"You got hurt because of me. When I dug myself out of that rubble, I thought you were dead." He said it flatly, without any particular intonation. But the hairs on Keller's arms rose.
"I've got to get back to Diana."
"Keller."
There was something wrong with her. She was facing the door, heading out, but his voice stopped her in her tracks.
"Keller. Please."
She was aware that he was coming up behind her.
Her entire skin was up in gooseflesh. She was too aware of him, that was the problem. She could feel the air that he displaced. She could feel his heat.
He just stood there.
"Keller. Ever since I first saw you..." He stopped and tried again. "You were-gleaming. All that long black hair swirling around you and those silvery eyes. And then you changed. I don't think I ever really understood what it meant to be a shape-shifter until I saw that. You were a girl and then you were a cat, but you were always both." He let out his breath. Tm putting this badly."
Keller needed to think of something to say-now. But she couldn't, and she couldn't seem to move.
"When I saw that, for the first time, I wanted to shapeshift. Before that, I didn't really care, and everyone was always telling me to be careful, because whatever shape I choose the first time is the one I'm stuck with. But that's not what I'm trying to say. I'm trying..."
He reached out. Keller felt the warmth of his hand between her shoulder blades, through her hair, through the fabric of her spare jumpsuit. Keller shivered.
She couldn't help it. She felt so strange. Dizzy and supernaturally clear at the same time. Weak. She didn't know what was happening to her, only that it was powerful and terrible.
His hand remained on her back, warmth from it soaking into her skin.
"I realize how much you dislike me," Galen said quietly. There was no self-pity in his voice, but he seemed to be getting the words out painfully. "And I'm not going to try to change that. But I just wanted you to know, I also realize what you've done for me. I needed to say thank you." There was something swelling in Keller's chest like a balloon. Bigger and bigger. She clamped her lips together, frightened as she had never been when fighting monsters.
"And... I won't forget it," Galen was going on, still quiet. "Someday, I'll find a way to repay you."
Keller felt desperate. What was he doing to her?
She wasn't in control of herself; she was trembling and terrified that the thing in her chest was going to escape.
All she could imagine doing was turning around and hitting him, like a trapped animal lashing out at someone trying to rescue it.
"It's so strange," he said, and Keller had the feeling that he had almost forgotten her and was talking to himself. "When I was growing up, I rejected the Power of my family. All my ancestors, they were supposed to turn into demons when they unleashed it. I thought that it was better not to fight- if that was possible. It seems unrealistic now."
Keller could feel more than warmth now. There were little electrical zings spreading out from his hand, running down the insides of her arms. Not real ones, of course. Not the Power he was talking about, like the Power used by the dragon or Winnie. But it felt awfully close. Her whole body was filled with buzzing.
Some people shouldn't have to fight, she thought giddily. But, no, that was insane. Everybody had to fight; that was what life was about. If you didn't fight, you were weak. You were prey.
He was still talking in that abstracted tone. "I know you think-"
Keller's panic hit flashpoint. She whirled around. "You don't know anything about what I think. You don't know anything about me. I don't know whatever gave you the idea that you did."
He looked startled but not defensive. The silver light behind him lit the edges of his fine hair. "I'm sorry," he said gently. "Stop being sorry!"
"Are you saying I'm wrong? You don't think I'm a spoiled and pampered prince who doesn't know anything about real life and has to be baby-sat?"
Keller was disconcerted. That was exactly what she thought-but if it were true, then why did she have this strange feeling of falling?
"I think you're like her," she said, keeping her words short and brutal to keep them under control. She didn't need to specify the her. "You're like this whole ridiculous family. Happy mommy, happy baby, happy Christmas. They're ready to love everybody who comes along. And they're living in a happy happy idealistic world that has nothing to do with reality."
The corner of his mouth turned up wryly, although his eyes were still serious. "I think that's what I said."
"And it sounds harmless, doesn't it? But it isn't. It's blind and destructive. What do you want to bet that Hiana's mother really thinks my name is Kelly now? She can't deal with it being 'demon,' so she just happily changes the world to fit."
"You could be right." He wasn't smiling at all now, and there was something in his eyes, something lost and hopeless that made Keller feel more panicked than ever.
She spoke savagely to hold off the fear. "You want to know what real life is like? My mother left me in a cardboard box in a parking lot. It was fixed up with newspapers inside, like something you'd use for a puppy. That was because I couldn't wear diapers, I was stuck in my halfway form-a baby with a tail and ears like a cat. Maybe that was why she couldn't deal with me, but I'll never know. The only thing I have of hers is a note that was in the box. I kept it"
Keller fumbled in the jumpsuit's pocket. She had never meant to show this to anyone, certainly not somebody she'd known for less than twenty-four hours. But she had to convince Galen; she had to make him go away for good.