So, unless you want to do your intimidating from the inside of a jail-"
She threw the fire at me. I mean, fastball-speed. It hissed past my face and out into the ocean, where it impacted a building wave and instantly vaporized the top half into superheated steam. "I'm not playing with you, bitch," Shirl said. "That's where everybody else goes wrong. They let you talk. You have one chance to tell me where he is, or I swear the next one burns right through your stomach."
My plan to scare her into leaving wasn't going quite as well as I'd hoped.
"I want to talk to Marion," I said, and was surprised my voice stayed steady.
"Denied. Marion's busy." Shirl sounded way too smug about that. Marion was probably under house arrest after protesting too much, or flat-out refusing the order. "Last chance. Produce Lewis, or we'll go through you."
"Then let me talk to Paul!"
Her smile was utterly sinister. "Talk all you want. Paul's irrelevant. We're on the front lines out here, and we're going to defend ourselves, with or without permission."
"Defend yourselves against what?"
She must have remembered that she didn't want to talk, because her arm drew back, and plasma burned toward me. I dodged. It followed. Not as fast as the previous pitch, but then, I didn't think she meant it to be; she was playing with me. The plasma moved in mirror jerks with me, tagging me and cutting me off at every turn. I was tired and weak and clumsy with pain, and when I finally overbalanced on the soft sand and fell backward, the burning, incandescent globe dipped toward me and hovered just inches above my heaving chest. Hot enough to give me third-degree burns and make my jog bra start to char.
I dug my fingers into the sand and grabbed handfuls, trying to resist the sick urge to destroy David to save my own life.
Rahel lunged forward with a snarl, reached out with one taloned hand, and batted the fireball away. Right back at Shirl, who ducked. It hit someone else, who screamed in high-voiced agony, and Shirl turned to put out the resulting fiery chaos. Rahel grabbed my arm.
"Run," she ordered roughly. "They'll kill you. They've already killed others."
She launched herself up in a graceful, feline leap and landed on Shirl, who screamed. Fire erupted. I saw Rahel's neon yellow clothes burst into flame.
I flipped over and crawled to the hole. I felt the sand under my knees shift. Oh God. Lewis was losing it. The tunnel was collapsing. Sand was falling in on them.
There was nothing I could do.
Another flash of lightning streaked overhead, reflecting white on waves, showing a freeze-frame of the other Wardens converging around Shirl and Rahel. Rahel was going to lose. She didn't have the wattage necessary to stop all of them, not alone, not as a Free-range Djinn.
"Hey!" A deep-voiced yell from a couple of sand dunes over. "What's going on over there? You kids stop that!"
"Help!" I screamed. "Get help!"
The pompous jerk-and I was never so happy to hear one in my life-sounded even more self-righteous. And a little alarmed. "I tell you, I'm calling the cops! You clear out of here while you've still got the chance!"
"Yes, you idiot, call the cops! And the paramedics! Help!"
I was dimly aware of Detective Rodriguez racing back along the beach, some kind of rope slung over his shoulder, but I felt it in my bones, it was too late. All too late.
Rahel and Shirl were a bonfire rolling on the sand. Fire and blood and fury.
The sand heaved and collapsed in on itself, dropping me suddenly a good five feet. I slid down an instantly made dune.
The cave had collapsed.
Lewis was dying down there. "No!" I screamed, and started digging. It was useless. It'd take hours to move all this sand; no way they could survive down there.
I only had one option. Just one.
"David!" I yelled. "David, I need you!"
I felt the connection snap taut between us. Waiting for the command. One precious heartbeat went by. Two.
"David-"
Rodriguez skidded to a stop next to me and slapped the rope down on the sand.
"Where's the hole?"
"Collapsed," I gasped. "Oh, God-David, get them out, get Lewis and Kevin out of there-"
I felt the draw of power dig deep into me, sucking out