"Oh, Goddess," he said. "I thought you were dead, there, Jez. I thought I'd lost you."
"Not while she's around, apparently," Jez said, and laughed harder. She was slightly hysterical, but she didn't care.
Hugh's laughter sounded a little like crying. "I saw that train-and there was no way it was going to stop in time. And then-that light. It just shot out-and the train hit it. It was like a physical thing. Like a giant cushion. The train hit it and it squashed and the train went slower and then it kept squashing-"
Jez stopped laughing. "I wonder if the people on the train got hurt."
"I don't know." Hugh was sober now, too. "They must've gotten thrown around. It stopped so fast. But it didn't smash. They're probably okay."
"I just-from the inside, it looked like lightning-"
"From the outside, too. I didn't imagine it would look like that-"
"I didn't know it would be so powerful. And, think about it; she's untrained-"
There they were, an Old Soul and a vampire hunter who'd seen everything the streets had to offer, babbling like a couple of kids.
It was Claire who stopped them. She had been looking from one of them to the other, getting more and more agitated. Now she grabbed Jez's arm.
"What are you guys talking about?"
Jez turned to her. She glanced at Hugh, then spoke gently.
"We're talking about you, Claire. You're the Wild Power."
Chapter 16
I am not," Claire said.
"Yeah, you are," Jez said, still gently, as if humoring a child.
"I am not."
"You don't even know what it is." Jez looked at Hugh. "You know what? I just realized something. The Wild Powers are all supposed to be 'born in the year of the blind Maiden's vision,' right?"
"Yeah..."
"Well, I was trying to figure that out all yesterday. And now, it just came to me, like that." She snapped her fingers. "I was thinking about visions like prophecies, you know? But I think what it meant was vision, like sight. Eyesight. Aradia only had her eyesight for a year-and that's the year. Seventeen years ago."
Hugh looked at Claire. "And she's "Seventeen."
"So what?" Claire yelled. "So are you! So are lots of people!"
"So am I," Hugh said with a wry smile. "But not everybody can stop a train with blue fire."
"I didn't stop anything," Claire said with passionate intensity. "I don't know what a Wild Power is, but I didn't do anything back there. I was just lying there and I knew we were going to die-"
"And then the blue light came and the train stopped," Jez said. "You see?"
Claire shook her head. Hugh frowned and looked suddenly doubtful.
"But, Jez-what about the fire at the Marina? Claire wasn't there, was she?"
"No. But she was watching it live on TV. And she was very, very upset about it. I've still got the scars."
Hugh drew in a slow breath. His eyes were unfocused. "And you think it works across that distance?"
"I don't know. I don't see why it shouldn't." They were talking around Claire again, Jez gazing into the depths of the garage. "I think maybe distance is irrelevant to it. I think what happens is that she sees something, and if she's upset enough about it, if she's desperate enough and there's no physical way to do anything, she just-sends out the Power."
"It's completely unconscious, then," Hugh said. "And who knows, maybe she's done it before."
Jez straightened, excited. "If it's happening far away, and she doesn't see the flash, and she doesn't feel anything..." She turned on Claire. "You didn't feel anything when you stopped the train?"
"I didn't stop the train," Claire said, slowly and with shaky patience. "And I didn't do anything about that fire at the Marina, if that's what you're talking about."
"Claire, why are you in such total denial about this?"
"Because it's not the truth. I know I didn't do anything, Jez. When you know, you know."
"Actually, I don't blame her," Hugh said. "It's not a great job."
Jez blinked, and then the truth swept over her. Her entire body went cold.
Oh, Goddess... Claire.
Claire's life as a normal person was over. She was going to have to leave everything, her family, her friends, and go into hiding. From this point on, she would be one of the four most important people in the world-the only of the four Wild Powers who was identified.
Constantly hunted. Constantly in danger. Sought after by everyone in the Night World, for a hundred different reasons.
And Claire had no experience. She was so innocent. How was she supposed to adjust to a life like that?
Jez shut her eyes. Her knees were so weak that she had to sit down.
"Oh, Claire ... I'm sorry."
Claire gulped, staring at her. There was fear in her dark eyes.
Hugh knelt. His expression was still and sad. Tm sorry, too," he said, speaking directly to Claire. "I don't blame you at all for not wanting this. But for right now, I think we'd better think about getting you someplace safe."
Claire now had the look of somebody after an earthquake. How could this happen to me? Why wasn't I paying attention before it hit?
"I... have to go home," she said. But she said it very slowly, looking at Jez in fear.
Jez shook her head. "Claire-you can't I-" She paused to gather herself, then spoke quietly and firmly.
"Home isn't safe anymore. There are going to be people looking for you-bad people." She glanced at Hugh.
He nodded. "A werewolf tried to run me down with a car, then jumped me. I think he must have followed me from the station. I knocked him out, but I didn't kill him."