"True," Gaia spoke for herself. "Besides the fact that I can manifest in multiple places at once, there are other reasons that I won't go into as to why killing me is nearly impossible. Which makes me wonder why she chose to send you after me."
Gloria gave a self-deprecating smile before she answered. "Because I advised her to do so. I know of some of your defenses, and knew that I couldn't succeed. Of course, I didn't know that any of the rest of you would be here, or how spectacularly I would fail. I wish I would have known that the key to breaking free from her control was loving someone."
Shelly wanted to take a moment to absorb that knowledge, but the conversation was continuing, and she didn't want to miss anything to do with Jessica.
"Love helps you resist the Outsider's control," her father was saying, "but I'm not sure about breaking free. How do we know that the second she gives you a new command, you won't be compelled to obey?"
