Текст книги "Total Eclipse"

Автор книги: Rachel Caine

Соавторы: Rachel Caine
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Dont think it works that way, Whitneys voice said, briefly snowed by static midway through. The tuner slid to another station, and she came through more clearly. If it wasnt you, itd be somebody else. Maybe somebody not as ready.

What are you talking about? And where are you taking us?

If I told you, you wouldnt believe me, Whitney said. Told you, you were going to regret making me do this, boss man.

Whitney, just David made a frustrated little gesture. Get on with it. Im bleeding.

Bet thatsnew for you, she said, about as sympathetic as a shark. Talk about your steel magnolias. Making you just a little irritable?

Whitney, Im going to climb through that radio and kick your ass, I snapped. Hes not the one you ought to be worried about.

She laughed, a rich, whiskey-dark sort of sound. The least likely Djinn Id ever met, and Id met some doozies. I guessed that was why shed made such an impression on David in the first place. Choosing Whitney for his backup as Conduit had been unorthodox, to say the least, and (I suspected) not exactly popular with the few thousand others who probably felt they had a better shot.

But she had qualities; Id give her that. For one thing, none of the other Djinn would ever be able to get the better of her, because none of them could understand her. There was such a thing as being too human, and Whitney was the poster child.

You are just full of it, Joanne, she purred. Nice to know some things just never change. Now, what were we talking about?

You said if it wasnt Kevin . . .

Of course. Aint that obvious? If it isnt Kevin, its whoevers standing closest to you two. You didnt really think the law of averages worked that way, that the two people you picked to tag along just happenedto end up with your lost powers?

When she put it like that, I had to admit, it didseem unlikely. There had been lots of people on board the ship, and any one of them could have received the power that had been ripped out of us in the formation of the black corner. . . . So why had it been the two people closest to us now?

Its not them, I said slowly, working my way through it. Its us.

Youre not nearly as silly as you look, Whitney said. Fact is, whatever happened to you out there, it blew you apart and put you back together again, but somehow your power got left out. Its like a ghost, trailing you around. Itll settle into anybody you spend time with, including those two.

David straightened up, which probably wasnt smart; more blood darkened his shirt, and he pressed a hand to the wound. Then we can get it back.

Cant get it back, Whitney said crisply. Not like you are. Youre all locked off, and I have to tell you, you aint looking too good. Never mind that hole in your side. . . . Youre drying up like a water hole in the Sahara, running out of power. Wont make it all that much farther, you know.

I looked over at David in alarm. His face was set and pale, giving away nothing, but I knew it was true. Whitney wasnt known for her tact, but she wouldnt lie, not about that. Nothing I can do about it, he said. If I cant get my powers back . . .

Not on your own. But thats why Im taking you to someplace you can get some help.

Whitney, youcan do it, I said. Youve got the Conduit to the Earth now. You could fix this.

Could, she agreed blandly. But my orders were to stay right here, in this cozy little house with the roaring fire where nobody can get at me. And I like it here. You seen whats going on out there? Its messy.

She was hiding out in Jonathans house, a peculiar little bubble of the aetheric that seemed to float apart from everything else. Time and space didnt really exist thereor at least, they existed only as Jonathan had first created them to be. Which wasnt like anywhere else. The advantage was that anything in that house was protected from the chaos here on Earth.

The downside was that the protection was very specific. Humans couldnt reach the refuge, only Djinn, and only Djinn who were allowed in. David and I were completely out of luck.

You have to come here, I repeated. Whitney, hes . . . Dying.I couldnt really say it. Saying it would make it terrifyingly real. Please come.

Her radio-wave voice gentled, turned warm and compassionate. I know, she said. I know how scared you are. But if I leave here, Im gone, and you know it. Every Djinn out there is hersnow, no thoughts, no personality. Theyre just lashing out at whatever hurts her. You dont want me out there. I wouldnt help, and Id be just as lost as the rest of them.

Except, curiously, for the Djinn driving the car. I frowned, staring at him. He turned his head and stared back, not bothering to watch the blurring road. Djinntheyre really not like us. And sometimes its really, really creepy.

Hes empty, Whitney said. Something bad happened to him, a long time ago, poor thing. Mother Earth cant lay a finger on him.

But you can.

Well, yeah. Whitney sounded surprised. You got to know how to do it, thats all.

