djinn wars 02 - taken Read Free Page B

djinn, though. From what I’d seen, Jace controlled air, not fire. Playing with fire was more Zahrias’ kind of thing.
    “So if you’re Chosen,” I said, “where’s your djinn?”
    “Same place as yours,” she replied, a flash of anger in her dark eyes. “Bastards from Los Alamos came and got her early this morning.”
    My brain skidded to a stop as it attempted to process that statement. “Wait — her? ”
    “Yeah, her, ” Evony said. One expertly plucked eyebrow went up. “What, did you think all the djinn were straight or something?”
    “I, uh — ” Damn, I’d really stuck my foot in it there. Truly, the sexuality of the other djinn wasn’t something I’d really stopped to think about, since Jasreel was so obviously heterosexual. Maybe I had assumed they would all be like that. And because he’d been taken from me so soon after I’d learned of his true identity, I hadn’t had the chance to ask him any in-depth questions about djinn culture and society. “I guess the topic hadn’t come up yet.”
    “Uh-huh.” Evony moved closer to the fireplace and spread her hands toward its warmth. “Yeah, well, my djinn is a she. Natila.”
    “What — what happened?” I had to ask the question, although I’d begun to guess.
    A lift of her shoulders. Evony didn’t bother to turn back toward me as she said, “Same thing that happened to you. Our friends from Los Alamos showed up this morning and hauled her away. They asked me if I wanted to go with them, but I said no. I had a feeling a Mexican lesbian from Española wasn’t going to do to well with a bunch of good ol’ boys like that. They seemed like the type who’d try to convince me of the error of my ways, if you know what I mean.”
    Unfortunately, I knew exactly what she meant. Some guys seemed to view girls like Evony as projects and didn’t take their sexual orientation all that seriously. Being on your own in the post-Dying world could be scary, but in some cases it might be better than the alternative.
    I also guessed that she had quite a story to tell, and since she’d obviously come a long way, it didn’t seem very hospitable to make her keep on talking in the living room without even offering her anything to eat.
    “Are you hungry?” I asked. “Because I’ve got plenty of food. Nothing fancy, but — ”
    “Starving,” she said immediately. “I came straight here and haven’t eaten since this morning. And if you have anything decent to wash it down….” Pausing, she gave me a meaningful glance.
    “I’ve got a cellar full of wine.”
    “No beer?”
    I couldn’t help smiling. “Some. There are still a few bottles in the fridge. Let me put something together for you, and then you can tell me what happened.”

    The family room was the coziest place in the house, so that was where Evony and I ended up. I’d already eaten my dinner, but I took a piece of bread and butter with me, along with a half glass of wine, just so I wouldn’t be sitting there and merely watching as my unexpected guest plowed her way through a plate of leftover sausage and macaroni, washing it down with the last of the Kilt Lifter ale that had been sitting on the bottom shelf of the refrigerator.
    Evony’s story — at the beginning, at least — wasn’t all that different from mine. “I was home in Española when the Heat came through,” she told me between bites of sausage. “And two days after it hit, I was the only one left.” Her pretty face went blank then, as if she was trying hard not to let any of the emotions from that time seep through, as if the only way she could manage to keep functioning was to push aside all the death and suffering that had surrounded her.
    Any words I might have offered would have been useless, empty, so I only nodded and took a sip of my wine.
    She put down her fork and drank some of her beer before continuing. “I’m not going to lie — I fucking hated Española. I was working my ass off as a waitress,