Beside me, Ann screams and screams, her desperate shrieks blending into the crowd’s exultant shouts until it is impossible to tell where one leaves off and the other begins. I feel as if I shall vomit. My breath is ragged and tears prick my eyes. Ann sits perfectly still and stops screaming, shocked into total silence.
With a syrupy sigh, the vines wriggle forward and claim the headless body of Miss McCleethy. The girls kneel, hands clasped as if in prayer. Pippa stands before them, behind the altar. She raises a chalice over her head and brings it down again, mumbling words I cannot hear. She pulls a fat berry from the cup and places it gently into the waiting palms of Bessie. Slowly and solemnly she moves down the line, handing out a berry to each girl bowed before her.
“Who is the way?” she bellows.
“Mistress Pippa!” they respond in unison. “She is the chosen one.”
“What is our task?”
“To eat the berries and stay in paradise.”
“Amen,” she says.
As one, the girls bring the berries to their mouths. They gobble them up.
Pip turns to us with her arms spread, her mouth open in a delirious smile. “I am sorry about your teacher, but she wouldn’t have been able to join with us. But I have faith in you. After all, you’ve come back. But you must be as we are, my darlings. Those who would follow me must eat the berries.”
I find my voice at last. “Pip, please listen. The Winterlands creatures mean to take over the realms. If you kill me, I cannot fight them.”
Bessie takes the steps to the tower and returns with a struggling Felicity, who kicks and screeches. She attempts to take a bite of Bessie, and Bessie hits her hard.
“Oh, Fee! You’re here. That’s jolly,” Pippa says as Fee looks at her in horror.
Pippa saunters over to us and places berries in our hands. She gives Ann a kiss on the forehead. “Ann, darling, why do you shake so? Are you cold?”
“Y-yes,” Ann whispers. Her lips tremble with sheer terror. “Cold.”
“Do you believe, darling? Do you believe that I am the chosen one?”
“Yes.” Ann nods, sobbing.
“And will you eat the berries? Will you accept my grace?”
“If you were truly the chosen one, you would not need to intimidate your believers,” I say. If I am to die, I will not go without a voice.
Pippa strokes my hair. “You’ve never liked me much, Gemma. I think you are jealous.”
“You may think what you like. We are in danger. All of us. The Winterlands creatures mean to rule the realms. They have already killed many of the tribes. They ride without mercy, taking the souls of those who will not join them.”
Pip frowns. “I’ve heard nothing.”
“The creatures are on their way here now. If they sacrifice me at the Tree of All Souls, they will have all the power of the Temple and rule the realms.”
“They cannot rule the realms!” She laughs. “They cannot because I am chosen. I hold the magic. It grows in me. The tree told me so! If they plotted, I should know it.”
“You don’t know everything, Pippa,” I say.
She brings her face toward me until it is inches from mine. Her lips are still purple from the berries. Her breath smells of vinegar. “You’re lying.” A slight smile pulls at her mouth. “Why don’t you use your magic against me?”
“I don’t want to do that,” I say, my voice cracking.
Pippa’s face lights up. “You’ve lost it, haven’t you?”
“No, I haven’t—”
“That’s why you couldn’t stop me—because I am the true chosen one!” Pippa thunders.
Bessie grabs me hard by the arm. “Let’s prove it to the unbelievers! Let’s take ’em to the Winterlands!”
“No!” I shout.
Pippa claps. “That is a splendid plan! Oh, yes, let’s!”
Felicity takes Pip’s hands. “Pippa, if I eat the berries, if I stay with you, will you let them go?”
“Felicity!” I shout.
She shakes her head and gives me the tiniest of smiles.
“Will you? Will you let them go?”
A glimmer of recognition flashes in Pip’s eyes, as if she is remembering a favorite dream. She leans down, the black of her hair weaving into Felicity’s blond strands, a tapestry of light and dark. Sweetly, Pippa kisses Fee on her forehead.
“No,” she says harshly.
“Pip, you don’t understand; they’ll hurt you,” Felicity implores, but Pippa is past human reason.