Cape Storm Page 0,19

eat their fill and go back where they belong. No, this is a place the Demons fear. We don't know what lives there, but it came through, once."

"Came through," Brett repeated. "What happened when it did?"

"The universe died," Venna said. "I told you it was a long time ago." I stared at her, speechless. So did Brett. So did everyone else within earshot of this bizarre conversation.

She tilted her small head sideways. "What?"

"Um - even you can't be that old, Venna."

"I'm not. I read about it."

"Where? At the Djinn Bookmobile?"

"Of course not." She kicked her feet, just like a regular kid at the movies. "In the stars.

In the dirt. In the water. It's all around us. You can't see it?" She answered her own question with a shake of her head. "Of course you can't. Even most of the Djinn can't see back that far. What we are wasn't always this, you know. Everything in the universe recycles. Universes expand, contract, explode again. But this wasn't from our universe. It was bad."

"I'm - not sure how this is going to help us," Brett said.

I was. "You're saying that what's on the aetheric, what took over the storm, it's what came through last time?"

"No. I'm saying that it started this way, before. With the storm, and the power, and the ghosts."

"Ghosts." It was my turn to repeat her words. "On the aetheric."

"You can't see them, can you?"

"What kind of ghosts?"

"I can't see them either," Venna said, "but they're angry. They don't like Wardens."

"Do they like the Djinn?"

"They don't notice us, really. At least, not so far." This was interesting, but it wasn't getting us where I needed to be. "Venna, I need a way to stop this. Is Bad Bob behind it?"

"He was," she said, and her eyes went unfocused and distant. "He opened the door, but he's not interested in what's coming through. Chaos is what he wants. It's what he's getting." She snapped back to focus with such suddenness that I flinched. "You can stop it, but not if he keeps the gate open. You need to stop him , and then you can worry about the rest."

"What about the storm?"

"You can't hurt it. You can only survive it."

Kind of like this day. "Venna," I said, and looked right into her eyes. Not a comfortable experience, really. "Can you kill Bad Bob for me?"

She considered the question for a long, silent moment. "No," she said. "I could hurt him, but he could hurt me just as much. His power cancels mine in many ways, and I think he might just be worse than I am."

"You mean he could kill you."

"No, he probably couldn't. But I wouldn't like what was left of me, in the end, if I won." She said it without much emphasis - just a calm assessment of her chances, nothing to be afraid of. "It's better if you do it, anyway. Humans. You don't have the same vulnerabilities that we do."

It was very odd to hear a Djinn talk about human strengths instead of considering us slightly less useful than a soiled tissue.

Of course, she ruined it by adding, "And you're much more easily replaced." Lovely. "Does he have any vulnerabilities?"

"Of course. He can still die," she said. "He can still feel pain. Part of him is still human. A small part, but it remains, and it feels things the way humans do. The way you do." I felt the ship's speed lurch, accelerating. Some of the ship's staff looked startled.

That wasn't standard procedure, obviously.

"I sped us up," Venna said. "We were moving too slowly. I don't want the storm catching us again. It would be inconvenient."

Maybe, but now I could feel the thudding impacts of waves through the ship, and the very slight rolling had increased to a definite wallow. A ship this large dampened the usual motion of the sea, but in waves this high, at unnatural speed, we were going to be in for a rough ride.

I glanced at Brett, who was already looking distinctly uncomfortable. "Better get the ship's stores to break out the giant economy-size Dramamine." He nodded. "Anything else?"

"Yeah. Bad Bob was a Weather Warden, when he still had just his regular set of powers.

Fire may be our best bet to overcome him - it's his biggest weakness. You get your guys ready. I want original ideas, something he can't anticipate or plan for." I chewed my lip for a second. "And whatever your plans are - don't tell me