Page 63 of Insolence
“It’s a lovely night.” I frown, surpassingly annoyed.
“You’re looking atme.”
My friends amble toward her, Sadrie murmuring something to Cordelia that ends with both of them erupting in giggles.
“Come here, please.” Making pointed eye contact, Elodie waves me over. “Stand next to me.”
My upper lip curls back. But after the swift walk, I lack the desire or conviction to argue. Like magnet to metal, I have no choice but to draw nearer.
When I’m close, she grabs me and spins me around so that we’re both facing the same direction. I gasp with something adjacent to girlish delight and immediately want to kick myself.
Snorting, Sadrie nudges Cordelia on the arm.
“Up there,” says Elodie from behind me, pointing past my shoulder. “Do you see it?”
Some part of her brushes against my hair, sending shivers cascading over me that have nothing to do with the chilly night. “See what?” I mumble.
“You’re not even looking.” She squeezes my arm. “Right there! That glimmer.”
Her excitement is contagious. She points again, and all three of us follow the line of her lanky arm to the star-studded sky. Sure enough, something squiggles in a strange, glimmering pattern high above our heads before vanishing.
Cordelia and Sadrie exclaim in surprise, and Elodie squeezes me again, which zings down between my legs in a deeply inconvenient way.
“Did you see it?” asks Cordelia, grinning wide.
“I did,” says Sadrie, a look of intense concentration etched on her face.
“I don’t know what I saw.”
“There it is again!” This time Elodie’s index finger follows the shimmering, otherworldly pattern. It pulses like an aurora before disappearing, as unmistakable as it is inexplicable.
“What is it?” asks Sadrie.
“It’s magic,” whispers Elodie. “Well, it was made using magic.”
I pull away to fix her with a skeptical look. “What do you meanmagic?”
She chuckles coolly. “I mean, it’s literally magic. I know the sisters don’t often use that word. Mother Deirdre far prefers‘Eisha’s gift,’ but magic is what it is—a magic dome, to be precise. There isn’t any other way to describe it.”
“A magicdome?” I ask, heart pounding.
“That’s right.”
“Goddess,” exclaims Cordelia, head tilted back.
“Huh.” Sadrie squints.
The air is perfectly still, as if holding its breath. Again, the ripples shimmer and chase one another in the inky darkness, a collective gasp going up between us.
“And why is there magic above the Gallery Plaza?” asks Cordelia.
“It’s not only here,” says the high priestess, pacing again. “The dome encloses the entire temple complex. It slopes high over the Observatory and reaches to the ground, forming a perimeter.”
“How did it get here?” asks Sadrie.
“The prioress put it up with the help of Ailen and Viv. They cast it while everyone was distracted with the party.”
“Why?” repeats Cordelia.
