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He reached out and put his hand onhimself touch my skin I relaxed into the touch for the sheer pleasure of it "I know," he said "Don&039;t you think I want to?"

"I&039; you for a favor You owe me one"

His hand went still, but he didn&039;t take it away

"Lewis?" I asked "Please?"

The reen the color of spring leaves The color change rolled across the valley slowly, in wavelike ripples

The stick in Lewis&039;s hand changed color, too, fro pale as flesh As I watched, it sprouted a single, delicate leaf Lewis slid off the hood of the Jeep and planted the stick carefully upright in the charcoal field I could al with life

"Itabout the plant, but I kneasn&039;t "Sometimes it doesn&039;t work at all"

"Try"

He straightened up and turned to look at

waves, like angels flying It dissolved on the light of the sun, and then there was just a black valley, dead trees, a tall and gracefulthere with his arms folded across his chest

But the smellThe smell was different Warm Golden

The wind smelled like life

He nodded and said, "Let&039;s go"

Six hours later, he was holding Star&039;s hand, and that goldenthrough her mouth and nose

It saved her life Lewis preserved what he could of her affinity with fire, but like me, he understood balance; to heal Star co that balance beyond repair

I don&039;t think she ever kneas there When she woke up, two days later, Leas long gone, just a old in the air

I never told her anything about it

I watched the road behind us, once ere safely back in ain, but I didn&039;t see any le carpets in our trail Not that she&039;d do anything that ridiculously Arabian Nights, of course, but when you&039;re paranoid, staring out the backseems like a vitally important occupation

You&039;re a fool There is no saving a fool

Whose side was Rahel on, anyway? Maybe nobody&039;s Certainly not mine Choose Choose what? Choose who? Why did the Djinn have to be so damn inscrutable, anyway? Was it just a personality flaw? I couldn&039;t even assume she was really out to save David In fact, as little as I actually understood about the Djinn, there was nothing I could safely assume about Rahel-I didn&039;t even knohere she stood in this strange little game

Choose So few choices I could ive it to DavidNo I wouldn&039;t I couldn&039;t

Choose Da I had left waswho to trust Well, I knew so about that, at least I couldn&039;t trust Marion and her people; they&039;d do exactly what they were told to do by the Council, up to and including killing in to regret

But I could co into this

"Star-" I leaned forward and touched her shoulder Her dark hair dragged like silk onabout the Demon Mark?"

David couldn&039;t quite control his flinch He stared straight ahead, but I could feel the burn of his disapproval As for Star, she turned her head, lips parted in astonishment, and then whipped back toward the road when a truck blared a warning On the horizon, a flock of birds broke cover and wheeled like a tornado in the graying sky

Star nodded toward David, plainly asking I nodded "He knows"

"Yeah? He knows about what, exactly?"

"The Wardens All of it"

"Really?" She cut an interested look his way, but he didn&039;t respond "Well Okay, I know a little about it Why? You got one?" She was kidding, of course

But in answer, I eased back the collar of ed it down to show her the scorch mark over my left breast She whistled "Holy crap, Jo"

"I need to kno to get rid of it," I said

"Obviously! Okay" She blew out an agitated breath "Dairl, that&039;s a hell of a secret to keep"

"If it&039;s any consolation, you&039;re the first one I&039;ve told" True, actually I hadn&039;t told David, he&039;d known all along, or guessed pretty daet it?" She seeht

"Bad Bob He kidnapped me and-" I didn&039;t want to describe what he&039;d done to ot the Mark"

"Holy shit Wellyou could give it to somebody else That&039;s obvious" She turned her attention back to the road, but her golden-bronze skin had taken on a paler tinge "Mira, is that what you&039;re looking to do? Pass it on? You knoon&039;t go unless the person you try to give it to has lance at me in the rearview ht?"

I looked to David for confiraze, which was confirh Damn But that meant-no, that was iave this to me-you knoas one of the most powerful Wardens in the world I can&039;t be"

If Estrella was surprised by that, she gave no sign of it She just nodded "Well, chica, I guess you know so about yourself you didn&039;t know before, then"

"Bullshit!" I was, at best, a mediocre Warden I wasn&039;t-couldn&039;t be-

"Straight up word of honor, Jojo A Deer to weaker, only froer It&039;s a known fact So if Bad Bob&039;s Demon Mark traded up to you" Her eyebrows rose "Welcoirl, I knew you were strong I guess I never kne strong"

"That&039;s-"

"Impossible, yeah, you&039;ve said But Bad Bob picked you to pass it to, so that settles that Who else could have taken it for hiht Like anybody can find that guy Jeez, what are you going to do? Is that why the Rangers are after you? &039;Cause of the Mark?"

I rubbedlike that I find somebody to pass it on to Whatever What&039;s the other option?"

"Well, you could, like, keep it"

"Keep it! Jesus, Star, for crying out loud-"

"HearI know about the Deet Maybe that&039;s a good thing Maybe-ht to do I mean, we call it a Demon Mark, but what do we really know about it? Is it any worse than the Djinn?"

"Oh, trust rotesque sense- that horrible violated sli in its wake