"What happened, exactly?" Niko asked. For now, it seemed best to try to get straight to the core of the matter. He would resume being his sneaky ninja self later.

Khalid flipped a couple of her braids back over her shoulder, the beads clinking together as she did.

"There was a traveling exhibit of artifacts," she said. "'Links to the Old World,' they called it. Bits and pieces of trash from different countries that they gathered together and called 'sacred.'" She rolled her eyes. None of it, save the caduceus, had been anything more than worthless pieces of nothing. "Jeane was there doing a study on some of them." She didn't add that she'd left Jeane to her own devices for a little while to see what the exhibit had from Arabia. She'd wanted to see if they had anything she recognized. "The caduceus was the only thing there of any real value or power, and it reacted when she took it out of its case to look." After a moment, she added, "Jeane has special permission to touch things, being a historian." Khalid shrugged. "Next thing we knew, the glass case was shattered and the caduceus disappeared, and Mercury has been chasing us ever since."

That was pretty much everything, but she glanced at Jeane anyways to see if she had anything to add.

Jeane shrugged. "Yeah, that's basically it." She twirled her thumbs, her cheeks turning pink. How was she supposed to know it was actually the real thing, anyway?

Cal snorted. That sounded like something the two brothers would get into, almost. Sometimes.

Because sometimes things really weren't their fault.

But he didn't say anything yet, letting Niko figure out what he wanted to do. If it was up to Cal, he'd go in, shoot the god, and see what happened. Niko tended to think things through just a little more.

Niko nodded as he listened, filing all of the information away for future reference.

"How did the exhibit get their hands on something so valuable?" he asked. He had a fair idea, actually, since such things happened with almost disturbing regularity, but he still had to ask.

Khalid shrugged.

"No idea," she replied. "The rest of what they had was shit." Absently, she fingered one of the rings she was wearing. "The best I found there was a ring I thought I had lost ages ago, but it's still just a trinket."

"And you said Mercury is probably back on your trail?"

"Most likely. It's difficult to throw him off for longer than a day or so."

"How did you get this far, then? How are you able to tell when he's close to finding you?"

Khalind gave him a flat look.

"I'm a djinn," she said. "Don't you believe in magic?"

"I believe in being prepared," Niko replied evenly. Khalid flapped a hand.

"Same difference, then," she replied. To her, it was the same thing. Being magic and being prepared weren't any different from one another.

Cal snorted and shook his head. "So, what, you're saying that you just magic yourselves to a different place so he'll lose your trail for a while?"

"It's a little more complicated than that," Jeane protested, frowning her disapproval at Cal. He shot her an incredulous look.

"Uh huh. Sure."

"What, you've never used decoys before?" Khalid jabbed. "Laid a false trail?" She rolled her eyes and shook her head, as if talking to him wasn't worth her time. Of course, it was more difficult than she was implying, much more so, but she wasn't going to let them in on THAT tidbit. Not yet.

Glancing outside, she mentally calculated the time, rather than looking around for a clock, and then looked back at the brothers.

"It's late," she said. "I don't know about the two of you, but I'm sure Jeane is going to be crashing soon, and she'll need the sleep." She glanced at Jeane, giving her a chance to argue if she wanted.

Jeane looked about ready to argue, but then she yawned, her eyes slipping closed. Okay, yeah, she was tired. And not used to this much stress and movement. Passing out for a few hours sounded good.

As soon as she yawned, Cal got up to retreat to his room. Niko could take first watch. He didn't like people normally, and sleepy people with over-protective djinns watching them did not make him any more inclined to like people.

Besides which, he knew that Niko was going to shoo him off the couch any second so he could offer it to their guests. See, he could be smart sometimes.

Khalid nodded slightly when Jeane yawned. That's what she thought.

Niko watched Cal leave with a look that seemed to be a mix of slight disapproval and more than a little affectionate annoyance. He could forgive his brother this once, though. He knew Cal didn't like people much, especially for extended periods of time. He looked back at the two women.

