Page 8 (1/2)
I needed her to back off fro thee, could get a look at as happening inside of her But if she allowed instinct to dictate how those poere used, ere all in serious trouble, and there was no way she’d be able to control any of it I didn’t feel much like Yoda, but I’d have to do as a mentor
"There is no ’try,’ " I said, and then sed a laugh "Okay, how is it now?"
"Better," Cherise said "I feel better Not as cold"
And sure enough, overhead, the shield holding the rain off us cut in and out for a few seconds, then collapsed co on the Boss’sthe road ahead, even with the torrential downpourLightning was a constant event, strobing everything into horror- lares "Good," I said, and put war, still "Good work, Cher Did you feel it when it let go?"
"Yeah, I think so"
"All right, here’s your first test Try putting the shield back up again"
It took about thirty seconds, but she reestablished a flickering, uncertain rain shield above the car, then, at o We did that three times, until she could put up and take down the shield on co it; it’s not controlling you You feel that pulse of power that co when you didn’t
mean to call it, stop it You kno It’s the sa went, this was desperately inadequate She ought to be sitting safely in a secured facility, hooked up to biofeedback equip instruction fros properly But this was the Warden equivalent of first aid to the injuredI just needed to get her stable for now Thather whatever I could, as quickly as I could, while li her use of powers to the smallest expenditures possible
It alsothis stor and let him fly, and oh man, could he fly
The road vibration that was noticeable at lower speeds vanished as he hit his stride, and then it settled into a power glide so s as the speed needle hit a hundred
This was dangerous It wasn’t that I hadn’t driven this fast, under these conditions, before; I’d even done it while splittingexternal supernatural forces and the road But now I felt acutely human, powerless, and exposed
David couldn’t cover me Cherise was now as much of a hindrance as a help, and Kevin--God only knehat Kevin could do, other than blow things up Which he would do with great enthusiasm, of course That wasn’t always a downside
"So," Cherise said suddenly There was suppressed panic in her voice, and when I looked in the rearview ht with fear "I feel--it’s like a spike, inatIt was the storeted
"Easy," I said, inwheel tightly to keep"That’s okay, that’s norht? Take a deep breath I need you to close your eyes now, and tell me what you see"
"What I see? With ht now Black!"
"Just do it, Cher"
"Bitch, you are on ht now"
"I know Just do it"
She shut her feverish, terrified eyes, and said, "Okay, happy now? It’s dark And--" Her words fell away into a sudden silence, and then she said, "Oh," in an entirely different voice "What the hell is that?"
"Oversight," I said "It’s sort of the heads-up display version of going up into the aetheric, the energy real you have to close your eyes to see it so you can concentrate What do you see?"
"Uhcolors? Lots of colors It’s a trippy lava-lauess" She was back on firround now, and I could hear the relief in her voice
"What a at?"
"Remember those Doppler radar maps we used back at the TV station?" I asked, and that helped steady her, too: the reference to our ti at that low-rent local station as your stereotypical weather girls Not that we hadn’t gotten our own back on that one "The neon-colored ones?"
"Oh yeah Those things So this is the story flows I need you to tell me where it looks worst"
"Worst how, exactly?"
"You’ll feel it" I couldn’t explain it any better than that; I wasn’t sure that how I’d perceive it would be a guide to how she would be able to process the information
After a few seconds, she said, "That spot looks radioactive"
"Where?"
Without opening her eyes, she lifted a hand, and pointed
Straight through the front
Ahead of our speeding car
I jerked as exactly one second before the next lightning flash revealed what Cherise had seen in Oversight
A person
Standing in the road
Waiting for us
"That’s a Djinn!" Kevin yelled