She was bending over Jaime so tenderly, tears Ming like diamonds. Her grief-it was complete, Keller thought. As if Jaime were her own dearest sister. She cared in a way that went beyond sympathy and beyond compassion and into something like perfect love.
It... transformed her. She wasn't a light-minded child anymore. She was almost... angelic.
All at once, Keller understood why everybody at school brought their problems to this girl. It was because of that caring, that love. Diana didn't help
them to make herself popular. She helped because her heart was open, without shields, without the normal barriers that separated people from one another.
And she was as brave as a little lion. She hadn't even hesitated when she saw Jaime in danger. She was afraid of blood, but she'd cut herself instantly, even recklessly, trying to help.
That was courage, Keller thought. Not doing something without being afraid, but doing something even though you were afraid.
In that moment, all of Keller's resentment of Diana melted away. All her anger and exasperation and contempt. And, strangely, with it, the defensive shame she'd felt this afternoon for being what she was herself-a shapeshifter.
It didn't make sense. There was no connection. But there it was.
The flat but strangely pleasant voice of Jaime was going on. "I'm okay-it was just a shock. Stop crying now. Somebody pushed me out of the way."
Diana looked up at Galen.
She was still crying, and her eyes were the color of violet crystal. Galen was kneeling on one knee, looking down worriedly at Jaime.
Their eyes met, and they both went still. Except for the wind ruffling Iliana's hair, they might have been a painting. A scene from one of the Old Masters, Keller thought. The boy with dark golden hair and that perfectly sculptured face, looking down with protective concern. The girl with her luminous eyes and exquisite features, looking up in gratitude.
It was a sweet and lovely picture. It was also the exact moment that Iliana fell in love with Galen. And Keller knew it.
She knew before Iliana knew herself. She saw a sort of plaintive shimmer in Iliana's eyes, like more tears about to fall. And then she saw the change in Iliana's face.
The gratitude became something different, something more like... recognition. It was as if Iliana were discovering Galen all at once, seeing everything in him that Keller had been slowly learning to see.
They're both...
Keller wanted to think idiots, but the word wouldn't come. All she ended up with was the same.
Both of them. Idealists. Open-hearted. Trying to rescue everyone.
They're perfect for each other.
"You saved her life," Iliana whispered. "But you could have been killed yourself."
"It just happened," Galen said. "I moved without thinking. But you-you're really bleeding..."
Iliana looked soberly down at her hand. It was the only thing that marred the picture; it was gory and shocking. But Iliana's gaze wasn't frightened. Instead, she looked wise beyond her years and infinitely sad.
"I... couldn't help," she said.
Keller opened her mouth. But before she could say anything, Nissa appeared beside Iliana.
"Here," she said in her practical way, loosening the carefully knotted scarf at her throat. "Let me tie it up until we can see if you need stitches." She
glanced up at Keller. "I got the license plate of the car."
Keller blinked and refocused. Her brain started ticking again.
"Both of you, go get the car," she said to Nissa and Winnie. "Ill finish that." She took Nissa's place by Iliana. "Are you really all right?" she asked Jaime, careful to face her directly. "I think we need to take all three of you to the hospital."
Part of her expected to see a flinching as the dark blue eyes under the soft brown bangs met hers. But, of course, there wasn't any. Nissa's memory blanking had been too good. Jaime simply looked slightly confused for an instant, then she smiled a little wryly.
"I'm really okay."
"Even so," Keller said.
There was a crowd gathering. Students and teachers were running from various corners of the building, coming to see what the noise was about. Keller realized that it had actually been only a couple of minutes since the car had gone roaring and screeching along the sidewalk.
A few minutes... but the world had changed. In several ways.
"Come on," she said, and helped Jaime up. She let Galen help Iliana.
And she felt strangely calm and peaceful.
Galen turned out to have several pulled muscles and lots of scrapes and bruises. Jaime had bruises and a dizzy headache and double vision, which got her actually admitted to the hospital-hardly surprising, considering how many times she'd been knocked down that day, Keller thought.
Iliana needed stitches. She submitted to them quietly, which only seemed to alarm her mother. Mrs. Dominick had been called from home to the hospital. She sat with the baby in her lap and listened to Keller try to explain how Iliana had gotten cut while standing at the chemistry room window.
"And when she saw the car almost hit Jaime, she was so startled that she just squeezed the beaker, and it broke."
Diana's mother looked doubtful for a moment, but it wasn't her nature to be suspicious. She nodded, accepting the story.
Jaime's parents had been called to the hospital, too, and both Galen and Jaime had to give statements to the police. Nissa flashed Keller a glance when the policewoman asked if anyone had noticed the car's license plate.
Keller nodded. She had already had Nissa call the number in to Circle Daybreak from a pay phone, but there was no reason not to have the police on the case, too. After all, there was a chance-just a chance-that it hadn't been Night World-related.