Thin Air Page 0,40

challenged. Still, he is not secure. His insistence on repairing what was done to you has been taken badly in some quarters."

"Including your quarter?" I asked her, looking her right in the eerie eyes.

It was very quiet. I could hear the whine of the rotors powering down on the helicopter, the hiss of blowing snow, the engines starting in various SUVs around the landing area. I could hear my own heartbeat pounding fast.

"For my part," Rahel finally said, "I should think the world less interesting without you, sistah. Take that as you wish."

And she turned and walked away, misted into nothing, and was gone.

Wow. Not sure how I felt about her, but I couldn't dislike her. Fear her, sure. Dislike her...no.

I hurried over to the black van, which was starting its engine, and piled into the back with Lewis, Kevin, Cherise, and Marion. Lewis slid the door shut with a solid thump, and whoever was driving-just a black silhouette against the dim gray sky-turned the van in a tight circle and headed out, bumping over uneven ground.

Marion let out a slow sigh. "That was about as civil as we might have expected," she said. "Lewis, be careful. They're going to pull you aside and talk politics."

"Politics? We've got time for politics?"

"There's always time for politics," she said. "Something you never could grasp, I'm afraid."

"What a load of bullshit. How's the rehab?" He gestured at the wheelchair.

"You know that Earth Wardens are always slower to heal themselves, and besides, there haven't been any shortage of victims to tend." She shrugged. "I'll be all right. Another month, maybe two. I'd have been walking already if I'd had the time to devote to it, but we've been a little busy. As you've probably heard."

"Guessed," Lewis said. "Between the remnants of the California fire, the earthquake in Kansas City, and the hurricane in North Carolina-"

"We've been stretched thin," Marion agreed. "Not just here in the U.S., of course. Latin America's having a hell of a time. Even Canada's being pummeled. Europe's an icebox, Africa's an out-of-season swamp, Asia's got all of the above, and Australia and New Zealand keep flipping from summer to winter from one day to the next."

"Great. Anybody not having a climate shift?"

"Middle East," she said. "But they have other problems. So. You going to explain to me what I'm looking at here?"

"What do you think you're looking at?" Lewis asked.

Marion gave him a hard look. "Save the rhetorical method; I'm not in the mood. Him-that's Demon damage, obviously. Fixable, but we need to get him to a clinic for treatment."

"No such things as Demons," Lewis said. Which confused me, until she smiled.

"Indeed not. And so we're still telling people. So, you believe this one has hatched out? Is an adult?"

"Yes."

"Any idea where it could be?"

"Back where we came from, most likely, but specifically? No."

Marion shook her head and frowned absently at the rolling forest scenery beyond the van's windows. "Not good. We don't have a way to detect or track it."

"What about Garson?" Lewis asked. "He's the best at-"

"Garson's dead," she interrupted. "Killed by his own Djinn during the initial attack. Every adept we had who was capable of tracking or identifying Demons, or Demon Marks, is dead or incapacitated, except me. And believe me, I'm being damn careful."

"Specifically targeted?"

"Well, it's worse than our usual rotten luck," Marion said. "You can't detect them, can you?"

Lewis shook his head. "If I'd been able to, maybe we wouldn't be in this mess in the first place," he said. "I'd have smelled it on Star when she first came after me two years ago."

Marion's dark almond-shaped eyes narrowed. "Estrella? I never got the full story from you about that."

"And you won't now," he said easily. "Old news. Let's talk about what we're going to do about this."

"Well, the Djinn aren't of any practical use anymore. A few might help us out, if they're feeling generous and we're feeling lucky. But I wouldn't count on them." She looked deeply troubled about that. "I never liked the servile system they operated under, but it's going to take some time to get used to their freedom. Time for us, as well as them."

"The Ma'at can help out with that," Lewis said. "Their system is based on cooperation, not the coercion the Wardens used in dealing with the Djinn. I'll get them in touch with you." To me, he said, "Separate organization, the Ma'at. They've been working to create balance between Wardens, humans, and the world around