Do you hear her? shouted Christopher Mathers, the leader. Do you hear? Many people nodded, and Mathers broke all the rules and protocol and left the protective circle. He went to get paper and pens and gave them to those who could hear. The Serpent was speaking, and they transcribed those words that were murmured in the spaces between the stars, between life and death. Each used their favorite writing system, and each wrote in the language they heard. That’s how it’s still done today, though the Ceremonial is very different, because no one bleeds—not menstrual blood, at least—and because it’s no longer sexual, and it continues until early morning, when the medium withdraws. The transcriptions, like now, turned out very different from each other, and some were impossible to comprehend. No matter, said Christopher Mathers, euphoric: the Black Serpent speaks to us and says more than we can understand, but the little we are capable of learning will suffice.

Christopher Mathers called this stage “the oracle phase.” When it ended, Olanna was unconscious in a pool of her own blood, her forked tongue hanging from between her half-open lips. Women and men embraced and cried, naked; some couldn’t look at her, others dropped their masks. Only George sprang into action, and when the black aura left Olanna, he approached her and picked her up. They hadn’t prepared a room for her, though George had explained the procedure. He lay her on the first bed he found, and the sheets were soaked through right away. She was racked by fever. He knew she was going to die. Not that night, but soon. Nobody could endure the intensity of the Darkness’s visit. And his father was going to use her often. Every day, if he could. George had seen the man’s ambition. Everyone would support him: Olanna was the medium but she was also a savage; none of the Initiates believed her fully human.

Lily burst into the room and covered Olanna and sent for ice, fresh water, jasmine flowers. In the other room they could hear Christopher Mathers explaining to the male Initiates that they must contain their semen, and he beat those who had ejaculated. He also enquired about the ecstatic visions they’d had. Olanna burned with fever for two nights. Christopher Mathers didn’t want to call a doctor, saying that the chemicals could ruin the energy fluid, and he spoke of Apanga and Bindu and the purity of secretions. He was worried, though. On the third day, Olanna emerged from her semi-unconscious state and accepted some soup Lily had ordered prepared. That same night they held another Ceremonial.