Mary steeled herself and told them as plainly as she could. “The living world will soon be coming to an end.”

There. She had said it out loud for the first time, and she found there was magic in saying it, for now that it was out in the open, it made it more real.

Then, to Mary’s amazement, The Pet said, “I knew it!”

It caught Mary by surprise . . . but then she realized that she shouldn’t be surprised at all—for hadn’t the living world trained them for its own eventual demise? Didn’t the living world speak of Armageddon and grand cataclysms in everything from sermons to the silver screen? Now her skinjackers focused on her with such intensity that Mary actually felt her own afterglow begin to burn brighter.

“You have been chosen to be the shining heralds of a new world.”

They didn’t bat an eye at this, either, for didn’t every soul long to believe that he or she was singled out for a special divine purpose?

“You will be asked to do things that frighten you—things that will test your resolve—but I know you have the courage to do all the things you are called to do.”

They began to puff up with pride, for didn’t every soul long to believe that they had courage to face the most difficult of tests?

Mary’s afterglow now pulsated with searing purpose, and she realized something remarkable! Mary always believed that her ability to gather and galvanize others was the result of refined charm and grace, but it was more than that: It was a power, every bit as potent as her brother’s! While Mikey had the mystical power to repel anyone, Mary had a mystical ability to attract!

Now that she truly understood it, she was able to focus the scorching radiance of her soul and reach out with it. Tendrils of silver light now touched the afterglows of her skinjackers, bonding with them, gripping them, making their energy just an extension of her own, thereby turning their doubts into conviction. She didn’t persuade them, she didn’t force them. She didn’t need to. Why would they need persuasion when they suddenly found their own beliefs were secretly replaced by Mary’s?

“We’ll do what we have to do, right, everyone?” said Sparkles, and everyone agreed.