Then the crowd was thundering applause even louder than before, and the wave seemed to sweep Keller right into Galen's arms.
Sometime later, in the middle of a lot of hugging and kissing, Keller whispered to Iliana, "Are you sure?"
'Td better be sure, don't you think? Or Galen's going to be pretty upset."
"Iliana-"
'Tm sure," Iliana whispered. She squeezed Keller. "I really do care about him. I guess I'm sort of in love with him, too. But I saw. I saw his face in the clearing when he thought you were dead. And I heard the way he said your name. And then... I knew, you know? The two of you were meant to be. So I'm sure."
"A leopard?" Galen's mother said, shaking out her topaz-colored hair. "Why, dear, that's wonderful. Your great-great-grandmother was a leopard."
"You gave up being a bird for me," Keller whispered in his ear.
"I think I could learn to like running," he murmured, and took the chance to touch his lips to her cheek.
"No, ma'am, I'm really sorry I woke you up," Keller said. "Yes, ma'am, I do know how late it is." She strained to hear the voice on the other end of the phone. She had a finger in her ear to try and block out the noise of the wild celebration around her, but it wasn't doing much good.
"Because I honestly don't think it's funny," Diana's mother said. "The baby is just fine; he's been in his bed all night. Why would you think he wasn't?"
"Well, ma'am, it's hard to explain..."
"And now he's awake, and he's going to start crying-well, he's not crying. But now he wants to eat the phone... Alex!"
A voice on the other end squealed and said distinctly, "Kee-kee!"
"Yeah, it's Kee-kee," Keller said, startled. "Um, I'm glad you're okay, kid. And, see, I didn't go bye-bye after all. So you may think you're pretty smart,
but you still have something to learn about precognition, hotshot. Right?" Keller added, "You know I thought for a minute once that you might be the Wild Power. But I guess you're just a good old-fashioned witch baby."
Diana, who was passing by, gave her a very strange look. "Keller, are you having a conversation with my baby brother?"
"What exactly did the dragon say?" Mother Cybele asked anxiously. Although she looked like a big dove and her eyes were always kind, there was a firmness about her plump chin that Keller liked.
"I asked who woke him up. And he said"-Keller reached for the exact words-"he said, 'Someone you'll never know. A witch who isn't a witch. We made our own alliance.'"
"A witch who isn't a witch," Mother Cybele repeated.
Aradia's face was sober. 'I wonder who that could be. And where they are now."
Mother Cybele said quietly, "Time will tell."
"The police are already inside," Nissa said, holding the cell phone to her ear as she talked to Keller. "I guess the kids at the party called them when they saw a panther. They've found the family... Mr. and Ms. Ashton-Hughes and Jaime and Brett. They're taking them to the hospital."
She snapped the phone shut. "We'd better send some witches to the hospital. But as long as they're alive, they have a pretty good chance, don't you think? After all, we've got a Wild Power with healing fire. Now, can't you relax and try to enjoy yourself?"
It was two days later. Keller was sitting in a sunny alcove in the safe house where Hiana and Galen and the others had been brought to protect them from the Night World. And to give them a chance to recover.
It was nice to be still for a while. To sit and read... and think. And it was even nicer to be able to do it with Galen around.
He came in the door quietly-he always moved cat-quietly now. She smiled at him. He looked so wonderfully dear with his golden hair and fairytale looks and leopard-green eyes.
"I wrote you a poem," he said, sitting down beside her. "Well, no, that's not true. I kind of stole what your mother wrote and made it into... something. I don't know what. But I think maybe it's what she really meant to say, after all."
Keller blinked at him, then looked down at the piece of paper he gave her.
People die... so love them every day. Beauty fades... so look before it's gone. Love changes... but not the love you give. And if you love, you'll never be alone.
"Actually, I was going to say, 'And you will always be alone... so don't rely on others for your happiness, but don't stop loving, either, because then you'll end up empty and alone instead of alone and strong and able to give without worrying about
what you're going to get back.' But that was kind of long, and it didn't scan," he said.
Keller stared down at the paper blindly.
"I'm sorry," he said. "If you don't like it-"
Keller threw her arms around him, and her tears spilled over. "I'm going to burn the other one," she said.
"And I love you. Kiss me."
He grinned. "Yes, Boss."
And he did.
One from the land of kings long forgotten; One from the hearth which still holds the spark; One from the Day World where two eyes are watching; One from the twilight to be one with the dark..