Page 15 (1/2)

"I will," he said "Too bad If you’d been a little bit more on the ball, you could have avoided all the heartbreak that’s co"

And then he opened his hand, dropped his bottle to the floor, and it shattered The noise becarew in my ears until it was a shriek, and I jackknifed forward in my chair, hands pressed toroo for breath, and there was no sound at all

Until Marion put her wheelchair in gear and backed up a couple of feet Fast I looked up She was staring at ht "Oh," she said faintly "I see I think I understand"

"Understand what?" Soainst the pain and pressed e it out "What did you do tothe chair around and leaving e

A blanket settled warm over me Lewis, my hero "Stay there," he said, and pressed a hand onafter Marion They talked in low tones on the far side of the room, careful to keep it under my radar I didn’t really care at theyou selfish that way, and this headache was a killer

When they cariood thing He stopped, but Marion continued forward, ale, and her dark almond-shaped eyes assessedhave you had Earth powers?" she asked I blinked

"I don’t knohat you-"

"Don’t," she interrupted "When did you first feel thee? Be specific"

"I can’t! I don’t know! Look, I barely understand any of this, and-"

She reached out and put her hand ontouch It was a fast, brutal search, like soh my head, and I automatically slammed the door on it

Whatever I did, it knocked her back in her chair, gasping

"She’s strong," Marion said to Lewis "But this didn’t coured that Who? How?"

"I don’t know" Marion visibly steeled herself "I’ll try to find out" They were both acting like I wasn’t even there Like I didn’t have any choice in the ht her wrist "Hey," I said "At least buy me dinner first I don’t even know you"

"Lewis, hold her"

"No!" I shot to er than I was, and stronger in a whole lot of ways His hands closed over my shoulders and forced me back into the chair, and then touchedof sleep "No, I’m notYou can’t do thisILewis, stop!"

But he didn’t, and Marion didn’t, either

And out of sheer desperation, so deep inside of Marion’s mind, and then I couldn’t control it as the world exploded into the ht, beauty, order

I couldn’t help it at all It was sheer, bloody instinct

I began to greedily grab forto have to kill her, Marion was thinking as she watched a er version of awky, I was just out of adolescence, and she thought I was theshe’d ever seen

"This is anext to her He had fine white hair, a barrel chest, fair skin with red blotches that spoke of a fondness for the whiskey barrel "That bitch is trouble"

"Bob," Marion said, "give it a rest The voting’s over You lost" She said that not because she disagreed with him, but because she simply disliked theabout hie, always had He ithout a doubt, one of the best of the Weather Wardens in ter at the door through which the earlier version of me had exited He and Marion weren’t the only ones in the room; there were three others involved in a separate side conversation, lances toward Bad Bob that h obviously he co you, she’s trouble," he said "We haven’t heard the last of her One of these days you’ll be hunting her down"

It was eerily like what Marion herself had just thought, and not for the first ti if Bad Bob had some latent Earth powers But she’d never seen any trace of it, and she’d looked

It was her job, looking And it was a job she hated, and loved, and realized was perhaps the most important job of all

"Maybe," she said quietly, "so you, Bob It could happen"

He turned toward her and met her eyes, and she couldn’t suppress a shiver There was so about his eyes, she decided Cold, arctic blue, soulless eyes He had charm, she supposed, but she’d never felt it herself She’d seen its effect on others She kne much loyalty he inspired in those he commanded, and so she was cautious, very cautious indeed

She’d gone against hi life, and she kneouldn’t forget

He smiled "That’ll be a treat, won’t it? You and , and she didn’t break the stare It was a gift of her genetic heritage that she could look so utterly i She knew he saw nothing in her dark brown eyes or in her face No fear No anticipation Nothing to feed froanine shook his head, s breath She are, on soerous as the one the young girl had al support of one or two others on the intake coathered her paperwork and walked out to her car, in the parking lot of the hotel It was another oppressively warm day in Florida, one she had not dressed for, as she’d flown in fro a black silk shirt under a leather jacket stitched with Lakota beadwork A gift from a friend who produced materials for the tourist trade, but saved the best for her fellow tribal leaders Marion had recently been in the e

She started her rental car and did not bother with the air-conditioning; it was a simple matter to adjust her own internal body temperature down to make herself comfortable She waved to Paul and two of the other Wardens, who stood locked in conversation near Paul’s sporty gold convertible No sign of the girl in the parking lot; maybe she’d already left

"So," Marion’s Djinn said, er seat next to her "Are you on vacation now?"

"Do I ever get vacation?" she asked, and shtly "I assume you’re here for a reason" Her Djinn’s naiven him the Lakota name, since he’d refused to admit to one of his own Proud, this one, and not above trickery Djinn appeared as the subconscious of their owners dictated, and it had disturbed her a great deal that Cetan Nagin had taken the for braided hair and secretive black eyes His skin was darker than her own, and it shimmered with a phantom copper tint that did not seem quitehuman

And she had realized for quite so in love with him No doubt he realized it as well They did not speak of it

"A reason," he repeated, and looked at her directly "You asked to be informed if any of the Wardens violated protocol"

"Substantial violations, yes"

"Define substantial"

Ah, the Djinn They did love specificity "Use of powers for personal gratification or gain Use of poithout adequate provision for balancing of the reactive effects"