certainly going to ask her. And I can't let any more time go by."
David pulled at his hair with the hand that wasn't hooked to the IV. "Okay. All right, give me five minutes, and we'll go together now."
"No."
He was looking at the IV as if figuring out how to undo it. "Yes. Just wait for me-"
Gillian blew him a kiss from the door and ran before he looked up.
He couldn't help her. You couldn't fight Angel in ordinary ways. All David would be was leverage in Angel's hands-a hostage-something to threaten to harm.
Gillian jogged out of the hospital and through the parking lot. She found the Geo.
Okay, now if Melusine would just be at the store...
{You don't really want to do this, you know.)
Gillian slammed the car door closed. She sat up very straight, looking at nothing, as she fastened her seatbelt and started the car.
(Listen, kid. You ain't never had a friend like me.)
Gillian pulled out of the parking lot.
(Come on, give me a break. We can at least talk about this, can't we? There are some things you don't understand.)
She couldn't listen to him. She didn't dare answer him. The last time, he'd hypnotized her somehow, made her relax and give up control to him. That couldn't happen again.
But she couldn't shut his voice out. She couldn't get away from it.
(And you can't love him. There are rules against it. I'm serious. You belong to the Night World now-you're not allowed to love a human. If they find out, they'll kill you both.)
(And what were you trying to do to us?) Damn, she'd answered him back. She wouldn't do that again.
(Not hurt you. It was only him I wanted. I could have slipped in as he slipped out...)
Don't listen, Gillian told herself. There must be some way of blocking him, of keeping him out of her mind...
She began to sing.
"DECK the halls with boughs of HOL-ly Fa la la lala..."
He hadn't been able to hear her thoughts when she hummed before. It seemed to work, now, as long as she kept her mind on the lyrics. She sang Christmas carols. Loudly. The fast ones, like "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and "Joy to the World," were best.
"The Twelve Days of Christmas" got her the last few miles to Woodbridge.
Please be there...
"FIVE golden rings," she caroled, hurrying into the Woodbridge Five and Ten with the shoe box under her arm. She didn't care who thought she was crazy. "FOUR calling birds, THREE French hens ..."
She was at the door to the back room.
"TWO turtle doves ..."
A very startled Melusine looked up from behind the counter.
"And a... please, you've got to help me! I've got this Angel who's trying to kill people!" She broke off the song and rushed to Melusine.
"You've... what?"
"I've got this-angel thing. And I can't stop him from talking to me...." Gillian suddenly realized that Angel had stopped talking. "Maybe he got scared when I came in here. But I still need your help. Please."
Suddenly her eyes were stinging with tears again.
Melusine leaned both elbows on the counter and rested her chin on her hands. She looked surprised, but willing. "Why don't you tell me about it?"
For the second time that day, Gillian told her story. All of it. She hoped that by telling everything, she could make Melusine understand her urgency. And her lack of experience.
"So I'm not even a real witch," she said at the end.
"Oh, you're a witch, all right," Melusine said. There was color in her cheeks and a look of fascination in her dark eyes. "He told you the truth about that. Everybody knows about the lost Harman babies. Little Elspeth-the records say that she died in England. But obviously she didn't. And you're her descendant."
"Which means it's okay for me to do spells?"
Melusine laughed. "It's okay for anyone to do spells who can do spells. In my opinion. Some people don't feel the same way-"
"But can you help me take the spells off?" Gillian opened the shoe box. She felt ashamed to show the dolls to Melusine-even though she'd bought them here. "I wouldn't have done it if I'd known," she murmured feebly, as Melusine looked at the dolls.
"I know." Melusine gestured at her to be quiet. Gillian watched tensely and waited for the verdict.
"Okay, it looks as if you've started the process already. But I think... maybe some healing salve...
and blessed thistle..."
She bustled around, almost flying in her chair. She applied things to the dolls. She asked Gillian to concentrate with her, and she said words Gillian didn't recognize.
Finally, she wrapped the wax dolls in what looked like white silk, and put them back in the box.
"Is that all? It's done?"
"Well, I think it's a good idea to keep the dolls, just in case we need to do more healing. Then, after that, we can unname them and get rid of them."
"But now Tanya and Kim will be okay?" Gillian was anxious for reassurance, and she couldn't help the quick glance of doubt she cast-at Melusine's missing leg.
Melusine was direct. "If they've had anything amputated, it won't cure them. We can't grow new limbs."
She touched her leg. "This happened in a boating accident. But otherwise, yes, they should get better."
Gillian let out a breath she seemed to have been holding for hours. She shut her eyes. "Thanks. Thank
you, Melusine. You don't know how good it feels to not feel like you're maiming somebody."
Then she opened her eyes. "But the hard part's still to come."
" 'Angel.'"
"Yes."
"Well, I think you're right about it being hard." She looked Gillian straight in the eye. "And dangerous."
"I know that already." Gillian turned and took a quick pace around the room. "He can get into my mind and make me do things-"
"Not just your mind. Anyone's."
"And I'm pretty sure he can move objects by himself. Make cars skid. And he sees everything." She came back to the counter. "Melusine-what is he? And why's he doing all this? And why to me?"
"Well, the last question's the easiest. Because you died." Melusine wheeled quickly to a bookshelf at the end of the counter. She pulled down a volume.