Donna stayed with Capri and NT for a while, then, feeling tired, she thanked them, excused herself, and went back to her room.

She decided to check the Telegraph one last time before bed, and that was when she saw the new messages. Including some from Christine to two girls, both of them younger than Donna herself was.

After the stress of tonight, this was too much. Damn it Christine getting to *more* kids?? She couldn't hold the tears back any longer, and broke into hysterical sobbing, worse than before.

She was dimly aware of a voice crying out, of the sounds of crashing and falling, but not enough for them to penetrate.

She had lost all sense of time...only pain and anguish and the sobs that racked up from the deepest parts of her. Until another voice did manage to break through into her tortured mind.

"Donna, it's Ameh. Shhhhh, do you wanna talk about it hon?"

"A-Ameh...?!?" she sobbed. "you can't let her...Ch-Christine...those p-poor girls...now she's after them...that--that's just the way she...she used to t-talk to me..about...about m-magic..." more tears and she clung to Ameh. "don't let her h-hurt them..."

"Christine's not getting anywhere near those kids." Ameh said firmly. "I'll kill her first. If they spare her life after this trial, I'll kill her, and any time I might spend in jail for that'd be worth it." Ameh's expression was as wicked as the tone in her voice when she said that. Then she repeated. "I won't let her or Tompkins get to those kids. I sent them a warning about her as soon as her damn note showed up on my computer. I'll see she's stopped, one way or another."

Donna sniffled and continued to hold on to Ameh. "I-I'm sorry. I just...wh-when I saw those letters I..." she took a deep breath, trying again to get herself under control. Then it sank in what the room around her looked like.

"Oh...no." she whispered. "Tell me...t-tell me I didn't..."

Donna's eyes fell on Kendra's white tear streaked face and suddenly she couldn't meet her mother's eyes. "Damn it...!"

"It's okay..." Kendra murmured, "Donna...it's ok..."

Donna closed her eyes. "No it isn't...damn it...now...now I know what he meant. I c-could've...!" she covered her face with her hands."I....I didn't mean..." She was praying the floor would open up and swallow her whole, but it remained stubbornly solid beneath her. "He...he's right," she finally murmured bleakly. "I...*am* dangerous...I n-never knew...I've never done anything like this before...not even when things were so bad with him or C-Christine..." She took a ragged breath. "I knew I s-should've...m-made NT take it away."

"Take it away? Take what away...?" Kendra asked.

"You mean you wanted NT to take your magic!?" Ameh exclaimed.

Donna nodded miserably.

"Donna..."

"Well after Rev. Myles stopped me on the deck and said that it was of the devil, and then Tompkins saying I'm dangerous--look at this place! I could've hurt her!" Donna sobbed. "They're right, aren't they? That's why I should've insisted and made NT take it."

"No, listen to me...Reverend Myles is a holy roller who seems to be stuck in some sort of antiquated version of religion. Look at what he's done to his wife and kid. OK, so he probably meant well but he doesn't know anything beyond his own view of things and it's not exactly a nice view either from what I've figured out. Just because he says something's of the devil doesn't mean it is." Ameh shook her head.

"As for you being dangerous," she continued, "you haven't seen our place when NT's lost it and she has many times, but nobody ever got hurt. Somehow even when her magic gets out of her control it can't seem to hurt us because she doesn't intend to. At least, nobody's gotten hit with anything yet. You're both young and you have a lot of it. I can't even magic straight when I'm really upset you know. And since Nathan and Christine had taken part of your magic so you couldn't go anywhere, who knows what else about it they controlled before now. And I've released you from that. Nathan just wants you back because he doesn't want you working against him. that's what he means by your being dangerous in the wrong hands - dangerous toward him, that's all."

Donna looked up then, and noticed Pippi was talking quietly to her mother. "Kendra," Pippi said, "I think we should get together with Ariel tomorrow when court is not in session and talk to her about this, and I'll have to talk to Capri too."

"Capri already knows," Donna sniffled. "She walked in on me and NT when I was trying to get NT to take it."

"Oh?" Pippi asked.

"She said I'd have to ask Mother, and Ariel first, and that she'd do it if I really wanted it done and it was OK with you, but I'd rather have NT do it. NT is more...easy to approach, if you know what I mean."

"NT's only had experience taking magic away on someone bad, and from what I saw, it didn't look too comfortable." Pippi stated, trying to get Donna to change her mind. "Capri would probably know better how to manage it so you wouldn't feel it, and hopefully she knows how not to take it permanently so you can get it back."

"She said she knows how." Donna said, "But...(shudder)...I'd still rather NT did it."

"I think you ought to wait until after the trial to make that decision anyway." Ameh said.

