“The light, Kate.” The faint call of Willow’s voice. I followed the sound, calmly turning and twisting until one arm was free. I moved toward the light and jabbed a finger through. Adrenaline shot through me. I pushed with every ounce of strength I had left in me.

And then there was a hole.

I made a hole!

Sobs shook me. I was so close. Almost there.

I heard their voices again. “You can do it! Come on—you can do it!”

I tore through the sheet, bursting into the light. I threw all of it off me, detangling myself. I laughed through my tears, hysterical.

Abner greeted me with a smile. “Welcome to the kingdom.”

Abner’s predictions about what would happen after we’d been reborn came true. We’d told the universe we were ready to change, and it had responded just like he’d said it would. Our plants and fields had started growing, row after row of green beans and corn springing up around us. Even our chicken had responded by laying more eggs. There’d been a shift in everything we touched. There had been no denying that, and we’d all felt it.

We only had two more ceremonies left until our transition was complete. Bekah couldn’t go until after the baby was born, and we had no idea when he would show up. She still wasn’t showing very much, but it was her first baby, and women were always small with their first. Willow was the other one who hadn’t gone, and today was the day she’d agreed to try again.

Willow was struggling with the ceremony because she was terrified of closed spaces. She’d already backed out three different times. No one wanted to voice it, but we were all wondering what would happen if she couldn’t go through with it. She was worried about it too. I could see it in her face. I’d suggested that we might be able to do something different for her to symbolize it in the same way, and Abner immediately shot me down. He hadn’t been kidding about establishing a more dominant role. That part was taking some getting used to as well.

I hurried to get her from our room. We shared a cabin along with four of the other girls. There were three sets of cots in two rows. Willow sat on hers, nervously chewing her fingernails, something she hadn’t done in months. She’d worked hard at breaking the habit, and it hadn’t been easy, since she’d had it since she was a little girl. Abner had told her that nail biting was the same as eating away at herself. If he caught her doing it, there’d be a reckoning.