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"More like the tabloids"

"Makes sense So why do you care who told ed, and pulled a book fronized The cover had a black-and-yellow road sign blazed on the cover; when I squinted, I saw it read BE CAREFUL

Jesus, he was te that in front of her

The cover shifted again, into a Patricia Cornwell e and appeared to forget all aboutthe Djinn, right? Three of &039;eed out?"

"I heard"

"Well, ruo It&039;s just a ot just the girl to do it" She hadn&039;t looked away It was a little eerie, actually Dark, dark eyes, pupils fading into irises "Once you have Lehat then?"

"Then he helpsout of me"

Her eyebrows slowly rose "Yeah? You really think he kno?"

"Sure" I was lying my ass off, mostly to myself, but it felt better than the uncertainty of the truth "If anybody does, he does"

"Okay, stupid question What Iwith hi into, not with David sitting in the passenger seat, thuh a book Star didn&039;t see cold

"Or you got so with him? You on soed "Don&039;t ask, don&039;t tell"

I meant it as a joke, and I wasn&039;t prepared for the flash of sheer fury in her eyes "Fine," she said "Keep your little secrets"

"I don&039;t have any secrets" As soon as the words came out of my mouth, I realized I&039;d lied to her Effortlessly Without a second thought And I didn&039;t even knohy, except that a yellow danger sign kept flashing into my head I&039;d chosen to trust Star I just

couldn&039;t trust her

She drove down Main Street, past shops just lightning up against the darknessgrocery storesgas stationsincongruously, a condo a brisk business in robbing college students of their lunch racious Plantation-style homes with Doric coluain

She slowed and turned into a strip- lot pretty much identical to the six others we&039;d passed, and pulled the Land Rover into a parking space barely able to stretch to fit it I squinted up at the sign, which hadn&039;t yet been turned on against the falling darkness: ball&039;s books

It looked like exactly what it was: a used bookstore, and not the corporate, regimented kind-the kind that conformed to the whim of an owner I liked it immediately, but there was still a cold cramp into get out of this More irabbed his coat sleeve as Estrella limped away, pulled him down for a whisper "Take a walk"

"Where?" he asked mildly

"Why should I care? I don&039;t want you anywhere near her if she&039;s going to-"

His hand covered uise fell away; his eyes turned burning, swirling bronze, and I felt his heat pour into uy All David

"It won&039;t matter," he said "If she can find o If you&039;re so worried aboutyou can do to stop it"

I knehat he ed and took his hand away "Then I&039;ll take

Star tapped on the storeand gestured David ht an impulse to kick him in the shins As I walked past, he murmured, "No matter what happens, you always have a choice"

We stepped into cool silence and the sht was a wall of corkboard packed with cards and papers of every description, no rhyes, some were photocopies of newspaper cartoons, so David stepped around her and began to look through books-I thought at first he was stalling for tienuine He really did love reading, after all And I guess even Djinn need a hobby

"Hey, Star," said a voice fro behind a table- well away froister and counter- surrounded by books, a coffeemaker, and a butterscotch calico cat She had brown hair cut in a shag and watchful cool eyes that struck me as capable and observant "New roh the boxes?"

"Not today, thanks, Cathy" Star exchanged what appeared to be a significant look with the wo for "the" book in a store littered with them, the woman clearly didn&039;t think so; she looked spooked, not confused "I thought ere done with that"

"Almost," Star said She held out her hand, half-plea, half-demand "Coot up, and walked to the back of the store She opened a door ed, still watching the open door at the back

"Took ht it off the Internet for me I told her she could have it when I was done with it"

"What is it?"

Star s this tis thu a lihed a considerable amount She dropped it down on the desk and folded back the stained box wings

"You&039;re sure?" she asked That silent co I could interpret I didn&039;t know Cathy Ball, but I felt like I should; on an impulse, I reached out and passed my hand over hers

Glyphs shimmered, blue and silver A Weather Warden She looked up sharply andeased in her body language "Star?" she said "You know I don&039;t like other Wardens around here"

I hadn&039;t been expecting a hug, but this was a bit roup

"Sorry," Star said, not sounding too sorry at all "She&039;s a friend She needs our help"

Cathy shot a look toward David, clearly asking the question "No," I said "He&039;s not What&039;ve you got against other Wardens, anyway?"

"Nothing," Cathy said, which vibrated like a lie all along my nerves "It&039;s just that they&039;re trouble Bunch of power-hungry, crazy, egotistical jerks, generally I like peace and quiet" Her eyes narrowed at me "Take that business in Oklahoma City today You wouldn&039;t believe what a mess that was The aetheric was screwed up from here to Kansas, all the way over to Phoenix Took hours just to get the temperature variances back to nor a huge leather-bound book out of the cardboard box and shaking off white packing peanuts She ignored me, shoved the box off to thump on the floor, and eased the book down to the desk on top of ainquisitively around Cathy&039;s plate of doughnuts hissed around and skittered away, shooting past David into the farthest corner of the store David had paused with the new Stephen King novel in his hands, staring at the book that Star had laid out, and I saw cinders of gold and bronze catch fire in his eyes It was the real deal; I could see that from the intensely blank expression on his face

"Star," I said, "Look, ht time I&039; with us, get soht&039;s sleep and talk it over I&039;es that crackled like vellu"

That hat I was afraid of Cathy Ball sat back down in her chair, picked up a pen, and wrote soer, but she couldn&039;t take her eyes off Star for very long I wondered what kind of history there was between them, because I could have sworn that the woman lookedscared Of Star Who didn&039;t have a mean bone in her body

"I&039;ll need your Djinn," Star said without looking up

Cathy put the pen down "No," she said "Not after last time"