Night World : Witchlight Chapter 13

Unfortunately, Keller didnt. Well plainly boast to make up something out, she verbalize to her team. pretend it as safe as possible, and stick by her every minute.Winnie and Nissa transfer unhappy glances. except they didnt say anything.Keller stochastic variableulati singled at Diana. The one thing is, you eat to be at the Solstice Ceremony at midnight Theyre meeting in Charlotte, so thats more or less twenty minutes drive, and wed better leave plenty of time for safety. formulate an hour at the least. If youre not on that point, w present the figure of speech gear levers and the witches are meeting, at exactly midnight-My passenger vehicle turns into a pumpkin Diana tell tartly. She swabbed her nose with a tissue.No, the shapeshifters walk out, and any casualty of an altogetheriance is bygone forever.Diana sobered, stared at the table. accordingly she met Kellers nerve centers. Ill be there. I realize it, and you know why? Because youll get me there.Keller s tared at her, astonished. She hear Winnie erupt a short yelp of laughter and saw that Nissa was hiding a smile. consequently she felt a smile pulling up the corner of her avow lip. Youre right I will. horizontal if I render to drag you. Here, agitate on it. They did. And then Diana turned to Galen. She had been watching him out of the corner of her eye ever since shed number 1 started rebukeing. And now she looked hesitant again.If theres anything-any reason I shouldnt do it.. . She fumbled to a stop. Keller kicked Galens ankle severely.He glanced up. He mute didnt look standardized the Galen she knew. Talking round the dragons had done something to him, thrown a shadow crosswise his face and turned his eyeb each inward. And Dianas announcement hadnt lightened anything.Keller stared at him intently, wishing she had telepathy. Dont you dare, she was thinking. Whats rail at with you? If you mess this up, after each(prenominal) the work weve done and with so a great deal at stakeThen she realized something. Before, when hed been telling the history of the dragons, Galen had looked brooding and a little scary. Now, he still looked brooding but indescribably sad. Heart-stricken-and full of such regret.She could almost hear his voice in her head. Keller, Im unconsolableDont be an idiot, Keller thought, and maybe she wasnt telepathic, but she was certain that he could read her eye. What commit you got to be sorry for? Hurry up and do what youre supposed to do. Her life was pounding, but she kept her breathing tightly controlled. Nothing mattered but rotary converter Daybreak and the alliance. Nothing. To think of anything else at a time exchangeable this would be the height of selfishness.And love is for the weak.Galen dropped his look, almost as if he had missed a battle. Then he turned slowly from Keller to Diana. Who was standing with tears somewhat to fall, hanging like diamonds on her lashes. Keller felt a twisting interior her tit. sim ply Galen, as al modalitys, was doing exactly the right thing. He took Dianas hand mildly and brought it to his cheek in a gesture of humility and simplicity. He could do that without stopping looking noble for a moment. After all, he was a prince. Id be very honored to go through the promise honoring with you, he said, looking up at her. If you squeeze out bring yourself to do it with me. You understand everything I was telling you before- around my familyIliana blinked and breathed again. The tears had as if by magic disappeared, leaving her eyes like violets freshly washed in rain. I understand all that. It doesnt matter. It doesnt change anything more or less you, and youre still one of the crush people Ive ever met. She blinked again and smiled.Nobody could have resisted it. Galen smiled back.Not around as good as you.They stayed that guidance for a moment, looking at each other, holding hands-and glowing. They looked perfect together, silver and gold, a fairytale pictu re.Thats it. Its done. Shell have to go through the ceremony now, Keller thought. As great as we terminate keep her alive, weve recruited a Wild Power. Mission accomplished.Im really happy about this.So why was there a heaviness in her chest that harm each time she breathed?It was late that afternoon when the atomic number 16 call came.Well, they ready the driver of the car, Nissa said.Keller looked up. Theyd moved the box full of axial motions to Dianas naping room when Mrs. Dominick came back from shopping. Now they had them untidily spread out on the groundwork while Iliana lay on the bed heavy-eyed and almost asleep. She perked up when Nissa came in.Who was it?A shapeshifter. Name of Fulton Arnold. He lives about ten miles from here.Keller tensed. Arnold. Eagle ruler. She glanced at Galen.He nodded grimly. The eagles are qualifying to have some explaining to do. Damn it, theyve always been hard to get along with, but thisSo it was connected with the Night World, Winnie said. besides did Circle Daybreak figure out why?Nissa sat bring down on the chair in front of Ilianas gold-and-w get aheade vanity. Well, theyve got an idea. She looked at Galen. Youre not going to like it.He put down a piece of scroll and sat up very straight, bleak and self-contained. What?You know all our theories about why shapeshifters are attacking humans? Whether its just the common shifter on the street or orders from the First House and so on? Well, Circle Daybreak thinks its orders, but not from the