Iliana was shaking her head, edging away even from Galen. Behind Keller, Winnie and Nissa stood up, closing in. They faced her in a solid block, unified.
"I'm sorry," Keller said. "You can't escape it. You're part of it. You're a Wild Power."
"And you should be happy," Winnie burst out, unable to contain herself any longer. "You're going to help save the world. You know that thing I did back in the Hallmark shop? With the orange fire?" She cupped her hands. "Well, you're full of blue fire. And that's so much stronger-nobody even knows what it can do."
Iliana put out her hands. "I'm sorry. I really am. But you guys are nuts, and you've got the wrong person. I mean, I don't know, maybe you're not completely nuts. The things that happened back at that store..."
She stopped and gulped. "But I don't have anything to do with it." She shut her eyes, as if that would bring the real world into focus. "I'm not any Wild Power," she said more firmly. "I'm just a human kid-"
"Actually, no," Nissa said.
"You're a lost witch," Winnie cut in. "You're a Harmon. A Hearth-Woman. That's the most famous family of witches; they're like-they're royalty. And you're the most famous of all of them. You're the Witch Child. We've been waiting for you."
Keller shifted. "Winnie, maybe we don't need to tell her all of this right now."
But Winnie was racing on. "You're the one who's going to unite the shapeshifters and the witches.
You're going to marry a prince of the shapeshifters, and then we're all going to be like this." She held up two intertwined fingers.
Iliana stared at her. "I'm only seventeen. I'm not marrying anybody."
"Well, you can do a promise ceremony; that's binding. The witches would accept it, and I think the shapeshifters would." She glanced at Keller for confirmation.
Keller pinched the bridge of her nose. "I'm just a grunt; I can't speak for the 'shifters."
Winnie was already turning back to Iliana, her curls shaking with earnestness. "Really, you know," she said, "it's incredibly important. Right now, the Night World is split. Vampires on one side, witches on the other. And the shapeshifters-well, they could go either way. And that's what could determine the battle."
"Look-"
"The witches and the shapeshifters haven't been allies for thirty thousand-"
"I don't care!"
Full-blown hysteria.
It was about as scary as a six-week-old kitten hissing, but it was the best raving Iliana could manage. Both her small fists were clenched, and her face and throat were flushed.
"I don't care about the shapeshifters or the witches. I'm just a normal kid with a normal life, and I want to go home! I don't know anything about fighting. Even if I believed all this stuff, I couldn't help you. I hate PE; I'm totally uncoordinated. I get sick when I see blood. And-" She looked around and made an inarticulate sound of exasperation. "And I lost my purse."
Keller stood up. "Forget your purse."
"It had my mom's credit card in it. She's going to kill me if I come home without that. I just- where's my purse?"
"Look, you little idiot," Keller said. "Worry about your mother, not about her credit card."
Diana backed up a step. Even in the middle of a hysterical fit, she was beautiful beyond words. Strands of angel-fine hair stuck to her flushed, wet cheeks. Her eyes were dark as twilight, shadowed by heavy lashes-and they wouldn't quite meet Keller's.
"I don't know what you mean."
"Yes, you do. Where's your mom going to be when the end of the world comes? Is a credit card going to save her then?"
Iliana was in a corner now. Keller could hear both Nissa and Winnie making warning noises. She knew herself that this was the wrong way to get someone on their side. But patience wasn't one of Keller's great virtues. Neither was keeping her temper.
"Let's see," Galen said, and his voice was like cool water flowing through the room. "Maybe we could take a little break-"
"I don't need advice from you," Keller snapped. "And if this little idiot is too stupid to understand that she can't turn her back on this, we have to show her."
"I'm not an idiot!"
"Then you're just a big baby? Scared?"
Iliana sputtered again. But there was unexpected fire in her violet eyes as she did it. She was looking right at Keller now, and for a moment Keller thought that there might be a breakthrough.
Then she heard a noise.
Her ears picked it up before either Winnie's or Nissa's. A car on the street outside.
"Company," Keller said. She noticed that Galen had stiffened. Had he heard it?
Winnie was moving to stand behind the door; Nissa slipped as quietly as a shadow to the window. It was dark outside now, and vampire eyes were good at night.
"Blue car," Nissa said softly. "Looks like them inside."
"Who?" Diana said.
Keller gestured at her to be quiet. "Winnie?"
"I have to wait until they cross the wards." A pause, then she broke into a smile. "It's her!"
"Who?" Iliana said. "I thought nobody was supposed to know we were here."
Good thinking. Logical, Keller thought. "This is someone I called. Someone who came all the way fromNevada and has been waiting to see you." She went to the door.
It took a few minutes for the people in the car to get out-they moved slowly. Keller could hear the crunch of footsteps and the sound of a cane. She opened the door.
There was no light outside; the figures approaching were in shadow until they actually reached the threshold.