Rebel Angels

"Sleep now,"Tom's voice advises from faraway.

"We'll see you in your dreams," the girls say as I fall under the drug's spell.

I see the Caves of Sighs, but not as they were. This place is no ruin, but a magnificent temple. I'm walking through the narrow tunnels. As I brush my fingers over the bumpy walls, the faded drawings come alive in reds and blues, greens and pinks and oranges. Here are paintings of all the realms. The Forest of Lights. The water nymphs in their murky depths. The gorgon ship. The garden. The Runes of the Oracle as they once stood. The golden horizon across the river, where our spirits must journey. The women of the Order in their cloaks, hands joined.

"I've found it." I murmur, tongue thick with opiate.

"Shhh," someone says."Sleep now."

Sleep now. Sleep now.

The words drift down a tunnel into my body, where they become rose petals blowing across my bare feet on the dusty ground. I prick my finger on a thorn stuck through a crack in the wall. Drops of blood spiral down into the dust at my feet. Fat green vines push through the cracks. They crisscross rapidly around the pillars in designs as intricate as the Hajin's mendhi. Deep pink roses bud, bloom, and open, wrapping themselves around the pillars like lovers' fingers intertwined. It is so beautiful, so beautiful.

Someone comes. Asha, the Untouchable. For who better to guard the Temple than those no one suspects of having any power at all?

She greets me, pressing her palms together and touching them to her forehead as she bows. I do the same. "What do you offer?"

Offer hope to the Untouchables, for they need hope. Lady Hope. I am the hope. I am the hope.

The sky cracks open. Asha's face is filled with worry.

"What is it?"

"She senses you. If you stay, she will find the Temple. You must leave this dream. Break the vision, Most High. Do it now!"

"Yes, I'll go," I say. I try to get myself from the vision, but the drug is taking hold. I cannot make myself leave.

"Go! Run into the realms," she says."Cloud your mind to the Temple. She will see what you see."

I'm heavy with the drug. So heavy. I cannot make my thoughts obey. I stumble out of the cave. Behind me the paintings lose their color, the roses pull back into buds, and the vines slip back into the cracks. When I come out of the cave, the sky has grown dark. The incense pots send their colorful plumes up to the clouds like a warning. The smoke parts. Miss Moore stands before me with poor Nell Hawkins, her sacrifice.

"The Temple. Thank you, Gemma."

I open my eyes. The ceiling, sooty from the gaslight, comes into view. The curtains are drawn. I do not know what time of day it is. I hear whispering.

"Gemma?"

"She opened her eyes. I saw her."

Felicity and Ann. They rush over and sit on the bed beside me, taking my hands in theirs.

"Gemma? It's Ann. How are you feeling? We were so worried about you."

"They said you had a fever, so naturally they wouldn't allow us to come until I insisted. You've been asleep for three days," Felicity says.

Three days. Still so tired.

"They found you in Baker Street. What were you doing there, near Miss Moore's rooms?"

Miss Moore. Miss Moore is Circe. She has found the Temple. I have failed. I have lost everything. I turn my head to the wall.

Ann prattles on. "With all the excitement, Lady Denby hasn't had a chance yet to tell Mrs. Worthington about me."

"Simon has been here every day, Gemma," Felicity says. "Every day! That must make you happy."

"Gemma?" Ann says, concerned.

"I don't care." My voice is so small and dry.

"What do you mean you don't care? I thought you were mad for him. He's mad for you, it seems. That is happy news, isn't it?" Felicity says. "I've lost the Temple."

"What do you mean?" Ann asks.

It is too much to explain. My head throbs. I want to sleep and never wake. "We were wrong about Miss McCleethy. About everything. Miss Moore is Circe."

I won't look at them. I can't.

"I took her into the realms. She has the power now. It is over. I'm sorry."

"No more magic?" Ann says.

I shake my head. It hurts to do it.

"But what about Pippa?" Felicity says, starting to cry.

I close my eyes."I'm tired," I say.

"It can't be," Ann says, sniffling."No more realms?"

I don't answer. Instead, I feign sleep until I hear the bed creak with their leaving. I lie there, staring at nothing. A crack of light peeks through the drawn curtains. It is day after all. Not that it matters to me one whit.