Thin Air

David slowly settled back in his chair, still watching me with total, gentle attention.

Lewis had started talking again. “I think we’re agreed that since this isn’t the natural time for this magnetic flip to begin, we should counter it while we still have the chance. Now, the Ma’at have developed a whole new way of looking at the manipulation of power on the aetheric plane, and there’s a lot we can-”

“Who are these people? Why were they operating in secret?” demanded a Warden from the floor, who was too angry to let a little thing like my mood swings stop him.

“They were formed to try to undo some of the damage the Wardens were doing to the environment,” Lewis said. “They never interfered directly with us.”

“No, but they were undermining us! No wonder our success rate kept getting worse! Lives were lost!”

Lewis kept the microphone, despite impatient waves from Myron to pass it back. “The Wardens’ success rate was getting worse because we were undermining one another,” he said. “Among other things. You know there were a lot of things wrong in the organization, including Wardens selling out i

That last word fell into a vast, ringing silence. Somebody shifted uneasily in a folding chair, waking a squeal of metal like worn-out brakes.

“I’m not making accusations,” Lewis said. “I’m stating facts. These things happened. And they’re not going to happen anymore.”

“Or?” someone stage-muttered. It might have even been from the Ma’at.

Lewis smiled slowly. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of that one. “They’re not…going…to happen…anymore,” he repeated very softly, and held the entire room’s stare. The place had gone very quiet, and the air was crackling with potential energy. “We’re not going to be the bad guys. The Ma’at have things to teach us. We probably have a few things to teach them, too. Now. Everybody choose.”

One Warden stood up and walked out, not bothering to mitigate the shriek of metal chair over bare floor. We all winced, even the Dji

I didn’t try to stop him. Besides, I’d already blown out the windows. Not much of a big gesture left to make.

“One down,” Lewis said, unruffled. “Anybody else want to join him and stop wasting our time?”

The rest of them exchanged glances and settled back more comfortably into their places.

I reclaimed the microphone and nervously clutched it in both hands. “We worked out that we should have three teams: Fire, Earth, and Weather, with Ma’at and Dji

Someone out there gave a disbelieving snort. “It’ll never work.”

“Maybe not. But I’d take it as a personal favor if you could try.”

That caused a stir, albeit a discreet one. Nobody knew quite what to make of me, really, but the rumor had already flown like lightning through the ranks of the Wardens-and no doubt the Ma’at as well-that I was falling into the more-than-human category. They didn’t know I, like Lewis, was now a triple threat…that I controlled all three elements. I wasn’t too comfortable with anyone knowing quite yet.

I wasn’t sure what it meant, either personally or professionally. Or even if, long-term, I pla

Half of the Dji

Ashan nodded, after keeping David in suspense for long enough to make his point. David said, “The Dji

Lazlo cleared his throat. “The Ma’at will of course help any way we can,” he said stiffly. “We’ll be happy to demonstrate our way of cha

The Dji

“But of course,” he amended, “we will give our full support.”

The Ma’at had never participated in the slavery of the Dji

But the Ma’at had no illusions about the Dji

We’d learned better these past few weeks.

We got down to the operational details. I let Lewis and Lazlo handle the fierce debate. I was mainly there to act as a moderator, and wield a mean shoe when necessary. And terrify anybody who got out of line, of course.

David was still holding my hand. I looked sideways at him without turning my head, and saw he was openly watching me.

He leaned closer, put his mouth to my ear, and said, “What do you think? Can we do this? Together?”

“It’s day one of the new world,” I said. “These things take time. But yeah, I think we probably can. It’ll be messy and bumpy, but we’ll get through it. And next time it’ll be a little better.” I turned to look at him, and our eyes met. I felt that warm shiver go through me again, as if we were still co

He shrugged. “It’s complicated.”

“What, and this isn’t?” I raised an eyebrow at the debate, which was rising in volume. “Spill.”

His eyebrows climbed, too. “Why?”

“It might have escaped you, but what affects the Dji

He glanced around the room, looking i

“No,” I said. “I want to talk about it someplace a lot quieter than this, with a hot tub, but if we leave, things are going to slide downhill without us, and you know it.”

He nodded slowly. “This had to happen, Jo. The Old Ones weren’t going to endure having someone like me as their conduit. I’m not like Jonathan. I can’t…step away from the world and take the long view.”