"Prudence? My God, what's happened to you?"
"Samantha did this to me. I had just landed on the top of the pyramid and then all the sudden I started getting fat and I ran to the bathroom-" Another oink followed by a period of wheezing interrupted her. Wendell saw her entire body grow fatter, pushing the maternity dress to the breaking point. "And then I started turning into a pig. She's trying to kill me. She wants to cut me up into bacon and ham and sausage."
"Samantha? She's after me too. I was just starting to give my lecture when my voice changed and I started getting breasts and then I was in this all girls school and Samantha tried to kill me and now I keep getting littler. I was on my way to the church to pray for a miracle when I ran into you."
"I was going to the church too. We can go together."
They heard footsteps behind them that could only belong to Samantha. Lizzie took Wendell's hand and then slung him onto her back. She galloped off on her hooves towards the church.
By the time they reached the Seabrooke Episcopalian Church, Lizzie barely had the strength to stand. A toddler in a white straw hat and powder blue dress slipped off her shoulders to land on the church steps. "Come on," Wendell said. He had to stand on his tiptoes to reach the door handles and even then couldn't open the doors until Lizzie knocked them open with her stomach. "What do we do now?" Wendell asked.
"I don't know. Pray, I guess."
Wendell skipped down the row of pews to the altar and knelt down. Prudence collapsed next to him, wheezing so hard he thought she might die on the spot. "God, please help us," Wendell said. "Please remove this curse from us and we'll do whatever you ask of us. You're our only hope."
"My children, I have been waiting for you," a man said. Wendell opened his eyes to find a sandy-haired reverend standing behind the pulpit. "You have both strayed from The Way and this is the result of your sins."
The reverend stepped out from behind the pulpit carrying a silver cup in his hand. "Drink from this my children and your sins will be washed away. You will be born anew."
Lizzie accepted the cup in her chubby hands. As she raised the cup to her lips, she saw a reflection in the water. Not herself as a cheerleader or the piggish thing she'd become, but a baby like Wendell. She looked up at the reverend, recognizing the cruel anticipation in his eyes. She poured the contents of the cup onto the floor.