djinn wars 02 - taken

by Christine Pope

  I shivered, then sent a surreptitious glance under my lashes toward Evony, who was sitting on a stool in the corner of the auto repair shop we’d more or less turned into the local equivalent of a lab. Lindsay and a few others, including Aidan, who’d admitted that he taken “a few” physics classes in college, looted the high school for whatever useful equipment they could find, and so the workbenches were now covered with microscopes and oscilloscopes and soldering irons and a few other pieces of equipment I didn’t recognize.

  Although Evony knew less about physics and electrical and mechanical engineering than I did, she’d been granted a seat at the table, so to speak, just because it had been her idea to steal the device in the first place. She still wasn’t speaking to me. That is, if there was absolutely no way around it, she’d reply to a question with a nod or a monosyllabic answer, but she clearly had no interest in having a real conversation, obviously still thought Natila’s death was my fault because I’d gone and gotten myself caught by Margolis and his goons.

  And you know, I really couldn’t blame her much. Jace kept insisting that Margolis would have gotten to that particular torture sooner or later anyway, but it was the “later” part of his protests that bothered me. Yes, maybe Margolis would have gone ahead with the waterboarding, but if he’d done it a week later, or even more, it was possible that in the meantime I would have come up with a more coherent plan than “I’ve got to save Jace now!”

  Or maybe Margolis would have managed to kill both Natila and Jace while I waited to come up with the perfect escape scenario. I’d never know, and that was was probably the worst of it all.

  Lindsay was frowning, turning the box over and over in her hands. Standing a few feet away, Aidan looked on with interest but didn’t seem to have anything useful to offer. Then again, why would he? This was a thrown-together group of people who might have a smattering of technical knowledge. Really, the idea that any of them could crack something put together by a mad genius with a couple of Ph.D.s and years of research experience under his belt was pretty laughable.

  But they were all we had.

  “The surface is like one big touch pad,” Lindsay said. “It’s off now, so my handling it can’t affect you, Jace.”

  “Thank you for that,” he replied. One corner of his mouth twitched, and I could tell he was trying not to smile.

  She seemed to note his amusement. One eyebrow — several shades darker than her hair — went up, and she added, “Evony figured that out for us, and she showed me how it works. The switch is a small recessed button on the underside, here.” Flipping the box over, she held it up so we could all get a better look. There was a dimple, for lack of a better word, in one corner of the box, and in that dimple was a button, black against black. It would be hard to find if you didn’t know where to look, which I guessed had been Odekirk’s intention all along.

  At least now, even if we didn’t know how the device functioned, we could turn it off if necessary. And that meant we knew how to turn off the boxes that were still back in Los Alamos. Julia had said she thought there were three altogether, so now the survivors were left with two. Maybe Miles had had time to make another, maybe not.

  “Luckily, I’ve had a couple of volunteers to help me with testing the area of effect. I wasn’t going to ask you to do it, Jace, not after you had to live with one of these things practically in your lap for almost a month, but Dani offered to be a guinea pig, and so did Reyna and Tivon.”

  “That was generous of them,” Jace said.

  Lindsay shrugged. “I think they were more curious than anything else. Stories have been circulating, and they wanted to experience it for themselves. I think they believed it couldn’t really have the effect you’d described.”

  “I assume they changed their minds after a little demonstration,” I remarked, and Jasreel nodded.

  “Oh, yeah,” Lindsay said, obviously trying hard not to smile. “They were…well, ‘shaken’ isn’t exactly a word I’d generally use to describe a djinn, but I think that sums it up pretty well. Anyway, I was able to determine that the more concentrated the field, the smaller it is…but you already knew that, right?”

  Jace gave a single somber nod. “Yes, that’s in line with what I experienced.”

  “At its greatest attenuation — a level where all the djinns’ powers seemed to be blocked, but they experienced far reduced physical discomfort — it looks as if the field has a diameter of around a mile.” She set the box down on the worktable and finally allowed herself a grin. “Good thing we’d decided to do our testing away from here, out on the road to the pueblo, or I think I would’ve had a bunch of pissed-off djinn on my hands.”

