Page 96 of The Last Session

“Lutheran.”

Karen nodded. “So you were taught about heaven and hell too. I always found it so severe. Not to mention unfair. What if I’d been born a Muslim? A Jew? It didn’t make sense that being saved was a matter of being born into the ‘right’ religion.”

This topic seemed like a random tangent, but I nodded. I’d had similar thoughts during my own crisis of faith in high school.

“Even after years in the convent, no one could give me a good answer.” She smiled. “The other sisters questioned my lack of faith. I’d always felt drawn to Jesus—his great sacrifice, allowing himself tobe murdered to save the world. That seemed beautiful to me. But I couldn’t get past the concept of good people being condemned to eternal damnation. When I left, I considered myself agnostic. Until the dreams.” She noticed my expression and nodded. “Mine started when I moved to Arizona. Something about the landscape. And when Gracie came to visit, they were even more vivid.”

“Grace is Karen’s niece,” Moon explained.

Grace nodded, tugging at the end of her orange pigtail, her blue eyes on me. A chill trickled down my back. So not only had Grace and Karen known each other at the airport. Karen was heraunt. And now that I knew, they did look vaguely related, with the same round cheeks and high foreheads.

“So Gracie told me about this woman in LA who was really helping her.” Karen motioned at Moon. “When the retreats started, Gracie asked me to come. I wouldn’t have ever expected it, but I felt so at home here that I never left. And when Moon started talking about reincarnation, it wasn’t that much of a stretch for me. Early Christians actually believed in it too.”

I glanced at Catherine, who was staring at the ground. That day in the hospital, she’d asked me:Do you believe in reincarnation? Don’t you feel like we’ve met before?

“So you think we all knew each other in a past life or something?” It felt strangely relieving for the puzzle pieces to start locking into place.

“We talk a lot about patterns here, right?” Moon leaned forward. “How certain relational patterns keep showing up in our lives until we solve them? Well, it happens on a larger scale too. Sometimes we experience something that’s so traumatic that we bring it with us into our future lives. With our cohort, of course.” Moon gestured around the group. “All of us experienced the trauma together. That’s why we all have the dreams. That’s why we all ended up here. Because it’s time to finally resolve the pattern.”

I nodded. Now it was clear: These people were completely delusional. My plan to calmly discuss Catherine’s mental health now seemed laughable.

“So what’s the pattern?” I needed to get as much info, as much ammunition, as I could.

“You’ve already experienced it.” Moon shrugged. “Past life patterns show up in our current lives, but really they’re pale imitations. Echoes.Your experiences with your pastor and your bully—you must’ve recognized the crossover withStargirl.”

The movie title shook me. So Moon was admitting it:Stargirlhad something to do with all of this.

“Didn’tStargirlintersect with your life?” Moon pushed. “The pharaoh and the guard? Pastor John and Adam?”

I swallowed, suddenly unable to speak. Because: yes. I’d noticed the similarities back then too. But it had to be a coincidence.

“Catherine dreamed it first.” Moon stared at me without blinking. “She told her father, who asked question after question so he could turn it into a big-budget film. You connected with it not only because of the current-life echoes. But because you lived through it.” She broke our gaze. “All of us did.”

“Moon,” I protested. It felt necessary to push back against this, if only to steady myself.

“Look. It happened right here.” Moon pulled out something from behind her: the black-and-white painting from the junk room. “Catherine found shards in the cave. I know you saw them down there. They’re from the Mimbres people, who disappeared almost a thousand years ago. We knew the pottery pieces were special—because they showedus. Gracie was able to channel the full design in this painting. Look.” She pointed to the two larger figures at the top. “You and Catherine. The twin priestesses, connected to the spirit world.” Her hand moved down to the figures with the staffs. “Me and Sol. The leaders.” She pointed out the figures behind the square. “Karen and Steven. Your mother and father.” She touched the striped, crouching figure. “Grace, the sorcerer.” She tapped the lone figure holding the arrow. “And Jonah, the guard.”

My head spun. Karen and Steven—my mother and father? Grace as the sorcerer? AndJonah?

“So Jonah’s part of this too?” I asked.

“Yes.” Moon gently set down the painting. “We thought we’d talk to you first, and that you could share this with him. He’s here, of course, as he should be. But he’s resistant. We can feel it.”

Taking a deep breath, I thought back to the story ofStargirl: the priestess Thuya falling for the guard Hapi after initially disliking him. Her growing relationship with the pharaoh. The sorcerer telling the queen about Thuya’s connection with the pharaoh and her plans torun off with Hapi. The pharaoh—surprise!—stopping them, having Hapi killed immediately and Thuya left in the desert to die.

And then that strange last scene in the spaceship: Thuya holding a knife as she approached a new version of the queen. The camera pulling out to show a whole spiralic galaxy matching Thuya’s birthmark.

I hadn’t clocked it at the time, butStargirlhad been about reincarnation all along.

“But there was just one priestess in the movie,” I managed to say. My brain suddenly felt full, slightly foggy. This wasn’t real, of course. But it also awakened something in me, some excitement that burned like a pilot light in my chest.

“Yes. That was a mistake.” Moon gestured at Catherine. “Her earliest regressions—dreams—were of dying in the desert. But her eyes were closed. She didn’t see you, so she didn’t know you were there. But since then, she’s dreamed about you many times. Right, Catherine?”

Catherine nodded mechanically. Her wan smile looked painted on.

“Are you okay?” I asked her.

“She’s tired, Thea.” Moon sounded suddenly cross. “This has all been incredibly draining for us. Especially Catherine, calling for you in the spirit world, praying to open your mind. You showed up, yes. But we didn’t know if you’d stay. You have resistance too.”

---