"Then please, make yourselves comfortable for the night," he said. Getting up, he went to a small closet and pulled out their one spare pillow and a blanket, and then looked at the women again. Khalid waved a hand.

"I don't need anything," she said. She was all set, and really, she didn't plan on sleeping, anyways. She needed to keep an eye on Jeane. Niko nodded and set the blanket and pillow on the couch.

"I will still be awake for a while," he informed them. He didn't say why, but with the two essentially hiding out with the brothers, the reason should have been obvious. Khalid nodded to show she understood and waved him off, then turned her attention to Jeane.

Jeane nodded to Niko and moved to the couch instead, curling up under the blanket after kicking her shoes off. But she left them right next to her on the floor, and she pulled her bag against her stomach. She'd spent the last few nights sleeping with it, so she'd kind of gotten used to it being there.

She opened one eye to look at Khalid. "Everything good so far?" she asked quietly, like she had every night for the past three nights. Just to make sure Mercury wasn't about to pound down the door or anything.

Khalid perched herself on the arm of the couch near Jeane's feet as Jeane settled down for the night. She gave a small nod of approval when Jeane refused to let go of the bag she'd been carrying since the beginning of their misadventure. When Jeane asked, Khalid closed her eyes and felt around a bit. When nothing jumped out at her, save for the involuntary shudder when she caught the energy of the half-Auphe just a room away, she opened her eyes again and nodded.

"Yeah," she said, just as softly. "We're good for now." She tilted her head slightly to Jeane. "Go ahead and get some sleep. I'll wake you if we need to move again."

Jeane nodded, yawned again, and settled in to catch some sleep while she could.

Which she regretted in the morning. Khalid had this habit of getting up shortly after sunrise, something she'd been passing on to Jeane. Of course, Jeane was used to getting her normally seven or eight hours of sleep a night, and especially after this past night, she did not want to get up. So she groaned and pulled the pillow over her head, attempting to become one with the couch so she could sleep more.

Cal snickered when he saw flashes of skin, the blanket long dumped on the floor. In that respect, Jeane reminded him a little of himself. Except he swore a lot more when Niko was waking him up.

Khalid watched Jeane in amusement. She knew that the historian liked sleep, and hadn't gotten a lot of it the night before, but habit had forced her awake.

"Come on, Jeanie," she said softly, nudging her friend. She heard a muffled, vague sort of mumble from under the pillow and sighed indulgently. She wouldn't snark at Jeane for this one. Khalid snapped her fingers and a mug of coffee appeared on the coffee table, made the way she knew Jeane liked it. "Alright, there's your coffee, so it's time to get up now."

Niko raised an eyebrow when he saw what was going on.

"That's one of our mugs," he commented mildly. And he knew he didn't keep coffee around.

"It was the closest one," Khalid replied. "The coffee is from down the street, the milk from the refrigerator, and the sugar from one of your neighbors."

"So it isn't true that djinn can make things from nothing, then?" Niko pressed. Khalid sighed, but shook her head.

"No. Matter can't be created, it has to already exist somewhere. I just bring it here."

Jeane smelled the coffee and finally pushed herself upright, looking almost like a zombie. Her hair was sticking up half-way in the back, and she looked grumpy, but she went for the coffee first. And sighed rather blissfully when the caffeine hit her system.

Cal blinked. "Wait. So if someone wishes for something you can get it from wherever? Does that mean I can wish for a hamburger?"

Jeane smiled sweetly. "You can wish, but nothing will happen."

"No," Khalid replied shortly. "And if you say the words 'I wish,' I'll do worse to you than I did to Goodfellow." Niko had to raise an eyebrow at that. He'd heard Robin's outrage as they were leaving the night before, and had wondered what had caused it.

"And what did you do?" he asked. If it was something to outrage Robin, it related to one of three things: his wardrobe, his sense of 'culture,' or sex. Khalid smirked, just the slightest bit evil and smug at the same time.

