In the bedroom, Ali was looking at Poppy with menacing eyes.

‘’ Up! Yallah! (Let’s go!)’' he shouted at her before pulling out a whip from behind his back.

“ Follow me out, or I’ll whip you like a sack of potatoes.”

Poppy was scared but shouted, ‘’ No!’’

She grabbed the teapot off the floor and threw it in Ali’s direction, followed by the cup.

He let out a scream of frustration, then cracked his whip.

Poppy’s heart jumped, and she felt an immediate chill running down her spine.

‘’ Enough with your games!’’ He mumbled between his teeth while slowly approaching her when suddenly a shadowy figure appeared between them with bright blue eyes.

A spine-chilling voice said, “leave—or else!”

Ali jumped in fear and took some steps back.

The shadowy figure took form, and Ius appeared.

‘’ You are one of them too!’’ blurted out Ali, visibly surprised.

Then facing Ius, he said, ‘’ I know your kind, you don’t frighten me, little shaitan! (little evil spirit!)’’

‘’ Really? Hum,’’ said Ius with a smirk waving his head; ‘’ in that case, go ahead, try me!’’ And his eyes glowed even more.

Ali was about to whip Ius when he murmured, ‘’ Tight around your neck you will feel, beg for your life to be free.’’

The whip suddenly turned, wrapped itself around Ali’s neck, and he fell on his knees, trying to free himself from its hold.

Poppy watched as Ius approached Ali.

He leaned towards him, ‘’ are you scared now?’’ He asked.

‘’ Ius, watch out!’’ Screamed Poppy in horror.

But it was too late; Ius felt a foreign object on his skin closely accompanied by a sharp pain quickly followed by a burn. The blade had sliced right through his pyjama’s sleeve. He was bleeding.

Despite that, Ius was quick on his feet and pulled back just in time to avoid the second assault Ali had prepared. Ali screamed in rage, but that short moment was enough to distract Ius and make him lose control of the whip, giving Ali a chance to flee the room.

Poppy ran to him in a panic. ‘’ Oh my God, Ius! Are you hurt?’’

He shook his head. ‘’ No, I am fine. It’s just a scratch. Look, it is healed already.’’ He said, showing Poppy his arm.

The wound was completely closed. The only thing left was traces of a thick, shiny substance on his shredded sleeve.

" Stay here. I am going after him,’’ said Ius quickly.

" No, please don’t," begged Poppy. " He is dangerous. You could have been seriously hurt. Besides, I don’t want to be alone. Please don’t leave me.’’

Ius stared at Poppy; she looked exhausted and frightened.

" Are you injured?’’ He asked.

She shook her head and was about to sit on the bed when she gasped; her eyes grew, and she ran to the window.

“Oh no, they are gone,” she said, looking furtively around.

Ius joined her and asked, ‘’ Who is gone? What happened?’’

She stood still for a moment, tears filling her eyes and lips trembling, then she threw her arms tightly around his neck and started crying.

Her cries grew louder, and her body began shaking uncontrollably. All Ius could do was hold her as firmly as he could and try to calm her down.

Eventually, she narrated the events that had occurred earlier.

“Thank you, thank you for saving me. I thought for a minute that you were not coming!”

Ius replied playfully, “Sorry I was late. The Jinn traffic is horrendous at this time of the night.”

She laughed, pulled back, and gave him a gentle push.

Ius had brought back some kind of smile on Poppy’s face, but her body was still shuddering after the slight noise.

She walked to Joe’s bed and sat on the corner of his bed.

“Ius, what are we going to do? We need to call your uncle. He is the only one that can help,’’ she said in a tired tone.

Ius sat opposite her. “Uncle Altan is not in the hotel. He left for Baatinn but he will be back in a couple of hours' thought.”

Poppy gulped and shook her head, confused. ‘’ Wait! What? He left? Why?”

Ius let out a chuckle. "no need to worry. He is travelling through a portal between your realm and ours. It takes minutes to cross back and forth. Besides, I am here. I can help.’’

“We are doomed! Why did he leave in the first place?’’ asked Poppy.

Now it was Ius’ turn to gasp, “thanks for the vote of confidence.”

Poppy rolled her eyes, “oh get over yourself, it is not the time to have your ego stroked. Why is your uncle in Baatinn?”

