djinn wars 02 - taken Read online

  “‘His baby’?” Zahrias repeated, one eyebrow lifting slightly at my use of the word.

  “Well, he seemed pretty engrossed in using it. He hardly even looked around. In fact, I’m not sure he glanced up once, except to see where he was walking so he wouldn’t trip over something.” That had been strange, now that I was recalling the scene in detail. You’d have thought the man would at least have looked to see who he’d caught in his net, but apparently not.

  “Have you ever heard of anything like this box? Seen anything like it?”

  I shook my head at once. “Zahrias, up until yesterday, I didn’t even know that the djinn were real.”

  His mouth compressed. “Foolish of Jasreel. He should have told you the truth immediately, and not let it go for so long. You could have been safely here with the rest of us.”

  Funny how I’d been thinking more or less the same thing. Hashing over Jace’s mistakes — real or perceived — wouldn’t change anything, though, so I only shrugged and said, “Maybe so. Anyway, no, I’ve never heard of a device like that. But I suppose if one of the scientists was immune, and he figured out what had happened…then I suppose it’s possible he came up with a way to interfere with djinn powers somehow. I say ‘somehow’ because I’m not a physicist or an engineer. I have absolutely no idea how something like that would even work. Obviously it does, though, because I saw him using it. I saw — I saw what it did to Jace.” On his name, my voice broke, and I raised the glass of wine to my lips and drank again. I doubted that fooled Zahrias for a second, but at least it gave me a chance to attempt to regain my composure.

  He frowned, then stepped over to the table so he could pour a bit more from the bottle into his glass. Since I’d only had four or five sips so far, he didn’t offer to give me any more, but only set down the bottle and turned back toward the fire, his expression settling into that same blankness I’d first seen when I approached him. At the same time, I could see those odd, fiery flickers around his head, cousins to the ones that danced in the hearth. Did they materialize when he was worried, or troubled, or were they something that came and went at their own whim, like little companion dogs?

  I certainly didn’t have the courage to ask.

  Because he didn’t seem inclined to speak further, I only stood there, growing increasingly uncomfortable as the silence stretched between us. Through sheer force of will, I kept myself from drinking too much of the wine out of the impulse to be doing something…anything.

  At last he shifted back toward me. “This puts us in a difficult position. You know how several of our Chosen went to Los Alamos to gather what intelligence they could, and did not return?”

  I nodded. At this stage in the game, I didn’t see the point in denying that I’d been eavesdropping on Zahrias’ conversation with Jace.

  “You have seen this device in action, and so now I know more than I did before you arrived. What we cannot know is if it only works on one djinn at a time, or whether its power can affect a number of us simultaneously. I had thought we would be safe here in Taos, that our numbers would be enough to deter the survivors in Los Alamos, but….” He let the words die away, and although he didn’t quite shrug, I thought I saw his shoulders move slightly.

  “How many of you are there?”

  “Fifty of those djinn we refer to as ‘the One Thousand,’ and their Chosen, and then myself, and you and your travel companion.” Zahrias smiled, but it was thin, hardly even a baring of his teeth. “Fifty djinn with their assembled powers would be quite enough under normal circumstances. I fear, however, that these circumstances are far from normal.”

  Even though I still found him intimidating, at the same time I couldn’t help feeling a bit sorry for Zahrias. It couldn’t be easy to have thought of yourself all along as invincible, only to discover that you were actually very far from it.

  I couldn’t offer any words of reassurance, because I didn’t have any. And I wasn’t going to contemplate the utter strangeness of a desire to offer Zahrias reassurance. For a moment I was silent, turning the wine glass around in my hands, feeling the cool surface against fingers that I’d thought would never be warm again. Here, though, everything was warm. Djinn magic?

  Then I said, “That’s why I need to go to Los Alamos. I have to set Jace free somehow, and while I’m there, I can try to find out more about that device — what it does, how powerful it is.”

  Another one of those thin smiles. “Just like that? And how is it that you think you’ll succeed when our own Chosen didn’t?”

