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Miss McCleethy enters the room. Her long green cloak brushes the floor.

"This has taken entirely too long, Miss Doyle. You will take me into the realms and I shall help you find the Temple. Then we shall bind the magic and restore the Order."Advertisement

From above, a deep voice rings out. "With access to the realms and the magic granted at last to the Rakshana. "' In the candlelight I can see only a masked face.

"Yes, of course," Miss McCleethy says. "I know all about you," I say. "I wrote to Saint Victoria's. I know what you did to Nell Hawkins and the other girls before her."

"You know nothing, Miss Doyle. You only think you do, and therein lies the problem."

"I know Mrs. Nightwing is your sister," I announce triumphantly.

Miss McCleethy looks surprised. "Lillian is a dear friend. I have no sister."

"You're lying," I say.

The voice from above rings out."Enough! It is time."

"I won't take you in!" I yell to one and all.

Fowlson grabs my arm roughly."I've grown rather tired of your games, Miss Doyle. They've cost us too much time already."

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"You can't force me to do it," I say.

"Can't I?" Miss McCleethy intervenes. "Mr. Fowlson. Allow me a moment with the girl, if you please."

She pulls me aside. Her deep voice is but a whisper. "Don't worry, my dear. I've no intention of letting the Rakshana have any say in the realms. I'm only placating them with a promise."

"After they've helped you, you'll cut them off."

"Don't fret too much over it." She lowers her voice further. "They intended to take the realms for themselves. What words did they give you for binding the magic?"

"J bind the magic in the name of the Eastern Star."

She smiles. "With those words, you give them the power of the Temple."

"Why should I believe you? Kartik told me--"

"Kartik?" She sneers in disgust. "Pray, did he tell you what his task is?"

"To help me find the Temple." "Miss Doyle, you really are quite gullible. His task was to help you find the Temple so the Rakshana could take it over. Once they had all that power, do you really think they'd need anything further from you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You'd be nothing more than an annoyance at that point. A liability. And that brings us to his true task: to kill you."

The room grows smaller. I feel I can't breathe."You're lying." "Am I? Why don't you ask him? Oh, I don't expect that he will tell you the truth. But watch him--watch his eyes. They won't lie."

Do not forget your task, novitiate . . .

Was it all a lie? Was any of it true?

"So you see, my dear, we are stuck with each other after all."

I am too bitter to cry. My very blood is diseased with hate. "So it would seem," I say, fury a coiled snake in my belly.

"You possess extraordinary gifts, Gemma. Under my wing, you shall learn a great deal. But first, remember, you must bind the magic in the name of the Order." Miss McCleethy smiles, and I am reminded of a serpent. "I have waited twenty years for this

moment."

I will die first."I have to know the truth," I say.

She nods. "Very well. Fowlson!" she calls out. Moments later, he enters with Kartik. Above us, the chamber fills. The floor is alive with the soft sounds of discreet footsteps. Then, all is still in the room except for the flickering candlelight.

"Kartik," I ask, and my voice bounces off the walls. It is a smaller room than I realized. "What was your task from the Rakshana? Not the one about finding the Temple,"I say, my voice filled with hate. "The other one."

" The . . . other one?" he says, stumbling over his words. "Yes. Once I'd found the Temple. What was your task then?" I have never looked at anyone this way before, with a rage that could kill. And I have never seen Kartik frightened like this.

He swallows hard. His eyes glance upward to the faceless men in the shadows.

"Careful now, brother," Fowlson whispers.

"It was to help you find the Temple. There was no other," Kartik says. But he does not look me in the eyes as he says it, and now I know. I know that he is lying. I know that his task is to kill me.

"Liar,"1 say. This forces him to look at me, and just as quickly, he looks away."I'm ready."

"Very well," Miss McCleethy says.

I take hold of Miss McCleethy's strong hands and close my eyes. It's so easy to faint. Women do it all the time. They dose their eyes and fall to the floor. pqdm.com