Page 18 (1/2)
Jez heard herself screa in her ears as if the BART train was coulfed
her whole body, sending agonized spash, where
so and dislodging her internal organs and
burning right beside her heart
She’d been staked
What she had done so often to others had been done to her
She hadn’t realized anything could hurt like this She was glad none of her victi
The wood of the stake was poisoning her heart, she knew Even if it were removed, she would die
No va wood and its undead heart
Still, she would live for a little while-in unih her
A voice was screa in her ead, she thought And she hoped he wasn’t feeling any of what she was feeling through the silver
cord that connected the Jez wished they wouldn’t They had to stay calm; to think of a way to
save themselves
Because she couldn’t help thery voice Lily
"What is wrong with you?" Lily was saying "Don’t you see what’s happening to her? Don’t you want to save her?"
Through the red haze that filled Jez’s vision, she felt di what she’d told
the it
Good That hat h she couldn’t really reh the red haze It was Lily, bending over her
"Don’t you understand?" Lily yelled "You can stop this right now Ill have him kill you cleanly-all the pain
will be over All you have to do is tell me who it is"
Jez smiled at her faintly She couldn’t breathe to answer, and she didn’t want to try
Would you believe that I don’t know? she thought No, I don’t think you would
The pain was getting less by itself It was as if Jez wasfarther and farther away fro Her face isted, and to Jez’s vision, floating in a
scarlet mist She looked like aat soht Get the other vaain "We’ll just
have to stake your friends one after another until the Wild Power decides to reveal itself"
No No
Suddenly everything was ain, and she could feel her
own body There was still the roaring in her ears, but she could hear Claire’s sobs over it
No Lily couldn’t
But it was They were shoving Morgead down on the floor beside her, and Claire and Hugh beyond
hi into position
No No This can’t happen
Jez wanted to screa, because everything was lost now
anyway But she didn’t have air to scream And she felt so adrift and confused anyway Her universe
had beco at all once, pastsensory ie new ideas
If it was involuntary, why didn’t the Wild Poork ic more often? Unless there was some other
requirement
I can’t let this happen
The da around her heart
Claire’s nails digging into her arms
"When there’s no physical way to escape "
Power in the blood
Claire on the floor there Screa inside her, hotter than the stake
Morgead beside her whispering, "Jez, I love you"
Pierce with the stake over hi up unafraid
Hotter than the heart of a star
Hugh in the distance saying aluide us to the other world
"
Hotter than the sun and colder and bluer than the htning all at once Soe and past love and past all
controlling and that she recognized in her soul even though she’d never consciously felt it before It was
swelling Jez to bursting, a pure and terrible flame that was never meant to be unleashed like this
"Do it!" Lily shouted
And Jez let it free
It ca out from her in a silent explosion Blue fire that streamed from her body and blasted in all
directions, but especially up It ca fro torrent Like a solar flare that didn’t stop
It was all she could see Blue fla that crackled almost soundlessly
Just like the fire that had cocooned her on the BART tracks
Except that now she could tell where it was co from, even if she couldn’t direct it She kne to
let it out, now, but once out it did what it wanted
And it wasn’tshe knew clearly about it She’d been
letting it slip out when she was desperately upset-when she orried for someone’s life, and she knew
that she couldn’t do anything else to save theivable, because it had been unconscious
This wasn’t She was probably violating so The blue fire was only
meant to be used in the last battle, when the darkness caainst it
I suppose that ht
She wasn’t sure how to do it She guessed that she needed to call it back, soain
Maybe if I sort of tug
She did-so-up with her o had been, but it
worked She could feel it returning, flooding back inside her, as if she were sucking it in
And then it was gone, and Jez could see the world again Could see what it had done
The house had disappeared
Or ed wall left all around, with charred
insulation spilling out Blue energy like electricity ran along the edges here and there, fizzing
Other than that, no house Not even chunks of wreckage lying around There were fine bits of debris
floating down, ot vaporized, Jez thought, searching for the right word
No Lily No Azarius No Pierce And none of the ugly thugs
Goddess, Jez thought I didn’t ead and
Claire and Hugh
What about theht in a sudden panic She turned her head, painfully
They were there And alive They were even stirring The cords they’d been tied ere lying on the
carpet, sizzling with that say
It’s so weird to have a carpet without a house to go with it, Jez thought fuzzily
She was going away again And that was too bad, but at least it didn’t hurt anyone
co-and the sensation of gently floating outward
Her eyelids felt heavy
"Jez? Jez!"
It was a husky whisper Jez opened her eyes to see Morgead’s face
He was crying Oh, dear, that was bad Jez hadn’t seen him cry since as it? Sometime when
they’d been little kids
Jez, can you hear ain, and tried to think of so to say to him
"I feel warm," she whispered
"No, you don’t!" He said it alh and Claire
crawling up They were all shining with golden light
"You’re so pretty," she told theels"