Page 107 of The Last Session

“Where did you live?” Moon turned to Catherine. “After she gave you away?”

“The temple.” Catherine looked at me. “Right, Thea? Can you see it?”

And the stunning thing was, I could.

It appeared suddenly in my mind’s eye: the quiet square pool, its surface glass-like. The trees with tiny jade leaves shimmering in the breeze. The nearby buildings, low square blocks made of a light-colored stone. Was this a scene fromStargirl? No, the temple there had been grand, filled with candles and statues and piles of gold objects. This visual had to be coming from somewhere else.

“We felt trapped,” Catherine went on. “But it was tolerable untilshecame.” She pointed at Grace, who blanched. “The sorcerer wanted you to get rid of us so she could take our place.”

“Stand up,” Moon directed. Grace got to her feet. She was wearing a swimsuit and gray linen pants already dotted with sweat.

InStargirl, it had been a male sorcerer showing the queen visions, convincing her to kill Thuya. Were we going to go through the full plotline together?

Moon went over and put an arm around Grace’s shoulder. “What did my advisor tell me?”

Grace cleared her throat. “To get rid of them.”

“And how did I do it?”

She hesitated.

“How did I get rid of them?” Moon asked again, louder.

Grace’s eyes filled with tears. “Um, I guess—”

“Don’t guess!” Moon shouted, her yell overwhelming in the small space. “Tell me what you know!”

I glanced at Jonah. He’d pulled off his shirt and a bead of sweat ran down his chest. He was staring at Moon as if entranced.

“I’m sorry.” Grace covered her face.

My clothes were completely molded to my body. I pulled off my shirt, since I was wearing a sports bra underneath, and felt a millisecond of relief.

“Focus!” Moon shouted again.

“Please stop,” I said. They both turned to me. “You left us in the desert to die, I’m assuming.” I went rigid, sure that Moon would freak out at my use of the word “assume.” But instead she grinned.

“Yes.” She let go of Grace and came towards me. “And what happened?”

“Well…” I glanced at Catherine. “We died.”

“And before?” Moon grabbed my upper arm, her fingers digging in. “What did you see?”

A new image grew in my mind: something sliding through the endless dunes, coming closer. Unlike in my dream, I could see it clearly. It was a snake, its onyx scales sparkling in the sun. But this was no normal snake: even from far away I could tell it was huge, thick as a tree trunk.

“You see it?” Moon asked in a whisper. She pushed down, and I sank to the floor. Catherine sat, too, lying down and curling into the fetal position. This was exactly how we’d been positioned in my dream. A wave of horror washed over me. What was happening? How was I seeing what I was seeing?

“It’s coming closer, yes?” Moon crouched next to me, still gripping my shoulder.

I wanted to race out of the tent into the cool air, suck in huge breaths. But I was frozen in place, watching the vision unfold. I knew if I went outside it would disappear.

“Tell me what you’re seeing,” Moon urged.

“Uh… it’s a snake.” It was coming unimaginably fast straight for us, and I had the distant thought that perhaps it’d swallow us up in a gulp and keep going. The idea felt like a relief—at least it’d get us out of this unrelenting sun.

The heat was a bridge. Even though I knew I was sitting in this sweat lodge, I was also there, near death in the desert, watching the creature approach.

“A snake.” Moon sounded triumphant. “What does it look like?”