First House.The shapeshifters wouldnt take orders from vampires, Galen said stiffly. So the Night World Council is out.They think its the dragon.Keller shut her eyes and hit herself on the forehead.Of course. Why hadnt she thought of it? The dragon giving direct orders, reach himself up as a legendary ruler who had takingsed to save the shapeshifters. Its like King Arthur coming back, she muttered.On her bed, Iliana was frowning in shock exclusively you said dragons were evil. You said they were cruel and horrible and tried to destroy the world.Right, Keller said dryly. Only Iliana would think that this constituted a reason not to stick with them. They were all those things. unless they were also strong. They kept the shapeshifters on top. Im sure there are plenty of shifters whod welcome a dragon back. She looked at Galen in exploitation concern as she figured it out. Theyre going to think it promoter a new era for them, maybe flat a return to shapeshifter rule. And if thats what they think, nothing the First House says is going to make any difference. Even the mice are going to rally round Azhdeha.You mean the promise ceremony is no good? Iliana sat up. The interesting thing was that she didnt look particularly relieved-in fact, Keller thought, she looked positively dismayed.No, so dont even get that idea, Keller said shortly. What it means is- She stopped dead, realizing all of a sudden what it did mean. What it means isGalen said, We have to buck the dragon.Keller nodded. Yeah. Not just fight it. We have to get rid of it. Make sure its not around to give orders to anybody. Its the merely way to keep the shapeshifters from being split.Iliana looked down soberly at the snowstorm of paper that covered her floor. Does any of that blockade tell you how to kill a dragon?Keller lifted a piece of diploma, dropped it. So far, no(prenominal) of this stuff has told us anything useful.Yeah, but we havent even looked through half of it, Winnie pointed out. And since you and Galen are the only ones who asshole read the writing, the parts Nissa and I have gone through dont really count.There was definitely a lot of work left. Keller stifled a sigh and said briskly, Well, we dont need to worry about killing the dragon right now. If we can fight him off long enough to get through the promise ceremony, we can worry about destroying him afterward. Winnie, why dont you and Nissa start savoring to figure out a way to protect Ili ana at the party Saturday? And Galen and I can stay up tonight and read through these scrolls.Winnie looked concerned. Boss, youre severe to do too much. If you dont sleep sometime, youre going to start cracking up. Ill sleep on Sunday, Keller said firmly. When its all over.Keller had meant that she and Galen could study the scrolls separately that night. But when everybody else headed for their bedrooms, he stayed in the family room with her and watched the eleven oclock news. More creature attacks.Keller pulled out her pile of scroll fragments. It was her way of precept good night, and much easier than looking at him.But he just said quietly, Ill get my half, and brought them out.Keller felt uncomfortable. It wasnt that she could find any fault with what he was doing. He was studying his pieces of scroll intently and letting her do the same.But every now and then, he would look at her. She could feel his eyes on her, feel that they were serious and steady and that he was waiti ng for her to look up.She never did.And he never said anything. After a while, he would always go back to his parchments. They worked on and on in silence.Still, Keller was assured of him. She couldnt help it She was a panther she could genius the heat of his body even three feet away. She could smell him, too, and he smelled good. Clean and a little insect arcseconde like the soap he used, and even more like himself, which was something lovesome and golden and healthy. Like a puppy with a nice come out on a summer afternoon.It was very, very distracting. Sometimes the delivery on the scrolls blurred in front of her eyes. But worst of all, worse than judgement his heat or smelling his scent or knowing his eyes were on her, was something more subtle that she couldnt exactly define. A connection. A sense of tension between them that she could almost touch. The air was buzzing with it. It lifted up the little hairs on Kellers arms. And no matter how she tried to will it away, i t only seemed to grow and grow. Somehow the silence made it worse, made it more profound. I have to say something, Keller thought.Something casual, to show that Im not affected.She stared at the scrolls, which she was beginning to hate. If only she could find something useful Then she saw it. Right there on the scroll she was studying.Galen. Theres something here-in a copy of the oldest records about dragons. Its talking about what the dragons can do, what their powers are besides the dark energy.She read from the scroll, hesitating on account books that were less familiar to her. A dragon has only to touch an animal and it is able to chance upon that animals form, know all that the animal knows, do all that the animal can do. There is no-I think it says limit-on the number of shapes it can master. Therefore, it is a true shapeshifter and the only one worthy of the name. I told you this stuff was old, she added. I think the original was written by the dragons press instrument du ring the war. No limit on the number of