Then she looked at the dragon, and time stopped, and her heart turned to ice.
He still had a horn left. The one right in the middle.
They hadn't done it after all.
He still had power. He was going to kill them now, and Iliana, too. And neither she nor Galen could do anything to stop him.
The noises the dragon was making were beyond description. He seemed to be out of his mind in pain and fury. And then Keller realized that it was more than that. He was screaming in sheer blood-lust-and he was changing.
So strange-she hadn't even thought about the dragon changing before. But she could take on most animals. She knew to go for the juncture between head and neck for rhinos, the belly for a lion. But this... what it was shifting into...
No.
I don't believe it, Keller thought.
It looked more like a moth being born than a shapeshifter changing. It split its human skin like a chrysalis. More of the yellowish liquid she had seen on Jaime's cheek oozed from the splits. And what was revealed underneath was hard and greenish-yellow, flat, smooth.
Scaly.
The smell was the smell from the basement Sickly-sweet, pungent, an odor to make your stomach lurch.
Powerful back legs bunched, and the figure grew and stood against the moonlit sky.
It was huge.
In her mind, Keller saw a scene from the past. Iliana, her violet eyes huge, saying, "He can turn into a dragon?"
And Keller's scornful answer, "No, of course not. Don't be silly."
Wrong, Keller thought.
It actually looked more like velociraptor than a dragon. Too big-it was more than fifteen feet long, counting the powerful tail. But it had the same look of alien intelligence, the same reptilian snout, the same saberlike hind claws.
It's not a mindless animal, Keller thought. It's smart. It even has things like hands on its forelegs; It's where evolution took a different turn.
And it had power. Maybe more power this way than in its human form. Keller could feel its mind even at this distance, the terrible ancient core of hatred and malice, the endless thirst for blood.
It opened its mouth, and for an instant Keller expected to see fire. But what came out was a roar that showed huge spiky teeth-and a flood of black energy. The dark power crackled around it like an aura of lightning.
Nothing-no shapeshifter, no witch, no vampire-could stand against this creature. Keller knew that absolutely.
That was when she saw Iliana getting up.
Stay down, you idiot! Keller thought.
Iliana stood straight.
There's no point, don't attract its attention...
"Azhdeha!" Iliana shouted.
And the monster turned.
There they were, the maiden and the dragon, face to face. Iliana looked twice as small as ever before in contrast to this giant. Her silver-gold hair was blowing loose in the wind, and her dress shimmered around her. She was so delicate, so graceful-and so fragile, standing there like a lily swaying on its stalk. I can't watch, Keller thought. I can't see this. Please...
"Azhdeha!" Iliana said, and her voice was sweet but ringing and stern. "Hashteher! Tiamat!"
It's a spell, Keller thought. Winnie taught her a spell? When they were lying there, whispering together? But what kind of spell would Winnie know against dragons?
"Poisonous Serpent! Cold-blooded Biter! Rasta-ban! Anguis!"
No, they're names, Keller realized slowly. Its names. Dragon names.
Old names.
"I am a witch and the daughter of a witch. Mine was the hand that took your power; mine was the hand that buried you in silence. Hecate was the most ancient of my mothers. Hecate's hand is my hand now."
Winnie couldn't have taught her that. Nobody could have taught her that. No witch alive today.
Keller could see Winnie's pale face watching in surprise from beyond Iliana, her eyes and mouth dark O's.
"Mine is the hand that sends you back!"
Diana's palms were cupped now, and orange fire crackled between them.
Keller's heart plummeted.
Golden-orange fire. Witch fire. It was impressive, from a girl who'd never been trained, but it wasn't nearly enough. It was about as dangerous to the dragon as a firefly.
She heard Winnie's voice in the silence, small and frightened but determined.
"Aim for the horn!"
The dragon threw back its head and laughed.
That was what it looked like, anyway. What came out was a roar like all the other roars and a belch of black energy that fountained skyward. But in her head, Keller heard maniacal laughter.
Then it swung its head back down and pointed the horn straight at Iliana.
Die! it said. The word wasn't spoken but sent on a cold wave of pure energy.
"Mine is the power of the ages" Iliana shouted back. "Mine is the power-"
The golden flare in her palms was changing, blazing white, blinding hot...
"-OF THE END OF THE WORLD!"
Something like a supernova was born between her hands.
The tight shot up and out, exploding. It was impossible to look at. And it was no longer white but dazzling, lightning-brilliant blue.
The blue fire.
The Wild Power had awakened.
I knew it, Keller thought I knew it all along.
Keller couldn't see what happened to the dragon;
the light was simply too bright. While it flared around her, she was bathed in radiance that seemed to shine through her, humming inside her and lighting up her bones. She tried to lift her own hand and saw nothing but a vague rainbow shape.
But she heard the dragon's scream. Not low like the roar but high and squealing, a sound like icicles driving into her ears. It went up and up, higher in pitch until even Keller couldn't track it. And then there was a thin sound like distant glass shattering, and then there was no sound at all.