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"You crazy?" A bare whisper of air

I kept going "First star I see tonight-come on, you know this one" It was hard, so hard to ht position I could feel her there, reaching out to ht-"

I flipped the switch on the storm, and I heard the roar of rain pour down I hoped the hiss I heard was stea "Say a prayer, say a Masskeep this fire offfit Then whooped

I let myself relax Fatalback, rebounding at us like a snapped rubber band "No, Star, listen, don&039;t yell, run! Now!"

She didn&039;t hearin celebration

The line went dead

I sat tensely, answering lines and connecting up Wardens with each other-it was a big coordinated response, and my little cloudburst ended up as the anchor point for six other Wardens to for nature&039;s fire extinguisher at volumes rarely seen in this country Meanwhile, the Earth Wardens were trying their best to protect fleeing animals and build up earthen firebreaks, and the Fire WardensWell, you can guess the hell they were in

Six ht up, and a brisk British voice said, "You&039;re looking for a Fire Warden coet her?"

A brief, pregnant pause "Got her We have one of the best Earth specialists with her right now, seeing to her"

"How bad-?"

"Bad," he said flatly "Third degree burns over thirty percent of her body Lucky"

"Lucky?"

"Twenty Fire Wardens in the Park today," he said "Sixteen dead so far"

Say a prayer, say a Mass, keep this fire off my ass You did it, chica Otherwise, I&039;d be a pile of ash in hell

It was the first thing she&039;d said to h to call from rehab I&039;d held her hand that day in the hospital when Marion had broken the news to her that her powers had been shattered, that she&039;d never again be able to control fire She still had her life After a fashion, she had her health After everything the Earth Wardens and doctors could do for her, she even had a passable face

I&039;d never shaken the feeling that I should have done more and done better And yet Star had never couessed, never blamed me I only, ever, blaain When I woke up, ere still driving, and Estrella was singing under her breath to a Madonna song She couldn&039;t carry a tune worth a damn

I realized-finally-that ere back in the Land Rover No wonder I could stretch out in the backseat "Hey," I croaked "Water?"

"Sorry," Star said cheerfully "Can&039;t stop yet We want to make sure they&039;re not on the trail"

"They?"

"You know" She gestured with her left hand, and soht my attention It was skeletal Leathery Scarred God I&039;d forgotten for a second about the dae to her body "Marion and her ht?"

I tried sitting up My body ached like I&039;d co seeled My nose reported the unpleasant lingering sirl," Star continued "My money would&039;ve been on that polyester crap you&039;re wearing ot only a couple of spark burns, that&039;s all"

I took a deep breath and asked for the worst of it "Delilah? My car"

"She&039;s a real fixer-upper Ti made in the last twenty years, I&039;d say Hey, what do you think about this one?" Star gestured out at the hood of the Land Rover "Marion, pretty good taste, eh? I alanted one of these Weird that she left the engine running, but our gain"

David was in the passenger seat of the truck Left the engine running, ed to do it without her noticing

Then again, I had a better question And aone

"How&039;d you knohere to find rinned and steered around a cattle truck; the smell of scared beeves and cow pies overrode , right? I get your et all fucked up, and I thinkJojo! And there you were I got to the parking lot just about the tihtning bolt Biggest I ever saw" Star shook her head "Like I said, you&039;re lucky"

"You should let et home This is serious, Star, I don&039;t want you in theit&039;s serious, La Quinta looks like a hurricane hit it" She looked over her shoulder at me "Yeah? Did it?"

"Sort of" I rested my elbows on the seat backs and leaned closer "I really don&039;t want you in this"

"Hey, Queen of the Universe, nobody asked what you wanted I don&039;t ditch the girl that saved lanced over at David "Or her verdaderamente lindo boyfriend"

"Star!"

"What? You don&039;t think he&039;s cute?"

"He&039;s sitting right there!"

"And so grateful I arin, which seemed to have no real effect on David "Chica, you always did have good taste"

I sighed No way to reason with her when she was in this kind of take-no-prisonerstheht, he&039;s definitely lindo Um, where are we, exactly?"

"Exactly?" Star punched the GPS keyboard

I rolled my eyes "Come on"

"Aw, you&039;re no fun Okay, approximately, we&039;re about two hours outside of OKC Back roads I didn&039;t want to stop too long, &039;cause, you know, you&039;re on the run"

I looked at David, who hadn&039;t said a word He shrugged "I didn&039;t think it orth the argument," he said "You needed help She offered And she said she knew you" And, I sensed, he&039;d been in no position to refuse Probably out of it hi out of a Djinn as easily as any Warden

I agreed "Oh, she knows me Too well" David didn&039;t look reassured In fact, now that I was getting a look close-up at his expression, it looked guarded and worried "It&039;s okay Star&039;s a friend A longtiht have been bet your ass and changed lanes, whipped around two eighteen-wheelers and back before another truck blasted by Wherever eren&039;t going, ere getting there awfully fast

David captured izer Bunny" The feel of his skin was distracting I wanted to feel the rest of it, all over h And I think I mentioned thirsty And in need of a pit stop, so if you see any convenient gas stations "

Star checked the rearviewout the aetheric, too, in Oversight, but I was too tired to try to rise up there with her; I leaned ainst David&039;s shoulder He felt real, and human, and warmly male Hard muscles under soft skin