shapes it can master, Galen repeated with growing excitement. That makes sense, you know. Thats what the First House has inherited, only in a diluted form. universe able to pick whichever shape we want to become- but only the first time. After that, were stuck with it, of course.Do you have to touch an animal to learn its shape?He nodded. Thats how we choose. But if a dragon can touch anything and assume its shape- and change over and over His voice trailed off. Yeah. Its going to be awfully difficult to spot them,Keller said. The tension in the air had been somewhat laid-off by talking, and she felt a little calmer. At least she could talk without the book of accounts sticking in her throat.But Galen wasnt helping. He leaned closer, peering down at her scroll. I wonder if it says anything else, anything about how to identify wait. Keller, look down here at the bottom.To do it, she had to bend her head so that his hair brushed her cheek. What?Horns, something about horns, he muttered almost feverishly. Youre better at translating than I am. Whats this discourse? Regardless? No, its more like no matter. She began to read. But no matter what form it takes, a dragon may always be known- By its horns, he chimed in, reading with her. They finished together, helping each other. A dragon has from one to three horns on its forehead, and in some rare cases four. These horns-both their voices rose- which are the croup of its power are most cruelly removed by the witches who nonplus them, to steal from them the power of changing.They both stopped. They kept thoroughgoing(a) at the parchment for what seemed endless minutes toKeller. Galen was gripping her wrist so hard that it hurt.Then he said softly, Thats it. Thats the answer.He looked up at her and gave her wrist a little shake. Thats the answer. Keller, we did it we found it.Shh Youre going to wake up the whole house. But she was almost as shaky with excitement as he was. let me think. Yeah, that guy Azhdeha could have had horns. His hair was all messy, covering his forehead, and I immortalize thinking that was a little strange. The rest of him looked so neat.You see? He laughed breathlessly, exultantly.Yes. But-well, do you have any idea how hard it would be to try and take off a dragons horns?No, and I dont care. Keller, stop it, stop trying to dampen this The point is, we found it. We know something about dragons that can hurt them. We know how to fightKeller couldnt help it. His exhilaration was infectious. All at once, all the bottled-up emotions inside her started to come out. She squeezed his arm back, half laughing and half crying.You did it, she said. You found the part.It was on your scroll. You were just about to get there.You were the one who suggested we look at the scrolls in the first place.You were the one- Suddenly, he broke off. He had been looking at her, laughing, their faces only inches apart as they congratulated each oth er in whispers. His eyes were like the woods in summertime, golden-green with darker green motes in them that seemed to shift in the light.But now something hike pain crossed his face. He was still looking at her, still gripping her arm, but his eyes went bleak.Youre the one, he said quietly.Keller had to brace herself. Then she said, I dont know what youre talking about.Yes, you do.He said it so simply, so flatly. There was almost no way to argue.Keller found one. Look, Galen, if this is about what happened in the library-At least youre admitting that something happened now.-then I dont know whats wrong with you. Were both shapeshifters, and there was a minute when we sort of lost our objectivity. Were under a lot of stress. We had a moment of physical draw poker. It happens, when you do a job like this you just cant take it seriously.He was staring at her. Is that what youve convinced yourself happened? A moment of physical attraction?The equity was that Keller had almost convin ced herself that nothing had happened-or convinced her mind, anyway.I told you, she said, and her voice was harsher than shed heard it for a long time. Love is for weak people. Im not weak, and I dont contrive to let anything make me weak. And, besides, what is your problem? Youve already got a fiance. Dianas brave and harming and beautiful, and shes going to be very, very powerful. What more could you want?Youre right, Galen said. Shes all those things. And I respect her and admire her-I even love her. Who could help loving her? But Im not in love with her. Im-Dont say it. Keller was angry now, which was good. It made her strong. What conformation of prince would put his personal happiness above the fate of his people? supra the fate of the whole freaking world, for that matter?I dont he raged back. He was disquisition softly, but it was still a rage, and he was a little bit frightening. His eyes blazed a deep and endless green. Im not saying I wont go through with the ceremony . All Im saying is that its you I love. Youre my soulmate, Keller. And you know it.Soulmate. The word hit Keller and ricocheted, clunking inside her as it made its way down. When it hit bottom, it settled into a little niche made especially for it, fitting exactly.It was the word to describe what had really happened in the library. No stress-induced moment of physical attraction and no simple romantic flirtation, either. It was the soulmate principle.She and Galen were soulmates.And it didnt matter a bit, because they could never be together.