I decided I really didnt want to know. I was tired, beaten up, filthy, and David was . . . was really in need of help. Where are you taking us?

I must have sounded so miserable that even Whitney was moved, very slightly, toward pity. Someplace safe, she said. You rest, now.

I didnt want to, but the Djinn reached out and past me, putting a hand over Davids shoulder. David let out a sigh and slumped against the car door. The bleeding from his side slowed, and I saw his color start to return to normal. Whitney, working her magic through her supernatural surrogate.

The Djinn let go and reached for me. I knocked his hand away. No, I said sharply. Ill stay awake.

Suit yourself, Whitney said, back to her old bad attitude. Want me to pinch you if you drop off?

Bite me, Whit.

The Djinn made an unsettling teeth-snapping noise, and I looked sideways at him, scooting a couple of inches closer to David. When I was sure I was safe– ish, I looked back at Kevin and Cherise.

You two okay? I left it an open-ended question, and it was up to them whether that applied to injuries, mental instability, shock, or just plain hating the world.

I dont want this, Kevin said, again. I didnt ask for this. It feelswrong. He licked his lips, his eyes haunted under the emo flop of hair. It hurts when it comes out. I dont think its safe.

That made sense. In fact, I thought it was a credit to Kevins strength that it only hurt, because using the power of a Djinn Conduit would probably have torn apart most normal people. Even many Wardens. I wasnt sure what it had done to him, but Kevin didnt scare easily, and I felt for him.

Sorry, I told him, and reached over to touch his arm. He jerked away. Well find a way to do this. I swear.

Well, I dont mind, Cherise said. Because controlling the weather is awesome.I want to do more.

Well, youre not going to, I said, which sounded sternly authoritative but was a wet paper sack, so far as enforcement might go. Cher, you need to stay away from it as much as possible. It may not seem like its hurting you, but it probably is. I dont want anything to happen to you.

She normally would have smiled in response to that, but instead she just looked away out the window. You say that until you need me. Then its all bring it. That didnt sound much like Cher, and it bothered me.

Hey. I tried to catch her eyes, but she kept looking away. Cher, you know I care about you. You know I dont want you hurt.

This time she did look at me, squarely and calmly. I know, she said. Until you dont have a choice, and then youll do anything you have to do. Its what I always like about you, Jo. That ruthless streak under all the girly polish.

We had that in common, I realized. Cherise was sweet and compassionate, funny and talented . . . but she was also, deep down, a survivor, with a broad streak of ambition and a little bit of larceny baked right in. In another age, she might have been a charming criminal, holding up coaches at midnight on deserted roads and kissing all the pretty young men.

We do what weve gotta do, she said. Right?

Right, I said softly. But until weve got to do it, dont.Please.

That won a smile, finally. Sure, she said. Have all the fun yourself, then. Now She yawned broadly and bundled herself more comfortably against Kevin. Now I need some beauty sleep. And a shower. But Ill settle for sleep.

The experience must have been overpowering, I realized, because both she andKevin dropped off in under a minute, dragged down by exhaustion. Made sense. Their bodies werent made to take that kind of strain. I remembered how it had felt in the beginning, when my powers first began to surfaceit was like hormones on crack. Id been hungry and tired and bitchy all the time, prone to mood swings and fits of pouting, complaining about how hardeverything was when I wasnt griping about how nobody ever trusted me enough to do things myself.

Cherise had a lot to handle. Kevin, even more.

I checked Davids side. His wound was healed, but still red and inflamed; bruises were forming, and evidently Whitney had decided that bruises werent anything requiring first aid. He was sleeping peacefully. Ahead of us, the road unspooled, lit by furious stabs of lightning and the glow of the headlights. The Djinn kept a machinelike precise grip on the wheel and a foot on the pedal.

And before I knew it, Id joined the rest of them in sleep.

Chapter Five

I woke up with the sun on my face, which felt nice, but the good feeling faded fast as I blinked and looked around, out the cars windows.

We were still on the roadnot a surpriseand I supposed with a Djinn at the wheel we didnt need to stop for gas. Cherise and Kevin were still deeply asleep. David, however, was awake, and as I moved my head off his shoulder, he reached out for my hand. That felt nice.

What wasnt nice was the world outside our speeding car.

We were traveling close to the coastlineI could see the gray smudge of the ocean through occasional hillsbut what was most noticeable to me was the thick, gray pall of smoke that hung in the air. I could smell it, thick even through the filter of the cars vents. It gave everything outside an unreal, unfocused look. Its snowing? I said as flakes brushed across the windshield.