  “That’s for damn sure,” Evony put in, her mouth twisting. “They probably would’ve all gone crying to Zahrias.”

  That remark earned her a very sharp look from Jace, but he didn’t say anything. Since he was the only djinn currently in attendance, that left the rest of us mere mortals to not-quite look one another in the eye. It was clear enough that no one appreciated Evony’s comment. At the same time, we were all probably telling ourselves that she was speaking from a place of grief, and so it was best to let it go without comment.

  After an awkward pause, Lindsay continued, “So I’m guessing that two of these devices aren’t quite enough to protect all of Los Alamos. Jessica, Evony, do you know if the survivors were living all over town, or if they were concentrated more toward the town center?”

  Evony only lifted her shoulders. Clearly, she didn’t intend to contribute anything helpful.

  “I’m not entirely sure,” I said. “It did seem as if some neighborhoods were more populated than others. But it was more than two miles from the house they gave Evony and me to live in to the labs, so I don’t see how they could have complete coverage for all that area with only two of the boxes. Then again, Julia Innes told me that Miles was getting faster at making them, so he could have replaced it already.”

  A few days ago, the last thing I would have wished for was to have any more of those goddamn devices in the world. But knowing we’d left innocent people vulnerable…I didn’t like the idea of that at all. True, whatever else his faults, Margolis was pretty damn good at getting things done, and it was entirely possible that he’d made sure anyone outside the area of effect had relocated to a safer spot closer to the center of town. The problem was, I could tell myself that, but I didn’t know for sure.

  “If he keeps making more of them, do you think they’ll ever get to a point where they’ll come attack us here in Taos?” Aidan asked. He was fiddling with the drawstring on his hoodie and looking a little green around the gills. I couldn’t blame him. The prospect of the Los Alamos survivors showing up with their own post-Dying equivalent of pitchforks and torches wasn’t exactly appealing.

  There was another of those uncomfortable silences, and then Jace said, “I’m sure it’s what Margolis would like, but he is not so foolhardy as to attempt such a thing until they have a good number of these devices. Even if he’s getting faster at making them, they’re not the sort of thing that can be produced like a batch of cookies. I can’t imagine he would try coming here until he had at least ten, because of course he’d have to leave several behind in Los Alamos to protect the people there.”

  Everyone looked relieved at that calm assessment of the situation. Of course Jace was right. Miles might be getting to the point where he could put together a box in less than a week. Even so, that would still require months for him to get up to fighting strength. I hadn’t been part of the inner sanctum in Los Alamos, but I’d gotten the impression that the scientist preferred to work alone. He probably wouldn’t trust the construction of the devices to anyone but himself.

  “Well, good,” Lindsay said in her calm, firm way. She didn’t seem like the type to be easily rattled, and I wondered then how her djinn had come to her in the aftermath of the Dying. He must have announced who and what he was early on, but I would’ve loved to see someone with an an
alytical, rational mind like hers attempting to wrap itself around the idea that djinn even existed, let alone that one of that mythical race had selected her to be one of the few who survived the end of the world.

  Maybe someday I’d get a chance to ask her. In the meantime, we had a lot more important things to do. Because although it would take time, I couldn’t imagine Margolis letting the whole thing go and allowing an uneasy detente to settle in between the colonies in Los Alamos and in Taos. No, he thought that because of the devices, he would have the upper hand eventually, and he would bring the battle to us.

  All we had to do was figure out a way to stop him.

  Chapter Eighteen

  After the meeting in the auto repair shop-cum-lab, Aidan drove Jace and me back to the resort. The Suburban wasn’t much use with its windows blown out, and we hadn’t yet laid claim to a new vehicle. I found I didn’t much care; even though I told myself it didn’t matter, I still mourned the loss of the Cherokee, the sturdy vehicle that, almost as much as Jace, had helped me escape Albuquerque more or less unscathed.

