Thin Air Page 0,47

Djinn had been taken from her, and I'd gotten him back. And she hadn't forgotten that I'd saved his life.

The richness of Marion's inner self was mesmerizing, and I wanted to experience it, know more, know everything. The soft touch of her Djinn's hand down her back. The white-hot presence of the Earth filling her like liquid light. The cold fear that drove her when she was forced to destroy other Wardens who'd misused their powers, or couldn't be trusted...

I wanted it all. I wanted a life. Even someone else's.

Something knocked me out of Marion's head with the force of a car crash, and I slammed back into my own body. I jackknifed forward in the chair, cradling my throbbing head. The pain was crushing. Every sensation felt more intense; every sound rang louder. I curled up in a ball in the chair, gasping for breath.

"Marion!" Lewis was shouting, his voice as loud as a bell in my head. "Oh, God. God, no. Lee! Get your ass back here now!"

When I tried to run, Lewis grabbed me, slammed me down on the floor, and tried to restrain me. And all of a sudden I felt a surge of utter terror.

I couldn't let this happen to me. Not again.

So I lashed out, the whole world dissolved in chaos, screaming, and pain, and then I was gone.

I woke up alone, in a cell.

Technically, maybe not so much a cell as a hospital room, but it might as well have been a cell. There were bars on the narrow window, plain ugly walls, and I was cuffed with leather restraints to the metal bars on the bed. They'd stripped me and put me into a nasty-colored hospital gown.

I was all alone.

"Hey!" My voice came out a frightened croak. "Hey, anybody! Help?"

There was a button next to my hand. I pressed it, and kept frantically pressing it until I heard a buzzing sound, and the cell door clicked open.

It admitted the doctor who'd gone off with Kevin earlier-Dr. Lee. He came back up with not one but two security guards, along with a small flying wedge of nurses.

No sign of Marion or Lewis.

The crowd stayed well out of reach, even though I was restrained.

"Hello," Dr. Lee said. He sounded like he was making an effort to be cheerful. "Feeling better?"

"Peachy," I said, and swallowed. My mouth felt like it had been upholstered in fur. "Water?"

A nurse poured me a cup, added a sippy straw, and held it for me. The effort of lifting my head seemed exhausting. I drained the cup and collapsed back to the pillow, gasping for air.

"You're lucky," Lee said. "You nearly fried your entire central nervous system. If Lewis hadn't been here, you'd be hooked up to a ventilator right now, and we'd be transferring you to permanent care."

I let that sink in for a second, then asked, "Marion?"

Silence. Lee stared at me for a long moment, then checked the monitors. "She's in a coma," he said. "We can't wake her up."

Oh, crap. Crap!

"I didn't mean-"

"It doesn't matter," he cut me off, but I could hear the anger under his veneer of calm. "I need you to rest. Your scans are still far from normal. We'll talk about all this later."

I jerked at the restraints. "Can you take these off?"

"No," he said. "As soon as you're able to be moved, you'll be transferred to a facility where you can be properly examined and controlled."

Meaning I was under arrest. The security guards, grim and well-armed, more than confirmed that. I didn't like it, but there was really nothing I could do about it.

And really nothing I should do about it.

"Can I talk to Lewis?" I asked, very respectfully. Lee shot a glance toward the security people.

"I'll let him know you're asking for him," Lee said. "I'm going to give you a sedative now, all right? Just something to help you sleep."

He used drugs instead of the Earth Warden-patented hand-on-forehead; I wanted to do something to stop him, but I controlled the impulse. Clearly, it wasn't going to be a good idea for me to start fighting, not with the odds as they were.

David, I thought. David will help me.

I wondered where the hell he was, but before I could do more than wonder, the fog swept in, rendered my mind cool and blank, and I drifted away.

When I woke up, it was dark, and there was someone sitting in the chair next to me, snoring. I blinked and tried to rub