  Good question. I paused, attempting to gather my thoughts. After sipping my wine again, I replied, “Well, for one thing, the leader of the group from Los Alamos basically gave me an open invitation. He said I was welcome to come join them if I changed my mind.”

  “Indeed?” Zahrias sounded skeptical, and I couldn’t blame him. I probably would’ve sounded equally doubtful if our situations had been reversed.

  “Indeed. And even if he hadn’t, I’d still have to go. I can’t leave Jace with them.”

  The djinn leader’s expression shifted then, although I couldn’t quite read it. Something like a flicker of amusement, or possibly irritation. Whatever that look was, it disappeared before I was able to decipher it. All he said, though, was, “Perhaps. But you cannot go tonight, so let Lauren — she was the Chosen who led you here — show you where you will be staying. And the Chosen are having a special dinner as well…it is your Christmas, I think.”

  Holy crap, it was. Sometime during the journey from Santa Fe to Taos, the actual date had completely slipped my mind. And Zahrias was right about one thing — I couldn’t set out for Los Alamos tonight, not in the dark with more snow falling. It was probably a good idea to get some rest, one or two good meals, and then decide what to do next. If I was really lucky, the storm would pass as well, and I’d have better luck striking out for Los Alamos in the morning.

  Besides, if I said I wasn’t itching to meet more of the Chosen, I’d be lying.

  Chapter Five

  Lauren was waiting for me outside the conference room where I’d met with Zahrias. I had no idea whether she’d been standing there the whole time, or whether he’d sent some sort of silent signal to summon her.

  Either way, it was a relief to be away from him, to not have to worry about the way he was or wasn’t dissecting everything I said. I could tell he thought my plan to go to Los Alamos was a waste of time, but at least he hadn’t attempted to talk me out of it. Not yet, anyway.

  “Your friend Evony brought your things in from your car,” Lauren said, leading me down a hallway that clearly led to a block of hotel rooms. “She’s already set in her own room, and you’re just a few doors down.”

  “So are all of the Chosen staying here at the resort?” I asked.

  “Not all. There are a few more up the street at the Taos Inn. We were a lot more scattered around the town, using vacant houses and B&Bs and whatever was most appealing, but then Zahrias was concerned after four of our Chosen disappeared when they went to Los Alamos, so he made us all move where we would be closer together.”

  From a tactical standpoint, that made sense. You wouldn’t want your forces spread out all over town. On the other hand, nice as this hotel was, it had to feel sort of cramped to be stuck in a single room after having a house all to yourself.

  “Here we are,” she went on, opening a door for me. “We’ve disabled the outer locks because we didn’t want to mess around with key cards, but you can still lock the door from the inside.”

  Seeing the room that had been waiting for me, I thought I might have to revise that “cramped” judgment when it came to these hotel rooms. I had no idea how much they varied from room to room, but mine was very large, much bigger than the apartment I’d lived in over my parents’ garage, and had a kiva-style fireplace in one corner, a little sitting area with a chair and love seat, and an enormous carved bed. Gazing at it, I wished with all my soul that Jace could be here to share that bed with
me.

  He will, I told myself fiercely. You’ll find him, and rescue him, and then you can test out that bed and see how it compares to the one back in Santa Fe.

  For some reason, though, that thought made me worried rather than hopeful. What if I couldn’t rescue him? After all, it wasn’t as if Zahrias had offered me any helpful advice on the subject. No, more the reverse. I could tell he didn’t think I would be successful, that I was intent on carrying out a fool’s mission.

  Well, I looked forward to proving him wrong.

  Something must have shifted in my expression, because Lauren gave me what she probably thought was an understanding smile. “It must be hard, being separated from your partner. But we’re having a big dinner in about a half hour. Please come and join us. It’ll help take your mind off things.”

  I sort of doubted that a turkey dinner would soothe my woes, but I’d already resolved to eat a good meal and get some rest, so I didn’t bother to contradict her. Summoning a smile of my own, I said, “That sounds great. Where are you having the dinner?”

