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Felicity runs to embrace her. She holds Pip fiercely. "I thought I should never see you again."
"You saw us not two days ago," I remind her.
"But I can scarcely bear it. It is nearly Christmas," she says wistfully."Have you been to any dances yet?"
"No," Ann reports. "But Felicity's mother and father will have their Christmas ball."
"I suppose it will be very grand," Pippa says, pouting. "I'm to wear my first gown." Ann continues. She describes the gown in detail. Pippa asks us questions about the ball. It is as if we are back at Spence, sitting in the great hall in Felicity's tent, gossiping, making plans.
Smiling, Pippa twirls Felicity around as the boat creaks slowly down the river. "We are together. And we never have to part."
"But we have to go back," I say.
The hurt in Pippa's eyes wounds me. "But when you form the Order again, you'll come for me. Won't you?"
"Of course we will," Felicity says. She's fallen into step with Pippa again, happy to be near her.
Pippa wraps her arms about Felicity and places her head on her shoulder. "You are my dearest friends in all the world. Nothing will ever change that."
Ann joins in the embrace. At last, I too put my arms about Pippa. We surround her like petals, and I try not to think about what shall happen to us all once we find the Temple.
Around a sharp bend, the river opens, giving the most majestic view of the shore and the cliff caves that rise high above us. Goddesses have been carved into the rock. They stand, possibly fifty feet tall, adorned with elaborate coned headdresses. Their necks are strung with jewels. Save for that, they are naked and quite sensual, hips cocked at an angle, an arm placed behind the head just so, lips curved into a smile. Decency tells me I should look away, but I find I keep stealing glances.
"Oh, gracious," Ann says, looking up and immediately down.
"What are those?" Felicity asks.
The gorgon opens its mouth."The Caves of Sighs. They are but abandoned ruins now, inhabited only by the Hajin, the Untouchables."
"The Untouchables?" I ask. "Yesss. There is one." The gorgon's head lolls to the right. Something scurries in the brush along the shore."Filthy vermin."
"Why are they called Untouchables?" Ann asks.
"They've always been thus. The Order banished them to the Caves of Sighs. No one goes there now. It is forbidden."
"Well, that isn't fair," Ann says, her voice rising."It isn't fair at all." Poor Ann. She knows what it is to be an untouchable.
"What was it used for before?" I ask.
"It was the place where the Order took their lovers."
"Lovers?" Felicity asks.
"Yes." The gorgon pauses before adding,"The Rakshana."
I don't know what to say to this."The Rakshana and the Order were lovers?"
The gorgon's voice sounds far away."Once."
Felicity gives a shout. "Look at that!" She points to the horizon, where a heavy mist falls from the sky like shavings of gold, obscuring our view of what lies ahead. It roars like a waterfall.
"Are we going through there?" Ann asks, worried.
Pippa pulls Ann close. "Don't fret so. It will be all right, I'm sure, else the gorgon wouldn't bring us through it. Isn't that right, Gemma?"
"Yes, of course," I say, trying not to seem as truly terrified as I feel. For I've no idea what will become of us."Gorgon, you are bound to do us no harm. Is that so?"
But my question is drowned out by the relentless pounding of the golden waterfall. We huddle together on the floor of the ship. Ann closes her eyes tightly. As we push forward, I shut my eyes too, afraid to know what's going to happen next. With the roar thick in our ears, we pass through this damp curtain and emerge on the other side, where the river becomes like an ocean with no land in sight, save for a verdant island in the distance. "We're alive," Ann says, both surprised and relieved.
