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"Bet I can," I said "Bet you can’t stop me, Stanley In fact, I’ll bet you don’t even want to try"

"What about Jaot in ht be te "What am I supposed to tell the Wardens?"

"Tell them you were overmatched," Venna said sweetly "They’ll believe that" She s end of that particular expression "Your friend is waking up," she said "You’d better go get her and leave now"

"Butthe sinkhole"

"You stopped it froo now"

"Butthe newspeople-they’ll have tape!"

"Then I suppose the Wardens will have to handle that," Venna said serenely "I can’t be bothered Move"

He did, skipping out of her way as she advanced I trailed along, shrugging to indicate that I didn’t have much choice, either; I was pretty sure Stan believed it There was a hill beyond hied grasses Stan didn’t follow He stood there, hands on his hips, looking lost, and then he turned and went back to get Jamie Rae and, I presuht: We needed to get the hell out of here

"I hope you have a bus schedule in your bag of tricks," I said, and glanced back down the hill Some of the news crews had spotted us, and a couple of athletic E around the cordoned-off area and heading our way "Oh, boy"

She tugged my hand harder, and we climbed faster The poststorm air felt clean and soft, the sand under our feet damp and firm It would have been a nice day, except for all the chaos and mayhem

"Eamon?" I asked, as we achieved the top of the hill "He’s alive?"

"Oh, yes," Venna said "You saved him I suppose that makes you happy" She sounded mystified about it Well, I was a little ood you told them he was crazy That’ll take time for him to convince the for you"

"So, bus?" I asked A well-dressed anchorwo blue jeans and sneakers beloas sprinting up the road, with her heavyset caood"

"You don’t need a bus" She pointed "That’s your car"

Parked next to the side of the road sata gleaht blue dream of a car I blinked "What the hell is that?"

"It’s a Caht with an all-aluminum ZL-one four twenty-seven" She said it as if she were reciting it out of a book "Lewis gave it to you"

I turned to stare at her "Lewis gave ave ain "Oh, boy"

"You needed a car," she said "He just thought you should have a nice one"

"When did this happen?"

"Just before-" She stopped herself, frowned, and edited "Before you lost your memory You drove it on the East Coast You took a plane fro lot, waiting for you"

"And youhad it driven here?" We were at the car now, and I ran htly over the i splatter on its surface anywhere "You get it detailed, too?"

Venna shrugged and opened the passenger-side door to cliirl than ever once she was inside, with her feet dangling off the floor Soravely hooked hers, although I figured there was little chance of a Djinn being injured in a collision Still playing the daughter role, evidently

I wondered if hter had ever been in this car I could al there

"Better hurry," Venna said I blinked, looked back, and saw that the newsanchor was hauling ass toward the car, already shouting breathless questions

I got in and turned the key that was already in the ignition

Peeling out and spraying gravel wasn’t a skill I’d lost with ive me much comfort when I looked inout of a parking lot and quietly, tenaciously following

"I need a plan," I said to Venna She stared out the , kicking her feet, and didn’t respond "Venna, I need to getaround Tell me how I can do that"

"You can’t," she said sis to her now And you don’t want to try to get it back She’ll kill you The only way to o back to the Oracle"

We were about fifteen , with no clear idea of where ere heading The steady ru in control at last, and I thought that I ht be happy if I could just drive forever Or at least, until my problems went away

The white van, for instance It didn’t seem inclined to vanish on my say-so, however It kept a steady three-car distance fro itself known, either Too far back for ht of the driver

"Ashan has my memories"

"No He" Venna searched for words for a second "He tore they It put you adrift in the universe, and when the Des out of balance I think only Ashan can fix that"

"But Ashanhe’s not a Djinn, right?"

"No," she said "Not anymore" For a brief second Venna’s expression revealed souish that I could barely comprehend "He was one of the first, you know One of the oldest But he just couldn’t understand that the Mother loves you, too"

"Me?" I asked, startled

"Humans Maybe not as much as she loves us, because she understands us a little better But she’s fond of you, too, in a way" She shrugged "He blames you Youto hurt her"

"I did"

"Yes You"