"You know what happens. I must bind the magic."
"And what will happen to me? Must I go?" Her voice is whisper thin.
It is the question I keep pushing away. But tonight, I have begun to realize--to see clearly, as Asha said--that this may not be forever. That Pippa might become one of those dark spirits herself if she does not cross. I can't bring myself to say it. I pick up a handful of dew from the ground. The drops gather in my fingers, becoming a silvery web that sticks them together.
"Gemma . . . ," Pippa pleads.
"Of course you won't have to go," Felicity says, storming past me."We'll find a way to change things with the magic. The Order will help us."
"We don't know that," I say gently.
"But it's possible, isn't it?" Pippa asks, hope turning her eyes bright again. "Think of it! I could stay. We would be together forever."
"Yes, of course. We'll find a way. I promise," Felicity says.
I flash Felicity a warning look, but Pippa's crying tears of joy, wrapping her arms about Felicity's chest, cradling her in her arms."Fee, thank you. I do love you so."
The paint on our hands has faded to nothing more than a shadow of lines and squiggles that disappear under the thin white lies of our gloves.
"You mustn't go just yet," Pippa begs."I want to pretend that I am also at the opera. And there is a ball after! Come on-- dance with me!"
She runs out into the grass, sweeping her dress from side to side, kicking up her heels. Giggling, Ann runs after. I pull Felicity aside.
"You oughtn't to promise Pippa such things." Felicity's eyes flash. "Why not? Gemma, she was lost to us, and now we have her back. There must be some reason for it, don't you think?"
I think of my mother's passing, of how keen the pain of her loss still feels, like a wound you think healed till you bump the fading bruise of it and feel the hurt anew. It is horrible. And yet . . . Asha's magic didn't work on Pip. Those dark spirits saw her. They courted her and hunted us.
"I do not know what we have, but it is not Pippa. Not our Pippa, at the least."
Felicity breaks away from me."I won't lose her twice. You can see she isn't changed. She's still our Pippa, lovely as ever."
"But she ate the berries. She died. You saw her buried."