Keller lost her own breath.
She's doing it! I'm going to see a Wild Power. Right here, right beside me, it's happening!
She wrenched her own gaze back to the car. She
was going to see those tons of metal come to a stop just as the BART train on the video had. Or maybe Iliana would just deflect the car in its course, send it into the grassy island in the middle of the driveway. In any case, she can hardly deny that she's the Wild Power now-
It was then that Keller realized the car wasn't stopping.
It wasn't working.
She heard Iliana make a desperate sound beside her. There was no time for anything more. The car was on top of Jaime, swinging up onto the curb.
Keller's heart lurched.
And something streaked out behind Jaime, hitting her from behind.
It knocked her flying toward the grassy island. Out of the path of the car.
Keller knew who it was even before her eyes could focus on the dark golden hair and long legs.
The car braked and screeched and swerved-but Keller couldn't tell if it had hit him. It went skidding, half on and half off the sidewalk. Then it corrected its course and roared along the driveway, speeding away. Nissa came dashing out of the door below and stood for an instant, taking in the scene.
Above, Keller was still frozen. She and Iliana were both as motionless as statues.
Then Iliana made a little noise and whirled around. She was off and running before Keller could catch her.
She shot past Winnie, leaving a trail of flying red droplets.
"Come on!" Keller yelled.
They both went after her. But it was like chasing a sunbeam. Keller had had no idea the little thing could run like that.
They were right behind her all the way down the stairs and out the door. It was where Keller wanted to be, anyway.
There were two figures lying on the pavement. They were both very still.
Keller's heart was beating hard enough to break through her chest.
Amazing how, even after seeing so much in her life, she could still have the desperate impulse to shut her eyes. For the first moment, as her gaze raked over Galen's body, she wasn't sure if she could see blood or not. Everything was pulsing with dark spots, and her brain didn't seem able to put any kind of coherent picture together.
Then he moved. The stiff, wincing motion of somebody injured, but not injured badly. He lifted his head, pushed himself up on one elbow, and looked around.
Keller stared at him wordlessly. Then she made her voice obey her. "Did it hit you?"
"Just glanced off me." He got his legs under him. "I'm fine. But what about-^-"
They both looked at Jaime.
"Goddess!" Galen's voice was filled with horror. He scrambled up and took a limping step before falling to his knees.
Even Keller felt shock sweep over her before she realized what was going on.
At first glance, it looked like a tragedy. Diana was holding Jaime, cradling her in her arms, and there was blood everywhere. All over the front of Diana's sweater, all over Jaime's white shirt. It just showed up better on Jaime.
But it was Diana's blood, still flowing from her cut hand. Jaime was blinking and lifting a hand to her forehead in bewilderment. Her color was good, and her breathing sounded clear if fast.
"That car-those people were crazy. They were going to hit me."
I'm sorry," Diana said. "I'm so sorry; I'm so sorry..."
She was so beautiful that Keller's heart seemed to stop.
Her fine skin seemed almost translucent in the cool afternoon light. That glorious hair was rippling in the wind behind her, every single strand light as air and moving independently. And her expression...
She was bending over Jaime so tenderly, tears Ming like diamonds. Her grief-it was complete, Keller thought. As if Jaime were her own dearest sister. She cared in a way that went beyond sympathy and beyond compassion and into something like perfect love.
It... transformed her. She wasn't a light-minded child anymore. She was almost... angelic.
All at once, Keller understood why everybody at school brought their problems to this girl. It was because of that caring, that love. Diana didn't help
them to make herself popular. She helped because her heart was open, without shields, without the normal barriers that separated people from one another.
And she was as brave as a little lion. She hadn't even hesitated when she saw Jaime in danger. She was afraid of blood, but she'd cut herself instantly, even recklessly, trying to help.
That was courage, Keller thought. Not doing something without being afraid, but doing something even though you were afraid.
In that moment, all of Keller's resentment of Diana melted away. All her anger and exasperation and contempt. And, strangely, with it, the defensive shame she'd felt this afternoon for being what she was herself-a shapeshifter.
It didn't make sense. There was no connection. But there it was.
The flat but strangely pleasant voice of Jaime was going on. "I'm okay-it was just a shock. Stop crying now. Somebody pushed me out of the way."
Diana looked up at Galen.
She was still crying, and her eyes were the color of violet crystal. Galen was kneeling on one knee, looking down worriedly at Jaime.
Their eyes met, and they both went still. Except for the wind ruffling Iliana's hair, they might have been a painting. A scene from one of the Old Masters, Keller thought. The boy with dark golden hair and that perfectly sculptured face, looking down with protective concern. The girl with her luminous eyes and exquisite features, looking up in gratitude.
It was a sweet and lovely picture. It was also the exact moment that Iliana fell in love with Galen. And Keller knew it.
She knew before Iliana knew herself. She saw a sort of plaintive shimmer in Iliana's eyes, like more tears about to fall. And then she saw the change in Iliana's face.
The gratitude became something different, something more like... recognition. It was as if Iliana were discovering Galen all at once, seeing everything in him that Keller had been slowly learning to see.
They're both...
Keller wanted to think idiots, but the word wouldn't come. All she ended up with was the same.
Both of them. Idealists. Open-hearted. Trying to rescue everyone.
They're perfect for each other.
"You saved her life," Iliana whispered. "But you could have been killed yourself."
"It just happened," Galen said. "I moved without thinking. But you-you're really bleeding..."