“And I’ll return with you, Julia,” Miles said. “I’ve done what I can here, but I really need my lab to continue with the proper research on modifying my device.”
Next to him, Lindsay seemed to stiffen, but she didn’t say anything.
“And I’d like Lindsay to come with me, if she agrees,” he went on. “I think I could make a good deal of progress with her assistance, especially once we have access to the lab and its resources.”
She did turn toward him then. “You want me to go with you to Los Alamos?”
“Yes…if you’d like to.”
For a second or two, she didn’t say anything. Then she nodded. “Sure. Yes. That is, I think I could do more good there.”
If Zahrias was at all mystified by this exchange, he didn’t show it. “If that is your wish. We will miss you here, but it is true that you and Dr. Odekirk have unique skills that might be better suited to the Los Alamos community. Do you think anyone would mind, Mr. Sutherland?”
Brent startled at being addressed so, but then he shook his head. “No, I think everyone will be relieved to have Miles back. And if he has an assistant, all the better, I guess.”
“Well, then,” Zahrias said. “Let us pose the issue of Ms. Innes as the new leader of Los Alamos to the rest of your men, and go from there. Shall we?”
He stood, and the rest of us followed suit, Margolis stalking along under Dani’s watchful eye. I hung back so Jace and I could exit the room after the rest of them had already left.
“Do you really think they’ll go for it?” I asked.
Jace shrugged. “You would know better than I. You lived among them for some weeks.”
That was true, but I couldn’t begin to guess how the men would react to being asked if they’d have Julia as their leader. They had to have been hand-picked by Margolis, which meant I doubted they’d be very sympathetic to her cause. Then again, the commander had included Brent Sutherland among his team, and so they couldn’t all be thugs like Butch and Mitch. If they did decide against Julia, then I supposed the mantle would fall to Brent, as much as he might dislike it. I could tell that Zahrias wanted the matter settled; it wasn’t in his nature to allow the men who’d come here under Margolis’ command to return to Los Alamos without first settling the conundrum of who should lead them next.
And since Brent and everyone else had gotten a taste of what it was like to confront djinn who weren’t being hamstrung by one of Miles’s devices, I doubted any of them would protest too loudly.
The group from Los Alamos had been herded into the center of the plaza, next to the obelisk commemorating the Indian Wars, where once upon a time Jace and I had lit candles of remembrance for all the loved ones lost. That felt so long ago now, like something from a different life. Back then, Jace had been Jason Little River to me, not Jasreel, and I doubted I’d ever thought of djinn as anything except fairytale beings out of the Arabian Nights or something.
Now, though, they were my family. Or at least the ones around me were.
Butch and Mitch stood at the front of the group of captives, glaring at the djinn who watched over them. The djinn appeared more amused than anything else. It was all too obvious who had the upper hand here.
“We’ve come to a decision,” Zahrias announced. Several of the captured men exchanged furtive, frightened glances. It seemed fairly clear that they expected to be executed on the spot.
He gestured to Julia, and she stepped forward to stand next to him. I could tell she hated being the center of attention like that…and maybe she hated having to stand next to Zahrias and not show any kind of reaction. I wished I’d had the guts to ask her if she was even the tiniest bit attracted to him. But any conversation along those lines had sounded in my head like being back in junior high and asking a friend, “Do you like him? I mean, like like him?”
No way.
Now that opportunity was gone, and I could only stand there, my hand in Jace’s as we watched Zahrias address the captives.
“We seek no war with you, no matter what your commander might have told you. It is unfortunate that we cannot govern the actions of the other djinn, but even so, we should not have to take the blame for their depredations. Captain Margolis must stay here as our prisoner, as he has proven himself to be an active threat. The rest of you, however, may return to your homes, as long as you agree to elect a new leader.”
“Great,” Mitch said, all bravado, although I noticed he wouldn’t look directly at Zahrias. “Then I nominate myself.”
