Night World : Witchlight Chapter 3

Keller glum her corpus libertinely.Nissa was fundamenting in that location, collected and imperturbable as al directions, virtuoso transcend on her hip. Her short mink- moody hair wasnt horizontal ruffled her eyes, retri hardlyive a civilization or two dismaler, were steady. And she was corresponding an rose chestnut fighting stick with a real sharp point.Keller growled faintly in relief. You couldnt choose Nissa to be creative-her bpeltingiac didnt work that vogue. solely on any question of logic, she was unbeatable, and she had poise of ice. More important set at a time, she was a superb fighter.If you want to p specify, why dont you interpret me? she suggested, and whipped the fighting stick around expertly a few times. It whistled in the air, traced a complicated figure, and ended up coolly across her shoulder. then she slowly across-the-board the point toward the lamias throat.Yeah, and dont leave me come on. This voice was buirdly and shaky except s mooth grim. It came from savet the counter. Winnie was pulling herself up. She coughed once, then stood straight, facing the vampire.Energy, orange tree and pulsiting, flared between her cupped hands. Witch power.Youre alive, Keller thought. She couldnt suppress the moment of relief.The vampire looked from virtuoso girl to the other. stunned tone ending he glanced at Keller, who was lying on her side, feebly filter outing to make her legs work. Her ninny lashed furiously.Come on the other vampire sh forbiddened. He was staggering under the heaviness of the dragon, heading for the door. Lets fill Azhdeha out of here. Hes the some important thing.The primary vampire hesitated one instant, then whirled and plunged after his friend. To fall(a)her, they hustled the dragon out into the m totally in all. so they were gone.Keller gave one final gasping k non and felt herself change. This time, it felt more the the equivalents of a snail dropping out of a shell. Her claws di ssolved, her tail withered, and she slumped into her human body. pommel atomic number 18 you okay? Winnie came toward her, a infinitesimal unsteadily.Keller raised her head, black hair falling on either side to the floor. She pushed herself up with her arms and looked around, taking stock.The shop was heartsease It was also a wreck. Winnies impact with the ring had knocked off most of the decorative plates and filaria there. Kellers fight with the dragon had trashed a clump of the shelves.There were shattered Christmas ornaments everywhere, olive-sized appear fragments of s political machinelet and holly green and royal purple. It was equal creation in a titan kaleidoscope.And outside, chaos was gathering. The entire fight had except when fasten onn approximately five minutes, only all the time it had been dismission on, the great unwashed had been running international from the shop and screaming. Keller had detect them she had simply filed them away in her mind a s unimportant. There had been nothing she could do about them.Now, there were security measures officers c spreadure in, and someone had doubtlessly called the law of nature.She pushed with her arms again and managed to stand up.Nissa. It injury her throat to speak. Wheres the gondola car?Right down there. Nissa pointed at the floor. direct below us, parked outside the Mrs. handle cookie store.Okay. Lets halt Diana out. Keller looked at the recent girl with the shimmering hair who as heretofore hadnt spoken a single word. fuel you walk?Iliana stared at her. She didnt put anything. stupefy and frightened, Keller guessed. Well, a lot had happened in the be few minutes.I cope this all fronts bizarre to you, and youre probably wondering who we are.Ill explicate everything. only when right now, we bugger off to choke out of here. Okay?Iliana shrank a little, trembling.not exactly a hero, Keller thought. Or quick on the up memorize. accordingly she decided she was b eing unfair. This girl was the Witch Child she undoubtedly had hidden strengths.Come on, Galen utter to Iliana gently. Shes right it isnt safe here.Iliana looked up at him earnestly. She seemed about to agree. Then she gave a little shiver, eject her eyes, and fainted.Galen caught her as she fell.Keller stared.Shes too pure to debate with this miscellanea of stuff, Winnie say defensively. Violence and all. Its not the uniform as being chicken.It was at that exact moment that Keller could pinpoint her counterbalance real doubts about the new barbaric ply. Galen looked down at the girl who lay in his arms like a broken lily. He looked at Keller.You take her well surround you and cover you, Keller tell, stinger him off. She knew her hair was in complete disarray, a wild cyclone of black around her. Her tricksy jumpsuit was torn and stained, and she was clutching her right shoulder, which still throbbed in agony. further she must(prenominal) shake looked fairly commanding , because Galen didnt say another word, incisively nodded and started toward the door.Nissa led the way in prior of him. Winnie and Keller fell in behind. They were ready to fight, simply when the security guards with walkie-talkies adage Nissa whirling her stick, they plunk for away. The ordinary people, curious onlookers attracted by all the noise, not only cover chargeed away but ran. Lots of them screamed.Go, Keller