Page 1 (2/2)

"I&039;, sweet pea" I could feel the white runes onMy dark hair whipped aroundtornadic speed "Want to bet I can blow you all the way into a teeny little open bottle and stick a cork in you?"

"You know not what you are doing," he said,Want another practical dee of surrender I let the wind swirl and die The Djinn reached over and picked up so from the table, and it took me a few seconds to realize it was a cell phone Good God, the Djinn had entered the age of technology Next thing you know, a satellite dish in every bottle, broadband Internet, microwave ovens

The Djinn punched nu, and turned away from me while he talked I had the leisure to exa you rarely do He had a nice ass, but his legs ended in a swirl of vapor somewhere around knee level Still, not a disappointment

He finished the call, turned back, and bared pointed teeth at ht

"Come inside," he invited "No harm will come to you"

"I&039;ll wait out here, thanks" I rocked back and forth My feet felt like somebody had set the roo I wished the Djinn hadn&039;t started being nice It was harder to h-as-nails bitchy attitude, especially when I wanted to cry and curl up in a ball on those nice, soft cushions

"Suit yourself" The Djinn turned away to root around in some drawers in the kitchen He came up with a battery, scowled at it, and threw it back A corkscrew One of those clippy things for opened bags of chips "Ah! Here Take this"

He tossed soht it and felt a flash of cold, so nothing but an expanding breath ofto show for it but a faint red le of Oversight, but there was nothing there Nothing harmful, anyway

"What the hell is it?" I asked

The Djinn shrugged "A precaution," he said Sharp-toothed grin again, very unsettling "In case you lose your way"

Before I could offer a polite thanks-but-no-thanks, I felt the steel psychic slath The Djinn was evidently done screwing around with me, even as a diversion

He floated up to the dooratching ainst it

"Hey!" I fumed "Dammit, I just want to talk to hi to turn hi!"

"Drive," he said "You&039;ll be contacted with directions"

I was off the back porch and out of the yard and on the sidewalk before I could even think about fighting back

I flexed my hand, but it didn&039;t feel any different than it ever had In Oversight, there was nothing visible but flesh and bone,on its busy way

The Djinn had smelled the Demon Mark on me That was bad Very bad

It meant I didn&039;t have much time left

God has a sense of humor, and in my experience, it is never kind I&039;d tempted fate consistently for days nowI hadn&039;t packed a toothbrush, a change of clothes, or a tampon Well, at least I had my American Express Platinuenciesbut then again, I didn&039;t dare use it My friends and colleagues would be watching for any sign of me, and until I found Lewis-and safety-I didn&039;t dare attract their attention If the FBI could find me, the Wardens sure as hell wouldn&039;t have any trouble

I kept ht-blue &039;71 Mustang out of town bylist Underwear: check Toiletries: check Clothes: definitely New shoes: a must

I sniffed the air inside the car A shower and a car deodorizer wouldn&039;t hurt, either Maybe so with that new-car aroe and years of ingrained stinkiness Feet, sweat, sex, the ancient ghosts of spilled coffee I smelled it only after a few hours on the road, and ive anything for a clean, fresh scent like they claimed in the co else, so closer

I find that as a Warden, it pays to drive so aerodyna over a cliff Just because I can control weather-with the proper focus-doesn&039;t mean the weather likes it, or that it won&039;t decide to screith me at the most inconvenient times In my business, we not only understand chaos theory, but we totally abide by it, as well Chaos happens Plan for speed

I accelerated out of town in complete defiance of traffic laws and headed out on thesouth and west, because that ay froray green You&039;ll be contacted with directions Had the Djinn just screith me? Possibly; the Djinn were known for their otten hold of Lewis Maybe Lewis had told him he didn&039;t want to see me, in which case the only directions the Djinn was honor-bound to give ht to hell

I was in antiques country on CT 66, driving past shops that sold Federal chests and Shaker chairs, soht have been tempted to stop My Florida house was due for a redecoration, and I liked the psychic feel of antiques It was definitely ti-in-its-place phase; I was so tired of pastels and goodho to like a spar on a stor a shop that housed every piece of junk from the nineteenth century when suddenly the radio crackled on Hair on the back ofwith , no doubt, frohborhood Djinn

The radio spun channels, picking out its h fee male "To"

Full-throated Broadway show tune "Oklahoht?"

The radio flipped stations again It settled on classic rock "No-no, no, nuh-no, no, no-no-no-no-no no no no, nuh-no" Either the Djinn was putting me on, which would be seriously unfunny, or the spell was coan with the letter Hell

"Very funny," Istretch and run beneath"Any special place in Oklahoma? It&039;s not exactly Rhode Island There&039;s a lot of real estate"

Letters this ti "No offense, but can I at least get soe is from Lewis?"

"No," said a female voice, decisively Static The radio clicked off

It could be the Djinn In fact, it was even likely; I&039;d embarrassed him, and he owed me payback for that But he had made a call, and I couldn&039;t waste the chance if he was honestly giving me instructions on how to find his boss Djinn had a host of faults, but out-and-out lying wasn&039;t a them

And besides, I had to outrun the storhed aloud "Ho about it was that I knew the territory, and one of my best friends in the world had retired in OKC It&039;d be nice to have a friend, right now Somebody to count on So, anyway Because the stor worse

I&039;d raduate student-already had a degree in science, then a Juris Doctor to practice law His explanation, strangely, had been that he&039;d wanted so didn&039;t work out Apparently he had the whole Magical Arts thing mixed up with Liberal Arts

And for a while, it looked like having a fallback career was a good idea Lewis had been recruited- or drafted-after dee of fifteen, but that talent had seemed to fade He had loads of potential but no actualnothing concrete to shohat his powers ht really take Then, his second year in the Prograarden In the winter, knee-deep in snow Growing roses

Red, bloo roses the size of dinner plates He was honestly surprised that it was hard to do

He was originally identified as an Earth Warden- sos, alter the land itself, row in fallow fields, prevent or cause earthquakes and volcanoes A strong, deep power, and very rare Then, in his third year of the Program, they&039;d discovered he also had an affinity for fire Dual specialties are vanishingly rare Only five other Wardens in recorded history had ever coether Water and air-that was expected, even typical-but earth and fire didn&039;t blend well Leas talked about a lot He e all heard, expected to do Great Things

Must have been a lot of pressure, but you&039;d never have known it from the way he acted Leas quiet; he did his work, went to classes, had so impression that if any man was an island, it was Isla Lewis I admit, I pined after hiirls like the plague-which was kind of my fault, because our first encounter had been, shall we say, irls Sociology oofy art student Girls whose biggest aspiration was to get a secretarial job at Smith Barney and vacation with their bosses in the Bahara rivers

Because I was not stalking him, just keenly aware of his presence, I happened to be around for The Event, which e began calling it later when there was soht Lewis got the shit kicked out of him by six frat boys on a bender