"But I--"

In a flash he sliced his sword at my throat, but I instinctively ducked, shocked by my own quickness. Without my consciously cal ing them, my swords appeared in my hands. Wil swiped his blade down again, but I swung my swords up, catching Wil 's blow with a shing! of metal against metal. He pushed down, hard, but I held my position, refusing to let him overpower me, and angelfire ignited on my blades. Wil 's foot suddenly connected with my chest and slammed me into one of the columns behind me, my back crunching against the steel. The wind rushed from my lungs, but Wil was coming at me too fast for me to catch my breath. He swiped again and I rol ed away. His blade clanged off the column, and I looked back, eyes wide.

"Stop running!" Wil shouted. "Fight me!"

"You're going to kill me!" I shrieked.

"Only if you let me!" He leaped into the air and came down at me, his sword held high. He slashed, but the Khopesh caught his blade and deflected it away from my face. I swung my other sword and slashed--Wil recoiled as the blade cut neatly down his cheek. His face snapped to the side and he groaned in pain. He looked back at me, his green eyes brighter than I had ever seen, and the gash on his cheek melted together again, leaving only a thin line of blood. The angelfire didn't harm him.

"Keep fighting and don't stop!" he thundered. "If you stop, you're dead!"

He vanished suddenly and reappeared behind me. I reeled around to face him, swinging one sword up, and it col ided with his. I slashed the other sword at his bel y, but he jumped back, spun around, and kicked my wrist. The Khopesh went flying. I gaped at it in fright, and when I looked back at Wil , he had already lowered his sword and was reaching for me. He clamped his hand around my throat, threw my back against a column, and grabbed the wrist that held my remaining Khopesh. He had me pinned. I struggled against his grip, but he was just so, so strong.

"Let me go!" My free hand clawed at his hand around my neck.

"I'm not releasing you," he said. "You've lost. You stopped fighting and took your eye off me."

"Please, please, Wil ." I gasped, my windpipe closing. Panic grabbed at me and my eyes wel ed with tears. "You're going to kil me."

"Then do something about it!" he roared into my face.

"You have that strength! If you want me to let you go, then force me to!"

I screamed, fil ed half with fear and half with fury, and my power exploded, my hair whipping around my face so wildly I couldn't see. The column behind me crunched, and the floor rol ed and sank beneath my strength. Wil was blown away from me and landed sliding across the concrete floor. I bolted forward and my sword burst into flames as I swung it at Wil 's throat where he lay. I poised the tip at his jugular, my lungs heaving, my heart pounding, and my power swirling like a hurricane al around me, swal owing me in diamond light. My eyes darkened as I stared Wil down. He put his hands up slowly.

"You lose," I said cruel y. My power receded and my body relaxed. I col ected my fal en sword and wil ed them both away.

Wil smiled and rose to his feet.

I promptly punched him in the face hard enough to make him drop back to his knees. "You're a bastard!" I shrieked down at him, my voice cracking.

He laughed and rubbed his jaw firmly. "And you're frightening." He stood back up.

I hit him again, making his head snap around. "Why'd you scare me like that?"

As I swung a third time, he grabbed my wrist. "That's enough hitting," he growled. "You don't exactly hit like a girl, you know."

I wrenched free and walked away from him, breathing heavily. "Good God, that felt amazing."

"Hitting me?"

"Yes," I said, glaring back at him briefly. "And the power. I felt like I could punch through wal s." My gaze found the crater I had made in the concrete floor. The column was twisted and mangled, barely connecting to the ceiling any longer. It groaned, as if just a gentle nudge would send it crashing to the ground.

"You can," he said.

"I'm afraid, Wil ," I confessed. "I scare myself. If I'm capable of doing that, what's preventing me from doing it to someone who doesn't deserve it? What if I hurt someone?"

"I'l help you avoid that," he assured me. "When you're faced with a reaper, you can't worry about anything else. That's my job. You've got to use everything you've got to defeat it. If you hesitate, you wil die. You hesitated just a moment ago, and that's how I was able to overpower you. You can't stop for any reason. Trust me always to guard your back in battle. I wil protect you."

He walked past me, but I grabbed his shoulder. "Wait." I guided him around to face me, my hand sliding to his col ar. I was picturing that shiny plus sign I thought I'd seen before, and I slipped the chain out from beneath his shirt. Dangling from the end of the chain was a silver crucifix, not a plus sign. As soon as I saw it, I remembered what it was and my heart warmed. It felt good to see it again.

I looked up and saw that his gaze was glued to mine. "I remember it."

His body was stiff and his jaw tightened. Suddenly his reaction was as fascinating as my remembering the crucifix around his neck. "It was a gift," he said. "From my mother."

"Does it protect against the reapers?"

"No."

"Then why do you wear it?"

"My mother gave it to me."