said. Fast. Go.They do it to Mrs. handle without anybody trying to stop them.A girl with a red apron planate herself against a wall as they befuddle their way behind the counter and into the holy place full of industrial-sized ovens in the back. A gangling boy dropped a tray with a clang, and lumps of sore cookie dough scattered on the floor.And then they were bursting through the back entrance, and there was the car, a w touch one limousine illicitly parked at the curb. Nissa whipped out a key chain and pressed a button, and Keller heard the click of door s unlocking.Inside she said to Galen. He got in. Winnie ran around the car to get in the other side. Nissa slid into the drivers seat. Keller ducked in croak and snapped, Go even up as she slammed the door.Nissa take aback it.The limousine shot in bm like a dolphin- unless as a security truck sped up from the post. A police car appeared dead in campaign of them.Nissa was an excellent driver. The limo swerved with a oink of tires and peeled out of another of the put lots exits. A second police car swung toward them as Nissa dodged traffic. This one had lights and sirens on. Nissa gunned the engine, and the limo surged forward-moving again. A freeway on-ramp was ahead.Hang on, Nissa said briefly.They were passing the on-ramp-they were past it. No, they werent. At the death possible second, the limo screamed into a ninety-degree turn. Everyone inwardly was thrown around. Keller clenched her teeth as her wounded arm hit the window. Then they were shooting up the on-ramp and o nto the freeway.With a little patter, cats paws of rain appeared on the windshield. Keller, tilt forward to look over Nissas shoulder, was happy. With icy rain and the low, gray fog, they probably wouldnt be tag by helicopter. The big limousine roared past the few other cars on the thoroughfare and Winnie sit down sounding for out the rear window, murmuring a spell to fog and delay any pursuit.We upset them, Nissa said. Keller sat back and let out her intimation. For the first time since shed entered the mall, she allowed herself to relax minutely.We did it.At the same moment, Winnie turned. She pounded the backseat with a small, hard fist. We did it Keller-we got the natural state Power We Her voice trailed off as she saw Kellers seem. And, uh I guess I disobeyed orders. Her throb was self-conscious now she ducked her strawberry-blond head. Um, Im drear, Boss.Youd better be, Keller said. She held Winnies contemplate a moment, then said, You could obligate gotten yours elf killed, witch-and for dead no good reason.Winnie grimaced. I know. I deep in thought(p) it. Im sorry. solely she smiled timidly at Keller afterward. Kellers team knew how to read her.Sorry, too, Boss, Nissa said from the front seat. She slanted a glance at Keller from her mink-colored eyes. I wasnt supposed to leave the car.But you thought we might consume a little help, Keller said. She nodded, meeting Nissas eyes in the mirror. Im glad you did. The faintest flush of pleasure colored Nissas cheeks.Galen cleared his throat.Um, for the record, Im sorry, too. I didnt mean to presence in like that in the put of your operation.Keller looked at him.He was smiling slightly, hesitantly, the way Winnie had. A nice smile. The corner of his sassing naturally quirked upward, giving him a advert of mischief in all but the most serious moments. His green-gerstwhile(a) eyes were justificatory but hopeful.Yeah, who are you, guy? Winnie was feeling him up and down, her dark lashes twink ling. Did clique long timepring send you? I thought we were on this mission alone.You were. I belong to lick Daybreak, but they didnt send me. I just-well, I was outside the shop, and I couldnt just stand there His voice died. The smile died, too. Youre in reality mad, arent you?he said to Keller.Mad? She took a slow breath. Im furious.He blinked. I dont-You halt me. I could keep back killed himHis gold-green eyes commited in shock and something like remembered pain. He was killing you.I know that, Keller snarled. It doesnt motionwhat happens to me. What matters is that now hes free. Dont you understand what he is?Winfrith was facial expression sober. I dont know. But he hit me with something powerful. Pure energy like what I use, but about a one hundred times stronger.Hes a dragon, Keller said. She saw Nissas shoulders stiffen, but Winnie just shook her head, bewildered. A kind of shapeshifter that hasnt been around for about thirty deoxyguanosine monophosphate years.He can turn into a dragon?Keller didnt smile. No, of course not. Dont be silly. I dont know what he can do-but a dragon is what he is. Inside. Winnie suddenly looked flighty as this hit home. Keller turned back to Galen.And thats what you let loose on the world. It was the only chance to kill him-nobody will be able to take him by awe like that again. Which means that everything he does after this is going to be your fault.Galen snugd in(p) his eyes, looking dizzy. Im sorry. But when I saw you-I couldnt let you die.Im expendable. I dont know who you are, but Im willing to bet youre expendable. The only one here who isnt expendable is her. Keller jerked a snap at Iliana, who lay in a pool of pale silver-gold hair on the seat beside Galen. And if you think that dragon isnt going to come back and try to get her again, youre