No, David said quietly. Its ash.

I swallowed. Can you see the fire?

Not yet. But its got to be huge to produce this kind of effect.

The radio suddenly slid channels. I expected more homespun passive-aggressive advice from Whitney, for which I really was notin the mood, but instead it landed on a news station. Even before I started getting the sense of what they were talking about, I could hear the tension in the broadcasters voice.

. . . continues with major flare-ups to the west of I-95, including the Cumberland State Forest area, the Amelia Wildlife Management Area, Masons Corner, Flat Rock, and Skinquarter. There are unconfirmed reports of a major explosion and uncontrolled burn near Chesterfield Court House and the Pocahontas State Park. If you are anywhere in this area, immediate evacuations are under way. Do not remain in your homes; this is an extremely dangerous situation that is overwhelming emergency services. It is only one of several emerging situations that are splitting the resources of our fire, medical, and police throughout the area. Reports are also coming in of significant damage in the Midwest due to torrential rains and flooding, as well as seismic activity along critical fault lines. The Red Cross is

Without warning, the voice dissolved into blank, white static. I waited. It didnt come back.

I reached out and switched off the radio. I couldnt help it; the feeling of doom was overwhelming. I could hear the suppressed panic in the reporters voice; I could feel my own heart pounding uselessly, trying to trigger some kind of survival response.

There was nowhere to run. Not anymore. I was certain that if the broadcast had continued, we would have heard more. A lot more, from all over the country. It was starting in the rural areas, but moving toward the cities, and when it got there . . .

Faster, I said aloud, to the Djinn. Whitney, if you can hear me, for the love of God

The radio clicked back on. You brought this on yourselves, she said. Dont go dragging God into it. You were warned a million times that if humanity got to be too much of a threat, it would get dealt with. Day of reckoning, Joanne. Its here. Should have spent more time listening to those preacher-mennot that any of that would have headed it off, I suppose.

She sounded annoyed, verging on pissed off, and I shut up. She was, indeed, the only real help I imagined we had in the bullpen, and it wasnt a very smart strategy to alienate her.

Satisfied by my silence, apparently, Whitney edged more speed out of the howling engine, and we fled into a dim, surreal day.

Judgment Day.

About an hour later, my phone pinged. It hadnt rung, but I supposed the connections were bad and getting worse as more and more panicked callers took to the cell phone skies to find their loved ones.

It wasnt a call; it was a text, from Lewis. It said LOST PARTS OF WASHINGTON STATEWILDFIRES OUT OF CONTROL. LARGE LOSS OF LIFE.

I swallowed. He wasnt telling me to ask me to do anything; I knew that. He just had to tell someone. Lewis was, right now, the man at the top, listening to all the litany of horror. It had to go somewhere. I supposed it might as well come to me as bleed– off. We were all going to need counseling before this was over, provided there were any of us left, and of course provided there were any mental health professionals left standing.

The next text said, HEADING FOR SEATTLE. LAST STAND FOR FIRE WARDENS IN THE AREA. WILL UPDATE.

I stared at it for a long, silent moment, then texted back, UNDERSTOOD.

I did understand. I knew why he was texting me, what he wasnt saying to me, all those fragile and silent things that both of us knew would never be acceptable in the light of day. My fingers hovered over the keys, and I almost added, LOVE YOU, because I did, desperately, like the brother and friend he had been to me these past few years. But I knew what he felt was different, and stronger, and I didnt want to give him false hope and wrong impressions.

So instead I said, BE CAREFUL, and sent the message.

David, watching me, said, Its bad.

Lewis and the Wardens are trying to save Seattle, I said. Its not good. I realized that the pixels on that phone screen might be the last thing I had to remember Lewis by, and a lump formed in my throat. I swallowed it, blinked away stinging in my eyes, and thought, No, it isnt. Well get through this. We always find a way.

Looming up out of the misty haze in the distance was a tangle of metal. Some kind of crash, leaking black smoke, but no visible flames.

It was a bus, flipped on its side. It had collided head-on with a carI think it had once been a car, anyway. Nothing was moving in either vehicle.

Slow down! I said. The Djinn ignored me. Stop! You have to

We flashed by the wreck at the speed of light as the Djinn expertly drifted around the debris and found open road. Not enough time for me to get all the details, but enough, and it felt like my stomach was trying to crawl out through my throat.

