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ruffling through the embers of the bonfire, carrying brightly colored sparks high upon its currents. Gently it caressed the dancers, drawing their soft garments against their bodies, exposing each line and curve. Their every move was matched by the tumbling currents of the wind ‘til their feet no longer touched the ground and they danced upon the air alone. Spinning gracefully, the dancers flowed, one against the other, until humans and solitary phantom became one entity, swaying in the embrace of the wind.
    I thought surely that my heart would break when the music finally reached its crescendo and the gentle fingers of sound faded, slowly releasing the dancers until they lay upon the ground, clasped in each other’s arms as if they were lovers asleep.
    There were soft murmurs of appreciation as the dancers rose and were surrounded by the others.
     

Chapter Two
     
     
    “Pretty good stuff, don’t ya’ think?”
    The dog lunged, teeth snapping, even as I scrambled backwards to evade the intruder leaning toward us.
    “Hey! Watch that beast, it nearly bit my nose off!” grumbled the scruffy young man as he ducked out of reach of the dog and the swing of the piece of wood clasped in my hands.
    “ Jake! Damn you, you scared me half to death,” I complained as I wrapped my hand in the dog’s collar and pulled her back. “It’s okay Dusty, he’s a friend—sort of.”
    “Neat dog. Where’d you find it?” Jake whispered as he settled on the ground beside me. “First time you’ve seen the wind dancers? Pretty cool, huh?” he continued in his usual exuberant way. “By the way, whatever are you doing out in the streets so late?”
    I just shook my head in amazement at my roommate’s chatter. Jake was a great guy, but he tended to be a little hard to take sometimes. “Family business,” I told him with a frown. “I had to rescue my little sister from Dear ole Mom .”
    “Anything you want to talk about?” Jake queried in concern. He’d had to run from his own family years ago when his alcoholic father had tried to trade a telekinetic son for enough booze to keep him happily drunk until he died of sclerosis of the liver.
    “Not right now. Kelly’s safe, and that’s all that matters.”
    Jake nodded in understanding and we both returned our attention to the people still milling about in the park. The freaks were not especially dangerous; in fact you rarely even saw them during the day, for they lived in fear of the agents just as I and any of the other free-living psis did, maybe more. If the agents managed to lay hands on one of these poor, tortured souls, they were never seen or heard from again.
    “Come on, let’s try slipping along the side of this building,” whispered Jake. “With a little bit of luck we can slide out of here and make it into the tombs without being noticed.”
    Keeping one hand on the dog’s collar, I rose to a crouch and took a step to follow him. Dusty suddenly stiffened and jerked back against the grip on her collar. “What’s up girl?” I whispered as I tried to see what had frightened her. Her bright eyes were locked on something in the dark street beyond the gathering of freaks.
    “Jake! Wait, something’s wrong!” I hauled back on his shirt-tail to stop him.
    “What—” Jake dropped back under the cover of a heap of old furniture where he could survey the area for the danger without being seen. Surviving in the streets meant paying attention to every possibility—even a warning from a stray dog.
    “Over there,” I whispered and nudged him with my elbow, pointing at a swelling and shifting in the dark distance of the street.
    We both strained to focus our eyes and ears, but before we were able to separate and identify the images moving toward us, the park and intersection were flooded with the harsh glare of a dozen spotlights, all aimed at the gathering. The night air was shattered by the harsh rumble and hiss of what could only be chopper engines.
    The raw