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"Yes," she said "You don&039;t?"

"Getting mine in about six months"

"So you want me to source"

"Yeah, please"

"No proble the power out of a Djinn to do ere supposed to doThe Warden nearest the stor a Djinn for a source was sort of like having a superconductor in the circuit- it aug it accurately The fact that I&039;d been assigned to this storm without a Djinn to source me was, I realized, not an accident It was a test

And Bad Bob was ht off a cold shiver and got down to business After about thirty seconds of real tiht, unusually vivid in her aura colors, with a clear white line of energy linking her back to her ho that link Her Djinn was delivering the goods

I reached out to her, and our aetheric bodies touched Energy ju on to it; I was not used to Djinn-sourced power at such levels It felt like being drunk and being dizzy and being in love, and connected to that kind of power I could feel every ht variation of te God

Soht shook ot h pressure riding in front of Sa looked remarkably like a freeze-framed explosion, with a pressure null in the center and force traveling out in all directions You don&039;t stop a thing like that

You just weaken the forces that drive it your direction

Tamara and I worked quickly and-if I may say so-efficiently to smooth out the temperature variations at surface level to cut off the flow of energy up into the monster, and raise the temperature at the top end to create a shorter pressure wave Ses, followed by detailed analysis of the effects One step at a ti back to the sourcethe oceanfor the next tiny change

The weatherworking took no more than thirty minutes, real ti more than a stern southeast ith soo of Tamara- reluctantly-and felt all that power drain away

I fell back intosuddenness that scared me and told me just how tired I really was Normally I have more control than that I&039;d had no idea how addictive that kind of power could feel, and how ridiculously pathetic I&039;d feel once it was gone

Ta with me, in the real world, on the real phone I remembered how to move my lips and thanked her

Bad Bob reached across to punch the button to hang up the line

"Joanne Baldwin," he said "Funny I voted against you that day, you know At your intake session"

Like I&039;d ever forget

I was too tired to be scared of what he was about to say I&039;d just have to eat whatever crap he dished out and try not to yearn for that feeling of being God, because it would be so nice to s bolt down on his ass To feel powerful, just once, in his presence

He put a heavy hand on my shoulder, squeezed, and then patted twice

"Well, ," he said "You&039;re not half bad, Baldwin Got a lot of raer, that&039;s for damn sure More than I&039;ve ever seen, to be absolutely truthful I figure with power like that, you e"

I wasn&039;t entirely sure I&039;d heard that right I blinked and tried to get e? I didn&039;t?"

"Oh, no, just the opposite You really brought home the bacon today" Now he had both hands on my shoulders I wondered, for a creeped-out, crazedto cop a quick feel Sexual harassment wasn&039;t li, ht have a greater tendency to it I wondered exactly what to say to getestive kind of way It wasme down in the chair

"Okay," I said slowly "Well, I really ought to get-"

"Dao out of control, Baldwin," he interrupted "I&039;ve seen hundreds of kids like you Juirls who have no idea what the real price of power is And no respect for it, either"

"Sir, I&039;m all about the respect Promise"

"No, you&039;re not," he said "Not yet But you will be" He didn&039;t letabout, do you?"

I didn&039;t want to adth in you," he said, staring down atto waste You don&039;t need a Djinn You don&039;t need a da and stupid You knohat happens, little girl? It goes away Sooner or later, you get old, you get slow, you lose the edge And when that happens, people screw you"

I was too scared to say anything He wasn&039;t talking toon here, so intoto screw urative sense"

"No, sir," I whispered "I wouldn&039;t"

"Da in the roo violent

It wants so I have

Bad Bob seemed to realize it, too He blinked, shook himself, and took his hands away fro back and knew I&039;d have bruises there later

"Go on," he said "Get out of ht"

I suppose I h the security door, signed out, handed MonetBut I don&039;t re up part to the part where I was sitting inside e of tears

I couldn&039;t possibly have kno close I ca, but I sensed it On some level, I knew

I headed for the comfort of a beachside bar On reflection, not the best answer to coping with crisis, but you go with your instincts

Mine were justbad

TWO

Scattered thunderstorms, possibly heavy and severe, in the afternoon hours A Weather Advisory is in effect for the area beginning at 11 aiven enerous head start, but he knew the Mustang could make it I had to slon around Philadelphia, wary of speed traps, but I was still ood time By my calculations, I&039;d be out of his territory with about a half hour to spare I knew he&039;d set his Djinn to monitor me, so it was no surprise when one appeared- poof-in er seat

Unlike Lewis&039;s house Djinn, who had favored the traditional look, this one was hip to the new She was a well-groolossily perfect, with cornrowed hair and wraparound dark glasses and a sunshine-yellow pantsuit I especially liked the yellow nail polish It was a nice touch

I h I did fuot a lot of people very upset," the Djinn said She had a nice, se "While it , it makes ot a look at her beast-yellow eyes Horror movie monsters never had eyes that scary, or that beautiful