"This is the second time I've cursed him impotent," she replied. Niko blinked. There was nothing he could say to that.

Jeane rolled her eyes and started brushing down her hair with her fingers. She didn't feel like trying to find a brush somewhere, and her coffee was still a little too warm. So she gave it a minute and then drank the rest of it.

"Thanks," she said to Khalid, getting up and stretching. "So any plans for today?"

"Keeping you two alive, for the moment," Cal grumped, crossing his arms over his chest. Which he still wasn't sure how exactly they were supposed to accomplish since they couldn't tell when Mercury was around.

"I've kept us alive this long," Khalid protested. She hadn't let anything happen to Jeane since the incident at the exhibit and had worked very hard to keep them both alive on the run. She watched Jeane try to finger-comb her hair, and snapped her fingers. Jeane's hairbrush from home appeared in her lap. "I did notice you forgot it," she said, by way of an excuse. Hey, she was allowed to do nice things once in a while, and sometimes she would even do them for people other than Jeane. Sometimes. Not often.

Niko noticed that Khalid was taking care of Jeane, but resisted asking about it for the time being. It seemed that the two had a close relationship, but he couldn't tell exactly how close, yet.

Jeane shot her a thankful smile and began brushing out her hair. After a minute she grimaced. It was brushed, but not clean.

"May I use your shower?" she asked, looking between Cal and Niko.

"No." Cal kept his voice flat, just to see if she'd actually listen or not.

"Oh." Jeane seemed a little put-off by that. "Is there another shower I can use, then?"

Cal had a hard time keeping a straight face at that. Oh she would be loads of fun to tease.

Niko rolled his eyes at his brother and subtly pushed him backwards, into the armchair.

"Please, ignore my brother," he said. "He has issues engaging in conversation with anything more intelligent than the average garden gnome, and has next to no experience with females his own age." He had a slight grin on his face, letting both the girls and his brother know he was teasing... mostly. He gestured to the bathroom. "You're more than welcome to use the shower."

Khalid couldn't help but quirk a small grin of her own at that.

"Let me in so I can do my own thing, first," she said softly to Jeane. "Then you can take the whole bag with you." It wasn't that she didn't trust the men with Jeane's bag. Well, yes, it was. But mostly, she didn't trust them around Jeane's bag because Khalid's bottle was in it, and her bottle, after Jeane, was everything.

Jeane grinned briefly and nodded, settling back to let Khalid go first. She didn't mind waiting, after all. And she planned to take the bag into the bathroom with her. Although she was rather surprised that Khalid was willing to leave her alone with the two.

But oh well. She could fend for herself when she had to. She just really, really preferred not to. Actually she'd prefer to be sitting somewhere reading an old book, but oh well.

And then she noticed Niko's library. Keeping her bag over her shoulder, she went to go investigate, looking through the titles she knew and plucking out the ones she wasn't familiar with.

Cal groaned when he saw that. Oh, hell, another one? As if having one walking thesaurus/dictionary/cryptozoologist/historian/mythologist wasn't bad enough...

Once Khalid was relatively sure nobody was watching too closely, she let herself dissolve into smoke and spiral into Jeane's bag, where the jeweled bottle was hidden. She would still be close, if Jeane needed her, but now she had the chance to clean up and change into something better than black jeans and a leather jacket.

Niko noticed Khalid vanish, just as he noticed everything else that happened in the apartment whenever he was in it, and he watched with fascination. So, it appeared at least one part of the myth was true, although he had yet to figure out what kind of vessel Khalid lived in. It wasn't a lamp, given her reaction to that question the night before, so he tentatively assumed it was a bottle, as the rest of the myth suggested. It was clear that Jeane was protective of her bag, since she had slept with it close to her the night before, so it was safe to assume that the bottle was there.