  “In the restaurant here, De La Tierra. You can follow the signs to find it. And one of our Chosen was actually a chef down in Santa Fe, so it’ll be good. Philip is awesome.”

  Right then, any kind of hot meal sounded awesome, especially one I didn’t have to prepare myself. “Great,” I told her. “I’ll get myself straightened up a little, and then I’ll come find you all.”

  “Perfect,” she said, with another one of those bright, blazing smiles, then let herself out. I had no idea what her story was, and I didn’t know if I’d have the time to find out, but clearly she wasn’t having too many issues with being Chosen, with having a djinn lover.

  Or maybe she was just one of those people who happened to be really good at hiding what she was actually thinking.

  Either way, it wasn’t really my problem. More pressing was the realization that all I’d brought for a change of clothes was another pair of jeans and a bulky gray sweater. I hadn’t really been thinking I’d need a party wardrobe on this trip.

  Oh, well. As I’d told myself earlier, I wasn’t here to impress anyone. I’d packed things that were warm and serviceable. If the Chosen here couldn’t handle that, it was their problem, not mine.

  Someone knocked at the door as I was brushing the tangles out of my hair. I went to see who it was and nearly got bowled over by Dutchie as she went rushing past me so she could sniff around the room before coming back to paw at my leg.

  “Looks like someone was missing their mommy,” Evony said as she came in as well. I noticed she was holding the little backpack I used to carry all of the dog’s supplies. I also noticed that she’d had time to get spruced up; her dark hair gleamed in sleek waves over her shoulders, and she’d changed into a festive red sweater just a shade brighter than the color she wore on her lips.

  “More like she wants her dinner,” I replied, bending down to scratch behind Dutchie’s ears. After taking the backpack from Evony, I got out the dog dishes and filled one with water and the other with dry food, then placed them on the floor. Dutchie set to immediately, tail wagging.

  “Speaking of dinner,” Evony went on, giving my drab ensemble a jaundiced look, “you are not wearing that to go meet all those Chosen and their djinn, are you?”

  “Well, sorry. I guess I plum forgot to pack any party clothes.”

  She sighed. “I figured. Let me go get you something.”

  “It doesn’t matter — ” I began to protest, and she held up a hand.

  “It matters to me. I don’t want to show up with someone who looks like something the cat dragged in.”

  “What, am I your date now or something?”

  Her lip curled. “Don’t flatter yourself.”

  I couldn’t help grinning, and she went back out. Since Dutchie was occupied with inhaling her dinner, I went over to the window and looked out while I waited for Evony to return. There was actually more to see than I thought; snow still fell, but the lights in the garden area outside were on, illuminating the bare trees and shrubs, and the thicker, darker shapes of the pines and junipers that dotted the landscaping. It was probably very beautiful in the spring and summer, but right now it just looked bleak, abandoned. I also had to wonder about the electricity. Were the djinn powering the grid somehow? Had to be; all this couldn’t be running on stored solar energy alone.

  Since I hadn’t locked the door, when Evony came back, she let herself in. In one hand she held a small makeup bag, while a bright kelly-green sweater was draped over her other arm.

  “I don’t think we have time for a makeover,” I began, but she ignored me and went into the dressing area in the bathroom, then set the makeup bag down on the counter.

  “This isn’t a makeover,” she said. “Just a quick sprucing-up. Take off that trash bag you’re wearing and put this on.” She tossed the sweater to me, and I caught it. I would’ve said that she and I were roughly the same size, although I was about an inch taller, but that sweater looked too small for either of us.

  From the glint in her eye, I could tell she was poised and ready to counter any argument I might give her, so I decided it wasn’t worth arguing about. Instead, I took the sweater and pulled the one I was wearing over my head, then drew on the one she’d given me. As I’d feared, it was tight. Not “I can’t breathe” tight, but a lot more snug than anything I’d worn for months, even the slinky black dress I’d put on for Thanksgiving.

  But I shouldn’t have thought of that dress, because then I recalled how Jace’s eyes had lit up when he caught sight of me, the way he’d told me I was beautiful. While I was keeping myself busy, I could stop myself from worrying about him, but if I let my guard down, like in moments such as this…well, I could feel the worry seize me again, the sharp burn of tears at the back of my eyes.

