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I hurried

After Star was burned, she lingered on in the hospital for weeks, fighting for her life Every day her breath came a little bit shallower; her heart raced a little bit faster Pseudo her full of antibiotics didn&039;t see, and the Earth Wardens who&039;d tried to repair the da there at her bedside, holding her undaht came to me I knew someone who could save her

If I could find his over; the minute Lewis&039;s naht, far up, far enough that the planet curved away beneath ht settled its cloak of stars around my shoulders From up there, I could see little jets of fla their powerslittle flicks like sparks fro It was inatures of enous A few had characteristics, though Marion, for one; her powers glowed stronger and in a deep blue green Martin Oliver, when he exercised his pohich was rarely-vibrated in a hot orange part of the spectrum

I waited, and waited, and waited The world turned, and I turned with it, watching

Finally, I saw a soundless bloom of pearl-white Not a jet, not a spark, but a bloo in all directions

I fell toward it at top speed and stopped h to determine where Leas at the moment

I don&039;t knohy I didn&039;t expect it, but I didn&039;t, really

He was in Yellowstone

Six hours later, after enduring co around in a well-broken-in rental SUV, I came up on the area of Yellowstone that was blocked off to the public The Warden on duty knew -rune handshakes, and I went on in

I smelled it before I came over the rise and saw it-a thick, ashen s really preparedcould

The valley stretched out as far as I could see, a black valley streaked with gray No forest, nothing but ash and the skeletal black stubs of trees There was a sense ofstillness Of death so vast that no life could ever coain, or would want to

A sense of utter sadness

Leas a dot of hu on the hood of an SUV that looked like the ray Mine was red, but as I crawled it slowly over the ruined landscape it turned ash-gray, flecked with black By the tied

He lookedgood Filled out, no longer starving and sick There was a sense of peace around hiawky, but soawkiness had becorace

He didn&039;t look surprised to see me as I climbed down out of the SUV and came around to face hi me for a while

"Jo" He nodded I nodded back "Been a while"

"You shouldn&039;t be using all that power," I said "You burn like a nuclear explosion in Oversight, you know"

He shrugged "I knew you atching If I hadn&039;t wanted you to find me, you wouldn&039;t have found me" He patted the hood of the SUV next to him It was filthy, but I climbed up anyway We didn&039;t touch "Not too led as inyou didn&039;t co at me, but I felt the soft caress of power everywhere aroundI could understand, just a hint; I looked away from him at the burned, blackened cre

"You&039;re doing soavesomeone"

If I kept very still, I could actually see it now It was aover the ground as softly and slowly as a lover&039;s hand, spreading out from the epicenter of Lewis I slid off the hood of the Jeep and reached down to touchoflife

Leas pouring out life, like seed, across the raveyard of Yellowstone

"She needs help," he said "She wants to live, but it&039;s too "

I felt the sloarers even after I climbed back up on the hood of the Jeep next to hiolden mist thicken and swirl and creep out across the land

It was so beautiful, I wanted to weep

"This is what you do," I whispered "Oh, God, Lewis"

"Soood job with the weather, but I pitch in now and again with Earth and Fire I should&039;ve been here earlier It wouldn&039;t have been so-" He shook his head

"You wouldn&039;t have stopped it?"

"The fire? No Things need to burn soot out of hand" In the sunlight, his eyes were the color of fine dark ale "There&039;s a Deh"

"I have no idea what you&039;re talking about" Although I did, a little; there hispers about Demon Marks, but nobody was very clear about them or what it s like this happen because there&039;s a kind of force acting on our world Hurricane Andrew, that was another one The floods in India Those are signs that soh into the aetheric" He was holding a stick in his hands, turning it over and over, learning it with his fingers "Soe I think that&039;s what this was One of the to touch one of us"

"Anyone in particular?"

"Don&039;t know," he confessed "Probably not The probley froo away, it accumulates up there, in the aetheric" He shook his head "Never et a lecture What&039;s up?"

"Star," I said All around old, with poith potential "I need you to help her She&039;s dying"

Lewis stopped turning the stick in his hands He looked down at it as if surprised to find it there "Friend of yours?"

"Friend of yours, too I re she knew you"

He nodded "Iand stupid then; I didn&039;t realize how ot myself toasted"

It was so similar to the way I&039;d met Star that I had to smile at the ht about it I know she was-burned"

"Worse," I said "Her power core was broken That&039;s what they tell "

He shivered a little The color of the old to silver, then back to gold It clung to the skeletal li of early frost

"Can you help her?" I asked

"It&039;s not a question of can, Jo Sos burn," I finished for him The air arm and thick with the taste of smoke and death, and the hard metal hood of the Jeep felt too warm under me "But this is Star"