for not warning you al - but anyway, if it is Shinichi and he's done anything to hurt Stefan he's going to see me when I'm angry. The words Wings of Destruction just popped into my head and something inside me wants to say them."
There was a chil in the room.
No one met Stefan, but in a moment they could al hear running footsteps. Stefan appeared at his door, burst through, and found himself confronted with a row of people al looking at him suspiciously.
"What the hell is going on?"he demanded, staring at Misao, who was being held up between Meredith and Matt. "Misao - "
Elena took two steps toward him - and wound herself around him, drawing him into a deep kiss. For a moment he resisted, but then, bit by bit, his opposition col apsed despite the roomful of observers.
When Elena final y let go, she just leaned against Stefan, breathing hard. The others were al crimson with embarrassment. Stefan, flushed as he was, held her tightly.
"I'm sorry,"Elena whispered. "But you've already 'come home'twice. First, it was Shinichi and we locked him in the root cel ar. Then it was her."She pointed, without looking, toward the cowering Misao. "I didn't know how to make sure that Shinichi hadn't escaped somehow - "
"And you're sure now?"
"Oh, yes. I recognize you. You're always ready to let me in."
Matt realized that she was shaking and quickly stood up so she could sit, for at least a minute or two, in peace.
The peace lasted less than a minute.
"I want my star bal !"Misao cried. "I need to put Power in it or I'l go on weakening - and then you'l have murdered me."
"Go on weakening? Is the liquid evaporating out of the star bal or something?"Meredith asked. Matt was thinking about what he'd seen on his home block before the Ridgemont sheriffs had got him.
"You've gathered Power to put in it?"he asked mildly. "Power from yesterday, maybe?"
"Power from ever since you took it. But it isn't joined with...
me. With my star bal . It's mine, but not yet."
"Like maybe some Power from making Cole Reece eat his guinea pig while it was alive? From making kids burn down their own houses?"Matt's voice was gravel y.
"What does it matter?"Misao retorted sul enly. "It's mine.
They were my ideas, not yours. You can't keep me away - "
"Meredith, keep me away from her. I've known that kid Cole since he was born. I'l always have nightmares..."
Misao perked up like a wilting plant getting water. "Have nightmares, have nightmares,"she whispered.
There was a silence. Then Meredith said, careful y and expressionlessly, as if she were thinking of the stave, "You're a nasty little thing, aren't you? Is that your food? Bad memories, nightmares, fear of the future?"
Misao was plainly stumped. She couldn't see the catch. It was like asking a regular hungry teenager "How about some pizza and a Coke? Is that what you want?"Misao couldn't even see that her appetites were wrong, so she couldn't lie.
"You were right before,"Stefan said forceful y. "We have your star bal . The only way to make us give it back would be to do something for us. We're supposed to be able to control you anyway because we have it - "
"Old-ways thinking. Obsolete,"Misao growled.
There was a dead silence. Matt felt his stomach plummet.
They had been betting on "old-ways thinking"al along. To get Shinichi's star bal by making Misao tel them where it was.
Their ultimate goal had been to control Shinichi using his star bal .
"You don't understand,"Misao said, pitiful y and yet angrily at the same time. "My brother wil help me fil my star bal again.
But what we did in this town - it was an order, not just for fun."
"Could'a fooled me,"Elena murmured, but Stefan's head jerked up and he said, "An order? From who?"
"I...don't...know!" Misao screamed. "Shinichi gets the orders.
Then he tel s me what to do. But whoever it is should be happy by now. The town is almost destroyed. He ought to give me some help here!"She glared at the group, and they stared back.
Without knowing that he was going to say it, Matt said, "Let's put her in the root cel ar with Shinichi. I've got this feeling that we might al be sleeping in the storage room tonight."
Chapter 25
"Sleeping in the storage room with every wal covered in Post-it Note amulets,"added Meredith grimly. "If we have enough. I got another packet, but it doesn't go very far when you're