landed on carpet in about six inches, just enough to jolt and send us both staggering a couple of steps. Mist curled off of both of us in thick, milky wisps, and as Cherise dropped my hands and frantically batted at her clothes, it leaked out in streams, sliding down her legs to pool on the carpet and disappear.
“Oh my God , that is creepy!” she said. “Is it in my hair? Tell me it’s not in my hair!”
I couldn’t, because it was rolling down in waves down her back. From her hair. She was right; it was creepy and it felt wrong, like some kind of ectoplasmic slime instead of just an innocent water vapor. Ugh. I shook my hands and arms and watched it fly off me to melt in the air.
Then I took a look around. We were in a store. A shoe store, to be precise, and it was empty except for one store clerk who’d apparently been in the back, and now came around the counter, having missed the whole appearing-out-of-nowhere-dripping-with-ectoplasm floor show. “Hi, can I help you?”
“Sorry,” I said, recovering whatever remained of my composure. “Give us a second.”
He looked doubtful, but nodded and backed off. I turned to Cherise and dragged her off to admire a rack of shoes neither one of us wanted, at least right at the moment. “I have to find David!” I hissed. “We were together, but we got separated!”
“Oh my God, he’s not still in there . . . ?”
If he was, I’d just lost him forever. The enormity of it slammed in on me so hard that I literally lost my balance, and Cherise had to grab my arm to keep me from toppling into the size sevens. If you hurt him , I thought to the Air Oracle, if you kill him, I will destroy you. I don’t know how, but I will.
“It couldn’t,” I said aloud, and tried to make myself believe it. “David’s not just anybody. It can’t just kill him. Even Ashan wouldn’t ignore that.”
Presuming anything made sense anymore. Presuming Ashan, the leader of the Old Djinn, had an identity of his own, still, and was capable of making his own decisions. If the Mother was waking up, the Djinn were lost to us as individuals, and while she might notice and care about the Djinn David, the human David might not even be noticed.
“I’ll go back,” Cherise said.
“Are you mental ? You’re not going anywhere!”
“Well, you’d go back. And I’m kind of you, now.”
“No, Cher, you’re not! Just—I told you to stay in the car!”
“You’d be dead if I had!”
Well, she did have a point there. “I have to find David,” I said.
“Yeah, what’s your plan for that? Mall intercom?”
“No,” I said. “Movies.”
We headed out of the shoe store, which was inexplicably halfway across the mall, and made the best possible time back to the multiplex cinema outside the food court. The sign was no longer flashing ENTER HERE, or making dire threats. It was advertising a Disney film.
I turned a slow circle, taking in the standard mall view—tiled floors, towering indoor plants, escalators, elevators, stores, shoppers, food vendors with all their flashing neon. Crying children and harassed clerks.
Someone in a black windbreaker and cheap uniform pants moved past us, walking fast. Mall security, talking on a brick of a walkie-talkie. She sounded tense, although she was keeping her voice down.
I zeroed in on her and followed.
“Where are we going?” Cherise asked. I didn’t answer. “Because we really need to get out of here. This Oracle person wasn’t fooling around, you know.”
“The Air Oracle has no set space,” I said. “It can go anywhere it wants. If it wants to get to us, it will.”
“Oh, that’s comforting. You could have told me that before I pissed it off.”
Despite everything, I smiled. “Yeah,” I said. “I could have. But it wouldn’t have been as much fun.”
“Bitch.” Cherise fell silent, because the mall security lady was hurrying even more now, heading for a figure slumped on a bench with two more security guards
“Oh my God , that is creepy!” she said. “Is it in my hair? Tell me it’s not in my hair!”
I couldn’t, because it was rolling down in waves down her back. From her hair. She was right; it was creepy and it felt wrong, like some kind of ectoplasmic slime instead of just an innocent water vapor. Ugh. I shook my hands and arms and watched it fly off me to melt in the air.
Then I took a look around. We were in a store. A shoe store, to be precise, and it was empty except for one store clerk who’d apparently been in the back, and now came around the counter, having missed the whole appearing-out-of-nowhere-dripping-with-ectoplasm floor show. “Hi, can I help you?”
“Sorry,” I said, recovering whatever remained of my composure. “Give us a second.”
He looked doubtful, but nodded and backed off. I turned to Cherise and dragged her off to admire a rack of shoes neither one of us wanted, at least right at the moment. “I have to find David!” I hissed. “We were together, but we got separated!”
“Oh my God, he’s not still in there . . . ?”
If he was, I’d just lost him forever. The enormity of it slammed in on me so hard that I literally lost my balance, and Cherise had to grab my arm to keep me from toppling into the size sevens. If you hurt him , I thought to the Air Oracle, if you kill him, I will destroy you. I don’t know how, but I will.
“It couldn’t,” I said aloud, and tried to make myself believe it. “David’s not just anybody. It can’t just kill him. Even Ashan wouldn’t ignore that.”
Presuming anything made sense anymore. Presuming Ashan, the leader of the Old Djinn, had an identity of his own, still, and was capable of making his own decisions. If the Mother was waking up, the Djinn were lost to us as individuals, and while she might notice and care about the Djinn David, the human David might not even be noticed.
“I’ll go back,” Cherise said.
“Are you mental ? You’re not going anywhere!”
“Well, you’d go back. And I’m kind of you, now.”
“No, Cher, you’re not! Just—I told you to stay in the car!”
“You’d be dead if I had!”
Well, she did have a point there. “I have to find David,” I said.
“Yeah, what’s your plan for that? Mall intercom?”
“No,” I said. “Movies.”
We headed out of the shoe store, which was inexplicably halfway across the mall, and made the best possible time back to the multiplex cinema outside the food court. The sign was no longer flashing ENTER HERE, or making dire threats. It was advertising a Disney film.
I turned a slow circle, taking in the standard mall view—tiled floors, towering indoor plants, escalators, elevators, stores, shoppers, food vendors with all their flashing neon. Crying children and harassed clerks.
Someone in a black windbreaker and cheap uniform pants moved past us, walking fast. Mall security, talking on a brick of a walkie-talkie. She sounded tense, although she was keeping her voice down.
I zeroed in on her and followed.
“Where are we going?” Cherise asked. I didn’t answer. “Because we really need to get out of here. This Oracle person wasn’t fooling around, you know.”
“The Air Oracle has no set space,” I said. “It can go anywhere it wants. If it wants to get to us, it will.”
“Oh, that’s comforting. You could have told me that before I pissed it off.”
Despite everything, I smiled. “Yeah,” I said. “I could have. But it wouldn’t have been as much fun.”
“Bitch.” Cherise fell silent, because the mall security lady was hurrying even more now, heading for a figure slumped on a bench with two more security guards
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