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We must

What’s our choice, to sit here and die when the haht ive up"

Consistent, I wasn’t A few rab David’s bottle and get the hell away fro, endless responsibility But seeing Lewis breakThat re

It reminded me that no matter what I did, how hard I tried, I could never really be free of the Wardens I was

a Warden, and alould be, until the day I died

"Give every Warden a bottle," I said, "starting with the most powerful first It’s time for the Djinn to be on our side We already broke the rules; let’s ive ive reeulped in a deep breath, and seeot Djinn We’ve got the Wardens I’ve been able to pull together We’ve got the Ma’at, not that they’re up to a fight of this ot I his head before I finished the short sentence "Nobody’s got Imara, and she wants to keep it that way I told you, I tried She won’t coive us sanctuary She’s locked inside her oorld, and she’s letting us live or die on our own"

I pulled Venna’s bottle out of my backpack and held it out to hi Iive me the bottle"

He had it in his pocket As he passed it over, I felt heat elass David was really, truly pissed off, and I knew that the second I released hi hi Lewis’s neck

Lewis uncorked Venna’s bottle, and the child stepped out of thin air to stand at his side, hands folded She looked up at hiive me stupid commands, I’ll kill you"

"I expected that," Lewis told her "For now, help Joanne keep David fro me Which he’s about to try to do"

Venna raised her eyebrows, but it wasn’t in surprise I was pretty sure that was aave him absolutely no assurances

I took a deep breath, cradled the bottle in ht

A storm exploded out of the bottle, and the pressure of the rooed so abruptlycoat swirling like sed for Lewis’s throat

Venna caught his hand about an inch froet with no apparent effort, and said,

"Maybe you should greet your wife first"

David whirled around, and I saw the look that Lewis had just faced I’d never iry, or that deadly, but his beauty had taken on cold, unlitter in his eyes was the color of blood

He blinked, and it went away "Jo?" He didn’t wait for ainst hiht he’d accidentally break my back

After a few breathless seconds he eased off and looked down intowhat I’d just been through Hard to hide things from a Djinn, especially one who knew as e again I knehat he was thinking--he’d seen my horror and desperation, seen how close I’d co it on Lewis Well, rightly so, but there wasn’t tirabbed him by the chin and held hiht And we need him as much as he needs us"

The fact that I was so baldly logical about it helped clear the anger out of him, at least for now He shuddered as it passed, and nodded to o "We’ll talk about this later," he said "Right?"

"Absolutely," I said "Although I plan on three days of spa treates So probably after that"

It got a twitch of a s so small and delicate beside him He said, "Ashan?"

Venna looked down "Gone," she said "I grieve that it was necessary, but he was mad with power He twisted nature It can’t be done, no matter his motives"

Venna had described Ashan as her brother, and from the pain that I saw in her, I believed it What she’d done would be a long tiht, if it ever did

"You’re the Conduit"

"Yes," she said, just as quietly "Not by ical replacement"

"Can you reach her?" David asked I knew by her he meant Mother Earth Venna slowly shook her head

"Not while I am bound," she said "And once I a her she will be cale has been done We have to find a way to speak to her before it’s too late"

"We’ll do it," I said "David and I will go to Imara She’ll let us in; she has to And once we’re in, we can reach the Mother through her"

Venna studied me with eerily cal enough"

"I’ve done it before"

"When she was sleeping She’s not sleeping anymore" The matter-of-fact way she said it made me pause "You die, and David becomes hers It’s ill happen Imara knows

That’s why she kept you away"

Venna had a turn for prophecy, too, and that chilled me deep "But she’ll let us in"

"Yes," she said "She’s your child She’ll let you in"

"Then we have to try it" I turned to David, but he didn’t look nearly as convinced He was looking past me, at Venna

Nonot at Venna after all

At Lewis

Leouldn’t return the stare; he looked at the floor, deliberately avoiding any kind of contact I wondered why, until Venna turned to Lewis, adding her stare to David’s "She will talk to you," Venna said

"Lewis?" I blurted "Why?"

Lewis let out a sigh, and now he did look up, troubled and very tired "Because I’uration in generations, and I may be the ht A triple-threat Warden--one who could wield all three poith equal strength--was extremely rare So rare, in fact, that the Wardens theuring out how to artificially create the condition in others Lewis had spent his tiitive; he’d been a thief, a con eneral

"Before you go," David said slowly, "you should know the truth about Jonathan"