I didnt. I didnt trust the Djinn anymore, after what Id seen of the Air Oracle, not to mention Rahel. Still . . . his eyes werent that tell-tale shining white, and hed managed to keep the car safe in the middle of a truly world-class disaster scene.

Get in, he repeated, and I heard that odd chorusing effect in his voice again, as if more than one person was speaking through him. Lord, you people are so hard to save.

The voice had shifted again, one taking prominencea honey-dark voice with a Southern accent. Female. I knew it, but I couldnt exactly place it. Whowho am I talking to?

Who did you think youd be talking to, sugar? the Djinn mouthpiece said, and all of the doors blew open on the car, inviting us inside. Whos still locked up like that damn genie in a bottle that all the stories talk about?

David smiled in pure, wild relief. Whitney, he said. Its Whitney.

Kevin and Cherise looked at us both like wed gone insane. That guy is talking like a girl, Kevin pointed out. Like a Southern belle.

More like down-South trailer

Hey, the Djinn said, annoyance curdling the honey in her voice. This is my long-distance call, children. Dont waste my minutes. Now get in the car, please.

Shes okay, David said. Get in.

And we did, although none of us except David felt a hundred percent good about it, I thought. As soon as we were strapped in, the Djinns out-of-character voice said, Yall hold on now. This is going to get real interesting. She said it with all the vowels. Int-er-est-ing.

I gulped as I felt the car lurch, and then it rocketed straight up, twenty feet in the air, and zoomed like a jet over the wrecks in the parking lot. Well, more like a sustained, long jump, maybe, because as we reached the road the trajectory sharpened, and we thumped down on the pavement in the first open space available.

The Djinn hit the gas and started his Jeff Gordon impersonation again.

Whitney is the Djinn I left behind as insurance when we sailed out, David said. Sealed up in a pocket universe at Jonathans house, away from everything. She was my backup as Conduit.

Still am, sugar, Whitney said. This time, her voice came out of the radio, which was only about half as weird as when it was coming out of the male Djinn. And Im just about the only damn help youve got, so be grateful. I cant believe you stuck me with this job.

Not intentionally, David said, and winced as I prodded his wounded side. Believe me, Id rather have my powers back.

Neither of us mentioned the big, stinky elephant in the car, which was Kevin, sitting in the backseat, looking shaken and deeply disturbed. Kevin, who had somehow acquired powers he shouldnt have had.

Like Cherise.

Surprisingly, it was Kevin who interrupted the pregnant pause. I dont want it, he blurted. He looked green, and I wondered if he was about to get sick all over us. He swallowed twice, and finally seemed to get himself together. I want to give it back to you. Whatever the hell that is.

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 thats new 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 happened to end up with your lost powers?

When she put it like that, I had to admit, it did seem 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, you can 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 hers now, 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.