Page 30 (1/2)

"Tactics and strategy" He sounded resigned, not happy "All right I’m ready" I nodded over his shoulder to Brett, who unzipped a pocket on his tactical vest and pulled out a slass bottle with a cork A little-

probably soh the cork would have been a new addition

"I’ve got your agree David After a long moment, David nodded "Be thou bound to my service Be thou bound to my service Be thou bound - "

"Wait," I blurted, and took both of David’s hands in mine "If this is the last time I see you, I need you to hear this"

He waited, a like suns I fu happens to ht, you have to promise ood, not just the Djinn’s Don’t punish the Wardens if I die Please"

He knehy I was asking that "Lewis tried to kill you," he said "He did kill you Are you askingto ask the ie for so that turned out not to work anyway, that’s all"

There’s so about a Djinn that doesn’t blink when he’s talking to you - even one you love with a deep, desperate intensity "You are asking the impossible," he said "Lewis hurt you He did it as part of a plan I can’t allow that to go unanswered"

"You have to," I said "Please I need a vow"

"You know that I can’t say no to you, don’t you?" He wasn’t sh "Yet this tier be trusted by the Djinn" That really wasn’t good "But you’ll still ith him? With the Wardens?"

"To a point," he said I could tell he wasn’t going to be more specific about where the point was

That was all I was going to get from him, even now, even at this most vulnerable mo phrase again - three times, just to be sure

David’s handstook effect I felt the ha blow of it shatter the aetheric between us, and then he was exploding into mist, and the mist was sucked into the bottle in Brett’s hands He corked it with calm efficiency, and I watched him put the bottle in a special padded case, and then into the pocket of his tactical vest

"With your life," I told hiht?"

"Yes," he said It was a simple answer, and it left no room for doubt at all He’d do it I couldn’t ask for better than that

I fried the ship’s engine with a burst of pure Earth power, fusingthat looked rean to drift, dead in the water

Josue stopped looking afraid and started looking alar towith it?" I kept my expression as innocent as possible That was probably what lower at me as if he’d like to take me apart but wasn’t sure it was safe to try "My friends on the cruise ship will help you Oh, and I wouldn’t try any other guns you ave ht have actually been intimidated by it Today not so much "Worst day of my life, the day I fished you out of the ocean,is, it wasn’t the worst day ofat the vee of the bow, balancing on the balls of"Good luck"

He crossed hio" His sudden piety didn’t convince et a clear throhen I turned around I gave Josue one last look, and then I dived fro of the Sparrow into the open ocean water, heading south

Bad Bob wasn’t on an island, after all Well, to be accurate, he was on an island - but the island was floating and he wasit wherever he wanted

Neat trick First, most islands aren’t all that prone to float, since they’re really the tops of underwater mountains This one was able to drift, withstand the full force of a Category 5 hurricane, and navigate at will

It also explained why he was so crazy hard to track down I wasted ti not for a specific spot in the ocean but a , rocky key of the island, which wasaway from me at a fairly rapid speed I had an embarrassot to be kidding me was certainly in the hunt for first place

The entire island was turning , the reen hurricane that was hovering above it, just spinning

Not even Bad Bob - I hoped - had the power to do this alone No, he had to be aug it somehow And then it occurred to ht now, thanks to my connection to David; Bad Bob had a Djinn, too Rahel He’d taken her by force, and that explained the negative energy in what I saw hovering over the island

Of course, Bad Bob hi, either

The scary thing was that with thathe liked, and this floating fortress was just de I’d been at it for hours, and I was very, very tired, but I also wasn’t about to give up Besides, I was building up some fierce quadriceps

Jo,a voice whispered in ful of water I paused, treading water Jo, can you hear me?

It was Lewis’s voice I shooka hallucination

Stop hitting yourself Yes, it’smyself?"

I can hear the pops in your eardrureat for covert opsLeashad passed between us the past few days Like it was all just the sa," I said My teeth were chattering "You didn’t dial me up on the ear-phone to chat" He paused for a few seconds With Lewis, that eighty Did David agree? Is he in the bottle?

"Yes" Better not to overshare on that, I decided "Could we speed this up? Water cold Body tired"

Can you do this? Are you sure?

What a dumb-ass question "No, I’m not sure," I snapped "Of course I’hts?"

Yes We’ve got one shot at this He et anywhere near hiht "If he does, you’ve still got a shipful of Wardens and Djinn ready to bring the wrath of God down on hi the trouble to say these things "David"