The Crossing by Mandy Hager Page A

mind. The congregation hushed, and panic gripped her throat. “ Rule One: There is but one thing… ” What thing? What? How could she forget this now?
    She cast her gaze about, desperate for Rebekah's help, but still she could not locate her and still her brain refused to yield the sacred words.
    â€œâ€¦ in the world ,” someone in the rows below her prompted, and she looked straight into the sapphire eyes of Joseph—“ that can cleanse us of our sins ,” he mouthed.
    She had it now, suddenly remembering what came next. “ And that is the power of the Blood of the Lamb .” She swallowed. “ Rule Two: By the sacred power of His Blood… ”
    The words flowed from her now, even as the fog closed in. She fought to reach the end of the recitation, stumbling over easy words she should have known. The urge to sleep—to escape—seeped into every part of her body and, by the final Rule, her lips felt swollen and could barely move.
    She struggled to remain upright as Father Joshua led a prayer. Then, it seemed, the trial was over. “We will now proceed to the upper deck,” he said, taking her firmly by the arm, down the stairs, between the rows of the clapping congregation and out through the doors.
    Outside, he turned to her. “You are small,” he said. “I hope you can fulfil your task.” He bent down until they met eye to eye. “Wherever you go and whatever you're doing, Sister Maryam, remember that the Lord watches you. And that I, as his chosen vessel, see and know all.”
    â€œYes Father,” Maryam responded dully, unable to hold his gaze. Waves of sickness rolled through her and she closed her mouth, scared the roiling drink inside would soon erupt.
    But now the first of the congregation burst through the doors, and Father Joshua guided her along the walkway to the open deck. Outside the wind had lessened and it smelt so good to be up in the clean sea air.
    Against the railing four strong servers quietly stood beside Father Jonah's body, now on a pyre of wood aboard a raft. The deck filled with onlookers, and through them Joseph edged his grieving mother. She bent down and kissed her husband one last time, her mouth lingering upon his shrouded forehead.Very gently, Joseph drew her away and they held each other in a tight embrace.
    Father Joshua prayed once more, nodded his head, and the servers clipped back the railing, maneuvering the raft over to the edge. They lifted it until it hung in mid air, high above the restless sea.
    Joseph stepped forward to receive a burning torch from another of the waiting servers, before stumbling toward the raft. Maryam, through her haze, wanted to cry out to him—tell him he did not need to be the one to start the fire—but Mother Deborah began to weep again and this enlivened him, as though he hurried now to ease her pain. He pushed the burning torch into the pyre and it caught immediately—the wind feeding the flames’ hunger as they leapt from kindling to wood, wood to flesh. The servers carefully lowered the raft down the side of the great Star of the Sea and, when it reached the waves below, released the burning body to the sea.
    Again the crowd began to sing, but Maryam could not follow the words. Her head now pounded with a fury that shot tears into her eyes and she struggled to hold them open. The singing and the crush of people amplified around her and she sensed that she was losing grip. She cast about, desperate for someone who might ease her plight. But now she was falling…

Deep red pulsing pain clamped her brain. She had no idea where she was or what had befallen her—and try as she might, she could not move. Even her eyelids refused to break their seal and she lay trapped somewhere, blind and prone. Then, slowly, the funeral and the welcoming ritual came back to her. She groaned, the sound enormous in the void around her.
    She heard the scrape of a chair. The