precious to you. "' She glances at Pippa when she says this.
"We should go." Pippa says.
I think she may be right. "Thank you for your trouble, but we must be getting back now."
Asha gives a bow. "As you wish. I can put you on the path. But you will need our help."
A woman whose face is painted a bright red with stripes of deep green pours a clay mixture into a long tube with a hole at the end.
"What is that for?" Felicity asks.
"To paint you," Asha says.
"Paint us?" Ann nearly shrieks.
"It offers protection," Asha explains.
"Protection from what?" I ask warily.
"Protection from whatever comes looking for you in these realms. It hides what must be hidden and reveals what must be seen." Again, she gives that curious look to Pippa.
"I don't like the sound of this at all," Pippa says. "Nor do I," Ann agrees.
"What if this is a trap?" Felicity whispers. "What if that paint is poison?"
The red-faced woman bids us sit and place our hands upon a large rock.
"Why should we trust you?" I ask.
"There are many choices to make. You are free to refuse," Asha answers.
The woman with the paint waits patiently. Should I trust Asha, an Untouchable, or take my chances in the realms unprotected?
I offer my hands to the woman with the painted face.
"You are brave, I see," Asha says. She nods to the woman, who squeezes the mixture onto my hands. It is cold on my skin. Is that the poison working its way into my blood? I can only close my eyes and wait, hoping for the best.
"Oh, look!" Ann gasps.
Fearing the worst, I open my eyes. My hands. Where the clay mixture has dried it has turned a glorious brick red in a design more ornate than a spider's web. It reminds me of the brides of India whose hands are stenciled with henna in honor of their husbands.
"I shall be next," Felicity says, rushing to remove her gloves. She is no longer afraid of being poisoned, only of being left out.
In the deep recesses of the cave is a sheet of water smooth as glass that seems to rise and fall at the same time. The flow of it makes me drowsy. It is the last thing I see before I fall asleep.
I am standing before a large well. The surface is alive with movement. It shows me things. Roses blooming fast on thick green vines. A cathedral adrift on an island. Black rock awash in fog. A warrior in horned helmet riding a fierce horse. A twisted tree against a bloodred sky. Asha's painted hands. Nell Hawkins. The green cloak. Something moves in the shadows, startling me, coming closer. A face.
I wake with a start. Felicity laughs merrily, showing off her hands, which have been painted in beautiful curlicues. She compares them with Ann's and Pippa's ornate designs. Asha sits across from me, her thick, scaly legs crossed.
"What did you see in your dreams?" she asks.
What did I see? Nothing that means anything to me."Nothing," I answer.
Again I see disappointment in her eyes. "It is time for you to go."
She leads us to the mouth of the cave. The sky is no longer blue, but a deep, inky night. Have we been here so long? The pots of incense belch their rainbow of color. Torches line the path. The Hajin stand beside them, bowing as we walk.
When we once again reach the rock, the door appears. "I thought you said that the only way out was to go forward," I say.
"Yes. That is true."
"But this is the way we've come!"
"Is it?" she asks. "Take care on the path. Walk quickly and quietly. The paint will keep you hidden from sight." Asha places her palms together and bows."Go now."
I don't understand at all, but we've wasted too much time already for more questions. We've got to get back to the path. In the glow of the amulet, I can see the delicate lines on my hands. It seems a scant protection from whatever may be looking for us, but I hope Asha is right.
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
THE GLOW OF THE CRESCENT EYE LEADS US AWAY from the mountain till we are on unfamiliar ground. The sky is not as dark here. It's suffused with the light of a dark red moon. We're surrounded by the gnarled bodies of giant trees. Their branches arch high over our heads, those bare, twisted fingers of bark intertwining in an eerie embrace. The effect is rather like being in one long cage.
"Did we come this way before?" Felicity asks.
"Where are we?" Pippa asks.
"I don't know," I say. "It's a ghastly place," Ann says.
"I knew we shouldn't have trusted them. Filthy vermin!" Pippa says.