  Don’t, I told myself. Just don’t.

  So I managed to swallow, hard, and force the tears back to wherever they’d come from. At the same time, I twitched the sweater more or less into position. Since I was wearing jeans tucked into knee-high boots, it didn’t look too mismatched. I hoped.

  “Come here,” Evony commanded, so I went into the dressing area. She eyed me critically and nodded. “That’s a good color on you. And your hair doesn’t look quite so much like home-fried crap now that you’ve brushed it.”

  “Gee, thanks,” I said.

  One corner of her mouth quirked slightly, but she just handed me a tube of lipstick. “Try this one. It’s nice and festive.”

  I took it from her but looked down at it dubiously. To say I wasn’t a lipstick kind of girl was an understatement. Lately, all I’d been wearing was colored lip balm, and even when I used to get dressed up, I always went for gloss. Lipstick felt sort of old lady-ish to me, unless you were going for Evony’s clearly intentional retro look.

  But since she obviously wanted me to put it on, and I just wanted to get done with the primping so I could get some food in my stomach, I spread a light coating over my lips. It looked garish against my pale skin, but Evony gave a satisfied nod.

  “Much better. Don’t suppose you packed any mascara?”

  “No,” I replied. Lip balm and deodorant and a toothbrush and toothpaste, yes. Makeup had been pretty far down on my list of priorities.

  “Too bad.” She squinted at me and then shrugged. “Good thing you have nice eyelashes anyway. I know people who would’ve killed for those.”

  I actually always had been proud of my lashes — a feature I’d inherited from my mother — but for obvious reasons, I hadn’t been paying much attention to them lately. At least at the moment they’d save me from having to put on mascara, though.

  “It’s all in the genes, I guess,” I said lightly. “Are you ready?” I figured she must be, since she looked like she was about to go out on a hot date instead of have Christmas dinner with a bunch of strangers.

  “Yes.” Despite her reply, she looked a little uneasy. Maybe it was just the prospect of having to face a ro
om full of people she didn’t know, but in my short acquaintance with her, Evony hadn’t exactly struck me as the sort of person who was lacking in confidence.

  Or maybe it was having to go meet a group of Chosen, and know that your own djinn partner was in captivity miles and miles away. I could relate to that feeling.

  But I’d told Lauren I would go. Anyway, I was hungry, and I guessed that Evony must be starving, too, since she hadn’t eaten much more on the drive here than I had.

  I patted Dutchie on the head, told her I’d be back soon, and then closed the door behind me and went to the hall, where Evony had been waiting for me while I attended to the dog. We were both quiet as we walked back toward the more public areas of the resort, following the signs to the restaurant.

  Which was already full when we got there. Evony and I both hung back a little, watching as people moved to and from an enormous buffet that had been set up on a series of long tables off to one side. Christmas music played in the background, and everyone seemed to be laughing and chatting and generally having a good time.

  After so many months of only being around Jace, of hearing very little music — the real estate developer’s music collection hadn’t been much to my taste — the assortment of sounds seemed almost deafening. My first instinct was to duck back toward the lobby and hide in my room, and it seemed as if Evony was feeling about the same way.

  But then Lauren approached us, smiling, and said, “I’ve been saving seats for you two. Let me take you over to my table.”

  Oh, thank God. Hers was the only halfway familiar face I’d seen so far, and, with any luck, her table would be somewhere tucked away to one side where we could mostly escape notice.

  No such luck. It was out in the middle of the dining room, and I could feel everyone watching as Evony and I made our way over to it and took the chairs Lauren indicated. Not wanting to be obvious about staring, I’d only gathered scattered impressions of the people in attendance, but it seemed to me that the Chosen were all in their twenties and extremely good-looking. There didn’t seem to be any djinn here. In a way, that made sense; I sort of doubted they were the type to celebrate Christmas. No, this party was for the mortals living here in Taos, a way for them to feel somewhat normal in a world that would never be normal again.