Power of the Witch

Chapter 7

Meg's jaw dropped. ''You-you - keep away from me!'' Rebecka said, and then she got another breath and started shrieking again. She had good lungs, Rachel thought. The shrieks were not only loud, they were piercing and pitched high enough to shatter glass. Rachel's sensitive eardrums felt as if somebody were driving ice picks through them. ''All of you!'' Rebecka said. She was holding out both hands to fend them off. ''Just let me go! I want to go home!'' Meg's face cleared a little. ''Yeah, I'll bet you do. But, you see, that place is dangerous. We're going to take you somewhere safe--'' ''You kidnapped me! Oh, God, I've been kidnapped. My parents aren't rich. What do you want?'' Meg looked at Rachel for help. Rachel was watching their prize Wild Power grimly. She was getting a bad feeling about this girl. ''It's nothing like that.'' She kept her voice quiet and level, trying to cut through the hysteria. ''You- don't you even talk to me!'' Rebecka waved a hand at Rachel desperately. ''I saw. You changed. You were a monster! There was blood all over - you killed that man.'' She buried her face in her hands and began to sob.

''No, she didn't.'' Meg tried to put a hand on the girl's shoulder. ''And anyway, he attacked me first.'' ''He did not. He didn't touch you.'' The words wew muffled and jerky. ''He didn't touch me, no, but--'' Meg broke off, looking puzzled. She tried again. ''Not witch his hands, but--'' In the front seat, Ruby shook her head slightly, amused. ''Boss--'' ''I'm way ahead of you,'' Rachel said grimly. This was going to be difficult. Rebecka didn't even know that the dragon was a bad guy. All she had seen was a boy trying to talk with her, a girl inexplicably flying against a wall, and a panther that attacked unprovoked. Rachel's head hurts. ''I want to go home.'' Rebecka reapeated. All at once, with surprising speed, she lunged for the door handle. It took Rachel's animal reflexes to block her, and the movement sent another pang through her injured shoulder. Strangely, as it happend, pain seemd to flicker across Gabriel's face. He reached out and gently pulled Rebecka back. ''Please, don't,'' he said. ''I know this is all really strange, but you've got it backwards. That guy who was talking to you - he was going to kill you. And Rachel saved you. Now they want to take you somewhere safe and explain everything.'' Rebecka raised her head and looked at him. She looked for a long time. Finally, she said, still almost whispering, ''You're all right. I can tell.'' Can she? Rachel wonderd. Does she see something in his eyes? Or does she just see that he's a handsome black haired guy with long lashes? ''So you'll go with her?'' Gabriel asked. Rebecka gulped, sniffed and finally nodded. ''Only if you go, too. And only for a little while. After that, I want to go home.''

Megara's face cleared - at least slightly. Rachel stopped guarding the door, but she wasn't happy. ''Straight to the safe house, Boss?'' Ruby asked, swinging the car back toward the freeway. Rachel nodded grimly. She glanced at Gabriel. ''You win.'' She didn't have to say the rest. The girl would only go if he went. Which made him a member of the team. For the present. He smiled, very faintly. There was nothing smug in it, but Racjel looked again. Nothing was going the way she'd planned. And Meg might still have faith in her Witch Child, but Rachel's doubts had crystallized. We are all, she thoughtm in very big trouble. And there was a dragon that might start looking for them at any minute. How fast did dragons recover, anyway? Big trouble, Rachel thought. Looking through the window the could see the safe house. The safe house was a nondescript brick bungalow. Circle Daybreak owned it, and nobody in the Night World knew about it. That was the theory, anyway. The truth was that no place was safe. As soon as they had hidden the limo in a ivy-covered carport in back and Rachel had made a phone call to Circle Daybreak headquearters, she told Meg to set up wards around the house. ''They won't be all that strong,'' Meg said. ''But they'll warn us if something tries to get in.'' She bustled around, doing witch things to the doors and windows. Ruby stopped Rachel on her own trip of inspection. ''We'd better look at your arm.'' ''It's all right.''

