Although Keller had been all over the United States, sent from one Circle Daybreak group to another, the hospital where she'd been found had been near a neighborhood like this.
I might have grown up someplace like this. If they'd kept me. My parents...
Do I hate her? Keller wondered suddenly. I couldn't. It's not her fault.
Oh, no, of course not, the voice in her mind said. Not her fault that she's beautiful and perfect and has parents who love her and blue fire in her veins and that she is going to be forced, whether she wants it or not, to marry Galen...
Which I don't care about, Keller thought. She was shocked at herself. When had she ever let emotion interfere with her job? She was allowing herself to be distracted-she had allowed herself to be distracted all morning-when there was something vitally important at stake.
No more, she told herself fiercely. From now on, I think about nothing but the mission. Years of mental discipline came in handy now; she was able to push everything to the side and focus with icy clarity on what had to be done. "-stopped a train in its tracks," Winfrith was
saying.
"Really?" There was faint interest in Kiana's voice. At least she'd stopped talking about her hair, Keller thought.
"Really. It was one of those BART trains in San Francisco, Like a subway train, you know. The two girls were on the tracks, and the Wild Power stopped the train dead before it could hit them. That's what the blue fire can do."
"Well, I know I can't do anything like that," Iliana said flatly. "So I can't be a Wild Power. Or whatever." The last words were tacked on quickly.
Nissa raised a cool eyebrow. "Have you ever tried to stop a train?"
While Iliana bit a fingertip and pondered that, Winnie said, "You have to do it right, you know. First, you have to make blood flow, and then you have to concentrate. It's not something you can expect to do perfectly the very first time."
"If you want to start practicing," Nissa added, "we can help."
Diana shuddered. "No, thank you. I faint when I see blood. And anyway, I'm not it."
"Too bad," Nissa murmured. "We could use the blue fire on our side today."
They were pulling up to a charming old brown brick high school. Neither Galen nor Keller had said a word throughout the ride.
But now Keller leaned forward. "Nissa, drive past it. I want to check the layout first."
Nissa swung the car into a circular driveway that went past the school's oversized front doors. Keller looked right and left, taking in everything about the surroundings. She could see Winnie doing the same thing-and Galen, too. He was focusing on the same danger spots she was. He had the instinct for strategy.
"Go around the block and circle back," Keller said.
Iliana stirred. "I thought you were worried about me being late."
"I'm more worried about you being dead," Keller interrupted. "What do you think, Nissa?"
"The side door on the west. Easy to pull up reasonably close, no bushes around it for nasty surprises to hide in."
"That's my pick, too. Okay, everybody, listen. Nissa's going to slow the car down in the right place. Slow down, not stop. When I give the signal, we're all going to jump out and go directly to that door. We are not going to pause. We are going to move as a group. Iliana, are you paying attention? From now on, you don't go anywhere unless Winnie's in front of you and I'm beside you."
"And where's Galen?" Iliana said.
Keller cursed herself mentally. She wasn't used to working with a fourth team member. "Hell be behind us-okay, Galen?" She made herself look his way.
"Yes. Whatever you say." There wasn't the slightest hint of sarcasm in his face. He was dead serious. Absolutely miserable, earnest, and dead serious.
"And Nissa, once you've parked, you join us and take the other side. What room's your first class in, Iliana?"
"Three twenty-six," Iliana said dismally. "U.S. History with Mr. Wanamaker. He went to New York to try to be an actor, but all he got was some disease from not eating enough stuff with vitamins. So he came back, and now he's really strict unless you can get him to do his impressions of the presidents-"
"All right," Keller broke in. "We're coming to the door."
"-and he's actually pretty funny when he does Theodore Roosevelt-or do I mean the other one-"
"Now," Keller said, and pushed her as Winnie pulled.
They all made it out smoothly, although Iliana yelped a little. Keller kept a good grip on her arm as they hurried to the door.
"I don't think I like this way of coming to school."
"We can turn right around and go back home," Keller said. Iliana shut up.
Galen kept pace behind them, silent and focused.
It was Nissa's usual position when the team wasn't heading for a car, and Keller couldn't help feeling the difference. She didn't like having someone behind her she couldn't trust absolutely. And although the enemies didn't seem to know yet that Galen was important, if they found out, he'd become a target; Face it, she thought. This setup is a disaster, security-wise. This is a horrendous accident waiting to happen.
Her nerves were wound so tightly that she jumped at the slightest sound.
They shepherded Iliana to her locker, then up a staircase to the third floor. The halls were almost empty, which was exactly as Keller had planned it.
But of course that meant they were late for class.
Nissa slid in beside them just as they opened the door. They entered as a group, and the teacher stopped talking and looked at them. So did everybody else in the room.
Quite a few jaws dropped open.