No survivors, the Djinn said, in that eerie chorus-like voice. No stops.

Cherise and Kevin were wide awake now in the back, but neither of them said anything. When I looked back, they were clutching hands and avoiding looking anywhere. David said nothing, either. His face was disturbingly blank.

But I couldnt let it go.

David touched my cheek. Hes right. Wherever were going, we have to get there. We cant stop. Not for anything. I know you cant accept that, so Ill take the responsibility, all right? We dont stop, not even if you scream and hate me.

I gulped. I wouldnt

Yes, Jo, you would. What if that had been a school bus? What if youd seen crying children?

I couldnt answer him. I knew he was right about me, and I knew he was right about everything, and it hurt. Badly.

Whitney, I said. Can you hear me?

Her voice came out of the Djinns mouth this time. Unfortunately, she said.

Put me back to sleep, I said. I dont want to see this. I dont want to see any of it until I can dosomething.

David put his arm around me and pulled me close. I let my head fall against his chest.

I was just dropping off when I saw an old man stagger out of his car, which was half off the road, and fall on his side. We passed him by in a flash. Did I see that? Yes, I did. I know I did.

Stop, I said. The Djinn once again ignored me. Whitney, Im not telling you again. Stop this car!

What for? she asked, bored and resentful. So you can go play Low– Rent Nightingale? You said we need to get to the Oracle. Im doing my best.

Please, I said. Please stop the car. Im begging you.

Whitney was silent for a second, then I felt the Djinn braking the vehicle, whipping it around in a tight turn, and heading back. You need to know when to let it go, Joanne. You really do. Thirty seconds later, he pulled the Mustang to a stop. The old man was feebly moving, trying to pick himself up, but he wasnt able to do much. I bailed out and ran to his side. He was in his seven-ties, maybe into his eighties, with a tight cap of silver/ gray curls over a face of great dignitya patriarch, for sure. African American, and hed probably been tall and broad in his younger days, but now he was lighter and more stooped, and I was able to help him up to a sitting position. More car doors slammed. The others were joining me.

Hi, I said. My names Joanne. You looked like you needed some help.

He nodded breathlessly. He was wheezing, and his hands trembled badly. I saw the devil, he said. Back there on the road. It was killing people.

I exchanged a look with David, and knew he was thinking exactly what I wasDjinn.

Im not supposed to be driving, but I had to get Mindy out of there. The whole place was going crazy. I just started feeling sick. My chest hurts. His face was taking on an ominous gray color, and he made a pained expression and grabbed for his arm. Damn.

He was having a heart attack.

Sir, whats your name? I asked. Sir?

George, he finally panted. George Templin Bassey.

Nice to meet you, George. Im going to help you lie down, okay? You take slow, deep breaths. Thats right, slow, deep breaths. I sat back on my heels and looked at Kevin, then Cherise. One of you is going to have to try to help him.

How? Cherise asked. She looked scared, and I didnt blame her. This was a fairly significant amount of responsibility to be dumping on someone.

If youve got my powers, youve also got Earth Warden powers, I said. That means healing. George here needs your help. Ill walk you through it, okay? Kevin, he said something about Mindy. See if theres anybody else in the car.

Kevin opened the car door and peered in, and almost got his face chewed off by a squat, ferocious English bulldog, who lunged off the floorboard at him with furious, deep-chested barks. Kevin slammed the door again. The bulldog continued to glare and bark. Uh, yeah, found Mindy, I guess. Shes a charmer. Looks okay, if you like fangs.

Under other circumstances, Id have laughed. Kevin had been fine with fighting toe to toe with a particularly dangerous Djinn, but give him an angry dog, and he was just like anybody else. That was refreshing.

I pushed away that momentary pulse of amusement and focused back on Cherise, who was staring at George with wide eyes.

Okay, ready? I asked. She shook her head. Yes, you are. Give me your hand.

I thought for a second Cherise was going to revert to a second-grader and hold her hands against her chest, but finally she stretched one arm out, and I took hold and guided her to place her palm on Georges forehead. He was moaning softly, and he really didnt look good. I need you to feel the ground under us, I said. Its full of energy. It feels like honey, or syrupsomething slow and golden, okay? Can you feel that?