''You can barely move it.'' ''I'll manage. Go look at Meg; she hit that wall pretty hard.'' ''Meg's OK; I already checked her. And, Rachel, just because you're the team leader doesn't mean you have to be invulnerable. It's all right to accept help sometimes.'' ''We don't have time to waste on me!'' Rachel went back to the living room. She'd left Rebecka in the care of Gabriel. She hadn't actually told him that, but she'd left them alone together, and now she found he'd gotten a root of beer from the refrigerator and some tissues from the bathroom. Rebeka was sitting huddled on the couch, holding the drink and botting her eyes. She jumped at every noise. ''OK, now I'm going to try to explain,'' Rachel said, pulling up an ottoman. Meg and Ruby quietly took seats behind her. ''I guess the first thing I should tell you about is the Night World. You don't know what that is, do you?'' Rebecka shook her head. ''Most humans don't. It's an organization, the biggest underground organization in the world. It's made up of vampires and shapeshifters and witches - well, not witches now. Only a few of the darkest witches from Circle Midnight are still part of it. The rest of them have seceded.'' ''Vampires...'' Rebecka whispered. ''Like Ruby,'' Rachel said. Ruby smiled, a rare full smile that showed sharp teeth. ''And Meg is a witch. And you saw what I am. But we're all part of Circle Daybreak, which is an organization for everybody who wants to try to live together in peace.'' ''Most of the Night People hate humans,'' Meg said. ''Their only laws are that you can't tell humans about the Night World and that you can't Fall in love with them.''

''But even humans can join Circle Daybreak,'' Rachel said. ''And that's why you want me?'' Rebecka looked bewildered. ''Well, not exactly.'' Rachel ran a hand over her forehead. ''Look, the main thing you need to know about Circle Daybreak is what it's trying to do right now. What it's trying to keep from happening.'' Rachel paused, but there was no easy was to say it. ''The end of the world.'' ''The end of the world?'' Rachel didn't smile, didn't blink, just waited it out while Rebecka sputtered, gasped and looked at Gabriel for some kind of sanity. When she finally ran down, Rachel went on. ''The millennium is coming. When it gets here, a time of darkness is going to begin. The vampires want it to happen; they want the darkness to wipe out the human race. They figure that then they'll be in charge.'' ''The end of the world,'' Rebecka said. ''Yes. I can show you the evidence if you want. There are all sorts of things happening right now that prove it. The world is falling into disorder, and pretty soon it's going to fall apart. But the reason we need you is because of the prophecies.'' ''I want to go home.'' I bet you do, Rachel thought. For a moment, she felt complete symphathy for the girl. ''Like this.'' She quoted: ''Four to stand between the light and the shadow, Four of blue fire, power in their blood. Born in the year of the blind Maiden's vision; Four less one and darkness triumphs.'' ''I really don't know what you're talking about--''

''Four Wild Powers,'' Rachel went on relentlessly. ''Four people with a special gift, something nobody else has. Each one of them born seventeen years ago. If Circle Daybreak can get all four of them to work together -  and only Circle Daybreak can get them to work together - then we can hold off the darkness.'' Rebecka was shaking her head, edging away from Gabriel. Behind Rachel, Meg and Ruby stood up, closing in. They faced her in a solid block, unified. ''I'm sorry,'' Rachel said. ''You can't escape it. You're part of it. You're a Wild Power.'' ''And you should be happy,'' Meg burst ou, 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.'' Rebecka 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 completly nuts. The things that happend back at the 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 not just a human kid--'' ''Actually, no,'' Ruby said. ''You're a lost witch,'' Meg cut in. ''You're a Harman. A Hearth-Woman. That's the most famous family of witches; they're like - they're royalty. And you're the most famous of qll of them. You're the Witch Child. We've been waiting for you.'' Rachel shifted. ''Meg, maybe we don't need to tell her all of this right now.''