"That can't be right," Mari said. "Kira would never be that crazy, and how could anyone survive…how could anyone…"

Alain stopped walking so abruptly that Mari had to come back two steps. "I feel something. A spell."

"Whoever made the dragon?" Mari said in a voice that promised vengeance.

"No." Alain realized that surprise must have shown on his face. "Kira."

"Kira is all right? Wait. Kira is casting a spell?" Mari demanded. "Since when can Kira cast spells?"

He shook his head, turning to find the direction of the spell. "She has never been able to do so. Only some great need or peril could have brought that ability to life within her."

"She's in trouble. She's in danger right now, maybe badly hurt. Where is she?"

"This way." Alain took off at a run, Mari beside him.

* * *

The rock contained some strange gemlike substance. It remained within the rock, but as Kira watched it began to flow and glitter like water dancing in sunlight. On one edge of the rock, a light began blinking like a guttering candle. She stared, wondering why rocks or gems would behave that way, but maintained her focus on the spell, feeling her own strength draining despite the flow of power from outside.

The glittering movement inside the rock ceased.

"Kira! You did it, Kira! You can stop!"

Kira let her focus relax. The rock was back as it had been, oddly regular. She slumped in the chair, exhausted.

Jason came into view, picking up the rock and tapping at it. Why was he doing that?

"It did set off an alarm. I've got it shut off, but it was on for maybe fifteen seconds. Since my mom's ship put up satellites, they'll know we're in this city, maybe even what part of the city."

"What are you talking about?" Kira asked, not understanding a word that Jason had said..

"The drive."

"The what?" That was an odd name for a rock.

The universe lurched.

Kira shook her head, feeling dizzy. What had happened? She had been… "The drive. Did we destroy the data?"

"Yeah." Jason was giving her a funny look. "For a minute there you didn't seem to have any idea what I was saying."

"It was probably because the spell was so taxing," Kira said. "I was just a little disoriented, I guess." She stood up carefully. "What do we need to do now?"

Jason followed as she walked slowly to the center of the room. "I have to reset the drive to read-only. Externally, it's going to look perfect, as if all the data is still intact. But the matrix inside isn't going to have any data. It's going to be locked into meaningless patterns."

The door slammed open.

Kira spun about, drawing her pistol as she did so, and ended up facing her mother, who was pointing her own pistol at Kira.