She saw John before he got near enough to touch her, fortunately, and she took in a few hard breaths in a visibly painful effort to try to get to the point of speaking. (Later she would remember the consideration.) Her best efforts to control the panic weren't working. When she perceived the vague (and it seemed to her, almost supernaturally large figure of Micah rise up from the stairway, Iris came to a dead stop and recoiled back into Peter before she was even aware of who it was. She blinked hard through new tears and brought her head up. "Micah," she recognized weakly, the tension draining out of her again so fast that her knees gave way under her, and she dropped without warning.