What are you? Janice asked, picking up the jar...
The creature that once was the spirit of Dan had years to prepare for this moment, the time dilation allowed him months of pondering the first slivers of light that appeared from the outside world as the door first began to swing open, and years before a creature appeared before the open door.
Dan had lost his mind numerous times in the silence, had pondered everything he knew, had lost hope, had imagined alternate universes where he had a chance to grow up, forgotten what food tasted like but it still haunted his, well he no longer slept or dreamed, so fantasies. What is 16 years to the vast endless silence he had endured? Nothing, everything? Dan no longer had a name, he was rage, he was power, he WAS and that was all he knew himself as.
Words blasted the jar, they were in the old tongue. The creature within the jar was confused. The being from 'beyond' moved so slowly, then so fast, the former Dan didn't understand the time dilation of the sanctum.
Janice looked upon the shelf not realizing what she was seeing... Her stupid daughter left her Book of Shadows in a space of time dilation... She had spent 9 months painstakingly copying all their family's spells in preparation for her 18th birthday just so her daughter could let it age to oblivion! There was also a trinket, and a spell jar with a tiny creature... well it looked like a creature, it could be a conjured illusion, perhaps motion activated to conserve magic, a weird nightlight? Nothing else could last in this place after all. She collected the items and hobbled downstairs placing the items in the kitchen.
Warily, she called her mom, "Mom, I hate to ask but I need you to come back. Kat is safe there, but I... I need you."
"What is it, what do you need of me?" Margaret asked immediately alarmed.
"I found stuff but I just can't piece it together, and... I had to use divination magic."
At this Margaret sighed heavily, "I take it you haven't been training once a week like I told you to. And now your thinking is turning into mashed potatoes as your son's gone missing and..." She cut herself short, now really isn't the time for a lecture. "I'll be right over."
"Thanks Mom."
Three heavy knocks sounded at the coat closet door, she opened the door to find winter coats and boots waiting for her... "Oh that's right..." she shut the door and held the knob... "Protector of doors, let mom through." she opened the door to the same gear, "oh no, that's not right, I have to sound reverent..." the three knocks sounded again, Janice's brain tried to panic but due to the mental state she was in it only helped her to focus. "Protector of portals grant us this passing, allow my mother safely through your corridor." She completed the portal spell and opened the door.
Her mother stepped though. "Oh honey, you look like shit, but its understandable given everything you've been through..."
"I found this stuff in Kat's sanctum," she gestured at the three items on the table, "I can't piece it together but I need to sleep. Wake me if you figure something out." Margaret nodded going to the items, Janice went up the stairs to her bedroom...
Two hours later a haggard looking Margaret was shaking a deeply asleep Janice back to consciousness. "Dear, I've made preparations... I need you."
Very drowsy, and not fully recovered but enough to be coherent, Janice arose and listened to Margaret's finding's and plan... Margaret had pieced enough of it together that she realized what the creature was, that it could be used, and that it would do anything for its freedom... Janice, now better able to think, relayed the missing pieces of the couch, and her divination spell first sending her to the garbage can, and what she saw after getting into Kat's sanctum.
The spell jar sat alone on the countertop in a puddle of honey, securing it to the table well enough to keep a weakened spiritual creature from knocking it over and escaping. It sat within a thick circle of salt, and glyphs were drawn in the circle by finger. Margaret handed a piece of paper to Janice and they said the circle of protection spell locking the creature within. Once done, Margaret partially undid the lid allowing the creature to move past the seal but not escape the jar completely due to the magical bindings and the seal still mostly being intact... but it was enough to get past the silencing spell Kat had placed and for the first time in countless centuries, the creature could be heard.
For minutes, the creature pounded on the sides of the circle, screamed, and tried to escape. The women just held hands until Margaret spoke, "Are you ready to deal?" The creature hissed and stared hatefully but stopped and listened.
"Release me witch!" the creature spat.
"From that jar, and this circle? I intend to. Now, are you ready to deal?"
The creature roared, "What are your demands?"
"Two wishes, and a promise... First you promise no harm to any humans, witches included. You'll have your freedom but not your revenge."
"I cannot promise that, if I am bound again, my power may be forced to harm humans, or hopefully, witches." the creature sneered.
Janice looked at her mother and squeezed her hand... Margaret stayed calm, "Yes, perhaps I am asking too much. Instead, I want you to promise not to seek revenge for your imprisonment, our dealings, or use your will to lash out at humanity in general."
"I have earned my revenge! I have been imprisoned for countless ages!" the creature screamed.
"Yes, you have. I agree with you." Margaret's compassion was sincere, "However, if you can't make the promise, you will be imprisoned for all eternity, we will put you back into the room, and remove the seal, untethering the door. You will exist outside time and space, alone forever, trapped in that jar so you can't use your power to save yourself. Or, you can be free." We will give you time to think about it. The women walked to the other room to give him privacy and space.
