text: [Themes: fantasy, fantasy]
  
  You agree to do it. The vision of the city lingers in your mind, and you want to go there. What bad will a simple symbol do?
  
  "Pass me that girl," he says, reaching forward his arms.
  
  You're still holding the struggling eyeless girl. With forceful tugs, you drag her over to him.
  
  "Very good," he says. He passes you a paintbrush and a vial. "This will be enough."
  
  Then he disappears into the darkness with the 'girl'. You feel a wave of relief now it's gone. The curse is off you. And when your parents and Westerly wake in the morning, you know they'll see their memories were wrong – if they even remember it at all.
  
  You go to the Temple and, seeing it's becoming morning, climb fast up the stairs. You look around to make sure no-one watches you. You open the vial, dip in the brush, and paint in bright gold. A triangle. A leaf. The triangle represents masculinity, military power, civilization. The leaf represents the taming of the land.
  
  When you're done, you shovel the materials up your sleeve and leave the scene fast. The Temple door opens, and a young boy peaks his head out. You freeze.
  
  His eyes gloss over you, as if he doesn't see you at all. Then he goes back inside. The magician must've put a spell on you to make you invisible for this. You breathe with relief.
  
  When you get home, Rosimary and Tolmerrie are searching frantically for 'Sap'. You think about telling them she wasn't real, but they didn't believe you last night, so why would they believe you now? They'll come to realize in time.
  
  You agree to help with the search half-heartedly. None of the neighbors have seen her, of course.
  
  At some point, Rosimary sits down and cries. You're not sure what to tell her.
  
  "Are you sure she's really-" you begin.
  
  "No, no, Mary," she weeps. "Don't repeat what you said last night! She'll never return, then."
  
  Superstition. You remain silent.
  
  "Oh, I know that magician everyone talks of took her. My poor baby. My poor, poor baby."
  
  Your neighbor, Clar, and elderly woman, rushes over. "Rosimary! Mary! Something terrible has happened at the Temple. A fire!"
  
  You both stop, and Rosimary gives you permission to run and see what's happening.
  
  When you get to the scene, the fire is still raging at the Temple. It's a yellow fire, like the gold paint you used this morning. The structure of the Temple remains in place. It doesn't look like a real fire. There's no smoke.
  
  Westerly appears beside you, with the girl you saw yesterday at his arm. "The talkers said there was the Pandrian emblem on the Temple this morn," he tells you in a rapid voice. "And the priests covered it up, but the fabric set on fire, and now it's the whole Temple on fire. The Pandrian emblem."
  
  "I'm scared, Westerly," says the girl, burying her face in his arm.
  
  He hugs her. "Don't pay any mind to what they said before," he tells her. "The priests will protect us."
  
  You hear a voice screaming from a distance away. "The end times are here!"
  
  Another: "Better to die now than live as slaves."
  
  There's screaming and shouting. You cover your ears and try not to feel guilty. You did what you had to, didn't you? They'll all see that.
  
  "Calm, calm!" beckons a huge feminine voice. Hovering in the air is the head priestess: a small, wrinkled woman in flowing grey robes. "Have faith-"
  
  With a huge flash of light, the fire surges in all directions, swells up, hungry. A deafening roar fills the cave, echoing everywhere, and a hideously metallic smell fills your nose. You gag.
  
  More screaming. The Temple disappears in the flames, which now creep onto the cave walls. As the fire moves onto the walls, it's revealed the Temple is no longer there. Snowy white ash blows outwards, filling up the cave.
  
  The atmosphere turns from one of fear to one of outright panic. The crowd starts to move fast. To run away.
  
  > stay put.
  You have faith the magician will fulfil his promise to you. You get out of the way of the crowd.
  
  "Mary," cries Westerly. His girlfriend tugs him the other way. Before you can response, he disappears into the crowd.
  
  You bump up against people as you try to go against them. Eventually you find a quiet corner, where you can stay put. The fire chases the escaping crowd, licking the cave walls, flickering and sparking bright gold. The sound is so loud it hurts your ears. The smell is terrible.
  
  But it's not hot. Well, it is – but no more than you should expect with this number of people in this space. The fire isn't producing heat – if you can even call it fire. It's clearly magical.
  
  By now, it's quite close to you. About a meter away. You creep up to it and touch it with your fingertips. When you touch it, you feel nothing spectacular. When you try to wriggle your fingers, you can't. You take your hand away, and everything is normal again. You put your fingers in, and out, and find the same thing. This 'fire' is numbing and paralyzing.
  
  As it creeps towards you – and it moves fairly fast – you step back. Eventually, your back hits a wall, and you see fire creeping all around you, filling up the whole space. There's nowhere to go. You shut your eyes and hope it's not dangerous when it swallows you up.
  
  "Mary, Mary. My little heroine. I'm glad you stayed here and didn't run with the crowd. Otherwise I'd never have been able to find you before you were marked."
  
  You open your eyes and see the magician before you. The fire has receded somewhat.
  
  "For staying put, I'll give you special treatment." He holds out a hand. "Come with me."
  
  "What's happening?" you ask.
  
  "Come with me," he repeats, taking your hand.
  
  The moment your hand touches his, there's a whirling, a forceful wind. It happens in a blink, and then, suddenly, you're outside. There's a white, overcast sky above you, and a cold breeze.
  
  You're on the mountain side, and there's a path in front of you. A massive path made of smooth metal. It has to be a conjuration. It's less a path, and more a wide highway - and it's like nothing you've ever seen before.
  
  He leads you over to a little carriage attached with ropes to a horse. You've never seen a horse before, but you recognize it from illustrations.
  
  "Where's my parents?" you ask.
  
  "They'll be coming with us," he says.
  
  You look up the highway, and see hundreds of people coming out from a cave. They walk with a curiously lifeless step. Trod, trod, trod. Their eyes seem to stare everywhere and nowhere, and as you look closer, you see golden flickering there. The golden fire.
  
  "You hypnotized them," you say, appalled.
  
  He smiles. "They will come with us to my city."
  
  "But-" you begin dumbly. "But what if they don't want to?"
  
  "What did you think I was in the cave for?" he asks. "Why would a magnificent trader like me come to such a miserable place but to make profit?"
  
  You come to understand fully what his true goal was, what he really wanted. Maybe you had a vague idea before, but in your optimism, you trusted him too much.
  
  He's enslaving the entire population of Footink to sell. How could you not see?
  
  "But you can't," you say helplessly.
  
  "You agreed to help me, Mary. This is entirely on your conscience. Get in the carriage and come with me as a freewoman, or join them. Do what you think best."
  
  Guilt gushes through your belly, making you feel sick. How could you? You wicked, vile person. But what else could you do? You had to get rid of that eyeless girl.
  
  You get in the carriage and cover your face so he won't see your tears.