Firestorm

"So what do we know?" Tasked, and slid into an empty chair. Cherise hastily took the one next to me. I sca

"We started losing contact with Wardens all over the country about three days ago. Started with just a few, but it spread like wildfire," a lean, weathered woman of about forty said. "It took us a while to understand that they were being attacked by Dji

I glanced down the table into shadows, alarmed. I'd seen Marion… Yes, there she was, half-hidden near the end. Marion was an Earth Warden, and her skill was healing, but self-healing was a chancy undertaking at the best of times. She looked terrible. I exchanged another nod with her.

"Marion, I'm so sorry. Your Dji

She took me off the hook. "My Dji

"First good advice we had," Paul said. "We've been getting hold of every Warden we can find and telling them the same thing. Get your Dji

I stretched my hands flat on the scarred wood surface. "Afraid so. Here's the deal. The Dji

Silence, and then… "Kind of a modern name, isn't it?" Cherise asked. "Jonathan, I mean. Wouldn't he have an Egyptian name or—"

"Cherise. This is my story. You talk later. The thing is, once Jonathan made the agreement, which was supposed to be temporary, the Wardens didn't keep their end of the bargain. They didn't let the Dji

That term caused a rustle of throat-clearing and shifting in chairs, and the inevitable interruption. "There aren't any such thing as—" someone began to declare, in much the same way people once insisted the world was flat.

"Yes there are, Rosa." That was Marion, and her tone was surprisingly sharp, coming from a woman who was normally so level and soothing in ma

"Continue," Paul said, watching me.

I swallowed, wished in vain for a drink of water, and got on with it. "So some of the Free Dji

Paul's face went a paler shade of scared. "You mean, they're no longer under our control at all?"

"Yes, that's what I mean."

"Well, that's just great. You drove all the way from Florida to tell me we're dead?"

"You want me to go on, or what?" I glared back. He finally closed his drug-glazed eyes and nodded. "Right. Well, we've always thought we were fighting the planet, one on one. A fair contest. But I have to tell you, it isn't fair, and it isn't even a contest. She hasn't even been awake." Inarticulate noises of protest and denial. I ignored them. "She's not even concentrating on us at all. We're like little mosquitoes she's been swatting in her sleep."

Paul's face had drained of what little color he had. "Jo—"

"Hang on, I'm still getting to the bad news." I sucked in a deep breath, then blew it out. "She's starting to wake up. Once she does, she can control the Dji

He looked glassy-eyed. "Was that the bad news? Because for fuck's sake, don't tell me it gets worse than that."

"Yeah, that was it."

He didn't say anything. The silence ticked off, one cold second at a time, until Marion murmured, "Then that would be the end of it."

Paul looked up sharply. "I'm not throwing in the towel, and you're not either," he snapped. "Jo. What else you got for us? Anything on the plus side?"

"I may—" I edited myself carefully, well aware of the way this might go. "I may know of a Dji

"I'm the guy in charge of handing out life preservers on the Titanic. Anything you got that can help, let's have it. I mean, we're talking about Band-Aids on a sucking chest wound, but—"

"I don't know if this Dji

There was another stir of resistance. Not denial—this was confusion. Marion knew about the Ma'at, and I'd presumed she'd reported everything to Paul, but surprise… he wasn't looking like he recognized the name, and neither did anyone else. I shot Marion an alarmed, semidesperate glance. She raised an inscrutable you're on your own eyebrow.

I tried for a calm tone. "I thought you knew, Paul. The Ma'at. I guess you'd call them a rival organization, who can raise up powers that can influence the same things we can. I met them in Vegas."

"Rival organization? Vegas?" Paul's face went from white to an alarming shade of maroon. "Vegas? You're telling me you knew about all this months ago?"

Well, crap, I'd quit, hadn't I? Why would I have narked on the Ma'at, at that point? "You guys weren't exactly keeping the communication cha