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...