The Cerulean (The Cerulean Duology #1) - Amy Ewing Page 0,81
home, when she heard voices.
Afraid to be caught out of doors when she was meant to be praying, Leela dropped to the ground and froze.
“. . . worked before.” It was the High Priestess; Leela would know her voice anywhere. “No reason to think . . .” The rest of what she said was muffled.
“Things were different then, you said.” Leela recognized the voice of the oldest acolyte, Acolyte Klymthe. “There was an agreement.”
“It was more than that.” The High Priestess sounded sad. “And I was stronger then.”
“I could have—” Acolyte Klymthe began, but the High Priestess cut her off.
“No,” she said sharply. “You could not.” Leela felt her head spinning. She did not fully understand what they were talking about, and yet something about this conversation set the hairs on the back of her neck prickling. There was a rustle of movement, and when the High Priestess spoke again, her voice was gentle. “It is not so easy as that, my dear Klymthe. You do not get to choose.”
“Yes, High Priestess.” Acolyte Klymthe sounded resigned. “The novices have kept everyone inside.”
“Good.”
“Will we make another sacrifice?”
“Not yet,” the High Priestess said. Acolyte Klymthe said something Leela couldn’t hear, and the High Priestess replied, “No. Believe me. They would not understand. And another ceremony would look suspicious. Mother Sun does not make mistakes.”
“But this was not the work of Mother—”
“I know,” the High Priestess snapped. Leela felt as if she had grown roots as deep as the hedge, pinning her in place. She could not move even if she wanted to.
“Let us call the City to the temple,” the High Priestess said. “We must keep them calm.” What she said next was too low for Leela to hear.
“Of course, High Priestess.”
There was a shuffling of feet and then silence fell. Leela could hear her heart beating in her own ears. If what she had just overheard was true, then Mother Sun had not chosen Sera to be sacrificed after all.
The High Priestess had.
Leela did not realize how long she stayed behind the hedge, her mind reeling, until the bell began to toll, calling the City to the temple as the High Priestess had instructed. She shot up and started running, arriving home to panicked mothers.
“Where have you been?”
“You told us you were praying in your room!”
“Leela, you cannot disappear like that. We were out of our minds with worry.”
“I am sorry, Mothers,” Leela said, her eyes downcast, her pulse racing. Something in her resisted the urge to tell them what she’d heard, a warning to keep this information to herself, and she held her tongue. Her orange mother tsked and handed Leela her prayer robe.
“You are just as bad as Se—” But she cut herself off before saying Sera’s name. Leela’s heart spasmed in pain. Her purple mother shot her orange mother a stern look.
“We know this is especially difficult for you,” her green mother said gently, smoothing back Leela’s hair. “But it is a hard time for us all. The City needs every Cerulean to be united in faith. Do you understand?”
“Yes, Mother.”
She leaned in and whispered in Leela’s ear. “And I could not bear to lose you, my darling. My heart would not survive it.”
She kissed the top of her head and released her. Leela slipped her robe on and followed her mothers out the door to join the throng of Cerulean headed to the temple.
They knelt on their cushions in their usual family spot. Sera’s three mothers were in their place near the Altar of the Lost, but they looked incomplete without Sera in their midst. Sera’s orange mother was stoic in her grief—her face was a hard mask, her shoulders rigid. Her green mother’s eyes were red and watery and she seemed to wilt, like the weight of her prayer robe was too much to bear. But Sera’s purple mother was empty, her face blank and expressionless, as if the soul that resided inside her had vanished over that dais with her daughter.
“Hood up,” Leela’s orange mother whispered, as the High Priestess made her way to the pulpit. She spread her arms wide, her warm, confident smile fixed in place.
Who are you, really? Leela thought as she raised her hood and the High Priestess began to speak.
“I have prayed long and hard, my children, and in the end, the answer has come to me, though I fear this time it brings me little comfort. Mother Sun has spoken. Sera Lighthaven was unworthy.”