Keller turned her head quickly.
Nissa was standing there, cool and imperturbable as always, one hand on her hip. Her short mink-colored hair wasn't even ruffled; her eyes, just a shade or two darker, were steady. And she was holding an ironwood fighting stick with a very sharp point.
Keller growled faintly in relief. You couldn't ask Nissa to be creative-her mind didn't work that way. But on any question of logic, she was unbeatable, and she had nerves of ice. More important right now, she was a superb fighter.
"If you want to play, why don't you try me?" she suggested, and whipped the fighting stick around expertly a few times. It whistled in the air, traced a complicated figure, and ended up casually across her shoulder. Then she slowly extended the point toward the vampire's throat.
"Yeah, and don't leave me out." This voice was husky and shaky but still grim. It came from behind the counter. Winnie was pulling herself up. She coughed once, then stood straight, facing the vampire.
Energy, orange and pulsating, flared between her cupped hands. Witch power.
You're alive, Keller thought. She couldn't suppress the flash of relief.
The vampire looked from one girl to the other. Then he glanced at Keller, who was lying on her side, feebly trying to make her legs work. Her tail lashed furiously.
"Come on!" the other vampire shouted. He was staggering under the weight of the dragon, heading for the door. "Let's get Azhdeha out of here. He's the most important thing."
The first vampire hesitated one instant, then whirled and plunged after his friend. Together, they hustled the dragon out into the mall.
Then they were gone.
Keller gave one final gasping snarl and felt herself change. This time, it felt more like a snail falling out of a shell. Her claws dissolved, her tail withered, and she slumped into her human body.
"Boss! Are you okay?" Winnie came toward her, a little unsteadily.
Keller raised her head, black hair falling on either side to the floor. She pushed herself up with her arms and looked around, taking stock.
The shop was quiet It was also a wreck. Winnie's impact with the wall had knocked off most of the decorative plates and clocks there. Keller's fight with the dragon had trashed a lot of the shelves.
There were shattered Christmas ornaments everywhere, little glittering fragments of scarlet and holly green and royal purple. It was like being in a giant kaleidoscope.
And outside, chaos was gathering. The entire fight had only taken about five minutes, but all the time it had been going on, people had been running away from the shop and screaming. Keller had noticed them; she had simply filed them away in her mind as unimportant. There had been nothing she could do about them.
Now, there were security officers closing in, and someone had undoubtedly called the police.
She pushed with her arms again and managed to stand up.
"Nissa." It hurt her throat to speak. "Where's the car?"
"Right down there." Nissa pointed at the floor. "Directly below us, parked outside the Mrs. Fields cookie store."
"Okay. Let's get Diana out." Keller looked at the young girl with the shimmering hair who as yet hadn't spoken a single word. "Can you walk?"
Iliana stared at her. She didn't say anything. Stunned and frightened, Keller guessed. Well, a lot had happened in the last few minutes.
"I know this all seems bizarre to you, and you're probably wondering who we are.Ill explain everything. But right now, we have to get out of here. Okay?"
Iliana shrank a little, trembling.
Not exactly a hero, Keller thought. Or quick on the uptake. Then she decided she was being unfair. This girl was the Witch Child; she undoubtedly had hidden strengths.
"Come on," Galen said to Iliana gently. "She's right; it isn't safe here."
Iliana looked up at him earnestly. She seemed about to agree. Then she gave a little shiver, shut her eyes, and fainted.
Galen caught her as she fell.
Keller stared.
"She's too pure to deal with this kind of stuff," Winnie said defensively. "Violence and all. It's not the same as being chicken."
It was at that exact moment that Keller could pinpoint her first real doubts about the new Wild Power. Galen looked down at the girl who lay in his arms like a broken lily. He looked at Keller.
"You take her; well surround you and cover you," Keller said, cutting him off. She knew her hair was in complete disarray, a wild cyclone of black around her. Her sleek jumpsuit was torn and stained, and she was clutching her right shoulder, which still throbbed in agony. But she must have looked fairly commanding, because Galen didn't say another word, just nodded and started toward the door.
Nissa led the way in front of him. Winnie and Keller fell in behind. They were ready to fight, but when the security guards with walkie-talkies saw Nissa whirling her stick, they backed away. The ordinary people, curious onlookers attracted by all the noise, not only backed away but ran. Lots of them screamed.
"Go," Keller said. "Fast. Go."
They made it to Mrs. Fields without anybody trying to stop them.
A girl with a red apron flattened herself against a wall as they thrust their way behind the counter and into the sanctum full of industrial-sized ovens in the back. A gangly boy dropped a tray with a clang, and lumps of raw cookie dough scattered on the floor.
And then they were bursting through the back entrance, and there was the car, a white limousine illegally parked at the curb. Nissa whipped out a key chain and pressed a button, and Keller heard the click of doors unlocking.
"Inside!" she said to Galen. He got in. Winnie ran around the car to get in the other side. Nissa slid into the driver's seat. Keller ducked in last and snapped, "Go!" even as she slammed the door.
Nissa floored it.
The limousine shot forward like a dolphin-just as a security truck sped up from the rear. A police car appeared dead in front of them.
Nissa was an excellent driver. The limo swerved with a squeal of tires and peeled out of another of the parking lot's exits. A second police car swung toward them as Nissa dodged traffic. This one had lights and sirens on. Nissa gunned the engine, and the limo surged forward again. A freeway on-ramp was ahead.
"Hang on," Nissa said briefly.
They were passing the on-ramp-they were past it. No, they weren't. At the last possible second, the limo screamed into a ninety-degree turn. Everyone inside was thrown around. Keller clenched her teeth as her wounded arm hit the window. Then they were shooting up the on-ramp and onto the freeway.
With a little patter, cat's paws of rain appeared on the windshield. Keller, leaning forward to look over Nissa's shoulder, was happy. With icy rain and the low, gray fog, they probably wouldn't be chased by helicopter. The big limousine roared past the few other cars on the road and Winnie sat looking out the rear window, murmuring a spell to confuse and delay any pursuit.
"We lost them," Nissa said. Keller sat back and let out her breath. For the first time since she'd entered the mall, she allowed herself to relax minutely.
We did it.
At the same moment, Winnie turned. She pounded the backseat with a small, hard fist. "We did it! Keller-we got the Wild Power! We..." Her voice trailed off as she saw Keller's face. "And, uh... I guess I disobeyed orders." Her pounding was self-conscious now; she ducked her strawberry-blond head. "Um, I'm sorry, Boss."
"You'd better be," Keller said. She held Winnie's gaze a moment, then said, "You could have gotten yourself killed, witch-and for absolutely no good reason."
Winnie grimaced. "I know. I lost it. I'm sorry." But she smiled timidly at Keller afterward. Keller's team knew how to read her.
"Sorry, too, Boss," Nissa said from the front seat. She slanted a glance at Keller from her mink-colored eyes. "I wasn't supposed to leave the car."
"But you thought we might need a little help," Keller said. She nodded, meeting Nissa's eyes in the mirror. "I'm glad you did."