It was an excellent guess. Yes, I signaled back.
Hold on, he said, which was not the response I expected. Are you close to the school?
Yes.
Then come in. I’ll let Marion know you’re coming.
No!I added the emphasis by tapping harder, two times, then another two, just to be sure. No!
All right, I get it. Got your message about the traitor. You want me to come to you?
No.
Then what the hell do you want,chica ?
I tapped the connection, steadily, five times, drawing attention to its presence. After a few seconds, he said, You need power, yeah, I got that. Come in to the school first.
NO!My signal this time was two strikes, as hard as I could make it. I gave out an audible growl of frustration.
Fine, he said. I’ll come to you. Got your position on the aetheric. Be there in half an hour.
No matter how many times I tapped the connection, or how hard, he refused to speak further. I gritted my teeth in frustration, and rode the bike up the narrow, winding trail. I was approaching the school from the south, but off the expected road; I knew I’d be running into the school’s first line of boundary defenses soon. Luis was taking his life into his hands coming out, but he still had a better chance of surviving that than I did coming in.
I needed to meet him halfway.
I was still well shy of the defenses—or so it seemed—when Luis appeared, on foot, at the top of the ridge above me. He didn’t say anything at first; neither did I, as I idled the bike, then cut the engine and settled it on the kickstand. The descent from the ridge was steeper than I would have attempted, but Luis took the direct approach; he broke loose a thick slab of rock with a kick, stepped on it, and rode it like a surfboard down the rugged, snow-dotted hill, skidding to a halt in front of me.
Earth Wardens. So showy.
“Well,” he said. “You came back.”
“I had to,” I said. “There’s a traitor with a Djinn at his command inside the school. No one there is safe, and nobody can be trusted.” He nodded, not looking away from my face. “You’re not surprised.”
“No,” he said. “I’m not.” He looked up the slope, and I realized that we weren’t alone.
Rashid was standing there, looking spotless and sober in his black suit. He folded his hands and stared down at me with an expressionless intensity that made me feel very, very vulnerable. If I couldn’t fight a mere Weather Warden’s attack, how much chance did I have against a Djinn?
“You came back,” Luis repeated. “I didn’t think you would, Cass. I really, really didn’t.” And then he said, almost in a whisper, “I’m so sorry. I did tell you that you weren’t going to like what I was doing.”
Rashid jumped off the ridge and landed flat-footed beside Luis. No mistaking it; Luis hardly glanced his direction. No surprise at all.
The realization came to me slowly, but it brought with it a massive shift of perspective. Luis wasn’t surprised by Rashid’s presence ... because he knew that the Djinn was there.
He knew whythe Djinn was there.
And there was only one person who could know that.
I stared at Luis, and after a moment he reached in his pocket and took out a small, thick bottle sealed with a simple rubber stopper. He held it up for me to see, then put it back.
“You,” I said. “You have Rashid.”
“Yes.”
“Before I left you?”
“Yes,” Luis said. His voice was soft, but definite. “After you told me you were taking off, he showed up, carrying a message from the other Wardens. It was a God-given opportunity, Cass. I couldn’t take the risk that Ibby would be left without a last line of defense. That’s what he’s for.”
“You enslaved Rashid.” I felt sick, lost, and deeply betrayed. “Knowing what you know, you still did it, by force.”
Luis had the grace to look away. “I wasn’t sure it would work,” he said. “But I had to have something in reserve. I couldn’t depend on you; I knew that. You toldme that, straight out.”
I had. I just hadn’t expected him to take me so literally.
“You’re not turning against the Wardens, or the school,” I said. “Then why—?”
“It was a strategy with Marion. We knew you’d leave us; we needed to flush out the threats along the way. I wanted to warn you. I tried to warn you.” Luis seemed uncomfortable now, and reluctant to spell it out; Rashid, on the other hand, smiled and picked up the thread.
“What your faithful lover is trying to say is that Marion ordered Warden Harley to his position in the first place. When you left, Luis arranged for me to send you there as well—expecting that with Harley a sitting target, any opposition would be drawn to him.” He shrugged. “I admit, the bargain to destroy Warden Harley was all my doing. But you didn’t have to kill him yourself. No harm done.”
“Shut up,” Luis said, and uncorked the container.
Rashid gave him a sudden, startlingly violent look that dripped of hatred. “A moment,” he said, voice still smooth despite the depth of that emotion. “She needs to know this.”
“What?” I asked.
“You can’t believe him,” Luis said.
“ Youcan’t believe him,” I corrected him. “He has no reason to lie to me. Rashid?”
“The children from Chicago,” the Djinn said. “I know where they were being taken.”
“It doesn’t matter—she could have moved them anywhere . . .”
He smiled, but it wasn’t at all friendly. “I was thorough. Their final destination was in New Jersey.”
I could believe him or not, and clearly Luis wasn’t prepared to trust his word, but something in Rashid’s gaze prompted me to believe. I inclined my head slowly. “Thank you.”
“Don’t thank me,” he said. “Destroy the bitch. That’s why you’re here, not for this mortal nonsense.”
That broke Luis’s temper with an almost visible snap. “Back inside the bottle, Rashid. Now.”
Rashid stretched himself out into a thin black mist and flowed into the glass. Luis slammed the cork home and dropped it into his pocket. “I said it before—you can’t believe him. He was supposed to warn you before sending you in there,” he said. “I told him to do it, but I didn’t make it an order. I didn’t think I had to. I thought he was your friend.”
“He was an ally,” I corrected. “And it wasn’t a strike at me; it was a strike at you. I was incidental. Also, I thought youwere my friend. But you used me.”
“Had to. We needed to make sure we got all of Pearl’s scouts.”
“You sent me out blind.Knowing the odds.”
“Yeah, that’s how it worked out,” he said softly. “What, did you think you were the only hard-ass on the team, Cass? The only one who could make the hard choices? I chose to do what I had to. I had to protect this school and the kids inside. I trusted you to do what youhad to do to protect yourself. I didn’t think it would send you running back here.”
I bared my teeth. “I came running back here to save you.”
“I know that now,” he said, and stepped forward. “And I’m sorry. I’m sorry I didn’t trust you more than that, but I really thought Rashid would warn you. I really did.”
I took in a deep breath. “Give me the bottle.”
“I can’t do that. We need him. He’s the last defense for the kids.”