I suppose that means I should try to stop now, Jez thought.
She wasn't sure how to do it. She guessed that she needed to call it back, somehow, to draw it down into her body again.
Maybe if I sort of tug....
She did-something. A gathering-up with her mind. It was harder than letting the fire go had been, but it worked. She could feel it returning, flooding back inside her, as if she were sucking it in. ...
And then it was gone, and Jez could see the world again. Could see what it had done.
The house had disappeared.
Or most of it, anyway. There was about a foot and a half of ragged wall left all around, with charred insulation spilling out. Blue energy like electricity ran along the edges here and there, fizzing.
Other than that, no house. Not even chunks of wreckage lying around. There were fine bits of debris floating down, making the sunlight hazy, but that was all.
It got... vaporized, Jez thought, searching for the right word.
No Lily. No Azarius. No Pierce. And none of the ugly thugs.
Goddess, Jez thought. I didn't mean to do that. I only wanted to stop them from hurting Morgead and Claire and Hugh. ...
What about them? she thought in a sudden panic. She turned her head, painfully.
They were there. And alive. They were even stirring. The cords they'd been tied with were lying on the carpet, sizzling with that same blue energy.
It's so weird to have a carpet without a house to go with it, Jez thought fuzzily.
She was going away again. And that was too bad, but at least it didn't hurt anymore. The pain was gone completely, replaced by a warm and sleepy feeling-and the sensation of gently floating outward.
Her eyelids felt heavy.
"Jez? Jez!"
It was a husky whisper. Jez opened her eyes to see Morgead's face.
He was crying. Oh, dear, that was bad. Jez hadn't seen him cry since... when was it? Sometime when they'd been little kids....
Jez, can you hear me? Now he was talking in her mind.
Jez blinked again, and tried to think of something comforting to say to him.
"I feel warm," she whispered.
"No, you don't!" He said it almost in a growl. Then he looked behind him, and Jez saw Hugh and Claire crawling up. They were all shining with golden light.
"You're so pretty," she told them. "Like angels."
"This isn't the time for your weird humor!" Morgead shouted.
"Stop it! Don't yell at her!" That was Claire. Claire was crying, too, lovely tears that shone as they fell.
She reached out and took Jez's hand, and that was nice, although Jez couldn't exactly feel it. She could see it.
"She's going to be all right," Morgead was snarling. "She's lost blood, but she'll be okay."
Someone was stroking Jez's hair off her face. She felt that; it was pleasant. She frowned slowly at Morgead, because there was something important to tell him, and talking was difficult.
"Tell Hugh..." she whispered.
"Tell Hugh your freaking self! He's right here! And you're not going anywhere."
Jez blinked with the difficulty changing focus. Yes, there was Hugh. He was the one stroking her hair.
"Hugh... the prophecy. I figured out what the two eyes watching were. They're the sun and the moon-get it? Two eyes... for somebody who belongs to both worlds."
"The Day World and the Night World," Hugh said softly. "You got it, Jez. That was so smart."
"And blood," Jez whispered. '"Power in the blood'-that's why I couldn't do it anytime I wanted. Blood has to flow before you can let out the power. The first two times Claire was scratching me. And this time . . ." Her voice died off, but it wasn't important. Everybody could see the blood this time, she knew.
Hugh's voice was thick. "That was smart, too, Jez. You figured it out. And you saved us. You did everything just right."
"No... because there's only going to be three Wild Powers now...."
"No, there aren't," Morgead raged. "Listen to me, Jez. There's no reason for you to die-"
Jez couldn't manage a smile anymore, or a sentence. But she whispered gently, "Wood... poison."
"No, it isn't! Not to humans. And you're half human, Jez. You're vampire enough to survive something that would kill a human, but you're human enough not to be poisoned by wood."
Jez knew better. She couldn't see much anymore. Only Morgead, and he was getting indistinct. It wasn't that the world was dimming, though-it was getting brighter. Everything was golden and shining.
Four less one and darkness triumphs, Jez thought I'm so sorry about that. I hope they can manage it somehow. It would be so sad for everything human to be lost. There's so much good in the world, and so much to love....
She couldn't even see Morgead now. Only gold. But she could hear. She could hear Claire whispering to her in a voice broken by tears, and feel wetness dropping on her face.
"I love you, Jez. You're the best cousin anybody could ever have."
And Hugh. He was crying, too. "Jez, I'm so proud to be your friend...."
And then, through the mist and the gold and the warmth and peace, came a voice that wasn't gentle at all. That was roaring in sheer outrage and fury.
"DONT YOU DARE DIE ON ME, JEZEBEL! DON'T YOU DARE! Or I'll follow you to the next world and KILL you."
Suddenly, in the pretty gold mist, she could see something else. The only thing in the universe that wasn't golden.
It was a silver cord.
"You come back and you do it right now," Morgead bellowed in her ears and in her mind. "Right now! Do you hear me?"
The peace was shattered. Nothing seemed quite so warm and wonderful anymore, and she knew that once Morgead got into one of his Excited States, he wouldn't stop yelling until he got what he wanted.
And there was the cord right in front of her. It was strong, and she could feel that the other end was somewhere in. Morgead's heart, and that he was trying to drag her back to him.
All right. Maybe if I just grab on....
Somehow, she was holding on to it, and bit by bit, pulling herself back. And then the golden light was fading and she was inside a body that hurt and Morgead was holding her and kissing her and crying all at the same time.
Claire's voice came from beyond him. "She's breathing again! She's breathing!"