“Kandra,” Leela hissed. Kandra did not seem to hear her; her eyes were as dark and vacant as they had been in the days after Sera’s sacrifice. “Kandra,” Leela tried again, as loud as she dared.
Kandra started and looked around. When she caught sight of Leela she gasped and hurried to join her.
“Leela, I told you—” she began, but Leela had no time to spare for a scolding.
“I know, I know, I came with my purple mother and I must get back to the spot where I was told to wait for her. But I went to the Moon Gardens last night. I found a set of stairs beneath the statue of Faesa. Stairs that were not blocked by sunglass as the ones beneath the obelisk were.” She gripped Kandra’s hands in her own. “I went below the City and found what the High Priestess has been hiding.”
Kandra’s eyes widened. “Tell me everything,” she said. “And quickly.”
The story poured out of Leela and when she got to the part about discovering Estelle, Kandra made a sound that was half cry, half gasp.
“Estelle?” she choked. “She’s still alive?”
Leela nodded. “I don’t know what the High Priestess is doing with her, though. And there were so many others trapped just like her. The High Priestess was feeding them golden fruit that grows among the vines surrounding the tether. And then she held her hands out and all the stalactites began to glow and the ground shook and the tether . . . the tether . . .”
Leela could not find the words to describe its brilliance or the way the High Priestess’s face had contorted in silent agony.
“I wish I could see it,” Kandra said.
“So do I,” Leela said. “But that is not all.” She took a breath. “I saw Sera.”
Kandra blinked. “In a stalactite?”
“No. I saw her in a vision, like the other ones I’ve had, only this was the clearest one yet. She is on the planet, Kandra. She is alive.”
Kandra jerked her hands away. Leela was surprised to see her mouth set in a hard line.
“That is not a funny jest.”
Leela frowned. “It is no jest at all. I saw her. It was real.”
“You don’t know that,” Kandra said. “You don’t know what these visions are. You said so yourself. They could be lies or tricks. They could be some dark magic of the High Priestess. She was able to take my memories of Estelle away; who is to say she cannot implant memories as well? You don’t know, Leela.”
“But I do.” This was not at all the reaction Leela had been expecting. “I mean, I didn’t before, but I do now. It was no trick or spell. I felt Sera’s heart beating in my chest as if we were blood bonding. It is a heartbeat I would know anywhere. Besides, the High Priestess did not even know I was there. Sera has my moonstone and I think it saved her. I’ve been seeing her through it, or . . . or it’s connected us in some way. But those other visions were from the planet too, I’m sure of it. She’s down there, Kandra. And I’m going to find a way to bring her home.”
“Stop.” Kandra’s voice was sharp as ice breaking and she stepped back as if frightened of Leela. “Please,” she whispered. “Don’t . . . she is gone. She is gone and I must bear a new daughter and you cannot come here and tell me otherwise. You cannot give me false hope.”
Leela felt a sharp twinge of anger. “There is nothing false about it,” she said. Why did Kandra not believe her?
“Kandra!” one of the midwives called, and the two of them jumped.
“I must go,” Kandra said, turning away. “Do not come back.”
Leela felt empty as she watched her only confidant hurry toward the flower-strewn field to join the other purple mothers. This was not how she had imagined the conversation would go. She’d thought Kandra would be overjoyed. She’d thought she was bringing good news, not sadness and heartbreak.
“I’ll find a way to show her,” Leela muttered aloud to herself. “I’ll prove that Sera is still alive.”
She would return to the City’s underbelly and learn all she could about that underground garden and the clear pools and the stalactites and what it all meant. If Kandra could not help her now, Leela would do this on her own. The weight of it threatened to crush her but she was determined to shoulder it.
She turned to make her way back across the stones to the path and abruptly found herself face-to-face with the last person she wished to see.
“Leela,” the High Priestess said, gazing down from her impressive height with a mixture of confusion and horror. “What in the name of Mother Sun do you think you are doing here?”
8
LEELA’S HEART POUNDED IN HER EARS, HER FEET GROWN into the ground like roots.
“It is forbidden to cross the sacred circle once the birthing season has begun,” the High Priestess said, and Leela nodded mutely. Had the High Priestess overheard any of her conversation with Kandra?
She folded her hands together and fixed Leela with a hard stare. “Please explain yourself.”
“I wished to see how Plenna was doing,” Leela said quickly. “My purple mother brought me along with her to deliver food and made me promise to wait at the path. But I . . . I did not listen. I thought if I could see Plenna happy, it would help heal some of the pain of Sera’s loss.” She looked down in case the High Priestess could read the lie in her eyes. “My heart still grieves for her.”
“Of course it does, my child. But grief is no excuse for breaking such an important rule.” The High Priestess placed a hand on Leela’s shoulder, her skin hot through Leela’s cloudspun dress. She’d never been touched by the High Priestess before, and Leela felt her magic jerk inside her, as if she had just touched a burning stove with bare fingers. “I am afraid a conclave must be called. And a penance must be decided.”
Leela could only vaguely remember the last conclave, when she was just a little girl, called to deal with a Cerulean who had refused to aid in preparations for the Festival of Light, one of the three major Cerulean holidays. The woman had been old, Leela recalled, and lonely. She had lost both her wives and had retreated from Cerulean life. Leela remembered feeling both sad for her and frightened of her, as her penance was announced in front of the entire temple. She was tasked with preparing for the festival all on her own. And she had done it, to the City’s great surprise.
She had died a month later. Leela felt ashamed that she could no longer remember the woman’s name.
“Come,” the High Priestess said. “We must tell your purple mother what has happened.”
The look on her mother’s face when she was told that Leela had disobeyed her made Leela want to slink under a rock. The other purple mothers and midwives had gathered in shock, listening to the High Priestess recount Leela’s breach of faith and announce the conclave. Leela felt she could see her own purple mother’s heart breaking at the thought of her daughter receiving the harshest Cerulean reprimand possible.
There was only one face missing among the crowd—Kandra’s.
Leela was not allowed to accompany her purple mother home. She was not allowed to go home at all. She was marched by the High Priestess straight to the temple. The walk was long and peppered with gardens and dwellings so that Leela had to watch the news of her shame spread throughout the City. All the bravery she’d felt earlier evaporated, leaving her flat and lifeless. She did not know what her penance would be, but she was certain it would not leave her free to roam about the City any longer, even in the dead of night. How was she to get back to the stairs beneath the Moon Gardens? How was she supposed to see Sera again?