Serenity knew he shouldn’t be surprised by that after Russ’s comment that it might be a djinn, but this wasn’t acting like any of the djinn he’d dealt with before. The most memorable one was the time he’d run into one bound to a ring; he could still remember the genie’s deliberate misunderstanding of the “wish” Vengeance hadn’t even meant as one. It was funny to think about now, but at the time it’d been anything but funny.

It was acting more like a possessive spirit than a djinn. On the other hand, it was incorporeal and sealed in a container. Perhaps it was simply a terminology problem; Russ had said there were several types, which meant he thought of djinn as a catch-all instead of a classification.

Serenity was fairly confident that it wasn’t possessing Rube. He might be influenced, but he’d never have gone to the university if he were possessed, much less followed them to the “high magic zone” to look at the vase and his arms. He’d also know what was happening, and Serenity was pretty confident Rube was just as clueless as he seemed.

Of course, he could be wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time. Serenity didn’t think he was, but he couldn’t deny that it was possible.

While he was thinking, Rube had moved his arm back to his lap and was rubbing the vase’s stopper. The cloud had followed his arm, so Serenity could take it as confirmed: it was definitely a being of some sort and it was connected to the changes on Rube’s arms.

Serenity was still convinced that whatever else it was, it was eldritch. There did not seem to be two beings, after all; even if there had been, he might have labeled them as eldritch. Unfortunately, the label wasn’t all that helpful; Vengeance simply wasn’t interested in the eldritch, so Serenity only knew what he’d learned in order to kill them.

Come to think of it, there was a question he hadn’t asked. He probably already knew the answer; incorporeal beings were hard to destroy, but it was still good to ask. “Russ? Why is it in a bottle? Why wasn’t it destroyed?”

Serenity wasn’t watching Russ, but Russ’s voice was steady and calm. “We can’t kill them. Capturing them’s the best you can do with a djinn; they’re immortal spirits.”

Serenity very well knew that wasn’t true. Nothing was immortal; anything could die. Some things were hard enough to kill that it generally wasn’t worth it, and he could understand why djinn might fall in that category. He’d put that down as a backup possibility.

Killing the djinn without killing Rube would probably be exceptionally difficult, and re-binding it into another jar would likely be sufficient. That would almost certainly be the easiest solution, though it would require somehow separating it from Rube. There might be a binding ritual that would take care of that, even though Serenity couldn’t think of one offhand. While he knew a lot of rituals, he definitely didn’t know them all. Perhaps he could design one. “Do you have a container available?”

Serenity could hear Russ’s sigh. “Not nearby; there are only two or three left in the world. We haven’t had anyone who could make them since Levi Ganz died without a successor. Red’s been trying to recreate them, but she can’t make anything half as good as the few he made.”

Of course not. Serenity knew he couldn’t make them; he could read the runes, but that wasn’t the same as making a containment jar. He could probably fill one; that was simple enough. “I wonder if Katya knows how?”

It was an idle thought for now.

The only other immediate option was the least aggressive: to try to talk to the djinn. Serenity didn’t expect it to work, since most eldritch abominations were either mad or simply so different from humanity that they couldn’t communicate usefully.

It shouldn’t hurt to try.

Unfortunately, since it hadn’t taken over Rube’s body yet, it seemed like there was no physical form to communicate with; unlike the genie Vengeance ran into, this djinn either couldn’t or hadn’t created something to interact with. That meant the only viable option was some sort of telepathy. “Rissa? You said you felt a mind there now?”

Rissa had either been following his thoughts or she was really good at guessing where his mind went. Knowing her, it was probably the second option with a dash of empathy. “If I say yes, you’re going to do something stupid like try to talk to it, aren’t you?”

Serenity couldn’t suppress a quick laugh. “Why do you say that’s stupid?”

“I said it was dreaming, earlier. I think that’s wrong; I think it’s completely awake but the way it sees the world is completely alien. I’ve felt things like that from people who are dreaming, but never so intense or so directed. I’ve been working as hard as I can to not let any of it leak through; it’s …” Rissa paused and thought for a moment. “It’s not exactly like anything I’ve felt before. It’s angry like the ghost of a murder victim and calm like someone enjoying a nice spring day at the same time. It’s not insane; you can’t really tell an insane person from anyone else by their emotions. Whatever this is, it’s different somehow.”

“I think I need to; it’s the easiest, fastest possibility. But you have a point; I’ll make sure to set up protections. For all of us.” Serenity paused, thinking. It would take several hours to set up what he wanted, and that was a best case scenario. That meant it’d be afternoon by the time he could be ready at best, and for something like this, evening would be better. What was the current phase of the moon?