  Lauren was waiting for us, saying that Zahrias wished to speak with Jace and get a status update, since Lindsay had stayed behind at the lab to tinker with the box some more. I had a feeling her djinn consort was going to get pretty cranky at her extended absences if this went on for any amount of time, but that was between them, and I knew I’d stay well out of it.

  Another part of me was irritated that Zahrias hadn’t asked me to accompany Jace. I tried to put the annoyance away, telling myself that it was perfectly logical for the two of them to be talking. Even if they weren’t precisely friends, they’d still known each other for a long, long time. How long, I wasn’t sure I wanted to guess, but it made sense that Zahrias would feel more comfortable having an in-depth conversation alone with Jace.

  It was late enough in the afternoon that I thought I could take Dutchie out for a walk to kill the time. With any luck, Jace would be back in our suite by the time I was done.

  However, luck didn’t seem to be with me right then. I hadn’t even gotten halfway to the room before I found the corridor blocked by Aldair, who didn’t seem inclined to step out of the way. Instead, he stood there, arms crossed, staring at me. This time, rather than the “civilian” clothes I’d seen him wear the last time we met, he had on the typical djinn garb of flowing, open robes and loose pants, these ones in shades of dark gray and deep blue. The amount of muscled chest those robes revealed probably would have impressed me a few months ago, but these days I only had eyes for Jace.

  Had Aldair been lurking around, waiting for a moment when I was alone to intercept me? Jace and I had been more or less joined at the hip ever since we arrived in Taos, so I could see why Aldair would have been stymied up until this point. That realization didn’t make me feel any better about being here alone with him. Just the opposite, actually.

  “Afternoon,” I said in my most casual tones, hoping that would be enough to make him move aside so I could pass.

  “I see your master has let you off the leash,” he returned, blue eyes narrowing between their fringe of heavy lashes.

  He’d chosen those words on purpose to provoke me, or at least, that’s what I guessed, and so I told myself that the last thing I should do was show any kind of reaction.

  “Jace is talking with Zahrias, if that’s what you mean,” I said smoothly. “And I was just going to take my dog for a walk, so if you don’t mind stepping aside — ”

  “I wanted to to speak with you,” Aldair cut in. His arms dropped to the side, and he moved a step toward me. Not close enough that you could really say he was getting in my personal space, but certainly close enough that I felt my heart beat begin to speed up. I thought this would be a really good time for someone — anyone — to come along and rescue me, but as was typical of such situations, the corridor remained empty except for the two of us.

  I let out a breath. “We’ve already spoken. You know I’m with Jace, and that’s not going to change. I’m sorry you lost your Chosen — that’s a terrible thing — but I can’t help you. Not in the way you want, that is.”

  His jaw hardened. “And has Jasreel even bothered to tell you the truth of what happened?”

  “As a matter of fact, he did.” I lifted my own chin, adding, “It seems as if the whole thing was settled according to your people’s rules, which is just another reason why you need to let it go.”

  “Settled?” The glitter in Aldair’s harsh blue eyes seemed to indicate that he didn’t think anything had been settled. “He would say that, when he twisted our contest so he would emerge the victor. Do you enjoy bestowing your loyalty on someone who’s a cheat and a liar?”

  Those two terms were so far removed from everything I knew about Jace that all I could do right then was shake my head and try my best not to laugh right in Aldair’s face. “Jace has done everything he can to protect me, and I know he’s an honorable man. So whatever you’re trying to do, whatever you’re trying to tell me — it’s not going to work.”

  “Indeed it’s not,” came Jace’s voice, tight and angry. He approached us from the direction where Zahrias’ conference room was located, then stopped by my side and glared at Aldair. The two of them were nearly the same height, Jace perhaps a hair taller. I wondered if their djinn gifts were just as equally matched. Not completely equal, I supposed, or Jace wouldn’t have beaten Aldair in their fight over me. That still seemed like such a strange concept, to have these two beings dueling over the right to claim me as their Chosen.

  Annoyed as I was with Aldair for attempting to force another confrontation, I knew I didn’t want things to escalate any more than they already had. I moved closer to Jace and looped my arm through his. “It’s okay,” I murmured. “Let’s just go.”