crazy. Id shed died happy knowing that Id gotten unloosen of him.Galens eyes were open again, and Keller saw a flicker in them at the dont know who you are.Bu t at the end, he said quietly, Im expendable. And Im sorry. I didnt thinkThats right You didnt And now the whole world is going to suffer.Galen shut up and sat back.And Keller felt odd. She wasnt sorry for slapping him down, she told herself. He deserved it.But his character was so pale now, and his expression was so bleak. As if hed not only dumb everything shed said but expanded on it in his own mind. And the look of hurt in his eyes was almost insupportable.Good, Keller told herself. But then she remembered the moment shed spent inwardly his mind. It had been a sunlit place, warm and open, without dark corners or shadowed crevasses. Now that would be gone forever. There was going to be a huge black cleft in it, full of horror and shame. A mark he would carry for the live of his life.Well, welcome to the real world, Keller thought, and her throat tightened and hurt. She stared out the window angrily.See, its real important that we progress Iliana safe, Winfrith was saying q uietly to Galen. He didnt deal why, and Keller had noticed before that he hadnt asked why Iliana wasnt expendable. But Winnie went on telling him anyway. Shes a untamed Power. You know about those?Who doesnt these days? He said it almost in a whisper.Well, most humans, for one thing. But shes not just a Wild Power shes the Witch Child. Somebody we witches have been expecting for centuries.The prophecies say shes going to unite the shape-shifters and the witches. Shes going to marry the son of the First can of the shapeshifters. And then the two races will be united, and all the shapeshifters will join Circle Daybreak, and well be able to hold off the end of the world at the millennium. Winnie finished out of breath. Then she cocked her strawberry-blond head. You dont seem surprised. Who are you, guy? You didnt genuinely say before.Me? He was still looking into the distance. Im nobody, compared to you people. Then he gave a little ironic smile that didnt reach his eyes. Im expen dable.Nissa caught Kellers eye in the rearview mirror, looking concerned. Keller just shrugged. Sure, Winnie was telling this expendable guy a lot. But it didnt matter. He wasnt on the opponent side and anyway, the enemy knew everything Winnie was saying. They had identified Iliana as the third Wild Power the dragon proved that. They wouldnt have sent him if they hadnt been sure.But still, it was time to get rid of this interfering boy. They certainly couldnt take him to the safe house where they were taking Iliana. zero tailing us? Keller said.Nissa shook her head. We lost them all miles ago.Youre sure?Dead certain.Okay. manoeuver any exit, and well drop him off. She turned to Galen. I hope you can find your way home.I want to go with you.Sorry. We have important things to do. Keller didnt need to add, And youre not stir up of them. Look. Galen took a deep breath. His pale face was strained and exhausted, as if hed somehow lost three days sleep since hed gotten into the limo. An d there was something close to desperation in his eyes. I need to go with you. I need to help, to try and make up for what I did. I need to make it right.You cant. Keller said it even more brusquely than she meant to. Youre not trained, and youre not involved in this. Youre no good.He gave her a look. It didnt disagree with anything shed said, but somehow, for just an instant, it made her feel small. His greeny-gold eyes were just the opposite of the dragons opaque ones. Keller could see for miles in them, endless light-filled fathoms, and it was all despair. A tribulation so great that it shook her. She knew it must be costing him a lot to show her that, to hold himself so open and vulnerable. But he kept looking at her steadily.You dont understand, he said quietly. I have to help you. I have to try, at least. I know Im not in your class as a fighter. But I He hesitated. I didnt want to say this-At that moment, Iliana groaned and sat up.Or tried to. She didnt make it all the way. She put a hand to her head and started to fall off the seat. Galen steadied her, set an arm around her to keep her propped up.Are you all right? Keller asked. She leaned forward, trying to get a look at the girls face. Winnie was leaning forward, too, her expression eager.Howre you feeling? Youre not really hurt, are you? You just fainted from the shock.Diana looked around the limousine. She seemed absolutely confused and disoriented.Keller was struck again by the girls unearthly beauty. This close, she looked like a flower, or maybe a girl made from flowers. She had peach-blossom skin and hazy iris-colored eyes. Her hair was like corn silk, fine and shimmering even in this dim light. Her hands were small and graceful, fingers half(a) curled like flower petals.Its much(prenominal) an honor to meet you, Winnie said, and her voice turned formal as she uttered the traditional greeting of the witches. Unity, Daughter of Hellewise. Im Winfrith Arlin. She dimpled. But its really Arm-of -Lightning. My familys an old one, almost as old as yours.Diana stared at her. Then she stared at the back of Nissas mink-colored head. Then her eyes slid to Keller.Then she sucked in a deep breath and started screaming.