A heavy silence fell. In the stillness, Kirk raised his right hand and blessed the crowd.
They trickled out of the church like sleepwalkers, clutching one another. Ava had a look of exalted terror that molly couldn’t understand. The others looked dazed, even exhausted, the trailing ends of fearful rapture in their eyes.
“Lyoshka!” molly called, darting over to her brother. But when he turned to her, he was pale like the others, and his gaze seemed to meet hers from a long way away. She slapped him, frightened to see his eyes blank. Abruptly Ashley came back to himself and gave her a shove that should have put her in the dust, but she was quick as a squirrel and wearing a new gown. So she writhed backward and kept her feet, and then the two were glaring at each other, chests heaving and f
