"Can you tell us where the water is running?" asked Roman.
Ira's eyes moved back and forth behind her eyelids. Maya never saw that happen before. Not that it didn't happen, it probably did, but she was never close enough to see it.
"Can you reach out for the water, maybe?" asked Roman. "What happens when you touch it?"
"The water lies below the black brick," said Esther.
"The water lies below the black brick," Ira repeated.
"Is the brick under your feet?" asked Maya.
"The black brick is all around," said Esther, "and the brown metal sings."
"Where's the brown metal?" asked Roman.
"The brown metal sings above," said Ira. "The water lies below. The black brick is all around."
Maya heard a sniffle from Officer Garcia, and at just about the same time, Ira snapped her head upwards. The officer held his fist to his mouth, with his eyes on Maya. She knew he didn't make Ira do that. Ira was too deep into the revelation. It was something she saw. Something about the brown metal, maybe. The scaffolding backstage might have something to do with what happened to them.
Ira looked so frighteningly unnatural, her head arching even further back. Maya wanted so desperately to adjust her head upright, but they were never supposed to intervene during the rituals. Exactly why, Maya wasn't sure, Grace explaining it to them before, but it was a long time ago.
An officer poked his head into the kitchen and whispered, "Detective."
Carlisle jabbed her finger at the officer.
"Archer found the clothes."
Carlisle stood up, got right in the officer's face and whispered something to him. The officer's head vanished behind the entryway, with the detective quietly hurrying after him.
"Ira, do you feel trapped inside the brick?" asked Maya.
"We are free, finally free," said Ira.
"We are scared and alone," said Esther.
"We are dark. We are nowhere," they said together.
"Are you outside in the dark, maybe? Is that why you're scared?" asked Roman.
"We are free, finally free. We are scared and alone. We are dark. We are nowhere."
Maya and Roman asked them more questions, but the girls kept repeating what they had already said before. They were not outside, Maya was pretty sure about that, but what they said about being free, they might be talking about the lobby. The crowd around the actors, Roman and Grace arguing with that man, they freed themselves from what was going on there. But then, they saw someone backstage who needed their help. It must've been terrifying, with blood everywhere and Amelia getting it all over herself.
"Can you tell us why you feel free?" asked Maya.
Esther's mouth was open, her lower lip trembling. It was like she wanted to say something but couldn't. She might be seeing whatever caused all that blood.
Officer Garcia stood up discreetly and left the kitchen. Maya could see that Roman wanted to do something about Ira, but she should be fine. What happened to them was no different than any other anointing. Amelia found someone who needed their help. The girls felt scared and alone simply because of where they were and what they saw.
"Can you tell me why you're scared?" asked Maya.
"For the Lord will look upon evil and unleash his wrath," said Ira.
Officer Garcia came back into the kitchen with another officer, carrying plastic bags with Amelia's bloodstained clothes inside. The two detectives followed, along with someone who looked like some kind of specialist. None of them said anything. Maya couldn't imagine that Grace would be okay with whatever they were doing.
The specialist carefully placed the plastic bags on the table and began to take out Amelia's clothes. Maya wanted to get up and drag one of the detectives out of the room. She would demand some kind of explanation, which undoubtedly wouldn't make any sense. She would then tell them to pick up those clothes and leave the kitchen. This must be happening because they felt the need to assert their authority in the most idiotic way possible.
The specialist laid the clothes on the table. Maya couldn't believe how much blood was on them, especially the blouse, where the blood looked like thick scarlet plaster.
"The smell!" Ira gasped.
Maya wasn't sure if she could smell anything. If Amelia's clothes smelled like blood, it must've been pretty faint.
"What is it, Ira? What do you smell?" asked Roman.
Detective Carlisle—the odds-on culprit of whatever they thought they were doing—sat down and picked up her phone. She again stopped the recording and started a new one.
"Is it blood, Ira? Do you smell blood?" asked Roman.
He shouldn't be asking her that. Grace told them plenty of times before: she did her best not to assume anything about what the girls were experiencing during the revelations. Maybe Ira was smelling blood, but it might have absolutely nothing to do with the blood. The girls hearing him say that might scare them or confuse them.
Esther opened her eyes. The police, the clothes, Roman—they must've been too much of a distraction. She was ripped right out of the revelation. Ira probably wouldn't last much longer either. They could only hope the girls saw enough to know something about what happened to them.
"All is spoiled and rotten. We are dark. We are nowhere," Ira said again.
Esther closed her eyes and whispered, "All is spoiled and rotten. We are dark. We are nowhere." She was trying to see the revelation again, but the girls could never go back into the trance once they lost it. "The smell of... something old or... something spoiled," she whispered. Maya was right about the smell. Whatever it was had nothing to do with Amelia's clothes.
Ira made a disturbingly deep groan, her head rolling forward—her wood-grained eyes staring vacantly at Esther.
Maya nearly reached out for Ira's hand but stopped herself, only raising her hand chest-level, balling it in a fist, asking, "Ira? Tell me about the smell. What is it like?"
Ira's eyelids quivered. It was subtle, so maybe this was normal, but again Maya had never seen it happen before. "I don't think... maybe she, she shouldn't be like this," Maya's voice faltered.
"Her eyes, they look—"
"Should I try and wake her?" asked Roman, interrupting Officer Garcia.
"Leave her alone," Detective Carlisle demanded. "She might—"
Roman took Ira's face, patted it—"Ira, honey, wake up!"
Detective Carlisle came around the table, took Ira's wrist and felt her pulse. "She's fine."
"She's not fine," said Roman.
"There's more she has to say."
"We're stopping this." Roman took Ira's other hand and began slapping it lightly. "Ira, wake up. C'mon, honey. Wake up."
"Ira, it's your mom and dad," Maya pleaded. "Can you hear us? You need to wake up!"
"Esther, what happened?" asked Roman.
"I don't know."
"Can you remember anything you saw?"
"No... I tried, but I can't."
"What about how you felt?" asked Maya.
"I was scared. I was... I wanted to go up—"
"No, Roman. What are you doing?!" Maya exclaimed. He was shaking Ira too hard.
"Esther, what do you mean you wanted to go up?" asked Detective Carlisle.
"Or maybe I was supposed to go up? I don't know. I can't remember. I didn't want to stay there."
"Where?"
"I don't know. The revelations are... we hardly ever remember what we were seeing."
"What about the smell? You said it smelled rotten."
"Yeah. I heard something about blood, but it wasn't blood. It was something else. I don't know. I'm sorry. It's Amelia who remembers mostly."
"They were all alone," said Roman, "and now Ira's all alone." He picked her up and held her to his chest.
Maya took her hand and said, "Ira, baby, can you hear me?" Ira's eyes closed, and when she opened them, only slightly, they were no longer wooden. "She's awake, Roman!" Maya was about to touch her face when Roman leaned her forward to look at her.
"Hey, honey," said Roman. "You're alright. You're safe."
Maya cupped her cheek. "It's over, baby. Nothin's gonna hurt you."
"Ira."
"Not now, detective."
"Ira, tell me what happened right before you saw your mom and dad."
"They don't—"
"I saw Milly. She was high in the air."