Kendra nodded to Pippi, then turned to Donna. "I think what you need right now is bed. We're all going to be up early enough as it is."

Donna was too spent from the stress of the evening to argue, though she did murmur something about wanting to clean up the room.

"In the morning," Kendra insisted and steered Donna into the bedroom.

Donna didn't resist, but once her mother had left, she sighed. She was still too wound up to try sleeping, so she decided to check the Telegraph again. That's when she saw a note from Capri about a letter Tompkins had apparently tried to send her, and that Capri had intercepted it.

She decided to send a note back to Capri.

Capri,

I'm not afraid of what Nathan wrote about me. I'm sure it's no worse than the same stuff I've heard a zillion times before.

But you don't know what happened after I left you and NT. I saw on the Telegraph that Christine...!

There are two little girls..new on the Telegraph I think. One of them's 13 and the other's 10 and...

Christine's been w-writing to them. Talking about how she'd help them learn magic. That's just the way she and Nathan both would talk to me.

Don't let her get out. Please. Don't let her get to those kids. Just thinking that she might try to do to them what she did to me, or Ameh--it's making me crazy. I almost wrecked our room tonight. Ask Pippi or Ameh or my mom.

And before that, I saw Nathan's letter to Christine, talking about me being dangerous. Then this happens. I've never lost it like this before. Mom could've been hurt and I...

I should've made NT take it. I should've.

(more tear stains)

Donna

* * * * *

Then Donna sent a note to NT.

NT...

Please, please, take this away before I kill somebody. And don't tell me no, not again. You don't know what happened after I left your room.

I checked the Telegraph, and Christine's at it again. There's two kids out there. One of them's a year younger than me and the other one's ten.

Christine's talking to them, talking about wanting to teach them about magic.

NT, just look at what she did to Ameh. Or me. You know what'll happen if she gets near those two.

Just thinking about it makes me crazy. So crazy I...well, you should see what our main room looks like right now. Ameh and Pippi say you've lost control like this before, but I haven't.

I'm so afraid I could've hurt my mom.

I don't want to hurt anybody. I don't *want* to.

Donna

* * * * *

A few moments later, Donna looked up to see Capri appearing in her room.

"C-Capri..." Donna started to say, but was cut off.

"All right now," Capri interrupted firmly. "Take some deep breaths, ya need ta calm down."

"But Christine--"

Capri shook her head. "Ya don't need ta worry. I will make sure Christine doesn't get to those kids. Somebody called the Crow 'as asked fer the job ta do away with 'er once the trial's over, an' I've accepted 'is offer. Only I got a feelin 'e'll 'afta fight Ameh fer first dibs an if none of 'em was doin it, I would, I guarantee ya. She ain't gonna get 'er 'ands on any more kids again, Donna, but what unnerves me is that them kids she wrote to might actually believe 'er er somebody like 'er without lookin at the facts. I knew Ameh 'ad it rough but when Pippi showed me the files on 'er, an' seein 'er an' Melanie on the stand yesterday...I ain't lettin Tompkins er Benson atcha er anybody again."

Donna shook her head. "But I've still got this," she held out an empty hand. "What about that?"

Capri sighed. "Now, ya gotta settle down about yer magic. yer young an' jus' comin into it. ya couldn'a had the magic any longer than NT's been alive, an' she's lost control like that too. Heck, Donna, I've done it m'self when I's yer age. But ya learn ta get it under wraps with time. NT's scary when she loses control but she's never hurt anyone with it. It's as if 'er magic's so sensitive ta livin things that she can't 'arm 'em unless she deliberately aims a magic blast at 'em. Anyway this ain't no call fer ya ta have yer magic taken away an' I ain't doin anythin o' the sort 'til I get permission from both you an' yer mother in writin, an' fer that, we'll 'afta wait 'til the trial's done with. Jus' 'old out 'til then and if ya still feel the same way maybe we can work somethin out, but if ya want my opinion, I think 'avin it taken away'll jus' make ya even easier fer people like Tompkins ta use, 'cause it don't take magic fer evil people ta work evil. ya jus' think about that, k? I really don't wanna do this t'ya, an' NT's too young an' only 'ad experience takin magic from people she don't like. She don't know 'ow ta take it gently most likely an' it'd kill 'er ta magically cripple an' 'urt ya as well."

Donna wiped away the tears that were seeping out again.

Capri continued. "Ya know, if ya wanna 'elp them kids not get taken in, why don'tcha write 'em an' let 'em know you've been on the receivin end o' Christine's crap. ya don't 'afta go inta all the ugly details, but let 'em know, 'cause right now only Ameh's written 'em an' it'd help if they got more opinions from people what've been there."

Capri hugged Donna again, and after calming her, left.

Donna laid back down and tried to get some sleep through what was left of the night.