Cherise squeezed her eyes shut, and finally nodded. Its not very strong, she said doubtfully. She was right. It was my weakest specialty, generally. What do I do?

Imagine pulling that up into your body. Once you get it started, itll just flow on its own. God, I realized I hatedbeing a teacher. So much easier to do it than to say it. Words were so clumsy for this kind of thing. If I could just showher . . .

The frown deepened on her face, then cleared. Oh. Oh, right, I get it. That feels weird. Good, but weird.

Weirder than getting hit by lightning?

That felt great!

We were wandering off topic, and poor George was looking more than a little spooked. Well, this will, too. Now, I want you to just let that power move into your hand, your fingers, your palm. Then let it flow from you to George. Dont try to direct it. Just let it flow.

I remembered learning this, in fast, terse lessons from other Wardens who hadnt had the time to teach me all the proper techniques. Being a late bloomer meant Id missed all the classical education, but I had a good working knowledge of down-and-dirty first aid. One of the key things Lewis had taught me was that if you dont know how to do fine control with Earth power, dont try. Theres a certain instinct to it that pulls the power to where its needed most. Bodies want to heal. All we have to do is help them.

Its going in, Cherise said. I couldnt see a thing, but Kevin was watching in fascination, eyes gone wide and unfocused as he followed along in the aetheric. I think its working. I can see it in his blood. Its movingtheres some kind of a block. I think I can

No! both David and I said at the same time. I kept going. No, I told you, let the power work. Dont try to direct it!

From the look on her face, she was trying, but shed already made the mistake, and I could see it in Georges choked gasps. Wielding Earth power is like working with nanotechnologyyou have to be able to make controlled, very slight adjustments at a microscopic level. Its not brute force.

Cherise cried out, and George arched his back. His eyes rolled back in his head. I tore it! she yelled frantically. I tore something, its all bleeding out

Kevin reached out and added his hand on top of Chers, and even as magically blinded as I was, I felt the power flooding out of him. His eyes sparked and changed, and Georges labored breathing suddenly and dramatically eased.

Oh, Cherise said, in a very small voice. Like that. I see.

Kevin sat back, staring at her with those glittering, powerful eyes, and he said, Do you? Because you almost killed this guy because you were stupid. She toldyou not to do that. You blew out an artery, for Gods sake!

Cherise went white, clearly horrified and shocked as Kevin turned on her. It wasnt him, I realized; it was the fact that with Davids power, he was seeing way too much. He saw Cherises secret delight in having power, finallysomething that as a Warden hed probably never have picked up, but it reminded him of someone else.

It reminded him of his stepmother, I realized. Yvette. Hed seen her turn into a predatory monster, driven by that same kind of excitement and ambition. What he saw in Cherise was the opposite of Yvette Prentiss . . . a woman without any of that power, without any desire to have it or use it.

He was hating her right now, and she could tell.

Hey, I said, and put my hands on their shoulders. Good work. He seems better. George, are you feeling better?

He nodded, but he looked scared. Well, Id have been right there with him, if Id had two amateur psychic surgeons rummaging around in my innards. Who the hell are you people? You with the government? He wasfeeling better, because I heard suspicion kick in.

In a way, I said. Kevin, hows the patch? Solid?

Itll hold, he said. He had a blocked artery. Its clear now. Hell be okay.

Kev, Cher said anxiously. He stood up and walked away, head down, hands in his pockets. Im sorry! I didnt mean to do it!

Give him a minute, I said. Cher, hes used to the other you. The one without powers. Hes never trusted other Wardens, not any of us, not deep down. He hates feeling that way about you, too. Understand?

She didnt, really, but she blinked back tears and acted like she did. We got Mr. Bassey on his feet, had him walk around a little, and then put him back in his car. Mindy was extremely excited by this, and obviously protective; she stood with her stubby little legs on his and growled at us through the window.

Do you have someplace safe to go? I asked George, as he started up his car. He looked at me like I might have been completely insane.

Im going to the church, he said. Devils walking the streets, and I dont know what you people are. Church is the only place Ill feel safe.

I nodded. Be safe.

He put aside his suspicion long enough to say, God bless you all.

Mindy barked.

As his car pulled away, I heard Whitneys pained voice on the radio say, Nowcan we leave? Sweet Mother Moses, you people are more sentimental than my grand-mother into her third bottle of sipping whiskey!

Where does she come up with this stuff? I asked David.

