Thin Air Page 0,16

with a Demon directly is probably going to die, and die horribly. The only thing we can do to contain the fight is seal the Djinn, and the Demon, into a bottle. It traps the Demon so it can't do any more damage."

My insides felt like they pulled together in a knotted ball. "But what about the Djinn?"

"Like I said, they die horribly. And it takes some of them centuries." Lewis's face was hard, his eyes bright. "I didn't say I liked it."

"That's-horrible."

Lewis looked away. "Yeah," he said. "Which is why we have a problem. Even if I wanted to, I couldn't let David-"

"Let David what?" said a voice from the shadows, startling me. David, of course, had arrived just in time to pick up his name being taken in vain. He stepped out of the shadows and stood there, watching us both, and whatever that was in his eyes, I couldn't read it. "Let David make his own decisions? Thank you, Lewis. I thought the Wardens never let Djinn think for themselves."

He was angry, and he was-I thought-scared. I didn't know how much he'd heard, but clearly enough to disturb him.

Lewis didn't answer. Probably a good move.

He dropped a thick forest green down jacket, complete with hood, on the floor next to Lewis. "Here," he said. "Something to keep you warm. We don't need you dying on us."

Lewis let out a slow breath and sat back, bracing himself against the wall. "Thanks," he said. "Nice to know you still care."

"To a point," David said, and turned to me. "Are you all right?"

I nodded, still shivering, but the last thing I wanted from him at this moment was a hug, which clearly he was thinking of offering. David slowly crouched, putting our eyes on a level. Not too close. He understood body language, at least, even if he wasn't human; I could feel the yearning in him, the frustration, the anxiety. I wondered if he could tell what I was thinking, and decided that he couldn't. He didn't look worried enough.

"Is there anything you can do for him?" I asked, and jerked my chin toward Lewis. "Heal him?"

"He wouldn't welcome that," David said. He edged just a bit closer. "That is the stubbornest Warden I know, and considering I know you, that's saying something. Here. Put these on." He reached behind him and retrieved my damp clothes from the floor-when I took them, they were soft and warm, like they'd come straight from a dryer. Something hardened in his eyes. "Did you take these off yourself?"

Lewis laughed, a bitter sort of sound. "David, if you think I'm in any shape to seduce her, you're giving me way too much credit," he said. "She was freezing, she was soaked, and I didn't even look. Can we move on to the next problem, which is a damn sight worse than your jealousy?"

"You think there's a Demon," David said. "I heard."

"Worse than that," Lewis replied. "I think there's a Demon that's managing to control Wardens and walk them around like puppets. You got any idea how bad that is?"

David looked profoundly troubled. "That means we can't trust the Wardens, either. Something's very wrong."

I snorted. "Wrong? I'll tell you what's wrong. I saw Lewis put three bullets into one of them-a girl named Cherise-and she didn't go down. That's wrong. She's little!"

"Cherise?" David echoed, and looked to Lewis for confirmation. He nodded. "The human girl? Why would a Demon be using her? Why would it bother? There's nothing in her to feed off of."

"I don't know, but she was definitely in on it," I said. I was tired now, though considerably warmer; pulling on the clean, dry clothes had definitely helped. I leaned back to zip up the blue jeans and wrapped the tinfoil blanket around me again. "So she's not a Warden?"

"Not remotely," he said. "The boy is, Kevin, but not her. She was just-"

"My friend," I said slowly. "She was my friend. That's what she said. God...Why is this happening to her? To all of us?"

Lewis didn't even try to answer. If David could have, he held back; I couldn't tell what he was thinking at all.

"There's got to be people we can turn to," I said. "Hell, if not the Wardens, what about the police? The army? The forestry service?" I was getting bothered by their shared silence. "Dammit-David, you could bring help to us, right? Rescue?"

"If the Demon can puppet humans, it wouldn't be wise," he said. "It only adds