He quirked a small smile when he saw Jeane go for his book collection. He knew every book there very well, almost down to the page, so he knew that the books she'd chosen were advanced reading. That she felt she could understand it spoke volumes about her education and choice of profession, and he approved. It was good to have someone around to talk to that would understand the readings, unlike his brother. Cal was talented and skilled where it counted for him, and academics sadly wasn't that area.

Jeane took a few extra minutes carefully setting aside the selected tomes, treating them with the respect they deserved, and she paused when she noted Cal's (rather small) book collection. She picked one up and quirked an eyebrow at him but didn't say anything.

"My apologies," she murmured when she noticed Niko watching her. "I have been told I am too curious for my own good."

"Oh, that's a new one." Cal rolled his eyes. Normally Niko was curious, but it didn't often show up unless he had either a book or someone to safely question. And even then, he guarded his curiosity well. Cal figured he was the only person who really knew exactly how curious Niko was.

"Not at all," Niko replied. "It's refreshing to know I didn't just put those there for decoration." He sent his brother a dry look. "Or to prop up the kitchen table with." He glanced around habitually, and then gestured to her bag. "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I assume your friend's... vessel is in your bag?" He wasn't sure what name to assign to the item, and 'vessel' seemed like a safe one until he knew exactly what it was. He almost wanted to ask how aware the djinn was while she was in her little home, but even in his head it sounded creepy and a little stalker-like.

Khalid, for her part, was already making herself comfortable for a little while, lounging in a hot, perfumed bath. She already had one of her familiar, traditional outfits laid out, although she could be dressed in something more modern at a moment's notice if Jeane needed her. She could hear the conversation 'topside,' but nothing that needed her immediate attention.

Jeane nodded hesitantly, pulling the bag closer. "Yes. She can retire there whenever she wishes." Since he'd already guessed, it didn't hurt to confirm, especially since she figured he'd just keep asking if he didn't get a response the first time.

Cal rolled his eyes at his brother and went to go find something edible and bad for him. Like cereal that was almost entirely sugar. That worked well. Add week-old milk on top of it and he was sure Niko would be glaring at him in no time at all.

Niko nodded.

"I suspected as much," he said simply. "I find it rather fascinating, forgive me if I'm asking too many questions." That was about the best he could do, really. He wasn't going to stop asking questions until his curiosity was satisfied, and it never really would be. He nodded to her again, though this time it was in parting, and went into the kitchen to see if he could get his brother to eat something that might actually resemble real food instead of just mountains of processed sugar and colors.

Jeane slipped into the bathroom, locking the door behind her. She set the bag next to the shower, in easy reach, before she undressed. The cold water shocked her for a moment, and she let out a startled sound, shivering a little as she used whatever soap she could find to wash herself off. So she'd smell like a man; oh well.

It didn't take her long to shower, since the water was starting to make her really shiver, and she grabbed the first two towels she found, hoping that they were clean. The lack of mirror briefly disturbed her, but then again, they probably knew more of the practical things than she did. And some of the old myths concerning mirrors freaked her right the hell out.

"Khalid?" she asked quietly. "I hate to ask, but could I borrow some clothes?" She even sounded sheepish to herself.

Khalid was just finished dressing herself when she heard Jeane ask for something to wear. Going to dig in to her wardrobe, she pulled out a few of the pieces that she'd stashed away that were actually Jeane's to begin with. She'd put them away, just in case Jeane needed them away from home. Once she'd pulled an outfit for Jeane, Khalid left the bottle to give them to her. She couldn't just 'send' the outfit up to Jeane, it just didn't work that way.

She appeared wearing one of her favorite traditional outfits, all green and gold to compliment her natural coloring. She sighed slightly when she saw Jeane shivering with her lips turning slightly blue.

"Jeanie," she said, "you could have asked for hot water. It's not hard for me to do that." She add that Jeane shouldn't hesitate in asking for anything, because she knew Jeane wasn't like that. Jeane may 'own' Khalid, but she hadn't been demanding about it at all.