He shrugged. I dont even know why shes a Djinn, he said. Its part of her charm.

The excitement of having saved one lifewell, two, if you counted Mindysmade me feel pretty good about things for a while, but my impulse to do-gooding was very firmly brought under control by Whitney, who informed us in cold, final tones that we would notstop until we got where we were going.

The next time I tried to get her to stop for a roadside rescue, she put me out like the proverbial light, and I had just enough time to think, You Southern-fried bitch . . .and I was gone.

For a long time.

Jo?

Then somebody was shaking me. I fought my way up out of what felt like the deepest, most dreamless rest Id ever had, and for a long second after opening my eyes I felt . . . good. Happy, even. At peace, because the face I was looking into was Davids.

He shook me harder. Jo, wake up! The urgency in his voice made me blink and scramble for a better grasp of things around me.

We were no longer in the Mustang. I didnt even seethe Mustang anywhere. I was propped against a brick wall, sitting on a sidewalk, facing a street. It was eerily quiet hereone might even say dead, because I didnt see a single sign of life. Not a bird flitting overhead, not an insect moving, not a single person in a car, window, or park. I looked up and down. It was a Norman Rockwell kind of street, clean and neata business district, with quaint little shops and cafes.

All deserted.

Overhead, the sky was gray, a kind of thick, featureless gray that seemed wrong even for an overcast. As I stared at it, I realized that it looked like smoke behind glass.

Were in Seacasket, I said. Home of the Fire Oracle.

Theres nothing here still alive, David said. We dont know why. We havent found any bodiesnot even of insects. Nothing. Theyre just . . . gone.

That was unsettling. The Fire Oracle wasnt exactly my BFF, but hed been a lot less antagonistic than the Air Oracle the times I had met him. Not anywhere close to human, but willing to acknowledge us. Seacasket was an unnaturally perfect sort of town, always had been; I thought it was some kind of side effect of the presence of the Oracle. Things had just always seemed a little too much in their place.

Wheres Cherise? Kevin? I looked around; I couldnt see them, either. Is the Djinn still with us?

He went with them, David said. I stayed with you.

Which didnt answer my question. I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up to my feet. I still felt sticky, hot, caked with sweat and coated in powdered concrete dust from our mall adventure. My hair was lank around my face, and if I could have wished for paradise, it would have been a spa whirlpool tub, and a skin treatment.

Later.

Where did they go?

For answer, he nodded down the street. I looked and saw nothing, but I headed in that direction while David quickly caught up. It felt good to walk; my legs had been out of practice, with all the driving. And suddenly, I felt another need, a really practical one. I stopped, feeling stupid, and said, Bathroom?

Theres a gas station up here, David said. Nobody in it, but the bathroom is open. We used it earlier.

We meaning everybody but me, I assumed. It seemed like a mile to the corner, where the banners for the gas station hung limp in the still, perfectly neutral air. It was like strolling through a movie set, deserted but ready for the cameras to arrive.

The bathroom was sparkling, except for the presence of a few paper towels in the trash can, which I presumed came from my traveling companions. After taking care of the obvious and pressing need, I took the opportunity to splash water on my face, scrub off the worst of the grubbiness. Nothing I could do for the clothes, which would need to find an incinerator to throw themselves into at some point, but theyd do for now. Although I would have sold a body partpossibly a major onefor fresh underwear.

I took a deep breath and looked at myself hard in the mirror. My eyes were shadowed, raccooned with dark rings. I looked anxious, drawn, and haunted.

Nice to know I was at my best. I tried to summon up the old confidence, and saw a glimmer or two of it in the smile, the cock of my head.

Well, I thought. If Im going to go down, Im going to go down fighting. I dont have to be ashamed of that.

David knocked on the door. Are you all right?

All these years, and he hadnt learned how women linger in a bathroom? Fine, I said, sighed, and ran my fingers through my hair againnot that it helped. Then I put that confident smile back on and opened the door. Lets go scare up an Oracle.

The Fire Oracles official public entrancewell, public to the Djinn, not to us measly humansexisted in a cemetery. Like the town of Seacasket, it was a little too perfecta carefully manufactured setting that gets nominated for set design at award shows. It was the very definition of historical and peaceful, what with all the green grass and lovely statues and well-tended grave-stones and mausoleums.

Not a single person visible. Not a bird cheeped. Not a blade of grass stirred.