"No."
"Oh. Well, I'll leave you alone, then." He slid out the door, closing it behind him.
And Keller let him. Later, that was what she couldn't quite believe. That she had been stupid enough to walk into the trap and stand there while it snapped shut.
She picked up the phone. "Mrs. Dominick?"
Silence. .
At first, just for a moment or two, she thought Hiana's mother might have stepped away from the phone.
But then the nature of the silence got to her.
There were no sounds in the background at all. It was dead air.
Keller hit the plunger to hang up the phone. Nothing happened.
No dial tone.
She glanced at the phone cord; it was plugged into the wall. She pushed the plunger rapidly, four times, five.
Then she knew.
She'd been suckered.
In one motion, she whirled and sprang to the door.
Only to twist the handle uselessly.
It was locked.
And it was a good, sturdy door, made out of solid wood, the kind they used to make. She found this out by throwing herself against it hard enough to bruise her shoulder. It had been locked with a key from the outside, and the bolt was a good, sturdy one, too.
White icy-hot rage swept over Keller. She was more angry than she could ever remember being in her life. She couldn't believe it-she'd been fooled by an idiot human boy. The Night People must have gotten to him somehow, must have bought him...
No.
Keller knew she wasn't a genius. But sometimes ideas came to her in a flash, allowing her to see a complete picture all at once where other people saw only fragments. And right now, like a bolt of lightning, realization dawned on her, and she understood.
Oh, Goddess, how could we have been so stupid?
She knew how the dragon had done it.
Chapter 16
We were so careful, she thought, setting up wards three days early and having agents watch the house. Nothing got inside during those three days; we were sure of that, and so we thought we were safe. But we didn't stop to think-what if the dragon was already inside when we put the wards up?
Brett.
He's the dragon.
It could take on any shape, assume any animal's form, and know all that the animal knew. A human being was an animal.
So why couldn't it touch a human and know all the human knew?
It would be the perfect disguise.
And we all fell for it, Keller thought. I knew there was something creepy about him, but I just put it down to him being obnoxious. And he's been here all the time, inside the wards, laughing at us, waiting for Iliana to come.
And Iliana's with him right now.
Keller felt sure of that in her gut.
She wanted to throw herself against the door again, but that wouldn't do any good. She needed to be calm now, to think, because she couldn't afford to waste any time.
The window.
Keller tried to open it, looking down at a hedge of rhododendron bushes below. The sash was stuck, nailed fast. But it didn't matter. Glass was more breakable than wood.
She stepped back and changed.
Melting, flowing, jumpsuit becoming fur. Tail shooting free. Ears. Whiskers. Heavy paws thumping down. A single long stretch to get used to the new body and being on four feet instead of two.
She was a panther, and she felt good. Strong and mean. Her muscles were like steel under her soft coat, and her big paws were twitching to bat someone silly. That dragon would be sorry he'd ever messed with her.
With a rasping yowl that she couldn't help, she gathered herself and sprang straight at the window. The full weight of her panther body hit the glass, and it shattered, and then she was flying in the cold night air.
She got cut. Panthers actually had thin and delicate skin compared to other animals. But she was indifferent to the pain. She landed and took off running, shaking her paws in flight to get rid of little bits of glass.
She raced around the mansion, looking for a place to enter. Eventually, she found a low, unshuttered window, and once again, she gathered herself and jumped.
She landed in a sitting room with glass falling all around her onto a fine, old carpet Brett.
And Iliana.
She would smell them out.
She lifted her muzzle, smelling currents in the air. At the same time, she expanded her sense of hearing to its fullest.
No Iliana. She couldn't get even a whiff of her. That was bad, but she would try again from the game room, where Iliana had been last. That was where she was going anyway, because that was where Brett was.
Not Brett, she reminded herself as she loped through corridors and rooms. The dragon.
She raced through the ballroom and heard a scream. She barely turned her head to notice a girl standing frozen, just lifting her hand to point. The college band crashed to a halt, almost as one, except the drummer, who went on playing for a moment with his eyes shut.
Keller ignored them all, running at top speed and leaping down the stairs, her heavy front paws hitting the carpeted floor first, then her back paws hitting almost on either side of them. Each spring propelled her into the next.
She burst into the game room.
For an instant, she stood still, taking in the scene. She wanted to make sure with her eyes that what her ears and her nose told her was true: Iliana wasn't here.
It was true. Winnie was missing, too, and Keller couldn't smell them anywhere.
Then someone spotted her, a full-grown panther, jet black, with glowing eyes and long teeth just showing as she panted gently, standing in the doorway with her tail lashing.
"Oh, my God!" The voice soared over the babble. "Look at that!"
Everyone looked.
Everyone froze for an instant.
Chaos erupted.
Girls were screaming. Boys were yelling. Plenty of boys were screaming, too. They saw her, and they fell over themselves, diving for the exits or for hiding places. They poured out of the room, dragging each other, sometimes trampling each other. Keller gave a loud, snarling yowl to help them on, and they scattered like chickens.
The only one Keller cared about was the Brett-dragon.
He turned and ran down a corridor. Luring her? He must be. Maybe he didn't realize she had found out yet Maybe he had some reason for continuing the charade.
She threw her head back and gave a snarl that resounded through the house. It wasn't just anger. It was calling Nissa and Galen. If they could hear her, they would understand and come running.
Then she took off after the dragon.
As she loped down the corridor, she changed again. This time, she couldn't just try to kill him; she needed to be able to talk. But she also needed her claws, so she changed to her half-and-half form, fur shriveling off her arms, body rearing up to run on booted feet, hair flying out behind her.