song could he possible sing that would interest this off-
spring of magic, who had access to the goods of thousands
of worlds? What did he know that might be offbeat and
just weird enough to have some effect on a djinn?
Off to his left Roseroar stood watching him quietly.
Mudge was muttering, something like a prayer. Folly paced
anxiously behind him while Drom pawed at the floor and
wished he were outside where he’d at least have a running
chance.
Feathers caressed his neck. “You can do it, colleague.”
Charrok was smiling confidently at him.
Mystical. It had to be overtly mystical, yet not so
specific as to anger the djinn into thinking Jon-Tom was
trying to trick him. What did he know that fit that
description? He was just a hard rocker when he wasn’t
studying law. All he knew were the hits, the platinum
songs.
There was only one possibility, one choice. A song full
of implications instead of accusations, mysterious and not
readily comprehended. Something to make the djinn think.
He let his fingers slide over the duar’s strings. His throat
was dry but his hoarseness was gone.
“Watch it, mate,” Mudge warned him.
To his surprise Jon-Tom found he could smile down at
the otter. “No sweat, Mudge.”
“Wot can you sing for ‘im ‘e don’t already ‘ave,
guv’nor?” The otter waved at hand at the endless shelves
crammed with goods from dimensions unknown. “Wot
can you give ‘im in song ‘e don’t already own?”
“A different state of mind,” Jon-Tom told him softly,
and he began to sing.
THE DAY OF THE DISSONANCE
285
He was concerned that the duar would not reproduce the