Firestorm

by Rachel Caine

PREVIOUSLY

  For Jenny Griffee, NaNoNov winner of 2004,

  who provided a hell of a good idea for a new class of magical being,

  not to mention a slam-bang character

  PREVIOUSLY. . .

  My name is Joanne Baldwin, and in case you haven't been keeping up with current events, we're in big trouble. The world, I mean. As for me, I've been in trouble since. . . well, always. . . but this is big. The Wardens--the folks who are supposed to be protecting all of you from the dangers of raging fires, floods, earthquakes, and natural disasters of all kinds--have been compromised. Slowly but surely, they've lost their way and become corrupt and ineffective.

  I used to be one of them, until I acquired a Demon Mark and fell in love with a Djinn, but that's another story altogether (Ill Wind, actually, if you're taking notes). The point is that now, the Djinn--who should be the allies of the Wardens--aren't playing by the rules that have held for millennia. A Djinn named Jonathan set up those rules, and now that Jonathan's gone, all bets are off.

  And the Djinn's new leader? My lover, David. What that bodes for a stable relationship is still up in the air, but confidentially? I'm worried.

  The human race has one chance to keep its place at the top of the food chain: make peace with the Djinn, and that means somehow, some way, making peace with the Earth itself. Which ain't gonna be easy, because Mother Nature is pissed off.

  And apparently, I may be the only one able to do something about it.

  Lucky me. . .