Ius pinched his lips and grimaced, “he said something about the high council. But you are right, he should be here because next time your life needs rescuing, I will make sure NOT to show up.” And he crossed his arms, a pout on his face.

Poppy smiled, got up, and sat next to him.

She slipped her arm between his and rested her head on his shoulder. “You saved my life; you are my hero. I am sorry I acted like it was nothing; I am just scared and tired. But frankly, we need your uncle. As strong as you are, being a teenager means the others might be stronger than you.”

A smile appeared on Ius’ face. “Apology accepted,” he said, resting his head on top of hers.

“By the way, why were you awake at this time of the night?” Asked Ius

“My stomach started acting up again. I guess it must have been because the sleeping spell was being cast,” she answered.

“Yes, it must be it! Sleeping spells are dark spells; the warlock’s magic must have awakened you.”

Poppy nodded. ‘’ Ohh! I see. But what about you? Weren’t you sleeping when Ali cast the spell? Why aren’t you affected?’’

Ius grimaced, ‘’ actually I am a bit affected. I am not tired, or anything, but the sleeping spell is slowing me down. Therefore, it took me a while to appear when you broke the coin. But sleeping spells are not complicated. Most work the same way.’’

Poppy frowned, “you say it as if you have studied them.’’

Ius smiled. ‘’ Even better; I was trapped in one. And I found the way out all by myself,’’ he said proudly.

‘’ Stop it! You weren’t!’’ chuckled Poppy.

‘’ I think we’ll just have to sit tight and wait for Altan to come back. He will know how to break the spell.’’

Ius made a face. ‘’ Let me burst your bubble quickly. There is no way; uncle Altan can make it back here; the spell will make the crossing between realms unstable. Portals don’t open in cursed locations.’’

“But this is a spell, not a curse,” said Poppy

Ius shook his head. “All spells created using black magic are curses.”

Poppy couldn’t believe what Ius was saying. She was looking at him, speechless. He gently placed his hand on her knee. ‘’ Don’t look so defeated. Luckily for you and the rest of the people in the hotel, you have a young Jinn who knows his way around a sleeping spell.’’

Noticing that Poppy was just staring at him, he added, ‘’ You're welcome!’’ and tapped her thigh with a smile.

Please God, let it be false, she thought.

She finally spoke. ‘’ Please tell me you are joking.’’

‘’ I am not,’’ responded Ius. ‘’ I will never joke about something like that. Well, maybe a little, but I am telling the truth about the sleeping spell.’’

He then grabbed Poppy’s hand. ‘’ Listen to me, I know what to do. We’ll all make it out on time and alive. I promise you.’’

She flinched. ‘’ On-time and Alive? What on earth does that mean? Does the spell have a deadline? And what happens if we run out of time? Are we going to die?’’ She asked in a shaky voice.

Ius scratched his head. “Ok, don’t freak out, but yes, sleeping spells have a deadline. Sleeping spells usually end when everybody trapped in them is dead.”

“Oh my God!” screamed Poppy

Ius stood in front of her. “Relax, Poppy; I can break the spell before people die.’’

He then glanced in Joe’s direction, ‘’ uhhhh, about that, Poppy, I think your uncle might be among the first ones in danger.”

“What?” shouted Poppy before jumping off the bed and looking closely at her uncle. He had dark circles beneath his eyes and wrinkles were showing around his lips.

She yelled, “what is happening to him? Do something.”

Ius took a big breath and said, " I can’t do anything; he is ageing because of the spell. The only way to save him is to break it, but we need to hurry. If Joe dies here, he will never wake up, even after the spell is broken.’’

Poppy felt weak on her knees and slowly slipped to the floor. She put her hand over her mouth and started crying. Ius kneeled next to her and hugged her.

‘’ It is not over. We still have time to find the exit door. But I’ll need your help. Come on! Everything will be fine. You have my word.’' murmured Ius.

Poppy nodded and wiped her tears away. She got up, stroked her uncle’s hair and kissed him on the forehead.

‘’ Hang on, Uncle Joe. I’ll see you soon,’’ she whispered before turning to Ius. ‘’ Tell me what to do.’’

‘’Follow me,’’ said Ius.