who is secretly an agent of the Egyptian Ministry of Alchemy, Enchantments, and Supernatural Entities, is keen to conclude a business transaction with the boys. Khalid, the shop’s bookie, keeps a close eye on the proceedings.

After Fatma flashes a bundle of banknotes, the boys take out a metal bottle, decorated in gold and stoppered with wax, which they claim to have found at the bottom of the Nile. Gamal mentions legends of djinn trapped in bottles, who would grant wishes to the fisher who freed them. When Fatma scoffs, Gamal calls off the deal, announcing that he’ll free the djinn himself. Khalid grimly warns against it, but when Fatma reveals herself as a ministry official with—she claims— backup in the room, Gamal panics and breaks the seal.

An ancient giant, a marid djinn, materializes in the room. When Gamal claims to have freed him, the djinn says he was not imprisoned, that he chose to secret himself away in a bottle to avoid humankind, and that he will now grant Gamal and Saeed any death they wish as reward for waking him. Fatma intervenes, offering to put the djinn back in the bottle to sleep. The djinn doesn’t believe her, asking for a binding oath; Fatma offers him her name. He accepts the deal, but then returns to the matter of Garam and Saeed’s deaths.

Fatma tries to protest, but the boys’ lives were not part of the deal, and djinn interpret law in the same technical manner as lawyers. Once again, Fatma petitions, asking that he grant them a peaceful death of old age. The djinn, impressed with Fatma’s precision, returns to the bottle.

A short time later, still in the shop, Khalid serves Fatma tea, remarking that Fatma never really had backup. When he attempts to praise her, Fatma explains to Khalid the dark nature of the djinn’s granted wish. The two boys are indeed “all but guaranteed to live to old age”; however, that means that, despite disease or injury, they will be unable to die. They are interrupted as an automaton, a boilerplate eunuch, arrives with a message from the ministry, summoning Fatma to Giza.

Fatma arrives at the Worthington estate in Giza, where the night servant initially mistakes her for an English man and is surprised by her badge. Upstairs at the crime scene, a young police officer tries to hustle her out; when she flashes her badge, he exclaims, “it’s you,” a reaction she receives often as a woman—especially one who dresses in Western-style men’s suits—in such a public and high-profile position.

The inspector, Aasim Sharif, sends the younger officer away in disgrace and inspects the scene with Fatma. The 24 bodies are completely charred, yet nothing else in the room was touched by flame. The robes and decor of the room tell them that the group was some sort of cult, “Occidentals […] playing dress-up and pretending they’re ancient mystics” (35), in Aasim’s opinion. The signet on one corpse identifies Alistair Worthington, an Englishman who brokered a treaty between Egypt and England and used his money to build up Giza. Aasim suggests necromancy, but Fatma dismisses that as unlikely.

The Worthington’s daughter, Abigail, arrived home shortly after the event and had a run-in with a mysterious character. Abigail attempts to communicate with Fatma in Arabic, but speaks it very poorly, a point Fatma observes too frequently in white residents of Egypt. Fatma responds to Abigail in fluent English, to the relief of the young woman. Abigail describes the stranger as a tall man in black robes wearing a mask with gold markings; she fainted immediately and claims to know nothing more.

When Fatma asks about potential enemies, Abigail says she doesn’t follow her father’s business. Her brother, Alexander, would know more. Aasim sends a message to contact Alexander just as another woman arrives. The woman pulls out a badge and introduces herself as Agent Hadia, Fatma’s new partner.