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Jez kept one hand on the kid as they walked up the stairs under the dirty fluorescent bulbs She could

only i as they shepherded her to the top

They caave Iona’s shoulder a little squeeze

"See-there’s the garden" She nodded toward a potted palm and three wooden barrels with

lanced that way, then gave Jez a sober look

"They’re not getting enough water," she said as quietly as she said everything

"Yeah, well, it didn’t rain enough this suead said "You want to fix that?"

Iona just looked seriously at hiht? So if you just want to show us right now, anything

you want, be s a lot siht at hi about"

"I’et hurt here We just want to see you do so Just show us"

Jez watched hiead in his high boots and

leather jacket, iron-muscled, sleek, sinewy, on one knee in front of this har back at hiuess you’re crazy," Iona said softly Her pigtails moved as she shook her head A pink ribbon

fluttered loosely

"Do you remember the fire?" Jez said from behind her

"Course" The kid turned slowly around "I was scared"

"But you didn’t get hurt The fire got close to you and then you did so And then the fire went

away"

"I was scared, and then the fire went away But I didn’t do anything"

"Okay," Morgead said He stood "Maybe if you can’t tell us, you can show us"

Before Jez could say anything, he was picking up the little girl up and carrying her He had to step

over a line of debris that stretched like a diagonal wall from one side of the roof to the other It was

cos, old clothes, and other odds and ends, and it for off a corner of the roof frole beyond the debris Then he stepped back over the wall, leaving her there

Iona didn’t say anything, didn’t try to follow hile

Jez stood tensely The kid’s a Wild Power, she told herself She’s already survived worse than this And

no et hurt

I proain just for a few minutes, just to tell the kid one more time

not to be scared She especially wanted to as Val and Raven poured gasoline on the wall of debris Iona

watched the

Then Pierce lit a ht orange they would have been at night

But hot They spread fast and Jez could feel the heat fro, ten feet away

The kid was closer

She still didn’t say anything, didn’t try to jump over the flah enough that she couldn’t ju herself on fire

Okay, Jez thought, knowing the kid couldn’t hear her Now, do it! Come on, Iona Put the fire out

Iona just looked at it

She was standing absolutely still, with her little hands curled into fists at her sides A s a soft red halo around her head and the hot wind fro her pink-triressively, not as if she were

planning to fight theht Her own hands were clenched into fists so tightly that her nails were

biting into her palms

"You know, I’m concerned," Pierce said softly frolanced at him quickly Pierce didn’t talk a lot, and he always seeead, of course, who could be colder than anyone Now Jez wondered Could he, who never

seemed to be moved by pity, actually be the most sensitive?

"I’m worried about this fire I know nobody can look down on us, but it’sa lot of sate?"

Jez alht, and felt the part of her that had sighed and felt loved and understood

wither away These are notwith the She turned her back on hiead telling him to shut up, that other tenants were the least of their worries, but most of her

attention was focused on the kid

Coht Then she said it out loud

"Come on, Iona! Put out the fire You can do it! Just do what you did before!" She tried to catch the

child’s eye, but Iona was looking at the flaead said brusquely "Let’s get this over with, kid"

Raven leaned forward, her long front hair ruffling in the wind "Do you reht?" she shouted seriously "Think!"

Iona looked at her and spoke for the first ti!" Her voice, so co on tears

The fire was full-blo, loud as a roaring wind, sending little bits of burning debris into the air One

floated down to rest at Iona’s foot and she stepped backward

She’s got to be scared, Jez told herself That’s the whole point of this test If she’s not scared, she’ll never

be able to find her Power And we’re talking about saving the world, here We’re not just torturing this

kid for fun It’s still wrong

The thought burst out fros as a vampire and

a vampire hunter, but suddenly she knew she couldn’t watch anyto call it off

She looked at Morgead He was standing tensely, arreen eyes fixed on Iona

as if he could will her into doing what he wanted Raven and Val were beside him, Raven expressionless

under her fall of dark hair; Val frowning with his big hands on his hips Thistle was a step or so behind

theead’s head whipped around to look at her "No We’ve gotten this far; it would be stupid to have

to start all over again Would that be any nicer to her?"

"I said, it’s time to stop What do you have to put out the fire-or did you even think of that?"

As they were talking, Thistle stepped forward Sheat Iona

"You’d better do soht up"

The childish, taunting tone caught Jez’s attention, but Morgead was talking to her

"She’s going to put it out any ead, she’s absolutely terrified already! Look at her!"

Morgead turned Iona’s clenched fists were now raised to chest-level; her htly open as

she breathed far too fast And although she wasn’t screa like a norh her little body She looked like a s it now, she’s never going to,"

Jez told Morgead flatly "It was a stupid idea in the first place, and it’s over!"

She saw the change in his green eyes; the flare of anger and then the sudden darkness of defeat She

realized that he was going to cave

But before he could say anything, Thistle onna die!" she shrilled "You’re gonna burn up right now!" And she began kicking fla happened very fast after that

The debris came apart in a shower of sparks as it fleard Iona Iona’s e swirling around her knees And then Raven was yelling at Thistle, but Thistle

was already kicking e of sparks hit Iona Jez saw her put up her hands to protect her face, then fling her ar cloth settled on her sleeve She saw the sleeve spurt with a tiny fla for a way to escape

Morgead was dragging Thistle back by her collar Thistle was still kicking Sparks were everywhere and

Jez felt a hot pain on her cheek

And then Iona’s eyes went enormous and blank and fixed and Jez could see that she’d et out of this

Only not the right one

She was going to jue of the roof, and she knew in that saet to

the child in ti to do

Jez only hoped she would be fast enough

She very nearly wasn’t But there was a two-foot wall at the roof’s perimeter, and it delayed Iona for a

second as she scrah the fire and catch up

And then Iona was on the wall, and then she was launching her s squirrel, ar down at the three-story drop