Gale Force

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

Dji

mightiest ever assembled.

On David's side, the New Dji

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 Dji

choice now,'' David replied. ''We can't let him go. He may actually be able to destroy the

Dji

''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 Joa

''And where exactly are we pla

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 pla

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 disco

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 Dji

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 Dji

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.

Sound Track

Once again, there were songs that got me through. Here they are, in case you'd like to play the

home iPod game. . . .

OUTCAST SEASON: UNDONE

by Rachel Caine

See the world through a Dji

For mille

lived apart from mortals and dismissed them as unworthy of her thoughts or energy.

But after refusing a direct order from her ruler, she has been banished, cast out, and cut off from

the source of her power-forced to take physical form to survive. What's worse, without

receiving a regular influx of energy from a human Warden, she will die.

Now Cassiel the great, Cassiel the terrible, is living in New Mexico and assisting the Earth

Warden Ma

his daughter, and his intriguing brother, Luis-she begins to develop a reluctant affection for

them.

And Cassiel will learn that humanity may be worth more than she ever suspected.

Coming in February 2009 from Roc

About the Author

Rachel Caine is the author of more than twenty novels, including the Weather Warden series.

She was born at White Sands Missile Range, which people who know her say explains a lot. She

has been an accountant, a professional musician, and an insurance investigator, and still carries

on a secret identity in the corporate world. She and her husband, fantasy artist R. Carl Conrad,

live in Texas with their iguanas, Pop-eye and Darwin, a mali uromastyx named (appropriately)

O'Malley, and a leopard tortoise named Shelley (for the poet, of course). Visit her Web site at

www.rachelcaine.com.

ROC

Published by New American Library, a division of

Penguin Group (USA) Inc., 375 Hudson Street,

New York, New York 10014, USA

Penguin Group (Canada), 90 Eglinton Avenue East, Suite 700, Toronto,

Ontario M4P 2Y3, Canada (a division of Pearson Penguin Canada Inc.)