It was a good thing they were near the edge of the dungeon; despite the interference of the dungeon’s mana level, he could still feel the nearby cell towers’ signals and it was simple enough to look up: the moon was approximately half full, waning. It wouldn’t rise until well after dark, so he could have the choice of a moonlit ritual or the dark of the night.

Well, as dark as New York City ever got. He’d probably perform the ritual at the edge of Akis dungeon so that she could handle the mana flows, but that meant he’d have to deal with the light pollution of the city. On the other hand, that might not be that bad for dealing with an eldritch creature; not when he himself was a being of shadows - not literally, but he could probably make the symbolism work. There were some interesting possibilities there.

“Rube?”

The young man jerked in place, as if startled. “Yeah?”

“Can you come back here later today, maybe tonight? I need to put some things together before I try anything. For all of our safety, as well as to increase the chances that it’ll actually work. I don’t know if it’ll actually help any, but at the least it should give us a new direction to pursue.” Serenity didn’t want to overpromise; he didn’t really expect talking to the “djinn” to work, but there was a chance and they would definitely learn something.

Rube huffed. “Not like I have anything better to do. I’m excused from classes for my ... injuries. I mean, I can go to lectures but I can’t exactly take notes or do homework. Not that being excused’s going to help my grades any; all it really means is that the school extended my drop period. It’s already been long enough that I think I’m going to have to repeat the semester. If there’s even a chance of getting my hands back…”

Rube shook his head and turned to Russ. “You have my number?”

“I do.” Russ held up his phone.

“‘Kay. See you later today.” Rube carefully slid the vase off his lap and into the box before stuffing it in his backpack..

Sunset was the best time; it had ties to death and rest and the shadows would be long. The symbol of the coming of night wouldn’t aid in communication directly but the connections to secrets spoken in the dark could help, as could the symbol of night being a time to think. The other time that would be good was high noon with its symbolism for revealing the unseen, but Serenity wasn’t going to be ready in time for that.

The moon would still be below the horizon, but that was fine; it simply meant one more factor he didn’t have to specifically allow for. Really, he could cast a ritual at almost any time of day as long as he either did it indoors or made the correct connections with the outside world.

Stars could matter, but he wasn’t trying to call on their power, so it was relatively simple to avoid the impact of the many different constellations; they were a shared myth and as long as he didn’t tap into their power or call on them, he wouldn’t attract their attention. As for time of year, well, it was autumn; that was simply one more factor to consider. It wasn’t particularly helpful but it wasn’t harmful, either.

Serenity sent Janice out to gather what he needed while he worked on setting up the area. A ritual was never fast; he was designing this one to be on the quick end, and it would still take hours of setup. The casting time would be under an hour, at least; he’d done rituals that literally took days.

It was fortunate that he knew how to choose substitutions; without that, he’d have been stuck trying to find things like “mint gathered under the full moon and stored, dried, in a space without animals”. Many ritualists found something that worked, then used it without figuring out why it worked; for this ritual, the mint simply had to be free of mustiness. Dried would work, but fresh would also work and was far easier to get in the modern world.

Many of the other things he needed were like that. Serenity could only bless the modern appreciation for candles and incense; it meant the implements he needed were also easy to obtain.

The one thing that wasn’t easy to get was the casting implement. Serenity preferred a sharp knife, since there were some rituals that needed that, but that wasn’t important for this ritual. What was important was that the knife or wand must serve as an extension of the ritualist, which meant that it had to be all one material or made in such a way that all the materials work together.

A knife with a riveted handle wouldn’t work; neither would a knife with a plastic handle. Serenity could compromise on the material but not the construction. Serenity eventually settled on a car’s antenna as being the right choice; it was more or less the right shape and it was intended for communication. Finding one that was about the right length took Janice longer than any of the other components and made Serenity glad he’d decided on sunset for the start of the ritual; she’d be back before then, but not by more than an hour.

Serenity spent the time he had preparing the site itself. A normal ritual would take place in a space that took weeks to prepare so that any stray magical influences would have time to dissipate before the ritual was performed. Part of the preparations, usually the longest part, was encouraging the residue that was always present to dissipate faster.

Many ritualists maintained spaces that they kept partially prepared, but even then they could not be used frequently for that exact reason: even a good ritual would leave magical traces behind, and another ritual would be sensitive to it. It was both a problem and useful for creating chained rituals.