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ONE

Cloudy and cool, with an 80 percent possibility of moderate to severe thunderstorms by mid-afternoon

Well, thank God this is about to be over, I thought as I drove-well, blew-past the sign that marked the Westchester, Connecticut, city lily; rush hour was still in full swing, and I had to moderate my impatience and ride the brake while I watched for s will be back to normal in just a few more minutes

Okay, so I was a little too optimistic Also unrealistic, sinceterms But, in ht then I&039;d been running on adrenaline and bad coffee for ht I&039;d been awake for so long that my eyes felt like they&039;d been rolled in beach sand and Tabasco sauce I needed rest Clean clothes A shower Not necessarily in that order

First, I had to find the guy as going to savestoplights until I found the residential neighborhood I was looking for I checked the scrap of paper in my lap, studied curbside house numbers, and finally pulled the car to a stop in front of a nice Colonial-style home, the kind of place a Realtor would describe as a "nice starter" It had flame-red tulips planted in mannered rows under the s, and the lawn looked well behaved, too Weird Of all the places I&039;d have expected to find Lewis Levander Orwell, the most powerful man in the worldwell, this wasn&039;t it I ernails on the steering wheel, weighed risks and benefits, and finally popped open the door and stepped out of the car

The euphoria I&039;d felt when I was pulling into town vanished as soon as round, crushed under a load of exhaustion Tooof fearI felt wind on the back of my neck, and I turned to look east A stor cumulonimbus clouds piled on top of each other like a fifty-car interstate pileup I could feel it noticing me, in the way storms had No question about it, I needed to be out of Westchester before that thing decided to pounce I&039;d been watching stor ht actually be the sa ood

Nothing I could do about it right now I had bigger issues Up the concrete walk, up three steps lined with geraniums in terra-cotta pots, to a spacious white front door I knocked and waited, rocking back and forth on three-inch heels that felt like so collection of the Spanish Inquisition Bad planning ona pleasant little business ht cross-country I looked down at myself and winced; the blue French-cuffed polyester shirt was okay, but the tan skirt was a disaster of car-accordioned linen Ah well It would have been nice for Lewis to sith desire on seeingmy bacon out of the fire

Silence I cupped lass not designed for peering Noof disaster, I realized I&039;d never considered the possibility thatarmor could be away from the castle

I knocked on his door once ain, and tried the bell I heardstirred The house looked normal

Normal and very, very e sunshine People walked, kids whooped around on bikes, dogs ran with their tongues hanging out Inside the house, there inter silence I checked the mail slot Empty Either he&039;d been hoether No papers on the lawn, either

I considered et some idea of where else to look, or lie down and die I decided to do sorass was daned for pathfinding With so myself from spike-heeled holes, I clumped around the house

The house had that don&039;t-touch- wards and protections, but I circled it anyway, checking the s Yep, wards on every one, good strong ones The yard was nice and neat as a pin, with the look of being maintained by a service instead of somebody with a passion for plants Lewis had a very nice workshop in the back, which was devoted half to orking, half to ecraft; that half arded up the wazoo, no way I could do lance in thebefore I had to retreat or get zapped

Powerful stuff That was good-I desperately needed a powerful guy

I banged on the back door and squinted in the square ofStill nothingroo in it had co If Lewis lived here, he was a lot ined

I had plenty of powerful tricks upThe kind of powers I possessed, over water and wind, could destroy a house but not open a door I could have summoned a hailstorm-a small one, okay?-to break a couple of s, but no, that would be wrong and besides, I&039;d probably get caught because it was pretty showy stuff So I resorted to human tactics

I tossed a rock at the

Noas pretty sure it wasn&039;t going to work, but in a way it did; the rock bounced off some thick invisible rubbery surface about a half inch from the , and the back door slauy who blocked the doorway He was big, and I s that twinkled in the sunny Westchester old e muscles I had the impression of dark pants, but I didn&039;t dare look down Didn&039;tout Pecs of the gods, no kidding

Just my luck Lewis had left a Djinn at hohtly "Lewis around?"

He scowled "Who wants to know?"

"Joanne Baldwin" I held out my hand, palm up; the Djinn passed his pallittered in its path "We&039;re friends Me and Lewis go way back"

"Never heard of you," he said brusquely Djinn are not known for their chatty nature, or their sunny disposition In fact, they&039;re known for being difficult to handle and-if they don&039;t like you-fully capable of finding some sneaky way to do you in Not that I was an expert, exactly; Djinn were reserved for bigger fish than me, sort of the equivalent of a company car perk in the Wardens Association I didn&039;t even rate a reserved parking space yet

The Djinn was still staring at round Well, it was really his ground, but I stood it anyway "Sorry, can&039;t I need to talk to Lewis Urgently"

"He is not here Being that you are a Warden, I won&039;t kill you for your lack of manners" He started to close the door

"Wait!" I slapped ainst the wood It wasn&039;t th that made him hesitate, that&039;s for sure Even Mr Universe couldn&039;t have held a door against a Djinn, much less a five-foot-five woman with more attitude than body mass "When will he be back?"

The Djinn just stared at enome, specially formulated to produce maxiht fluorescent green, and they&039;re all scary This guy&039;s were a purple that Elizabeth Taylor would have envied Beautiful, and cold as the colors in arctic ice

"Look, I need to find him," I said "I need his help There are lives at stake here"

"Yes?" He hadn&039;t blinked "Whose lives?"

"Well, rin He returned the smile, and I wished he hadn&039;t; it revealed perfect white teeth that would have looked reat white shark

"You stink of corruption," he said "I will not help you"

"That&039;s up to your master, isn&039;t it?" I shot back "Come on, he knows me! Just ask him I know you can He wouldn&039;t leave you here without any way to contact hi Djinn like disposable pens"

The purple eyes were really, really getting onmy skin where et o so he could slam it shut and ward er than a Djinn on its hoot worse Sainst the white-painted wood door, and my whole body shook froo

"Illusion," I sta "Don&039;t waste my time"

"My powers could not touch a true Warden," he said "If you burn, you burn because you deserve it"

All right, I&039;d had about enough of playing with Mr Clean gone bad I took my hand away from the door and held it up

The world breathed around ht have stunk of corruption, but I still commanded the wind, and it slaen Djinn are essentially vapor

I blew hione for about a half-second, and then he re-forh ain The last time, he re-for pissed off but respectful I hadn&039;tfoot across his threshold, so he couldn&039;t strike back All his aweso as I didn&039;t break the wards, I could stand out there all day and toss usts

The Djinn ain A strong breeze shoved le that ust at my command

"I really, really don&039;t have time to dick around with you," I said "Give him my name Tell hirowled