You knew it would be hard to ask me to stay on after I had fulfilled the contract, so you decided the right thing to do was not to ask . . . ignoring how hard it would be for you to keep hunting for Aahz without me.”
“But if it would be easier for me if you stayed . . .”
“That’s right. It’s a contradiction,” Kalvin grinned. “Confusing, isn’t it? Forget right and wrong for a while. What do you want?”
That one was easy.
“I’d like you to stay and help me look for Aahz,” I said firmly.
The Djin smiled and nodded.
“Not a chance,” he replied.
“What?”
“Did I stutter? I said . . .”
“I know what you said!” I cut him off. “It’s just that you said . . . I mean before you said . . .”
“Oh, there’s no problem in your asking me . . . or in your terms. I’m just not going to stay.”
By now my head was spinning with confusion, but I tried to maintain what little poise I had left. “ . . . But I thought. . . Oh, well. I guess I was mistaken.”
“No you weren’t. If you had asked me in the first place, I would have stayed.”
“Then why . . .”I began, but the Djin waved me into silence.
“I’m sorry, Skeeve. I shouldn’t tease you with head games at a time like this. What changed my mind was something you said while you were explaining why you didn’t ask. You said you were scared and insecure, which is only sane, all things considered. But then you added something about how you were afraid to trust your own judgment and therefore needed someone else along to tell you whether you were right or not.”
He paused and shook his head.