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"I’ the best we can, but several of the first-class passengers have been reluctant to leave their onboard possessions Several of them have valuable items in the ship’s safe, and the hold They won’t leave without theoddaiven you all ht now, or they’re sailing out with us and they can take their chances Understand?"

The officer - I wasn’t fah with shipboard couessed htened his back to full Navy-style attention, clasped his hands behind his back, and gave Lewis a long, steady stare "Sir, I recognize that this is a er innocent passengers They must be offloaded before we can put to sea"

"If we’re still in this harbor in thirtysubered They get off the boat and run for their lives, or they come with us and we do whatever we can to protect them Those are their choices, but we can’t wait for them to call their lawyers to decide" He looked past the officer to Cherise My best friend - endearingly huave us both a little half wave and kept checking off na?"

"We’re halfway in!" she shouted back "Better tell the rest of your folks to get their beach thongs in gear!" She sounded incredibly cheerful "Hey, I hope I get to be Cruise Director too, because this is going to be the best world-ending crisis ever !" Cherise was being only faintly ironic That was the great thing about Cherise; she could find a silver lining in a coffin, six feet under, without a flashlight She was possibly the only person I could count on asn’t supernaturally gifted, unless good looks and a wicked sense of huular folks, and I loved that she could hold her oith the not-so-regular crowd I tended to attract

Lewis skipped right over Cherise’s attehten the mood "Da, right?" Cherise pulled back her rain slicker hat, and her blond hair tumbled out like a flood of sunshine She looked a little damp, but otherwise perfect, from her beach-approved tan to the hint of dark pink lipstick still kissing her lips "Getting Wardens to do anything on cue is ridiculous It’s like trying to pull Shriners out of an open bar" Those who thought Cherise shallohich, taking one quick glance at her perfect features, perfect hair, and dazzling sot past her defensive dumb-blonde routine She was a ruthlessly coanized, then it couldn’t be done by any non on with the Wardens, and why they weren’t on board We’re an egotistical, self-involved bunch - which is, sadly, not our worst feature Each of us tends to think he or she knows better, no matter what situation we land in You can call it absolute power corrupting, et cetera, but I think it’s more that we all have to make life-and-death decisions daily, and that tends toon delusional That’s fine if you’re operating autono personality, and a stronger grip on your temper, to bend Wardens to your will even in such a si to die

Lewis had trusted them too much

"Fuck," Lewis said He had a tendency to be very Zen, but his legendary calnificant cracks "Jo, I need David back here Can you find hilad for the excuse, actually I stepped back against the billowing canvas wall, feeling the thuical link that led from me to David Up on the aetheric plane, the level of reality above the physical, the link looked like a glea silver rope, and it felt warm to the touch It couldn’t be seen here in the real world, but using Oversight - focusingo there - I could access it just a little

Tio,I whispered down the line, a pulse of power that he’d know came from me

You’re needed,back, a surge ofwithout the fra, but there was some kind of complication What else was new? See, or suffering, some kind of complication

When I focused on the outside world again, things had not gotten better In fact, they’d taken a significant turn for the worse, because Lewis’s body language had ht furious, and he was fixed on the ship’s Executive Officer like a cruise rowled "What did you say?" The officer cleared his throat "I said that we’ll need to have your attorneys draw up another set of papers to indemnify the cruise line if you sail with any - and I ned the appropriate waivers to - " Lewis had a wicked bad te few people had ever had reason to know because he had such a long, patient fuse Once it blew, though, it was catastrophic; I remembered that once upon a time, it had nearly killed someone Granted, that someone hadn’t been exactly innocent, but still - it had been like using a nuclear bomb to kill shower er your friend

I stepped up "Lewis," I said, and drew his focus Soe calmed in his dark eyes, but it was more of a move from full boil to si, but it’ll take solers? Cherise can work on evicting the first-class stoays She’d love that" Cherise gave irl a clipboard, and she becaht," she said "You two crazy kids go have fun storo schmooze the stars Damn, was I born for that or what ?" Lewis looked at her helplessly He couldn’t yell at Cherise, and he had no reason to yell at et - Mr Executive Officer Stick-Up-His-Ass - to back off, but if he saw the signal, he conored it

"The shipmaster is completely responsible for every soul on board," he continued, as if he wasn’t facing irievous bodily harm "I can’t permit this kind of violation of procedures to - "

"Procedures" Lewis’s voice sounded al to the papers I signed earlier today, you noork for me, not the cruise line Are you aware of that?"

From the shock that flickered across the XO’s face, he clearly hadn’t been He buried that quickly, though "No, sir"

"Let ht at first that I was is, but then I realized that Lewis’s skin had taken on an unearthly hot glow

So had his eyes He looked about five seconds from detonation I’d never seen a human do that I’d rarely even seen a Djinn do it "That storm out there doesn’t care about laws, or rules, or procedures It cares about ripping apart everything in its path And it’s co Team Now "

The XO took a step back Lewis’s furious glow got brighter, and I saw it reflected in the man’s wide eyes

Then he saluted, spun on his heel, and ithout another word

"Dude," Cherise said in a hushed voice "That was hot "

"Down, girl," I said

"Hey, can I help it that I find radioactive guys sexy?" We both gazed at Leho despite not having shaved, showered, co tilowy kind of way He gave us both an exasperated look and stalked off to organize the Wardens on his own The glow stayed on hi rain

"I’m surprised you didn’t jump all over that," I said

"Moi?"Cherise pressed a sainst her breast and did a silent-movie face of astonishment "I’d never"

"Since when?"

"I’ve got a sense of self-preservation Okay, granted, it’s still in the original shrink-wrap, but I’ve got one if I ever want to use it Besides Dude is scary serious right now" Cherise waggled her clipboard "Want to go with me? Terrify some ht need you to, you know, throw a lightning bolt or so here worrying I could follois out into the storm, but that didn’t really havewhere it was He was lers into line all by hie