“Shut up, dumb-ass,” Brent retorted. He stood on the other side of Julia, his hands jammed in his pockets. “You couldn’t lead a drunk frat boy to a keg. No, who we had in mind was Ms. Innes here.”
Startled murmurs erupted at that statement. Julia flushed, although I noticed she kept her head held high.
“But she — ” Mitch began, only to have the man standing next to him, a big guy with the blurred outline of a former athlete gone to fat, elbow him in the ribs.
“I think that’s a great idea,” the man said. “All the food consignments have gone to shit since you left, Julia.”
She actually smiled. “Sorry to hear that, Henry. I’ll have to look into it.”
The murmurs, which before had sounded almost hostile, now became almost approving. I saw a lot of the men nodding, as if putting two and two together and realizing that life had been a lot better before Margolis accused Julia of treason and locked her up.
“She’s a goddamn traitor,” Butch said loudly. Brent scowled and took a step toward him, but Julia shook her head.
“He’s right,” she said, her voice clear and strong, carrying over the crowd. As she stood there, the cool breeze playing with the ends of her hair, she reminded me of a painting I’d seen once of the British warrior princess Boudicca. Their features weren’t similar; it was the lift of the chin, the proud set of their shoulders, that brought the resemblance to mind. “In Margolis’ eyes, I am a traitor. I set Jace and Jessica and Evony free because it was the right thing to do. All Jessica and Evony had done was try to rescue the people they loved. And Jace’s only crime was being a djinn. That wasn’t enough for me. They were innocent of any wrongdoing. And so Dan” — she stopped then, her throat working, before pushing on — “so Dan and I let them go. Margolis killed Dan for that. Just for doing the right thing. And he locked me up. And he….”
This time she hesitated for so long that I was certain she wouldn’t continue, wouldn’t dare to say it, not in front of so many people. But her chin went up again, and she said coldly, “He raped me, just because he could. Because he wanted to show me who was in control. That’s the man you followed. And you call these djinn here monsters?”
The muttering grew angry again, but now their ire was clearly directed against Margolis, who for the first time appeared almost glad of his djinn escort and the protection it offered. Dani’s mouth twisted in distaste, and he called out to Zahrias, “So sure you still want to keep this one captive, brother? He should be put out of his misery, for all our sakes.”
Zahrias’ features might have been carved from stone. He didn’t look at Julia as he said, “No. We have already said he would be our prisoner. Truly, his crimes have earned him a sentence of death, but, as you said, that would put him out of his misery, and I believe he should suffer being himself for some time further.”
Butch and Mitch were staring at the ground. I’d always thought of the two as big dumb jerks — and they were — but clearly Julia’s declaration had shocked even them.
Brent, white-faced and calm, said, “Does anyone object to having Julia Innes as the new leader in Los Alamos?”
Dead silence. He waited a second, then several more. After that he turned to her and extended his hand. “Looks like you’re in charge, ma’am.”
And as such matters usually did, everything went way too fast after that. Julia asked me to come back to her townhouse with her — so I could help her pack, she said, but I knew she wanted to talk. In the mean
time, the Los Alamos group was guided back to the spot on the western edge of town where they’d left their vehicles.
Just before they departed, Brent Sutherland approached me, expression both worried and puzzled. “Evony,” he said in an undertone. “I haven’t seen her anywhere around. Where is she?”
My heart seemed to clench in my chest, but I made myself reply, “I’m so sorry, Brent. She’s — she’s gone. We lost her when we were bringing Miles back from Los Alamos. A group of rogue djinn attacked our caravan. She — ” I forced myself to swallow. The tears were back, like a hard, burning knot in my throat. “She took some of them with her, though.”
Brent’s eyes were glistening as well. “I’ll bet she did. That girl had heart.” He paused for a few seconds, obviously gathering himself. “I’ll let Shawn know. He had sort of a thing for her, I think. Of course he knew it couldn’t go anywhere, because of who Evony was, but….”
