Power sliced through her, a blade so cold it burned hot. The storm she called roared and built until it blocked the light of that pure white moon.

"Why do you do this?"

She turned in the torrent and looked at her lost sister. Golden hair shimmered, blue eyes were dark with sorrow.

"For justice." She needed to believe that. "For you."

"No." The one who had been Air didn't reach out but stood quiet, hands folded at her waist. "For vengeance. For hate. We were never meant to use what we are for blood."

"He spilled yours first."

"And should my weakness, my fears, excuse yours?"

"Weak?" Magic dark boiled inside her. "I am stronger now than ever I was. I have no fears."

"You are alone. The one you loved sacrificed."

And she could see, like a dream within the dream, the man who had held her heart. She watched him, watched again, as he was struck down, taken from her and their children by the bitter edge of her own actions.

The tears that swam into her eyes burned like acid.

"He should have stayed away."

"He loved you."

"I am beyond love now."

Air turned over her hands, hands that gleamed as white as that blinding moonlight. "There is no life without love, and no hope. I broke the first link between us, and lacked the courage to forge it back again. Now you break the second. Find your compassion, make your amends. The chain grows weak."

"I would change nothing."

"Our sister will be put to the test." Urgently now, Air stepped closer. "Without us, she may fail. Then, our circle is broken once and forever. Our children's children will pay. I have seen it."

"You ask me to give up what I have tasted. What I can now call with athought ?" She flung out a hand and the great sea rose to rage against the shimmering wall of sand-a thousand voices, screaming. "I will not.

Before I am done with this, every man, every woman, every child who cursed us, who hunted us like vermin, will writhe in agony."

"Then you damn us," Air said quietly. "And all who come after us. Look. And see what may be."

The wall of sand dissolved. The furious sea reared back, froze for one throbbing moment. The moon so white, so pure, split and dripped cold blood. Across the black sky, lightning slashed and whipped, stabbed down toward the earth to smoke and to burn.

Flames erupted, fed by the wild and greedy wind, so that the dark was blinded with light.

The night became one long, terrified scream as the island was swallowed by the sea.

However upsetting thedream, Ripley could convince herself it was a result of guilt and chocolate. In the light of day she could shrug off the anxiety it had caused and expend her energy shoveling the latest snowfall.

By the time Zack joined her, she'd finished the steps and half the walk. "I'll do the rest. Go in and get some coffee, some breakfast."

"Couldn't eat. I gorged on brownies last night, so I can use the exercise."

"Hey." He caught her by the chin, lifting her face for a long study. "You look tired."

"Didn't sleep very well."

"What's gnawing at you?"

"Nothing. I ate too many sweets, didn't sleep well, and now I'm paying for it."

"Baby, you're talking to somebody who knows you. When you've got a problem you march through work-physical and mental drudgery-until you come out the other side. Spill it."

"There's nothing to spill." She shuffled her feet, then finally just sighed. Her brother could simply stand and wait through an entire geological era for an answer. "Okay, I'm not ready to spill it. I'm working it out."

"All right. If all this shoveling's helping you with that, I'll just leave you to it."

He started back in. She didn't just look tired, he thought. She looked unhappy. At least he could take her mind off that. He scooped up a handful of snow, smoothed it into a ball. What were big brothers for? And let it fly.

It hit the back of her head with a solidwhomp. He wasn't leadoff pitcher for the island's softball team without reason.

Ripley turned slowly, studied his cheerful grin. "So ... want to play, do you?"

She grabbed up snow as she sidestepped. The instant he bent down for ammo, she fired straight between his eyes. She played third, and it was a brave or foolish runner who tried to steal home against her arm.

They pummeled each other, winging snowballs across the half-shoveled walk, slinging insults and taunts after them.

By the time Nell came to the door, the once pristine blanket over the lawn was bisected with messy paths, dented with furrows where bodies had temporarily fallen.

Lucy, with high, delighted barks, shot through the door like a bullet and dived into the action.

Amused, Nell hugged her arms against the chill and stepped out on the porch. "You children better come in and get cleaned up," she called out. "Or you'll be late for school."

It was instinct more than plan that had brother and sister doing instant and identical pivots. The two snowballs hit Nell dead center. The resulting squeal had Ripley laughing so hard she had to drop to her knees, where Lucy leaped on her.

"Oops." Zack swallowed the grin as he caught the dangerous glint in his wife's eyes. "Sorry, honey. It was, you know, a reflex."

"I'll show you a reflex. It's comforting to know the entire island police force will shoot the unarmed." She sniffed, shot her chin into the air. "I want that walk cleared off, and you can clean off my car while you're at it, if you can spare a moment from your hilarity."

She sailed back inside, slammed the door.

"Ouch," Ripley said, then dissolved into laughter again. "Looks like you may be bunking on the sofa tonight, hotshot."

"She doesn't hold a grudge." But he winced, hunched his shoulders. "I'll go take care of her car."

"Got you whipped, doesn't she?"

He merely burned her with a look. "I'll kill you later."