No, Keller thought. I won't let you make me weak. I won't listen to your lies.
But the problem was that Galen didn't lie. He was one of those idiot idealist types who said what they believed. And she shouldn't care what he believed, but she found that she did. She cared terribly.
Galen just stood there looking at her with tears in his gem-bright eyes.
Something ripped inside Keller. And then everything changed.
Keller couldn't understand what was happening at first. In panic, all she could think was that she was losing herself. Losing her armor, her hardness, everything she needed to keep alive. Some part of her deep inside was melting, flowing toward Galen.
She tried to snatch it back, but it was no good. She couldn't stop it With a distant shock, she realized that she had shut her eyes. She was falling, falling-and she didn't care.
Something caught her.
She felt the warmth of arms around her, supporting her. And she felt herself lean into it, relaxing, letting him take some of her weight, as if someone else were controlling her body. So warm...
That was when Keller discovered something strange. That warmth could give you shivers.
Being close like this, feeling Galen warm and solid and there to hang on to-it made a shiver of pleasure go through her. And then she felt the true connection. It wasn't a physical thing. The spark that passed between them connected them mind to mind. It was a riveting flash of complete understanding. Her heart all but exploded. It's you. The voice was in her mind, the same voice she'd heard yesterday when he had tried to save her from the dragon. It was filled with wonder and discovery. It's you... the one I've been looking for. You're the one...
And Keller would have told him how insane that was, except that it was just what she was feeling herself. It was as if she had just turned around and unexpectedly found herself facing a figure from one of her dreams. A person she knew instinctively, just as she knew her own mind.
I know you, too, Galen's voice in her head said. We're so much alike...
We're not, Keller thought. But the protest sounded feeble even to her. And trying to hang on to her anger and cynicism right now seemed silly- pointless. Like a kid insisting that nobody loved her and she was going to go play on the freeway.
We belong together, Galen said simply. Like this.
Warm tingles. Keller could feel the force of his love like a bright light shining at her. And she couldn't...resist... any longer...
Her arms came up to hold Galen back. Her face turned up slightly, but not much, because she was tall, and their lips were already only an inch apart.
The kiss was shivery, delightful, and very sweet.
After an endless time of floating in a golden haze, Keller shivered again.
There's something... something I have to remember...
I love you, Galen said back.
Yes, but there's something I've forgotten...
We're together, he said. I don't want to remember anything else.
And that was probably true. She couldn't really blame him. Who would want to disturb this warmth and closeness and quiet joy?
Still, they had been talking about something-a long time ago, when she had been alone. Something that had made her terribly unhappy.
I won't let you be unhappy. I won't let you be alone, either, he said.
He stroked her hair with his fingertips. That was all, but it almost short-circuited Keller's thought processes.
But not completely.
Alone... I remember.
Her mother's note.
You will always be alone.
Galen's arms tightened around her. Don't. Don't think about that. We're together. I love you... No. With a wrench, Keller pulled herself away. She found herself standing in the library on her own two feet, staring at Galen. He looked shocked and stricken, as if he'd just been slapped out of a dream. "Keller-"
"No!" she spat. "Don't touch me!" "I won't touch you. But I can't let you run away. And I can't pretend I don't love you."
"Love," Keller snarled, "is weakness." She saw her mother's note lying on the floor where he'd dropped it and snatched it up. "And nobody is making me sentimental and weak! Nobody!"
It wasn't until she was out the door that she remembered she had left out the strongest argument of all. He couldn't love her. It was impossible. He was destined to marry the Witch Child. The fate of the world depended on it.
Chapter 8
Keller was tempted to check the wards, but she knew it wouldn't do any good. She wasn't sensitive enough to the witch energies to gauge them. They'd been put up by Grandma Harman and checked by Winnie, and she would have to trust to that.
The wards were keyed so that only the Dominick family and ordinary humans could come inside. No Night Person could enter except Nissa, Winnie, Keller, and Galen. Which meant, Keller thought with a grim smile, that any lost witch relatives of Iliana's mother who came by were going to get quite a surprise. An invisible wall was going to be blocking them from crossing the threshold.
As long as nobody on the inside removed the wards, the house was safer than Fort Knox.
Grandma Harman had also taken the limo, Keller found. Sometime during the night, it had been replaced by an inconspicuous Ford sedan parked at the curb. The keys had been in a manila envelope dropped through the mail slot in the front door, along with a map of Lucy Lee Bethea High School.
Circle Daybreak was efficient. "I didn't finish my hair," Iliana complained as Nissa hustled her to the car. "It's only half done." "It looks terrific," Winnie said from behind her. And the thing was, it was true. There was nothing that could make that shimmering waterfall of silvery-gold look anything less than beautiful.
Whether it was up or down, braided or pinned or falling loose, it was glorious.
I don't even think the little nitwit has to brush it, Keller thought. It's so fine that she couldn't make two hairs tangle if she tried. "And I left my scarf"
"Here it is." Keller lassoed her. The scarf was ridiculous, crushed velvet in muted metallic colors, with a six-inch fringe. Purely decorative.
Iliana choked as Keller wound it around a few times and pulled it tight "A little aggressive, Boss?" Winfrith asked, extricating Iliana before she could turn blue. "Worried about being late," Keller said shortly. But she saw Nissa eyeing her, too.
Galen was the last to come out of the house. He was pale and serious-that much Keller saw before she shifted her eyes past him. Iliana's mother actually remained standing at the door with the baby in her arms.