That was where he stopped, and I didn’t press him to stay anything else. It hurt too much.
Then he was gone, and Julia gesturing for me to come with her. We walked the block or two to her townhouse without speaking. Once we were inside, I said, “That was a brave thing you did.”
Her mouth twitched. “Was it?” She moved past me and headed up the stairs, and so I followed her. After that she went into the bedroom and opened the door to the walk-in closet. “I suppose I just wanted them to know the truth so they could decide for themselves. And as awful as it was to say it, once I’d gotten it out, it felt good. I was tired of feeling ashamed. I wasn’t the one who did something terrible.”
“No, you weren’t.” I watched as she got out a soft-sided suitcase and a duffle bag, and began folding her clothes into them. She really didn’t have that much, so I could tell she’d be done in a minute or two. “And…you’re okay with this? Going back to Los Alamos? That is…I mean, I thought….”
The awkward words died away into silence. A sad little smile played around her mouth as she zipped up the suitcase and said, “Maybe I did, for a second or two here and there. Then I realized I was just being stupid. Because if there had been anything, anything at all, well…I would have been his Chosen from the start, wouldn’t I?”
I didn’t have an answer for her, because deep down I knew she was right. Zahrias would have seen her, and claimed her, back before the Dying, if he’d really wanted her.
“Anyway,” she went on briskly, “it’s good, I think. We have a chance to make something of Los Alamos, now that Margolis is out of the way. And since Miles is coming back with me, that’ll help, too. People will be reassured knowing he’s around, doing what needs to be done to protect them from the other djinn.” She paused, and then smiled again. This time, though, her expression was almost sly. “And tell me I was hallucinating, because I could swear I saw that pretty assistant of his making googly eyes at him.”
I had to smile at the mental image. “I don’t know about ‘googly eyes,’ but I think there’s something going on. Or at least she thinks she might want there to be.” I wondered how much I should tell Julia and then decided the heck with it. I was going to miss her. In the back of my mind, I’d wanted her to stay around so I could have a friend, a girl friend, to talk to. I loved Jace, and he was the center of my world, but there were some things it was just easier to talk about with a girlfriend. “I don’t think she was all that happy with her djinn partner. She mourned him when he was gone, but I think she was also relieved in a way.”
Julia nodded, and I realized Lindsay’s feelings toward Rafi probably weren’t all that far removed from how Julia must have felt about her abusive fiancé, the one she’d lost in the Dying. “How many are like that?” she asked softly. “That is, how many were claimed by djinn, but are nowhere near as happy as you are with Jace?”
If it had happened to Lindsay, it had probably happened to others. But I wasn’t sure I wanted to go into all that, and so I only lifted my shoulders and said, “I don’t know, Julia. I just don’t know.”
An hour later, and they were all gone. I could tell nothing from Zahrias’ expression as he watched Julia climb into that blasted yellow Hummer next to Brent and then drive away. She didn’t look back.
But why would she?
Margolis didn’t precisely end up at the local police station. Instead, he was placed in one of the holding cells in the local U.S. Marshals building, a far more state-of-the-art facility. He wasn’t too happy about it…not that any of the djinn set to guard him seemed to care.
After that, things quieted down a bit. Jace and I scrounged a ham radio from one of the local electronics supply stores and got in contact with Los Alamos that way. Even though Julia was now in charge and there probably wouldn’t be any more craziness from that quarter, I still thought it a good idea for the two communities to stay in touch. If nothing else, maintaining communications might make it less easy for any rogue djinn out there to cause trouble for either group.
And then it was April, and the air began to warm a bit more. The wind still had a bite to it, but the storms brought rain, not snow. And as much as I loved being with Jace no matter where I was, my heart ached for the house in the hills. I wanted to be there with him to watch the first wildflowers begin to grow. It was beautiful here in town, but it would be even better there.
