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Savannah pushed herself up from the floor. "I know this calming spell--"
"I'm sure you do, hon," Leah said. "But maybe that's not such a good idea."
Savannah's face fell. Leah put her arm around the girl's shoulders and gave her a squeeze.
"Elena and I can handle the guards," Leah said. "We'll find a safe place for you, hon, in case there's trouble when the guards arrive."
Slanting a look sideways, Leah directed my gaze from Savannah to the stray lightbulb pieces on the floor. My heart sank. Savannah. Who else could have been responsible for the whirlwind of flying glass? There'd been only three of us in that hallway and only one who'd been known to propel dangerous objects through the air. It was a big step up from hurling plates, but I'd already seen a demonstration of Savannah's increased powers with that lethal confusion spell. Of course, she hadn't done it deliberately--she'd been hurt as badly as any of us--but that wasn't the point. Whether she intended it or not, Savannah was dangerous. Put her under emotional stress and she reacted with violence.
"Good idea," I said. "We should get Savannah someplace safe." Safe for her and safe for us.
"Sondra, how about you go with Savannah?" Leah said. "My cell's open. Hide in there."
Bauer sat on the bed, knees pulled up, staring at the wall. Back to whimpering jellyfish.
"I'm fine," she whispered.
"You've had a rough go of it," Leah said. "Elena and I can handle this. How about you take Savannah and--"
"I'm fine!" Bauer snarled, head jerking up, lips curling. Then she froze, as if realizing what she'd done. She closed her eyes and shuddered. "I'm fine," she said firmly. "I want to help."
"Maybe we can talk to the guards," I said. "Explain what happened. Is there an intercom, Sondra? Some way we can communicate with them?"
Bauer shook her head.
Outside the cell, something thudded against the exit door. We all stopped to listen. Two more thuds in quick succession, then silence.
"They can't get in," Bauer whispered. "The exit door must have lost power or jammed."
"So much for hoping they were all dead," Leah said. "How many guards are there in total?"
"Three doz--no, thirty," Bauer said. "We--they started with thirty-six, but there's been casualties."
"Lousy odds. Well, let's get Savannah out of here before things get bad."
Leah reached for Savannah, but she ducked and ran to me.
"I want to help," she said, looking up at me.
As if I didn't feel guilty enough just suspecting Savannah of causing the flying glass. But if Leah and I were going to fight this, we had to get Savannah someplace safe where she could calm down.
"We aren't trying to shut you out, Savannah. I know you could help. That confusion spell"--I managed a wry smile--"well, I was impressed, I'll tell you that."
"But ..." Savannah sighed, with the weary resignation of a child who could hear "but" coming a mile away.
"But if you stay, Leah and I will be too worried about you to concentrate on the danger."
"We'd be very concerned if you stayed," Leah said, sneaking me a look. "We'd all feel much better if you were someplace else ... safe. I'll take you to my cell."
"Fine," Savannah said, in a voice that said our decision was anything but fine.
Leah reached for Savannah's hand, but the girl brushed her off and stalked out the door. Leah jogged after her.
Several minutes later, Leah hurried back. The guards were still beating at the exit door.
"She's in my cell," Leah said. "Hidden under the bed. I closed the door."
I started to nod, then stopped. "You closed the door? What if it jams? How will we get her out?"
