Total Eclipse

I took a deep breath and looked over at David. Are you okay? Not burned?

Im fine, he said. He put it out before it did any damage.

I made sure I had the Boss aimed straight and steady on the nearly empty rain-slick highway, and focused on the blurring lane markers for a while. Finally, I said, Cherise, I need you to think how it felt when you put up the shield. What made you do it?

Um . . . I guess . . . I was getting wet. I didnt like it.

Okay. Are you getting wet now?

Obviously not . . . Oh. Right. Okay. But Im still wet. And kind of cold.

I turned up the heater and directed the blast toward the back, although I was cold and shivering, too. Once your body is convinced you dont need it, youll be able to let go, I said. Your instincts are controlling your power, and thats a very bad thing, Cher. The other bad thing, although I didnt dare say it, was that in my experience, regular people werent Wardens for a reason. There were changes in body chemistry in Wardens: different nerve conduction times, subtle differences that allowed us to handle and cha

I didnt know whether the transfer of powers from me to Cheriseif that was what had happenedhad also given her an upgrade on the physical side. If it hadnt, it was like putting jet fuel in a cars gas tank. It would run for only a short time before it exploded under the stress.

I needed her to back off from using them until a specialist, an Earth Warden with real knowledge, could get a look at what was happening inside of her. But if she allowed instinct to dictate how those powers were used, we were all in serious trouble, and there was no way shed be able to control any of it. I didnt feel much like Yoda, but Id have to do as a mentor.

There is no try, I said, and then swallowed a laugh. Okay, how is it now?

Better, Cherise said. I feel better. Not as cold.

And sure enough, overhead, the shield holding the rain off us cut in and out for a few seconds, then collapsed completely. Instant white noise, from the rain pounding on the Bosss metal, and I engaged the wipers on full. No trouble seeing the road ahead, even with the torrential downpour. . . . Lightning was a constant event, strobing everything into horror- movie shadows and glares. Good, I said, and put warm approval into my voice, even though I was freezing, still. Good work, Cher. Did you feel it when it let go?

Yeah, I think so.

All right, heres your first test. Try putting the shield back up again.

It took about thirty seconds, but she reestablished a flickering, uncertain rain shield above the car, then, at my direction, let it go. We did that three times, until she could put up and take down the shield on command. Good, I said. Now youre controlling it; its not controlling you. You feel that pulse of power that comes when you call? If you feel it coming when you didnt mean to call it, stop it. You know how. Its the same way you dropped the shield.

As teaching went, this was desperately inadequate. She ought to be sitting safely in a secured facility, hooked up to biofeedback equipment, getting instruction from a qualified Earth Warden who could walk her through things properly. But this was the Warden equivalent of first aid to the injured. . . . I just needed to get her stable for now. That meant teaching her whatever I could, as quickly as I could, while limiting her use of powers to the smallest expenditures possible.

It also meant outru

I opened up the Mustang and let him fly, and oh man, could he fly. The road vibration that was noticeable at lower speeds vanished as he hit his stride, and then it settled into a power glide so smooth it was like levitating as the speed needle hit a hundred.

This was dangerous. It wasnt that I hadnt driven this fast, under these conditions, before; Id even done it while splitting my attention between controlling external supernatural forces and the road. But now I felt acutely human, powerless, and exposed. David couldnt cover me. Cherise was now as much of a hindrance as a help, and KevinGod only knew what Kevin could do, other than blow things up. Which he would do with great enthusiasm, of course. That wasnt always a downside. . . .

Somethings happening, Cherise said suddenly. There was suppressed panic in her voice, and when I looked in the rearview mirror I saw that her eyes had gone wide, her face tight with fear. I feelits like a spike, in my head, this feelingsomethings looking at me. . . .

I knew that feeling. It was the storm, and it had found her. We were about to be targeted.

Easy, I said, in my most calm and soothing voice. I gripped the steering wheel tightly to keep my hands from shaking. Thats okay, thats normal, all right? Take a deep breath. I need you to close your eyes now, and tell me what you see.

What I see? With my eyes closed? She laughed wildly. I can tell you that right now. Black!

Just do it, Cher.

Bitch, you are on my last nerve right now.

I know. Just do it.

She shut her feverish, terrified eyes, and said, Okay, happy now? Its dark. And Her words fell away into a sudden silence, and then she said, Oh, in an entirely different voice. What the hell is that?

Oversight, I said. Its sort of the heads-up display version of going up into the aetheric, the energy realm. In the begi

Uh . . . colors? Lots of colors. Its a trippy lava-lamp groove thing up in here. Which is cool, I guess. She was back on firmer ground now, and I could hear the relief in her voice. What am I looking at?

Remember those Doppler radar maps we used back at the TV station? I asked, and that helped steady her, too: the reference to our time together working at that low-rent local station as your stereotypical weather girls. Not that we hadnt gotten our own back on that one. The neon-colored ones?

Oh yeah. Those things. So this is the storm Im seeing.

Youre seeing the energy flows. I need you to tell me where it looks worst.

Worst how, exactly?

Youll feel it. I couldnt explain it any better than that; I wasnt sure that how Id perceive it would be a guide to how she would be able to process the information.

After a few seconds, she said, That spot looks radioactive.

Where?

Without opening her eyes, she lifted a hand, and pointed.

Straight through the front window.

Ahead of our speeding car.

I jerked my attention away from her and took my foot off the gas exactly one second before the next lightning flash revealed what Cherise had seen in Oversight. . . .

A person.

Standing in the road.

Waiting for us.

Thats a Dji

Like I didnt know that already, even without powers.

Chapter Four

Hold on! I screamed, and tried to change lanes. It was deadly at this speed, on wet roads, but I didnt have much choice; I had the distinct impression that hitting this particular Dji

Unfortunately, physics was not my friend on either side of the choice just now, and as soon as I changed direction, the seal broke between the tires and the road, and we began to hydroplane. No antilock brakes on a vintage Mustangit was all up to me, and it was happening in hypertime, speeded by adrenaline and sheer, massive momentum. I acted on ingrained training, turning the wheel gently into the skid, letting off the gas, staying off the brake. I kept us out of a spin and managed to keep us on the road, but wed gone into a Tokyo drift sideways, sliding past the motionless Dji