The creature roared in fury and hate, this wording was possible for him to promise, but the cost was immeasurable! His revenge was all that gave him strength over the last centuries. Now he's being asked to forego his rightful vengeance, and not wipe every witch from the face of the planet. He doesn't even remember how he came to be trapped, it had been so long, he had lost his mind so many times, but he did manage to hold on to the singular fact that it was a witch who did this to him!
The women came back moments later once the yelling had stopped, "There is so much more to life than revenge, please believe me when I say this. Shall we proceed?" The creature was notably smaller, and dimmer, the spell had forced Danny to focus single mindedly on revenge turning him into a fire djinn, but Margaret couldn't execute her plan with a creature of rage and hate... so she was hoping she could use something more powerful to transform the spirit creature, hope and compassion. "Say the words and grant my wishes and you will not be bound by any circle of protection, or spell jar once the second wish is enacted."
"I swear to not seek revenge for my imprisonment, our dealings, or use my will to lash out at humanity in general provided you release me this day as you repeatedly promised." the creatures red orange light had visibly softened toward yellow, and sparks of white began to gleam from within.
The women were exchanging encouraging squeezes between their hands, "I wish my grandson was lying before me, as he was, an hour after he awoke 2 days ago, and that the spell jar would loose any power over you!" Danny's body materialized, alive, clothed, and in good health, but unconscious and unable to be awoken. The creature had no recollection of the boy. Margaret chose 2 days ago because Kat didn't know of her powers and couldn't have laid any curses on her brother's body by that time.
Janice immediately fell to hysterics, her boy was back but in a coma! She was screaming, "What's wrong with my boy, why can't I wake him?"
Margaret expected this, but was still saddened. "He died Janice, the creature was eager to please, and gave us Danny, as of two days ago... despite the fact that he has no soul." The creature had worked its way out of the spell jar, visibly happy at being out of its former prison.
Janice screamed clutching her sons soulless body... "Give him a soul! Give him a soul! Bring back my son!"
"Is it your wish that I place a soul into that body?" the creature asked unmoved.
A hard slap struck Janice in the face before she could respond. "Silence you stupid girl! If you embraced your magic, you would know what's happening! Why! And HOW! And if you say 'A' soul, it will be pulled from hell and your son will grow up to be successful while spreading pain and suffering across humanity, or pulled from a nearby baby, and an expecting mother will have a stillborn child! NOW BE SILENT!"
Margaret composed herself, "I am going to tell you I want his soul returned to his body, at which point you will say that you cannot reach across the veil, then I will tell you I don't believe his soul was allowed to cross the veil. His pants were turned into a couch telling us a witch did this to him. I think his soul is being held prisoner to be used in a dark spell, or as ransom, or something more nefarious." Margaret anticipated that she was speaking to the twisted spirit of her grandson, however telling it that it is a 16 year old and that she wants to bind it to a mortal body probably wouldn't go over super well.
"So state your wish knowing it will count even if the boy doesn't awaken."
"If he doesn't awaken, then we know he is at peace and that will have to be enough." She replied, "I wish... That any spell or magic ensnaring my grandson's soul would be broken and that his soul will find its way back to his body immediately. Also, that the spell circle holding you captive would lose it's power over you, freeing you."
The creature was shocked, for the first time in centuries it had hope, it had freedom! It quickly granted the wish suddenly finding it was being pulled...
Danny awoke to see his mom and his Grandma staring at him, he was on the floor for some reason... "Grandma? When did you get here? Why am I on the floor? Are you visiting for Kat's birthday?" It was clear he had no memory of the last two days, his mom was hugging him like he had almost died or something and the couch was missing.
"No questions, go to your room for now, I need to discuss things with your mom but we will need to talk soon. Maybe you can come visit me in the cottage some weekend." She beamed a warm smile.
He left and Margaret took Janice outside... "All the pieces point to Kat murdering Danny to torture his soul and turn him into a djinn, all while hiding his absence... we must bind her magic. The only thing that allowed your son to be saved was this." She held up the small pendant. "He had to have been channeling its power for it to be floating, and it was the only thing that could have kept him from becoming a complete slave to his rage... like the spell she cast intended. It's a spell that traps the person who casts it... you think you're getting power, but really, you're getting something that hates you so much it will do anything just to hurt you and anything you love... that's why djinn are known as tricksters who twist wishes. Danny was able to hold enough control over himself to relinquish revenge. No normal djinn made by that spell could do that... they'd accept eternal exile wallowing in their own hatred before daring to have hope. And he didnt twist the wish, he did everything on the up and up... that's how I knew."
"Thank you mom! I couldn't, I wouldn't, I'd have never known!" Janice was nearly back in tears...
"Our works not done... We will need to bind Kat and make her forget she was a witch. We will need to explain this all to Danny, he may still have powers... the wording of my wish was careful to remove any spell ensnaring his soul... he wont continue to become a rage djinn but he IS a Djinn, just in a human body... you have to deal with a magic son instead of a magic daughter. There is the police and the fact that Dan doesn't know what day it is. That may work in our favor. Finally, it's been almost 3 hours, Kat's going to wonder where I've gone off to and I don't need her making this a double homicide..."