But I couldnt stop. Her legs needed healing fast, or shed lose them. I moved down her body and made sure she was kept unconscious as I moved the broken pieces, aligned them, and started binding them together in golden strips of power, spiraling up the structure and holding it together. The power sank slowly into the bone and fused it togethernot strong, yet, but set.

Then I let her come up from the dark, leading her slowly and gently back to the light.

Cherise opened her eyes with a choking gasp, coughed, and stared blindly up at the sky for a few seconds before her pupils contracted and focused on my face.

Tommy? she asked. I pulled the toddler over. He was still whimpering, but at the sight of Cherises smile he waved his hands and smiled back.

Hes fine, I said. Cher, dont try to get up. Stay down, let your body adjust, okay? I have to put some braces on your legs.

My legs? She looked confused, then alarmed. Oh my God, what happened to my legs?

They were broken, I said. I fixed them, but youre going to have to watch it for a while. The braces are just to keep you from banging into things, twisting, that kind of thing. I tried to get up, but my body wouldnt do it. It justrefused. Okay, sitting was good. I was all right with a little rest, I supposed. I reached out and pulled over a couple of broken pieces of wood, wrapped each one in sheets from the bed, and wrapped the whole thing around her right leg, then repeated my construction project for the left.

Cherise said, in a very small voice, I dont feel good anymore. Not like I did.

I know. That energy, humming and snapping through my body, was something that Id never known I had, really, until it was gone. I could understand how Cherise felt, to have been given that gift, and then to lose it.

Youve got it.

Yep.

Because I died, she said, which made me stop what I was doing and look at her in mute concern. What? Its true, right? I died, and I lost the power, and it moved on to the next person it could reach. Had to be you, or . . . Her eyes widened, and we both said it at the same time. Kevin.

I hadnt spared a thought for him, not a single second. If I had, Cherise wouldnt have made it. But she wouldnt see it that way, and I wouldnt blame her a bit. It was a callous thing to do, not to at least try to find him. Problem was, now that I had the time, I didnt have the energy. No way could I find him, or heal him if I did.

David, I said, and closed my eyes. The cord that bound us together was back in place now, strong and vital, but stretched very thin. Still, I knew he could hear me. I knew he would. David, I need you to find Kevin.

David cant do anything; hes in Djinn Disneyland, Cherise said, and batted at me weakly. You have to go! Go find him!

I cant, Cher. I said it softly, but I thought she could feel the absolute truth of it. I just cant right now.

Her eyes filled with tears, and she tried to push herself up. I held her down. She yelled at me, cursed, called me names that would have stung if I hadnt been so tired and drained.

Then she went quiet, and I looked over my shoulder to see the Djinn whod been driving our car walking through the rubble toward us.

Draped in his arms was Kevins lank, limp body.

Cherise let out a soundnot a scream, not a cry, but some awful mixture of the two. It was raw and un-thought, and scraped at me like fingernails on a burn. Oh, sweetie, Im so sorry, I thought wearily. Wed all said we understood the risks, but this was different.

We never really understood until it came down to this.

The Djinn knelt down and put Kevin on the carpet next to Cherise. There wasnt a mark on Kevin, nothing at all.

He was just . . . gone. The life had been taken right out of him. All the working pieces were still there, in a body that could have still lived on, but some great, overwhelming force had commanded it to be still.

And I knew, as I touched his hand, that there was no way I could bring him back. Kevinall that had made up the complicated, fragile, angry, vindictive, sometimes brave boy Id knownall that was gone, blown away like a puffball on the wind.

His eyes were open wide, pupils expanded to drink in the light. He looked very, very young. His hair still gleamed in the dim, cloudy lightwet from his shower, or from the rain Id brought down. Hed been strong, and sometimes hed been good, and losing him shouldnt have hurt so very badly.

I put my hand on his forehead, one last and gentle benediction from someone who should have liked him more, helped him more, done better for him. Hed been torn apart as a child, made into a monster, and hed tried, dammit. Hed tried so hard to be different.

He would have been a good man eventually. I knew it.

I wanted to cry, but the tears wouldnt come. They choked me deep inside but refused to rise. Maybe I needed them. Maybe it wasnt time to mourn.

Jo. It was Davids voice, coming from the Djinns mouth. Theres nothing

I know! I snarled at him, suddenly and irrationally furious with David, of all people. Just leave me the hell alone, okay? I know theres nothing I could have done!

He rose to his feet, staring down at me, and then nodded. Ill get the car, he said. Let me know if you want to bury him before we go.

Now Cherise was screaming at him. I didnt think David minded. He was staying quietly neutral, aware that we had to deal with this in our own ways. He moved the Djinn back, out of our view.

Cherise finally stopped spitting out accusations, and gathered up the wailing, frightened toddler in her arms, hugging him close. Id never pegged her as the motherly type, but watching her, I could see it. She put on a smile for the boy, soothed him, and when that was done, I could see that shed reached some fragile acceptance inside.

Were not just leaving him here like this, like road-kill, she told me. Promise me.

I promise, I said. Ill make sure hes taken care of.

I meant it, of course, and she could tell that. She didnt make any objection as I gestured for the Djinn to come back and scoop Kevin up in his arms. I knew it was David on the inside of the avatar, but somehow I couldnt make myself reach out for him. It wasnt really David. Just a flicker of will. A phantom. A shadow.

I pulled myself up to my feet without any help from him, looked down at myself, and said, I need to find my clothes. It was a measure of how insane things were that nobody else seemed to have noticed I was naked. Cherise, in fact, looked surprised. I left them in the bathroom.

For answer, the Djinn nodded toward a spot on the carpeta relatively clean one. A pile of clothing materialized therewhite shirt, sturdy pants that looked suspiciously like I remembered the drapes to be. My own shoes, recovered and cleaned. Plain white bra and panties and socks.

Djinn couldnt create out of thin air, but they could recycle. Hed used the raw material of extra sheets, the curtains, towels, whatever textile was around, and hed managed to produce a decent attempt at a wardrobe. Clean and dry, if not stylish.

I struggled into it fast. It fit, of course. Djinn tailoring always fit. I tied my hair back with a stray scrap of fabric blowing in the dirt and started to follow the Djinn out of the rubble.

Jo? Cherise called. I looked back. She was sitting up, cradling the fretful boy in her lap. She looked huge-eyed and emotionally shattered, but at least she was physically okay. For now. I want to go with you.

No. If you put any weight on those legs right now, they could break again. They need at least an hour to finish building the seal in the break. Thats as fast as I can do it.

Okay. She swallowed, but didnt look away. I want to see him buried. Please. Take me with you.

I hesitated, then nodded. Ill send the Djinn back for you, I said. Wait here, okay? I promise, itll only be a few minutes.