it this time; he just drifted slowly around it, taking in every detail.
And then he went up, into another aetheric plane higher than this one. I tried to follow, but I slammed into a glass ceiling that no amount of trying would get me past. I was anchored in the real world, and that line stretched only so far.
I had no idea how Lewis was able to do it, but then that was why he was at the top of the Warden food chain, and I wasn't.
I waited impatiently, and in a matter of minutes he was back, falling back down. He grabbed my hand and we plunged through the aetheric levels, back down to the real world . . . into our bodies.
I coughed, gasped, and felt my head pound in time with my rapid heartbeat. I was covered in sticky, cold sweat. In fact, I felt downright sick.
So did Lewis, clearly. He looked just as bad as I felt, if not worse, and when I touched him, his skin was ice-cold.
Worse, his hands looked . . . burned, flushed bright red on the palms. He wiped them on his jeans in a convulsive movement, as if there were something horrible on them that he wanted to get off, but it was clear from the way he was shaking that it went deeper than surface slime.
"Christ," he said, and leaned his head back against the whiplash rest. "What the hell?"
"And here I was hoping you'd have some bright, easy answer," I said. "Because I've got no clue, man. I've never seen anything like it before."
"Have you shown it to David?"
I hadn't, and as he mentioned it, I wondered why I hadn't. And why he hadn't immediately sensed it. Strange.
"No," I said slowly. "And I - don't think I should. Don't you think?"
Lewis nodded, not looking at me. His face had gone the color of old newspaper, and his lips looked gray. "I don't, either," he said softly. "Why is that?"
"What?"
"Why do we think that? Wouldn't we usually ask the Djinn to take a look?"
Usually, but this time . . . it just didn't feel . . .
I had no answer. I just stared at him, then shrugged. Lewis took a deep breath, started the Hummer's engine, and pulled back out onto the road.
The rest of the trip was spent in silence.
"You're kidding," I said as Lewis negotiated the Hummer into a parking space built for a Hyundai. "We're meeting at Denny's? Was Chuck E. Cheese already booked for the president?"
"Emergency meeting," he said. "This was the closest place we could find where we could have some privacy. Besides, I could use some food - how about you?"
Well, I supposed I could use a Grand Slam or a Moon Over My Hammy or something.
Getting out of the truck in the narrow space between two other vehicles proved to require moves illegal in some Southern states. I managed not to scratch the other car, which was good, because it was a Ferrari. Bright red.
Denny's had suffered little or no damage, as far as I could tell. Maybe they'd been outside of the shake zone. Plate glass windows were intact; diners still sat at tables; waitstaff circulated with trays and plates. Lewis and I walked in, out of the cloying humidity and into the frigid embrace of air-conditioning. I shivered a little - still fighting off the chill I'd gotten on the aetheric, I guessed.
Lewis led me back to a private room, one with sliding doors. Inside were four of the most powerful people in the Southeast, never mind Florida, and they were all digging in to breakfast.
I half recognized Luis Rocha from his signature on the aetheric; he was medium height, medium build, a bit broad in the shoulders. His skin was a dark, warm bronze color, and his eyes and hair were black. The hair was long, trailing down around his face and past his collar. His sleeveless gray muscle T-shirt revealed strong, defined arms inked up with flames and intimidation, but his smile was warm and rather sweet.
He was the only Earth Warden in the room. Two of the others - Sheryl Brewer and Nicholas Mancini - were both Weather Wardens, solid technicians, if not spectacular. Usually, trouble in Florida came from weather, after all - it wasn't known as Hurricane Central for nothing.
The fourth was, of course, a Fire Warden. Nobody I wanted to see. She no doubt went with the red Ferrari out front, and her