Excerpt
"Keoki, meanwhile, had his eyes fixed on the woods. He saw a woman there, looking straight at him with
glowing eyes. She was obscured by brush and branches, but he knew with absolute certainty that it was
the same woman he had seen at Tivoli, the same woman he had dreamed about. He didn't know what to do.
Amidst all the noise, and shouts, and screaming, and terror, he could only look at her.
Impossibly, he heard a voice speaking to him. It was as clear and loud as if the person were standing
next to him in a quiet room, but he was not in a quiet room and there was no one next to him. It was the
woman in the woods. It couldn't be, but it was.
You can hear me. Then there is a deep connection between us after all. I may have loved you once. No
matter. You cannot harm me. You don't know how. The Danish girl and the old man have to die.
Keoki glanced at Karen. Her face grew pale and she fell to the ground. Through the noise and confusion
he heard his grandfather cry out and saw him clutching his head. Keoki swung back to the woman in the
woods and shouted "Nooo!" Without thinking about it he drew upon subconscious memories of computer game
battles and willed a blazing fireball toward the glowing eyes. He was not even aware that he had his
hand thrust out like one of his wizard illustrations. In his minds's eye he saw the fireball fly out of
his hand in into the woods. The eyes of the woman grew wide in surprise and then she blinked out.
Disappeared as if she had never been there.
Surprised himself, Keoki took a few moments to get reoriented. First he looked at Gramps, who was
sitting down and shaking his head, but otherwise looking okay. Then he turned to Karen, who was still
lying on the ground. As he knelt beside her and took her hand her eyes opened and her color started
coming back. She took a deep breath and tried to get up and he helped her to her feet. He held onto her
as they looked around at the deadly results of Seeker's revenge."
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