Well, well, detectives, it looks like we definitely called out the real "Al Jahiz" but did you expect a portal between worlds and the Nine Lords to awaken and challenge all of djinn society?

Here is the summary with questions below!

Chapter 23

Fatma and Hadia head back to the ministry to awaken the grumpy Marid from before. Fatma and the Marid face off, but he agrees to help remove the forgetting spell but not before revealing the angels allowed the heist to take place, as the ring can only be handled by a strong-willed mortal. He reveals more about the nature of Sulayman's seal and Hadia guesses that the angels overplayed their cards when Al Jahiz's ambitiousness came to light. Fatma plays her trump card of preventing the Nine Lords from returning and he painfully removes the forgetting spell for her and Hadia and returns to his bottle. Next, Hadia and Fatma go to meet with the head of the Forty Leopards, the Leopardess. She reveals cooperating with Al Jahiz and the thefts from the angel's vaults were mistakes. She invites the agents to pray and serve lunch to the Cemetary children.

Chapter 24

Fatma and Hadia return to visit Siwa and find his basket of tongues. They reveal what they know and realize he cannot not only talk about Sulayman's seal but also the identity of the imposter. It turns out the angels not only knew of his thefts related to the Brotherhood for funding his obsession with camel racing, but they encouraged him by letting him have a list of the items in their inventory. The seal, however, chose its wearer. Siwa gives them the last piece of the puzzle by quoting from the Sirat al-amira Dhat al-Himma. Back at the office with Dr. Hoda, Fatma tries to look beyond the illusion at the lock of hair and, after a while, it transforms to blonde hair.

Chapter 25

Papers are drawn up for Alexander Worthington's arrest and the Ministry sends a passel of agents to back up Fatma and Hadia. Onsi shows up and, having sped-read the Delhamma, he reveals it is about a single parent warrior queen who bests her son at war when he dismisses her, proving herself "a lion of the forest". Well, well... Fatma decides to follow her gut and asks for Hadia's support when making the arrest. Alexander and Abigail show up and Alexander is flabbergasted by the warrant and Hadia's sword skills. Fatma throws a sword to Abigail, who handily catches it and defends herself from Fatma's attack. Fatma changes tack and accuses her of being the imposter. Abigail releases her perfect Arabic and reveals her dastardly plan after multiplying in various al-Jahiz's and revealing her groupies and her plan for world domination. She creates a metal djinn which rises from beneath the house and takes her and her friends and the completed Clock of Worlds out for a stroll towards the Abdeen Palace. The agents are hampered by the destruction of the block, but Siti shows up to give Fatma a lift.

Chapter 26

After hobnobbing with the Ministry agents she worked with on a previous case, and a chastisement from Hadia, Siti and Fatma chase the metal djinn on her motorbike. Siti can still hear Abigail's commands but is not beholden to them. She is amassing the djinn to the palace so she can set the Nine Lords free, so they can be the djinn generals leading her army. Siti flies Fatma up and then returns to human form, where she is less vulnerable to Abigail's power. Siti takes a shot at Abigail but hits only Victor and they become targets for the hypnotized djinn!

Chapter 27

Fatma and Siti fight the djinn, but Abigail's power seems to be less effective since she is trying to control everyone. Siti draws the ash-ghul to them and holds him so Fatma can get to Abigail, endowing her with a magic-filled kiss. Fatma makes it to the inner-platform and fights Abigail's groupies, challenging Abigail to another sword fight, managing to wound her. Abigail gets the djinn to surround her and brings an ifrit to fight her. Siti shows up to defend her against three attacking ifrits but is wounded in the shoulder. Fatma gives her back some magic with a kiss. In the meantime, the Clock has been activated and the Nine Ifrit Lords show up from another world. Abigail means to command them and makes them bow to her will, calling her the Mistress of Djinn. Suddenly, our crocodilian friend, Ahmad, shows up and...

Chapter 28

...chomps Abigail's hand, Seal and all. The djinn are finally free from her control and return to their selves. However, the portal between worlds is still open despite the Clock being destroyed. Fatma presents her badge and apologizes for disrupting them and invites the Nine Lords to go home. However, the Ifrit King has other ideas, calling on the djinn to explain how a mortal holds power over the djinn. The Ifrit Abigail used as transport shows up, cauterizes her wound and explains what happened. The Ifrit king wants to lead the djinn to glory, but the Cairo residents are not amenable, led by an elder djinni which declines to pay obeisance to them. The Nine Lords are introduced to philosophy, pacifism and crafts and trades and a "We will not be slaves" chant. They don't take to this kindly and there is an inter-djinn war as he destroys the Abdeen Palace.

Chapter 29

Fatma and Siti are caught in the wreck of the palace, along with Abigail. They have an interesting conversation. Their cries are heard by the kaiser, the Russian general and Amina. A full-blown war is happening between the Nine Lords and the Cairene djinn. Amina is able to heal Siti with the help of her Qareen, who offers a gris-gris), which transforms Siti back to human so her djinn side can heal. She also heals Fatma and Abigail-although Jenne recognizes her voice and declines healing her stump. Hadia finds them and they witness the Nile rise up, called by the Jann to fight fire. Fatma knows the army can't help-luckily, friend Ahmad shows up, offering the Seal before vowing to swim South, to the old temples. The Seal choses Fatma and reveals itself as her cat and Fatma vows to ask for nothing but the ability to save Cairo. Instead of a ring, the true Seal is a ruin that runs across Fatma's body. With its power, she able to discuss with the Ifrit King her request they vacate this world, which they do. Fatma calls off the Seal once she sees Siti too intimately. She is weak but, alhamdullilah!, managed to save the world. She gives the Seal to Ahmad to dispose of, while Abigail goes crazy trying to get it back. The fire Ifrit who Abigail used gives her the gift of emptiness.

Epilogue

A feast at Siti's family's cafe for the family and the agents in celebration two days later. Everything has come out in the news. Abigail's co-conspirators have been charged. Djinn architects were making grand proposals to rebuild the ruined parts of Cairo. Hadia plans to bring up inequality at the next Sisterhood meeting. Fatma wants the plans to the Clock of Worlds to be destroyed. Zagros is back at the Ministry library. Madame Aziza encourages Fatma's love of Siti, perhaps with some poetry. Fatma gets a heart stopping present from Ahmad, but happily, it's just his scarab beetle lighter.

​

Hungry?

Eid Kahk

Mulukhiya

Sayadieh

​

Useful Links:

• A Master of Djinn Discussion Schedule
• A Master of Djinn Marginalia Post
• Goodreads page for A Master of Djinn
• Wikipedia entry for P. Djèlí Clark
• Wikipedia entry for A Master of Djinn

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________It's been a great discussion-thank you all- and fun getting to know Djèli Clark's Cairo!