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A thorn of concern pricks at my insides. My mother insisted that spirits had to cross over. But what if she was wrong?
I saw her die; I saw her buried. I saw her in my dreams.
"I've been having the most atrocious dreams about you," I say, testing.
Pippa strokes the kitten, turning her orange, then red. "Really? What were they?"
"It was only the last dream I can recall. You came to me and said, 'Careful, Gemma. They're all coming for you.' "
Pippa frowns."Who's coming for you?"
"I don't know. I thought perhaps you were sending me a message."
"Me?" She shakes her head. "I haven't done anything of the sort. Now come with me," she cries like the Pied Piper of merriment."I want to make a Christmas tree."
We stay for what feels like hours. It could be hours, for all we know. No one wants to be the first to say goodbye, and so we keep inventing reasons to stay--more magic tinsel for the tree, another game of hide- and-seek, more searching for the gorgon, who never appears. At last, it is time. We must go.
"Can you come back tomorrow?" Pippa pleads with a pout.
"I'm leaving for London," Felicity says sadly. "And you two had best not come without me!"
"I leave the day after," I say.
Ann is quiet.
"Ann?" Pippa asks.
"I shall stay at Spence and spend Christmas with the servants, as always."
"How long till you're together again?" Pippa asks. "A fortnight," I answer. I hadn't thought about this. How shall we look for the Temple if we are separated for so long?
"That won't do at all," Pip says. "What shall I do for two whole weeks? I shall be so bored without you." Same old Pip.
"Felicity and I will see each other," I say."But Ann . . ." Ann looks as if she could cry.
"You shall simply have to come home with me," Felicity says. "I'll send a telegram to Mama first thing tomorrow morning and tell her to expect us. And I shall spend the evening thinking of a very good story as to why."
Ann's beaming."I should like that. The holiday and the story."
"Soon as we can--two days' time--we'll be back," I assure Pippa.
"I shall be waiting."
"See what you can discover on your own," I say. "Find the gorgon."
Pippa nods."Must you go so soon? I don't think I can bear to say goodbye."
"Two days' time," Felicity assures her.
She walks with us through the place where the runes once stood.
"Watch out," Felicity calls.
Where the toadstool split open, the grass has turned to ash. A wet black snake slithers back and forth.
"Ugh," Ann says, sidestepping it.
Pippa grabs a sharp rock and drops it on the thing.
