Iliana stood there, her hands clenched by her sides, her chest rising and falling with her breathing. Then she looked at Galen. Finally, she looked at Keller.
Tm not the Witch Child any more than Winnie is. And I think you know that by now. But..." She took a breath, steadied herself.
Keller held her own breath.
"But if you want me to pretend to be, I'll do it. I'll go to the promise ceremony with Galen-I mean, if hell do it with me." She gave a half-embarrassed glance at Galen, looking shy and almost apologetic.
"Will he ever!" Winnie said enthusiastically. Keller could have kissed her. Galen himself didn't rise to the occasion properly at all; instead, he opened his mouth, looking uncertain.
Fortunately, Iliana was going on. "Then I'll go through with it. And maybe that will be enough for the shapeshifters to join with the witches, as long as they don't find out I'm a fake." She looked unhappy. She was so adamant that for a moment Keller was shaken. Could it be she wasn't the Wild Power? But no. Keller knew she was. She just hasn't awakened her power yet. And if she continued to deny it, she never would.
She said, "Thank you, Iliana. You don't know how much, how many lives you're going to save. Thank you."
Then the excitement got the better of her, and she took Iliana by the arm and gave her a sort of shaking squeeze of affection.
"You're a trooper!" Winnie said, and hugged her hard. "I knew you'd come through all the time, I really did."
Nissa smiled at her with genuine approval. Galen was smiling, too, although there was something in his eyes...
"There's just one thing," Iliana said a little bit breathlessly, rubbing her arm where Keller had gripped it.
"Ill do this. I said I would. But I have two conditions."
Keller's excitement deflated. "Conditions?"
"You can have anything you want," Winnie said, blinking away happy tears. "Cars, clothes, books..."
"No, no, I don't want things," Diana said. "What I mean is, I'm doing this because I can't just stand around and not do anything when stuff like that is going on." She shivered. "I have to do anything I can to help. But. I'm still not the right person. So the first condition is that while I'm pretending to be the Wild Power, you guys have somebody out looking for the real one."
Keller said smoothly, "I'll tell Circle Daybreak. They'll keep looking and checking other Harmans. They'll do it for as long as you want them to."
They would, too. It was a small price to pay.
"And the other condition?" Keller asked.
"I want to go to Jaime's party on Saturday."
Instant uproar. Even Nissa was talking over people. Keller cut short her own exclamations and gestured for everybody to shut up.
Then she looked Diana dead in the eye.
'It's impossible. And you know it's impossible. Unless you've found a way to be in two places at once."
"Don't be stupid," Diana said. That small, determined chin was tight. "I mean before the promise ceremony thing. I want to go just for an hour or two. Because she's one of my very best friends, and she's gotten attacked twice because of me."
"So what? You're already making it up to her. You're saving her life and her twin brother's life and her parents' lives-"
"No, I'm not. I'm faking being a Wild Power when I know it isn't true. I'm acting a lie." There were tears in Diana's eyes now. "But I'm not going to hurt Jaime's feelings, and I'm not going to break my promise to her. And that's that. So if you want me to go through with your little charade, I'll do it, but I want to go to the party first."
There was a silence.
Well, she's stubborn, I'll give her that, Keller thought. Once she decides on something, she absolutely won't be budged on it. I guess that will be helpful when the Wild Powers fight the darkness someday. But right now, it was simply infuriating.
Keller drew a very long breath and said, "Okay."
Winnie and Nissa looked at her sharply. They hadn't expected her to give in so fast, and they were undoubtedly wondering if their boss had some trick up her sleeve.
Chapter 13
Unfortunately, Keller didn't. "Well just have to work something out," she said to her team. "Make it as safe as possible, and stick by her every minute."
Winnie and Nissa exchanged unhappy glances. But they didn't say anything.
Keller looked at Diana. "The one thing is, you have to be at the Solstice Ceremony at midnight They're meeting in Charlotte, so that's about twenty minutes' drive, and we'd better leave plenty of time for safety. Say an hour at the least. If you're not there, where the shapeshifters and the witches are meeting, at exactly midnight-"
"My coach turns into a pumpkin' Diana said tartly. She swabbed her nose with a tissue.
"No, the shapeshifters walk out, and any chance of an alliance is gone forever."
Diana sobered, stared at the table. Then she met Keller's eyes. 'I'll be there. I know it, and you know why? Because you'll get me there."
Keller stared at her, astonished. She heard Winnie give a short yelp of laughter and saw that Nissa was hiding a smile.
Then she felt a smile pulling up the corner of her own lip. "You're right; I will. Even if I have to drag you. Here, shake on it." They did. And then Diana turned to Galen. She had been watching him out of the corner of her eye ever since she'd first started talking. And now she looked hesitant again.
"If there's anything-any reason I shouldn't do it.. ." She fumbled to a stop. Keller kicked Galen's ankle hard.
He glanced up. He still didn't look like the Galen she knew. Talking about the dragons had done something to him, thrown a shadow across his face and turned his eyes inward. And Diana's announcement hadn't lightened anything.