Chapter Twelve Page Nine, Bren, [?]

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But Bren was frozen.

She realized her feet were suddenly ensnared in a spider’s web that was steadily moving up to her ankles and calves. She tried pulling her legs free but the webs continued to grow. The further they raced up her legs the more easily she saw that there were spiders weaving the webs, tiny red things. Bren looked up again and saw that the fifth statue had been replaced by the Phrenic Witchseer, and when Bren looked at the others, she saw that they were all gone.

“Girl,” a woman’s voice said.

Bren refused to answer it. The webs had reached her waist. Bren thought that this was some sort of hallucination, brought on by some drug that had to have been on the tip of the needle that had pricked her finger.

“Girl,” the voice insisted.

“What?” Bren asked.

“Girl!”

Bren crossed her arms, having had enough of this nonsense. She went to uncross them but the spiders had reached them. Bren decided to close her eyes. She didn’t want to know what it would look like to have spiders running across her eyes.

“GIRL!”

Bren’s mouth was covered; she wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say.

Someone was shaking her. Bren opened her eyes and she was back in the Memorial Center, standing upright with her arms crossed and her head down. The flower lay shattered in pieces on the ground below her.

Oops.

“Brenda,” Blackwell said. It’d sounded like he had been saying girl earlier, Bren was sure of it. “You’re back with us?” He held a folded white robe over his right arm, like a butler holding a towel.

“Yeah,” Bren said, “You knew I’d be going on some kind of spirit walk?”

“A vision was what the prophecy said would happen,” Blackwell said, “We didn’t expect it would take several hours though.”

“Several hours?” Bren asked. She turned around. The pews were empty. Even the woman was gone. Bren wished that the chamber at least had had windows so she could see if it was later in the afternoon.

“Yes,” he said. He sounded tired.

“Can I go?” She asked.

“I’m supposed to give you the outfit you’ll wear whenever you come here, from now on,” he said, “There is a meeting of the circle tomorrow night, to discuss your ceremony. You will attend.”

Bren sighed.

“Listen, girl,” he said, “I don’t know why you’ve decided to join us. The purpose of your decision may be innocent. But while Seymour and Penelope seem to believe you have come to save us, I know that prophecies can be misleading.”

“I’m not here to ruin anything,” Bren said, “Sleep well on that, mister.”

He held the robe out to her and said nothing as she took it.

“Thank you,” she said, “I joined because I was tired of getting asked all of the time. Now I can rest peacefully knowing that I won’t have you all breathing down my neck.”

“Seymour will keep pestering you until you become a regular member,” Blackwell said, “Nothing has changed.”

“I know that, Mr. Blackwell,” Bren said, “I was making a joke.”

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