Murmurs of agreement not resembling actual words echoed through the ranks of the Mushroom Cult.
“All of you had slipped. All of your moral compasses needed to be recalibrated. All of you were sinners and adulterers, offenders to the sanctity of society. Until I found you—and cleansed you and made you pure again.”
Anya placed a scarred hand on Covington’s chest to signal him to stop talking and stepped forward. “It’ll be my honor to accept tonight’s offering as one of our own, to cleanse her, to make her pure again. She will walk with us forever.”
A low rumbling of applause wafted from the flock.
“Now let’s reward her with a baptism—a rebirth. Into the sand she shall go, a sinner and infidel, and she’ll emerge purified.”
The Mushroom Cult’s applause grew steadily to a raucous cheer.
“
