Gale Force

Joy. "How often?"



"That depends on how hard he's trying to reach you." His arms tightened around me. "I'm so sorry."



That covered . . . everything. For now. I took a deep breath and stepped back, smiling despite the continuing low sizzle of pain. "Can you stay?"



"I'll try," he said. "You're right. My people have to try to stop him. We don't have a choice. He's hurting the Mother directly now. We're her only defense."



"Not the only one," Ashan said, striding out of the darkness. Behind him stretched all of the Old Djinn, hundreds of them. The mightiest Djinn force I'd ever seen in one place - maybe the mightiest ever assembled.



On David's side, the New Djinn began to take shape out of the shadows - maybe just out of self-defense. The Wardens, caught in the middle, looked understandably worried. These two clans had been in cold-war status for ages, but the war had heated up, and I wasn't sure what Ashan would consider defense these days.



His cold, teal-blue eyes turned on me. I felt him considering whether or not to strike.



"Try and I'll destroy you," David said, low in his throat. Lightning ripped the sky again, breaking into dozens of streams of light.



"Amusing as that contest would be, you're probably right," Ashan said, and his smile was as cold as the rain. "She's our guide into the abyss. We can use her to track our enemy. And to tempt him into the open."



"Wait," Lewis said. "What are you saying? You're all going after him? All of you?"



"The New Djinn are vulnerable. The Old Djinn aren't - at least, not yet. Besides, we have no choice now," David replied. "We can't let him go. He may actually be able to destroy the Djinn." He paused, and looked at the Wardens. "This isn't your fight anymore. Go home."



"Hell with that," Kevin said. "I'm not taking orders from you."



"Tell him," David said, spearing Lewis with a glare. "Tell them all."



Lewis looked around at the Wardens, taking his time. When he spoke, he had the unmistakable ring of command in his voice. "He's right. I make the decisions for the Wardens. You'll all follow my orders." He paused for deliberate effect. "And my orders are that the Wardens will send a support team with Joanne and the Djinn."



"And where exactly are we planning to send them?" Marion asked.



I looked up at the clouds, then out to sea.



"He's gone where he thinks we can't follow," I said. "To the Cradle of Storms." As far as I knew, no Warden had ever ventured out to sea in that area and made it back to shore alive. The storms out there were sentient, and they were vicious. And a Warden, any Warden, became a Jonah. Any ship they were on became prey.



And I was about to lead a whole team of them into the jaws of death.



This was not the way I'd planned to take a honeymoon cruise to Bermuda.



Sunrise came. Sunrise always comes, no matter how dark the night - it's one of those tired truths of life, one you can take as either positive or negative as the situation calls for.



For me, this morning, it was just the morning after the night before. No change, except that there was more light to see the damage.



The burning sensation on my back had faded into a dull buzz, but the whole area still felt warm and tender to the touch. I still felt hollow and empty, and I ached for . . . something - something to feel; something to make this morning worth living through the night.



I felt too disconnected from the others, who had things to do. I wandered away - not too far, watched constantly by an FBI surveillance team - and sat alone on the beach, a blanket around my shoulders. I watched the sun gild the rolling waves and thought about Hurricane Andrew rolling in over these waters; about a Warden named Bob Biringanine wading out into the pounding surf and giving up his soul.



"Can I join you?"



I shaded my eyes and looked up. David was standing next to me, looking out at the ocean. Sunrise looked good on him, but he seemed remote and guarded.



"Sure. Pull up some sand," I said. He folded himself down with raw, beautiful grace, and put his arm around my shoulders. I let my head rest against his chest, and felt a little of the darkness bleed out of me - just a little.



"I should go help," I said dully. "There's so much to do. So many people hurt - "



"And you're one of them," David said, and pulled me into his lap, cradling me in his arms so he could look at me at close range. He gave me the distant Djinn X-ray stare for a second, and then the distance faded away. "So much pain, Jo. You can't hold that much pain. You have to let it go."



"It's all my fault," I said. "I could have - "



"You could have done a million things differently, and Bad Bob would have been the same creature," David said. "He's no longer human, Jo. He hasn't been human for a long time. You're not to blame for what he does."



"Only for what I do. I should have said no. If I'd said no to you, none of this - "



"If you'd said no to me, Bad Bob would have found another way to control the Djinn. Maybe just by taking you away from me." His lips found mine, gentle and sweet and salted from the sea spray. "You make me vulnerable, yes, but you also make me strong. Jonathan knew that. He knew this was coming, and that he wasn't capable of fighting it, not alone. He knew the two of us would be, together. I love you. I will always love you. With or without a vow, a ring, a wedding. Yes?"



"Yes," I whispered. Our lips were still touching. "I - yes." There didn't seem to be anything else to say. We understood each other completely in that moment.



The sun cleared the waves, burning through the clouds in bands of hot gold and orange, and in its warmth, in his arms, I got my wish.



However brief the moment, whatever would come, we had peace.