Rebel Angels

Page 78

A pair of eyes appears between the fronds of the palm tree.
"Hello? Who's there?" I ask.
"Have you come to help us?" a soft voice asks. A young woman steps out from behind the tree, making us gasp. The right side of her body is horribly burned. Her hand is gone to the bone. She sees the shock on our faces and tries to cover herself with what's left of her shawl. "It was a fire at the factory, miss. Went up like a tinderbox, and we couldn't get out in time," she answers.
"We?" I ask, when I find my voice again.
Behind her in the jungle growth are perhaps a dozen or so young girls, many of them burned, all of them dead.
"Those of us who couldn't get out. Fire got some; some jumped and the fall got 'em," she says, matter-of-factly.
"How long have you been here?" I ask.
"Can't rightly say," she answers."Feels like forever."
"When was the fire?" Pippa asks.
"Third of December 1895, miss. Lot of wind that day, I recall." They've been here about two weeks, less time than Pippa. "I've seen you before, miss," she says, nodding to Pippa. "You and yer gen'leman."
Pippa's mouth hangs open. "I've never seen you in my life. I don't know what you're talking about."
"I am sorry for the offense, miss. I meant no harm, I'm sure." I don't know why Pip's in such a foul temper. She's not helping matters.
The girl tugs at my sleeve, and I have to hold back the scream when I see that hand on me."Is this heaven or hell, miss?"
"It is neither," I say, taking a step back."What is your name?"
"Mae. Mae Sutter."
"Mae," I whisper."Has anyone among you been acting strangely?"
She thinks for a moment. "Bessie Timmons," she says, pointing to another burned girl with a badly broken arm. "But in truth, miss, she's always been a bit strange. She's been talking to somebody off by herself, telling us we need to follow her to a place called the Winterlands, that they can help us there." "Listen closely to me, Mae. You must not go to the Winterlands. Soon everything will be as it should be, and you and your friends will cross over the river to what lies beyond."
Mae looks at me, scared."And what might that be?"
"I--I don't know exactly," I say, offering no comfort. "But in the meantime, you must trust no one you meet here. Do you understand?"
She gives me a hard look. "Then why should I trust you, miss?" She walks back to her friends, and as she does I hear her say,"They can't help us. We're on our own."
"All those spirits waiting to cross . . . ," Felicity says.
"Waiting to be corrupted," Ann says.
"You don't know that," Pippa says.
We fall silent.
"Let's press on," I say."Perhaps the Temple is near."
"I don't want to go on," Pippa says. "I don't want to see any more horror. I'm going back to the garden. Who's joining me?"
I look to the green ahead of us. The path dwindles under a heavy cover of leaves. But through them, I think I see a flash of ghostly, glowing white rustling through the brush.
Bessie Timmons steps onto the path. There's a hard look in her eye."Why don't you clear off, then, if you can't help us? Go on--clear off. Or else."
She doesn't explain what the "or else" might be. Some of the other girls come to stand behind her, closing ranks. They don't want us here. It's not worth fighting them, not right now.
"Come on." I say."Let's go back."
We turn back on the little path. Bessie Timmons calls out behind us. "Don't be so proud. Soon you'll all be like we are. My friends are coming for us. They'll make us whole! They'll make us queens! And you'll be nothing but dust."
The walk back to the garden is a quiet one. We are tired and sticky and sullen, Pippa particularly.
"Now may we please have a bit of fun?" she huffs when we've reached the place where the runes used to stand. "This hunting about for the Temple is so dreary."
"I know a place for games, m'lady."
From behind a tree the knight emerges, startling us all. He has a cloth-wrapped bundle in one hand. We gasp and he falls to one knee."Did I frighten you?" he asks, cocking his head to one side so that his curtain of straw-gold hair falls bewitchingly across his face.
Pippa flashes him a dark look."You haven't been summoned."