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None of us can answer.
"It's done, but I'm still here," she says. She smiles, but the effect is chilling.
"It's time to leave us, Pip," I say softly."To let go."
"No!" she wails like a wounded animal, and I feel as if my heart shall break. "Please, I don't want to go. Not yet. Please, don't leave me! Please! Fee!"
Felicity's crying."I'm sorry, Pip."
"You promised you'd never leave me. You promised!" She wipes her tears with her arm."You'll be sorry for this."
"Pippa!" Felicity calls, but it's too late. She's left us, running for the only place that will shelter her. Someday, we will meet again, not as friends, but as enemies.
"I couldn't use the magic to keep her here. You understand, don't you?"
Felicity won't look at me. "I'm tired of this place. I want to go home." She marches off down the mountain till she's lost in the colorful smoke of the incense pots.
Ann slips her hand into mine. It is her way of saying that she forgives me, and I'm grateful for it. I can only hope that Felicity will also forgive me in time.
"Look, Lady Hope!" Asha calls.
Across the river, I see them--thousands crossing over to the world beyond this one, ready at last to make that journey. They stream past us, oblivious. They want only their rest. I hope against hope that I shall see Bessie Timmons and Mae Sutter among their number. But I do not. They've reached the Winterlands, then, as Pippa will soon. But that is another fight for another day.
"Lady Hope!"
I turn and see Nell Hawkins waving dreamily to me from the shore. She is as I remember her from my visions, a tiny, happy thing. I feel a stab of remorse. My hands will forever be stained by the blood of Nell Hawkins. Have I done the right thing? Will there be others to follow?
"I'm sorry," I say.
"You cannot keep things caged." she answers. "Goodbye, Lady Hope." With that, she wades into the river, goes under, and emerges on the other side, walking toward the orange sky until I do not see her at all.
The gorgon waits for us in the river.
"Shall I take you to the garden, Most High?" she asks.
"Gorgon, I release you from your bondage to the Order," I say. "You are free, as I suspect you have been since the magic was first loose."
The snakes dance upon her head. "Thank you," the gorgon replies."Shall I take you to the garden?"
"Did you hear? You are free."
"Yessss. Choice. It is a fine thing. And I choose to take you back, Most High."
We float downstream on the gorgon's back. Already, the air feels lighter. Things are changing. I cannot say how or what form they shall take eventually, but the change is the thing. It is what makes me feel that all things are possible.
The forest folk have gathered on the shore below the Caves of Sighs. They line the riverbank as we pass. Philon hops up on a rock, shouting at me. "We shall expect our payment, priestess. Do not forget."
I clasp my hands together and bow as I have seen Asha do. Philon returns the gesture. We are at peace, for now.
I cannot say how long the peace shall last.
"You tried to warn me about Miss Moore, didn't you?" I ask the gorgon once we are on the open river. Above us, white clouds spread out in grainy streaks, like sugar spilled across the floor of the sky.
"I knew her once by another name." "You must know a great deal," I say.
The gorgon's hiss comes out as a sigh."Someday, when there is time, I shall tell you stories of the days past."
"Do you miss them?" I ask.