“We would be safe,” I told him one morning as we awoke to an achingly clear blue sky beyond the windows of our bedroom. I was lying with my head on his chest, one of his hands lazily stroking my hair. “The Los Alamos community isn’t a threat any longer, and it seems as if the elders put the fear into any djinn who might try to mess with the One Thousand and their Chosen. So why can’t we go home?”
His hand stilled. After a brief silence, he said, “Beloved, there is no real reason why not. I suppose I had thought you were happy here.”
“I am, because I’m with you. But I want to go back to the place where I fell in love. It’s not even so very far — fifteen minutes, and we’re right back down here with everyone else.”
“Less than that,” he said, chuckling. “It’s not as if we have to drive, after all.”
Of course. I’d spent so much time around Jace when he was either hiding his talents from me or they were being blocked that I kept forgetting how much power he truly had to command. “Then what’s stopping us?”
“Nothing, my love,” he said, pulling me up to him so he could place a lingering kiss on my lips. “Nothing at all.”
Zahrias seemed neither pleased nor displeased by our announcement that we’d decided to return to our hidden sanctuary outside town. “If that is what you think of as home, then I suppose that is where you should go,” he said calmly.
Yes, Zahrias had been very calm lately…perhaps too calm.
But I was too excited by the prospect of going back to the house to really pay much attention to Zahrias’ moods, or lack thereof. We had a few things to pack, and I wondered if Jace planned to “blink” it all over, or whether we’d go the more pedestrian way, in the Land Rover we’d been given for our use, should we need it.
As it turned out, we didn’t go home either way. Just as we were finishing up our packing, someone knocked at the front door. Puzzled, I went to answer it. We hadn’t really been expecting anyone, but maybe it was Lauren coming over to say goodbye or wish us luck or something.
It wasn’t Lauren at the door, however, but Brent Sutherland, accompanied by Shawn Gutierrez. And just beyond them, parked at the curb, was a Grand Cherokee, the one I’d thought I’d left behind forever in Los Alamos.
All I could do was stand there and goggle at it, and at them. “Um…what’s this?” I said at last.
“Julia sent it over,” Brent said. “We were doing a vehicle inventory, and she found it locked up in the garage at Margolis’ house. She thought you might want it back, so she sent us over to deliver it.”
“That’s — ” I didn’t find myself at a loss for words all that often, but right then I was fighting to get them out past the tightn
ess in my throat. Up until that moment, I would have said I’d forgotten all about the Cherokee, that it wasn’t important, but right then I realized how much I did want that car back, that last physical reminder of the family I’d lost. “That’s amazing. Tell Julia thank you.”
“We will.” Shawn glanced past me to the bags Jace and I had piled in the foyer in preparation for our leave-taking. “Going somewhere?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said. “I’m going home.”
Epilogue
Dutchie ran ahead, tail wagging. Jace and I followed at a more sedate pace, the Cherokee idling a few feet behind us. There hadn’t been any question of traveling here by djinn methods, not once I had my father’s Jeep back.
“Smell like home, girl?” I asked, bending to scratch behind the dog’s ears as she happily wuffled around in the fresh grass that had grown up in front of the gate.
Jace came over to stand next to me. His hand rested on the padlock attached to the chain I’d wrapped around the wrought iron of the gate grille. “Do you have the key for this?”
I arched an eyebrow at him. “Do I need a key?”
“No,” he replied, flashing me that grin I loved so much. He made a pinching movement with his thumb and forefinger, and the padlock fell away, the metal twisted as if a giant had wrenched it off.
“Handy. But I hope you have something a little less destructive in mind for the front door.” Because of course the keys to the home had disappeared long ago, left behind in Los Alamos with the rest of the belongings abandoned in the little house Evony and I had been given to live in. I supposed Margolis must have gotten his hands on the keys and everything else of mine, but I had no idea what he’d done with them. Locked them up somewhere, most likely, which meant Julia would probably come across those items at some point. It seemed as if she was being fairly methodical about going through the erstwhile commander’s things and disbursing them as necessary.
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