The nearest escalator was at the end of the mall. But from the map in her hand, she could see that Hallmark was directly above her on the upper level. And she couldn't waste time.
Keller gathered her legs under her and jumped.
One leap, straight up. She ignored the gasps- and a few shrieks-of the people around her as she sprang. At the top of her jump, she caught the railing that fenced off the upper-level walkway. She hung for a second by her hands, then pulled herself up smoothly.
More people were staring. Keller ignored them. They got out of her way as she headed for the Hallmark store.
Winnie was standing with her back to the display window of the store beside it. She was short, with a froth of strawberry curls and a pixie face. Keller edged up to her, careful to keep out of the line of sight of the Hallmark.
"What's up?"
"There's three of them," Winnie murmured in a barely audible voice. "Just like Nissa said. I saw them go in-and then I saw her. They've got her surrounded, but so far they're just talking to her." She glanced sideways at Keller with dancing green eyes. "Only three-we can take them easy."
"Yeah, and that's what worries me. Why would they only send three?"
Winnie shrugged slightly. "Maybe they're like us-the best."
Keller only acknowledged that with a flicker of her eyebrows. She was edging forward centimeter by centimeter, trying to get a glimpse of the interior of the Hallmark shop between the stockings and stuffed animals in the display window.
There. Two guys in dark clothing almost like uniforms-vampire thugs. Another guy Keller could see only as a partial silhouette through a rack of Christmas ornaments.
And her. Iliana. The girl everybody wanted.
She was beautiful, almost impossibly so. Keller had seen a picture, and it had been beautiful, but now she saw that it hadn't come within miles of conveying the real girl. She had the silvery-fair hair and violet eyes that showed her Harman blood. She also had an extraordinary delicacy of features and grace of movement that made her as pretty to watch as a white kitten on the grass. Although Keller knew she was seventeen, she seemed slight and childlike. Almost fairylike. And right now, she was listening with wide, trusting eyes to whatever the silhouette guy was saying.
To Keller's fury, she couldn't make it out. He must be whispering.
"It's really her," Winnie breathed from beside Keller, awed. "The Witch Child. She looks just like the legends said, just like I imagined." Her voice turned indignant. "I can't stand to watch them talk to her. It's like-blasphemy."
"Keep your hair on," Keller murmured, still searching with her eyes. "You witches get so emotional about your legends."
"Well, we should. She's not just a Wild Power, she's a pure soul." Winfrith's voice was softly awed.
"She must be so wise, so gentle, so farsighted. I can't wait to talk to her." Her voice sharpened. "And those thugs shouldn't be allowed to talk to her. Come on, Keller, we can take-them fast. Let's go."
"Winnie, don't-"
It was too late. Winnie was already moving, heading straight into the shop without any attempt at concealment.
Keller cursed again. But she didn't have any choice now. "Nissa, stand by. Things are going to get exciting," she snapped, touching her pin, and then she followed.
Winnie was walking directly toward the little group of three guys and Iliana as Keller reached the door. The guys were looking up, instantly alert. Keller saw their faces and gathered herself for a leap.
But it never happened. Before she could get all her muscles ready, the silhouette guy turned-and everything changed.
Time went into slow motion. Keller saw his face clearly, as if she'd had a year to study it. He wasn't bad-looking-quite handsome, actually. He didn't look much older than she was, and he had clean, nicely molded features. He had a small, compact body with what looked like hard muscles under his clothes.
His hair was black, shaggy but shiny, almost like fur. It fell over his forehead in an odd way, a way that looked deliberately disarrayed and was at odds with the neatness of the rest of him.
And he had eyes of obsidian.
Totally opaque.
Shiny silver-black, with nothing clear or transparent about them. They revealed nothing; they simply threw light back at anyone who looked into them. They were the eyes of a monster, and every one of Keller's five hundred voluntary muscles froze in fear.
She didn't need to hear the roar that was far below the pitch that human ears could pick up. She didn't need to see the swirl of dark energy that flared like a red-tinged black aura around him. She knew already, instinctively, and she tried to get the breath to yell a warning to Winnie.
There was no time.
She could only watch as the boy's face turned toward Winnie and power exploded out of him. He did it so casually. Keller could tell that it was only a flick of his mind, like a horse slapping its tail at a fly. But the dark power slammed into Winnie and sent her flying through the air, arms and legs outstretched, until she hit a wall covered with display plates and clocks. The crash was tremendous. Winnie! Keller almost yelled it out loud.
Winnie fell behind the cash register counter, out of Keller's line of sight. Keller couldn't tell if she were alive or not. The cashier who had been standing behind the counter went running and screaming toward the back of the shop. The customers scattered, some following the cashier, some dashing for the exit.
Keller hung in the doorway a second longer as they streamed out around her. Then she reeled away to stand with her back against the window of the next shop, breathing hard. There were coils of ice in her guts.
A dragon.
He was a dragon.