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It was intoxicating Freeing I heardchain of h the net and flashed inGod Beautiful and terrifying

The first lightning strike hit the roof, and the concussion was so intense at this close range that I went temporarily deaf and blind, and every hair follicle on my body seemed to rise in the electrical aura When it passed, I barely had time to draw a breath before the next bolt hit steel, and then a third Ha structure, spinning down in a dark spiral fro clouds, the metal just collapsed in on itself like a dropped Tinkertoy model, and the whole beach seemed to vibrate from the impact Fire licked and hissed as soht, but it wasn’t likely to spread; the rain was intense, and concentrated right on the worst of it

Venna hadn’t htly, and when she looked at me she said, "Now you have to balance it"

"What?" I yelled over the roar of thunder and pounding, wind-driven surf I stumbled toward her and swiped wet hair back from my face "Balance what?"

"The scales," Venna said "Make it all go away, but don’t let the energy bleed over into more storms"

"You mean it’s not over?"

Venna shook her head She’d let the funnel cloud dissipate, its purpose co off from a monsoon to a downpour "You’d better hurry," she said "The Wardens will be screwing it up if you don’t hurry They never can get it right"

I had no idea what sheme She crossed her arms and stood there, Zen Alice, untouched by the chaos she’d helped unleash

I turned my attention to the storm

"The Wardens teach you to do this from science," she said very softly; I didn’t knoas possible to hear her over the wind, but she cah as if it were a still, silent day "Science can fail you Learn to listen to it Sing to it It doesn’t have to be your eneled toSo much detail, so much data, all in spectra the human eye wasn’t meant to see,It’s too much

I took a deep breath, stretched my hands out to either side, and stepped into the heart of the storh the windblown sand and debris lashed at ot insideI could touch, could control, could stop

And then, when I openedchaos beca puzzle of infinite intricacy, and where the pieces ht as New Year’s fireworks lighting the sky I reached out and moved two of the pieces apart; the spark leaped and died in eous pattern of the air hisper-quiet, glowing in peaceful shifting colors

When I blinked and fell back into the real world, I could see the stars

Venna gave a very quiet sigh "Yes," she said "Exactly like that Now you are Ma’at"

So noas guilty of soured it probably boiled down to plain old insurance fraud So with an immediate financial benefit for Eamon, of course

But hey, at least I’d learned a useful skill

"Astonishing," Eaency crear on the low rock wall-Eamon, Venna, me, and Sarah, with the two Wardens asleep behind the rocks, held in that state by Venna I didn’t think Eamon could see Venna at all, because he hadn’t asked about her, and she didn’t exactly fit in

Didn’t seem prudent to mention her

"Complete destruction," Eamon said, and see crew, love"

"Thanks," I said with an ice edge of chill "We done now?"

"Done?" His eyes were preoccupied, and it took him a second to pull his attention away from the human aftermath on the beach to focus on me completely "Ah, yes I did say that I wanted only this one thing fro "That’s what you said"

"I don’t think that will be possible after all," Eah to keephim "This is the start of a beautiful and very profitable relationship, Jo After I marry your sister-"

"After you what?" I blurted "Ti married Especially not to you"

Sarah didn’t even look up toout, but my sister, dammit My family "You can’t tell me what to do," she said

"Sarah, wake up! He’s a criminal! And he’s aback "You think you’re not guilty of things? You think you aren’t just as bad? Don’t you dare lecture me!"

"Keep your voice down!"

"Or what? You’ll call the cops? Go right ahead, Jo; they’re right over there!"

Sure enough, two unifor in our direction I sed and tried to e of reasonable "Sarah, you do not want to jump into this Really You don’t know this "

Eaers curled around hers, and then he kissed her fingers, staring ateyes the whole ti," hean issue out of this I only want to make her happy"

"You want to use her," I said "You want to threaten her to get me to do whatever you want Trust you to find a way tosound "Construction companies, insurance companies, cleanup crews, police, fire, ambulance, paramedics, hospitals, doctors, funeral parlors, coffin makersall those people make money off of disaster And thousands more I’m merely a novice"

"You want to cause theative," he said "Freak accidents happen No reason not to arrange them to our benefit once in a while"

Venna hadn’ton the wall, neat and pri the eency creith every evidence of total fascination I shot her an exasperated look "Help me out here"

"It’s human stuff I can’t," she said serenely "Besides, they can’t see or hear ination, Joanne"

Hardly My iuy Djinn, preferably one who looked like David I glared at her