Firestorm

she was starting to show the effects. Cherise was a perky, gorgeous thing, all tanned and toned in the best tradition of Florida beach bunnies, but there were telltale dark circles under her eyes. (She'd actually been a bikini model. And the 'fun and sun' girl back at the podunk, fourth-rate television station that had employed us both in Florida. I didn't like remembering my job, but it hadn't involved a bikini. Except that once.)

Right on cue, Cherise yawned. 'How much longer?' she asked. Actually, she said, 'Ow uch onger?' but I got the point.

'About another four hours,' I said. 'I'll wake you when we get close.'

She yawned again and wadded up a blue jean jacket to serve as a pillow against the window, and in less time than it took to whip past six billboards, she was sound asleep. I thought about turning on the radio, but I didn't want to wake her.

'So,' I said, and looked in the rearview mirror. My daughter met my gaze, lifting her eyebrows. There was something of David in the expression, and I felt a sad little stab of recognition and longing.

'So,' she replied. 'This is strange for you, isn't it?'

'Little bit, yeah.'

'Would it make it better if I told you it was strange for me, too?'

'It might,' I said. 'You're sure you can't tell what Dav—what your father's up to?'

Her eyes took on a distant glitter, just a second's worth, and then she shook her head. 'No. I can't tell. He's shut me out. They've all shut me out.' She sounded wistful. 'I think he did it for my protection. This way she can't get to me.'

She, meaning Mother Nature. The Earth. One very ticked-off planet, who was coming slowly out of an eons-long slumber and wondering Wearily what the hell had happened with the human race while she wasn't looking. After all, in the tradition of surly teens everywhere, we'd taken the opportunity to throw loud parties and trash the place while she'd been out. It's not nice to fool Mother Nature. It's even worse to fool with her.

I focused back on Imara. 'So… you're not connected to the Earth? The way the rest are?'

She looked away, and after a few seconds I realized that she was embarrassed by what she was going to say.

'It's a little like hearing music coming from the car next to you—you can hear the bass notes, but you can't make out the tune. It's not all Father's doing. There's a lot of you in me, and it holds me back.' Her eyes flew back up to meet mine, stricken. 'I didn't mean—'

'I know what you mean,' I said. 'I'm a handicap.'

Even though I was, of course. I'd worked out fairly quickly that Imara wasn't fully Djinn… Right now, that was an advantage, with the other Djinn more or less susceptible to control by the waking Earth, and pretty much unreliable in the free-will department. But what did it mean for her, long-term? How would she be accepted by the other Djinn? And what would happen if—God forbid—she ever had to go up against them in a real battle?

I couldn't think about that. I couldn't stand to imagine her going up against someone like Ashan, who had the morals and kindness of a spider.

She was watching me steadily with those bright, inhuman eyes. I had a cold flash. 'Can you tell what I'm thinking?' I asked.

Her eyebrows rose. 'Will it make you angry if I say yes?'

'Yes.'

'No.'

'You're lying to me.'

'Why would I do that?'

'You really are David's child, you know that?'

She smiled. 'He really loves you, you know. I can feel that, too. It's the warmest thing in him, his love for you.'

'I thought you said he'd cut you off.'

'He has. But short of killing me, he can't cut me off completely.' She shrugged. 'He's my father.'

I felt my throat heat and tighten, and tears prickled my eyes. I swallowed and blinked and drummed my fingers on the steering wheel. 'Right. So, am I doing the right thing here? Heading to New York?'

In the absence of any other ideas, I was heading for the relative safe haven of Warden Headquarters, where those of us who'd survived the last few days were sure to gather. All hell had broken loose among the Wardens, with wholesale mayhem from the normally compliant and subservient Djinn. I just hoped that I wouldn't be coming back to find… nothing. The last thing I wanted was to be the last Warden standing, with the Earth waking up and Djinn running crazy. Granted, it would be exciting. It would just be a very short story, and a very ugly ending.

'I don't know if it's the right thing to do or not,' my daughter replied solemnly. 'I'm only a day old.'

Great. I had no idea whether I was doing the right thing, I had a smart-ass immortal kid, and Cherise for a wingman.

Yeah, this was going to end well. No doubt about it.

Four hours later, it was dark and I was exhausted. Twenty-two hours in a car, even a Mustang, will do that to you. The Mustang purred around me like a contented tiger. Not the Mustang's fault that I was so tired that I wanted to weep, or that my world was falling apart, or that I was driving where my head sent me instead of my heart. My heart was back in Florida, where I'd last seen David. Where I'd last seen my sister Sarah, who was now officially a missing person, last seen being carried off by a British madman named Eamon. (I'd made use of my cell phone to report the abduction to the FBI. If that didn't screw up whatever escape plans Eamon had made, I couldn't imagine what would.)

Nope. None of it was the Mustang's fault. I liked the Mustang just fine. I was wondering how exactly I could arrange to get it as a permanent lease, once it was repainted, of course.

The Mustang's real owner stirred and smacked her lips the way people do when they wake up with monster morning breath. Cherise blinked at the pastel wash of late-night lights as we came out of the Lincoln Tunnel, and she stretched as we cruised to a halt at a stoplight a few blocks later. Guys in cars all around us watched, even though Cherise wasn't at her well-groomed best at the moment. Some girls just have it. Cherise had so much of it, the rest of us needed time-shares just to get by.

'Nurgh,' she said, or something like it, then dry-rubbed her face and threw back her hair and tried again. 'Whatimesit?' Or a mumble to that effect.

'Almost one a.m.,' I said. Since we'd traveled directly up the eastern seaboard, the Mustang's dashboard clock hadn't been fazed by our twelve-hundred-miles-in-just-under-one-day jaunt. I eyed it with the numbed disbelief of someone who couldn't quite fathom where all the hours had gone. Straight into my ass, it felt like. 'We should be there soon.'

Cherise turned and peered over the leather seat at Imara, who was stretched out like a cat over the backseat, comfortable and indolent. 'Oh. You're still here?'

'Obviously.'

'I was kind of hoping you'd gone back to the mother ship by now.'

I smothered a chuckle. 'Cher, she's not an alien.'

'Right,' she said. 'Not an alien. Glowing eyes, disappears at the drop of a hat. But not from another planet, got it.' Cherise, needless to say, was a fervent devotee of The X-Files and alien invasion stories in all shapes and Jerry Bruckheimer sizes. She had a little big-headed gray alien tattoo to prove it, right at the small of her back. 'Is Pod Girl going with us all the way?'

Imara raised a single eyebrow, in imitation of either everybody's favorite Vulcan, or at least a popular former wrestler. 'Going all the way? Is that a euphemism for something else?' she asked.

'Honey,' Cherise said, 'you're not that cute. Well, okay, maybe if I was really drunk and your eyes didn't glow, but—'

'Hey!' I snapped. 'That's my kid you're talking to.' And besides, my kid was pretty much the spitting image of, well, me. So I was a little weirded out. 'Are you going with us, Imara?'

I She looked frankly astonished. 'I have a vote?'

'Of course.'

'Then I'll go with you. As a dutiful child.' She still looked too grave and self-contained, but I could see a twinkle of humor in there, buried deep.