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Chapter One

Black corner

It was the naave to a section of the world that had been scorched by soy that coursed through the world, the pulsebeat of the Earth, no longer existed

A black corner looked fine, but to anyone with sensitivity to power, it was desolate and sterile Wardens--those who controlled the basic powers of nature--suffered when they were trapped inside one of these dead zones Still, we got off better than the Djinn

Djinn died

We’d been trapped in thehard for the horizon, for days, and it was taking its toll at an increasingly horrible rate

It was so hard, watching the to watch, and as our cruise ship sailed ever so slowly through the dark, eet outside the supernatural blast radius, I began to wonder whether ould make it at all

The New Djinn--the Djinn who’d been born hue-scale disasters--were in a lot of pain, and slipping away

Still, they fared better than the Old Djinn Original, eternal, with no real ties to humanity at all--they declined far faster In a very real sense, they couldn’t exist on their oithout a direct connection to power--a connection that was nowhere to be found now, even though ereto our fight with ateway to another dih had almost destroyed me and David; it had definitely blasted the entire area for hundreds of ine what the consequences of that were going to be It was a terrible disaster, and I felt responsible Hell, as I kidding? I was responsible, beyond any shadow of a doubt I was recovering fro battle and the injuries I’d gathered along the way, but that was secondary to the guilt I felt about how I’d handled things

I should have been better If I’d been better, none of this would have happened I wouldn’t be watchinghelplessly as the best of theiven thein slow motion

Lewis Orwell, the head of the Wardens,I’d ever h that sounded wet and thick

Pneumonia, maybe He looked as if he hadn’t rested in weeks, and he probably hadn’t His reserves were used up, his body beginning to shut down in protest

And still he was up in thethem what little comfort he could There weren’t so many of themnot now We’d seen three of them die in the past twenty-four hours The ones ere left were sinking fast

Djinn were exotic and beautiful and unbelievably powerful Seeing the I didn’t knois could stand it, really The misery hit me in a thick, sticky wave as I limped into the small infirmary, and I had to stop in the doorway and breathe in and out slowly to calht into this mess

It wouldn’t help anyone

Leas sitting in a chair next to a bed that held a small, still human form the size of a child Venna--who’d always borne an uncanny resemblance to the fa, with fine blond hair and big blue eyes The supernatural shine that usually see now She looked sick and afraid, and it hurt me deeply

I sank down on the other side of her bed and took her hand Her gaze, which had been fixed on the ceiling, slowly ers flexed just a little on host of a smile

"Hey, kid," I said, and smoothed her hair back from her face "How are you?"

It was self-evident how she was doing, but I didn’t knohat else to say Nothing I could do was going to help Like Lewis, I was utterly helpless Useless

"Okay," she whispered It seereat effort for her to forh her sh I kneasn’t going to help The chill that had sunk into her couldn’t be banished by wars and hot toddies

We’d tried putting the Djinn on the deck of the ship, hoping the sunlight would help revive thes worse Venna--who had been alive as long as the Earth, as far as I could tell--had cried fro able to absorb its energy

It had been awful, and here, inside, she didn’t see, at least

We were no longer trying to save the their decline

Venna’s china blue eyes drifted shut, though it wasn’t exactly a natural sleep; she was conserving what energy remained to her The Old Djinn burned it faster than the New Djinn, it seemed We’d already lost the only other Old Djinn on board--a closeotten to know by name

And, in truth, I loved Venna I cared about her deeply--in the way you’d care for a beautiful, exotic, very dangerous animal who’d allowed you to becoile; I’d seen her slaht nail

It was hard to see her look so helpless

Lewis looked alether I ht "Go to bed," I told him "I’ll stay with them for a while"

"And do what?" he snapped, which hurt; I saw the flare of panic in his face, quickly tah of course he’d been thinking it They were all thinking it "Sorry, Jo I mean--"

"I knohat you mean," I said softly "But the fact is that you’re just as handicapped as I a yourself down to nothing Lewis, you can’t You can’t

When we get out of this, the Wardens will need youon fuet a lot worse We both know it"

I could see that he wanted to tell ue this tiht (not that it would stop hi), and on so himself as punishment Like me, he felt that he deserved it

He looked down at Venna I saw it in his face, all that weariness, that guilt, and a fair a

"Lewis" I drew his gaze and held it again "Go to bed Go"

He finally nodded, rose--had to steady hiainst the wall--and left I looked around the rooh-tech beds andabout the proble Every bed was filled by a Djinn

And every Djinn was, to a greater or lesser extent, dying