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“I’ve never done it before. You’re the first. I don’t think I can take you any further. I think you have to go the rest of the way on your own.”
Pip’s eyes widen. “No, I can’t! I can’t go in the water. Please, please don’t make me.”
“Yes, you can,” I assure her, hoping my voice doesn’t betray my nerves. “I’ll help you. Here, grab hold of my arms.”
I ease her into the water and let go. Her skirts billow out like lotus blossoms. “Goodbye, Gemma,” she says, moving against the current. Watching her go is like seeing a part of myself vanish, and I have to clamp a hand over my mouth to keep from shouting, “Don’t. Come back. Please.” The light is swallowing her up. My cheeks are wet with tears. Goodbye, Pip.
With a sudden lurch, she slips below the water. Her hands thrash violently. She pops up, coughing up water, desperate for air.
“Gemma!” she screams, terrified. “Help me!”
Panic seizes me. Is that what is supposed to happen? But no, I’ve seen other souls cross without such anguish. “Pip!” I scream. I lean far over the boat. She grabs my hand and I pull her aboard.
“Go back,” she says, coughing. “Go back!”
It isn’t until we reach the shore safely and Pippa falls into the garden on her knees that she begins to breathe easily.
“What happened?” I say.
“I couldn’t cross,” she cries. “It wouldn’t let me.” Her eyes are wide with fear. “It wouldn’t let me!”
“She cannot cross. It’s too late.” Gorgon slides into view.
Pippa grabs my arm, frantic. “What is…she…saying?”
“You ate the berries,” Gorgon hisses. “Over time, they have worked their magic on you and claimed you for the realms. You are one of us now.”
I think back to that horrible day when Pippa was left behind while we escaped. I remember the creature chasing her into the river. I remember later finding her, cold and pale, in the water. And I remember the fateful moment when she made her choice to stay by eating the berries. Why did I leave her? Why didn’t I fight harder to save her?
Pippa rushes toward Gorgon and beats her with closed fists. The snakes roar to life, snapping and hissing. One nips Pip. She yelps and falls to the grass, cradling her hand. Her sobs come as hard as a choking rain.
“Do you mean…to tell me…that I shall have to stay here? Forever?”
Gorgon’s yellow eyes betray no emotion. “Your lot is cast. You must adapt. Accept and live on.”
“I can’t!” Pippa wails. She chokes out words between sobs. “Gemma…you! You told me…I…had to cross!”
“I’m sorry. I thought—”
“Now…now you tell me I shall have to stay here…in the realms forever! All alone!”
Pippa is in a heap upon the ground. She rolls her forehead back and forth against the cool grass.
“You’re not alone. You have Bessie and Mae and the others,” I say, desperate to offer some hope, but even I can hear how hollow it sounds.
Her head whips up quickly; her eyes glitter with tears. “Yes, those horrid girls, with their hideous burns and coarse manners! What sort of friends are they? They were a way for me to pass the time—they’ll never replace Fee and you and Ann. Please don’t leave me here, Gemma. Take me back. Please, please, please…” She grabs fistfuls of grass in her tiny hands, crying as if her heart will break. I can scarcely hold back my own tears.
I sit beside her, try to stroke her hair. “There, there, Pip.”
She pushes my hand away. “It’s your fault!”
I’ve never felt so desperate, so awful. “Wh-what if you had magic to help you?” I blurt out between my own sobs.
Pip’s tears slow. “Magic? Like we used to?”
“Yes, I—”
Gorgon cuts me off. “Most High. May I have a word?”