  But the arm I held might have been made of rock, as inflexible as it felt against mine. “No, Jessica, it is not okay. This matter was settled. That Aldair keeps attempting to stir it up again — well, that is something I will not stand for.”

  “Oh, you won’t?” sneered Aldair. His eyes reminded me of the blue-hot hue at the center of a gas flame, burning, angry. Right then, he seemed far more like a being of fire than the air elemental I knew he actually was. “Perhaps we should have a rematch? I don’t think things will go as well for you a second time.”

  “Enough!” The word cracked through the air like a whip, and I turned to see Zahrias striding down the hallway toward us, flames burning in the air all around him. If the intensity of that virtual fire was any indication of his mood, then he was one royally pissed-off djinn. He stopped a few feet away and crossed his arms. “Aldair, you are done here. I will waste no more breath on this issue, for you know that I did put in a word for you when you requested it, and nothing came of that. Jessica is Jasreel’s Chosen, and that is the end of it. Do you understand?”

  The hot blue of Aldair’s eyes was almost obscured by his lashes as he scowled at Zahrias. For a second he said nothing, only glared at his leader. Then he snapped, “Oh, I understand. But do not think that is the end of it.”

  A rush of air, so violent it tugged at the ends of my hair and sent the loose strands stinging into my eyes, and then he was gone, disappearing in that disconcerting way the djinn had.

  For a second or two, neither Jace nor Zahrias said anything, and I thought it best to keep my mouth shut as well. At last Jace released a short gust of breath. “I knew he would be a problem.”

  Zahrias didn’t bother to argue. “Yes, things were much better when you and Jessica were safely off in Santa Fe. But we will all have to live with one another, and the sooner he accepts the situation, the better.”

  I privately doubted whether Aldair would ever accept the situation, but I had a feeling neither Jace nor Zahrias would appreciate my pointing out the obvious. Even though Aldair had taken himself off in a rather spectacular fashion, dark blood still suffused Jace’s cheeks, and the flames dancing around Zahrias hadn’t subsided, although they did appear to h
ave moved closer to his body, hugging him almost like a second skin.

  “Go back to your suite,” he told us. “I think it better that you dine in your rooms this evening. I’ll make sure Lauren has something sent up to you.”

  “That ‘something’ had better include a good bottle of wine,” Jace all but growled, and the faintest hint of a smile tugged at the corner of the other djinn’s mouth.

  “I believe I can arrange that,” Zahrias said, and he, too disappeared, leaving Jace and me alone.

  He turned in my direction and appeared to inspect my expression closely. “Are you all right, beloved?”

  “I’m fine,” I replied. “He didn’t do anything. Just talked.”

  “Sometimes that can be enough,” Jace said darkly.

  While I was considering that remark, he took my arm in his and began to lead me toward our suite. Although I didn’t mind lying low, I did mind if our movements were restricted to the point where we couldn’t even walk Dutchie. Why should Jace and I be the ones under house arrest when Aldair was the person causing all the trouble?

  Then again, we were both much more cooperative than that wayward elemental….

  We did walk the dog, and saw no sign of Aldair. I actually had no idea which room here at the resort was even his. Probably a good thing. After that, the wind picked up, bringing with it the scent of snow, and big white flakes began to fall just as the sun set.

  It was a good evening to be under house arrest, all things considered. Jace built a healthy fire in the hearth, and we drank an amazing Bordeaux that had to have come from some private reserve room in the resort’s cellars.

  We sat and watched the snow fall, and fed Dutchie some choice bits of our beef bourgignon while we talked about Lindsay’s work with Miles Odekirk’s box and whether we’d see any real results from it. Jace didn’t seem inclined to discuss Aldair, and I wasn’t sure how to broach the subject. I certainly didn’t want to make it seem as if I was interested in the other djinn, because I wasn’t. On the other hand, I found it hard to believe that I could be the only source of what appeared to be some very bad blood between the two. I didn’t think I was all that important.