Seated in an official-looking tent with a guard standing over me, I watched the little group of Caretakers and Priests talking about me in subdued voices and occasionally glancing over at me.

The good thing about this plan of mine was that these people knew me. If a stranger had wandered out of the wilderness and claimed that she had escaped from the Norren then they would be treated as an enemy spy, but they knew that I had been kidnapped. The bad thing about the plan was that they knew me. The Caretakers trusted me about as far as they could throw me. If I had been any other of the Chosen then they would have trusted me on the instant, but wicked Aleah seemed a natural spy. The success or failure of the plan hung on how their search for a replacement virgin had gone. If it had gone well and they had managed to find, out somewhere in the villages of Sudder, a girl who had, of her own volition, kept herself away from men for twenty years, learned all the necessary dances, taught herself perfume making and poetry, kept away from meat and alcohol, and all the other things that made the life of a Chosen so very tedious, then they didn't need me. But it struck me that that person might be quite hard to find because who in all the hells would do that to themselves? I, on the other hand, was volcano-ready. One sacrifice, no waiting. I might be the worst of the Chosen, but I was better than anything else they had. There was only one question that needed answering.

Senior Rowan shuffled over to me, held up by two other Priests. "I must ask you a question, girl, and if you are not honest then you shall pay for your dishonesty in the seventeen torturous fires of the many hells."

This was supposed to be a religion based on love and we had not one but seventeen hells. How had no one noticed the hypocrisy?

"While you were in the Norrens’ clutches, did any of them..." He made a complicated gesture with his gnarled hands, that even I, with my eyes now opened to the joys of sex, couldn't possibly interpret. Perhaps it referred to something the guys hadn't gotten around to teaching me yet.

"I don't understand."

"Are you still..." The Priest sought for words he was allowed to say without condemning himself to at least five or six of the afore-mentioned hells. "..intact?"

"Did any of the Norren touch you in forbidden areas?" asked Caretaker Harvest. "Did they violate your... special door?" she finished lamely.

I tried not to laugh. "No."

That was actually kind of true. I wouldn't have said that the guys had 'violated' my 'special door'. Partly because I would never had called it my 'special door', mostly because 'violated' implied some force on their part and that certainly hadn't been the case. My special door had been open for them, they didn't even have to knock. Although, it had been nice when they rang the bell.

Senior Rowan smiled - at least, I assumed that was what he did; the wrinkles on his face arranged themselves into new patterns. But Caretaker Harvest was more circumspect.

"How do we know if she's telling the truth? Is there any way of checking?"

The Priests and Caretakers looked around at each other and I thanked whichever gods might be listening for their total ignorance and unwillingness to learn. The Priests probably didn't even know what was meant to be down there, and while the Caretakers maybe had a clearer notion by virtue of their gender, they weren't about to risk their eternal reward by poking about in mine. There were whole hells reserved just for people who did that.

"We could certainly use her." Senior Rowan probably thought that he was whispering, a common problem for those who are deaf yet maintain a cast iron belief that everyone else is mumbling. "The new girl is not up to scratch."

"But can we afford the risk?" asked Caretaker Harvest, who knew that she wasn't whispering but didn't have a lot of choice unless she wanted the Priest to just reply, 'Eh? What? Speak up.'.

"We don't know for certain that the new girl still has her qualifications," mused the Priest. "There were rumors about the village. And I'm not one hundred percent sure she even knew what we were talking about."

I could sympathize with the girl there. Imagine some girl in a remote village who'd never received a day's education in her life getting a visit from an elderly Priest asking about her 'special door'. I bet she was pretty confused.

Caretaker Harvest turned to me. "You wish to rejoin the Chosen, Aleah?"

"Yes," I said. I was trying to strike a balance between eager and tentative. If I had just come back in saying 'I now see the error of my ways, please take me back' then they would never have believed me. "I now see how fortunate I was. I didn't know how much worse life could be. Until the Norren..."

My bet was that these people knew nothing about the Norren. They probably thought that the Norren treated their prisoners as brutally as the Sudder did.

Caretaker and Priest exchanged glances.

"You may rejoin us," said Caretaker Harvest, and I tried to keep my delight to myself. "But you will be kept in isolation for now so you do not contaminate the other girls with your worldliness."

That was a blow, because I had wanted to see Sadie and warn her of what was to come, but it was not a fatal one to the plan. I was still in the camp, on the inside, and I would still be going up the volcano at sundown. That was when the attack would come, and the last thing the Sudder would be expecting was for part of that attack to be from the inside.

There was only about an hour or two left of the day and yet the time passed with an appalling slowness as I sat in a tent under guard - because they still didn't trust me that much. All I could do was wait and think about what I would do when the time came. The whole plan hinged on timing, which meant that whichever girl was destined to be first into the volcano was in the most danger. Maybe it was a terrible thing to think, but I rather hoped that it was Clementine. I didn't wish death on her and would try to save her, but I would also probably care less.

Finally, the head of Caretaker Dawn poked in through the entrance of the tent. "It is time for the renewal ceremony. You must come."

'The renewal ceremony' was how they had been describing this multiple murder to the Chosen, who still had no idea what was about to happen. Part of me was genuinely intrigued by the mechanics of the thing. Even if you could keep girls believing that this was just another dumb ritual as you walked them up a volcano accompanied by knife-wielding Priests, what happened after the first girl was pushed in? Did they keep this part of the process shrouded from the others so they walked up calmly when their turn came or did they just accept that there was going to be some panic and the guards would take care of it? It struck me that even if the actual sacrifice took place behind a curtain or something, there would surely be a scream as the victim fell.

I made a conscious effort to think about something else. This train of thought really wasn't making me feel any better.

Walking out of the tent, I saw the Chosen lined up before me. We were all wearing fresh robes and had flowers in our hair. They regarded me with varying expressions; some surprised, some disappointed, many just looked sourly at me as the same object of contempt I had always been. Only one face looked at me with a smile. It was with mixed feelings that I looked at Sadie for the first time since that night that changed my life. On the one hand, it was so good to see her again and see the genuine love in her eyes that put to rest any fears I might have had about her hating me for abandoning her. On the other, she was at the front of the line.

I tried not to panic or show my fear in my face. But if there was one weak point in the plan, it was that the first girl was at risk. I would have given anything for it to be anyone but Sadie. I would have switched places with her in a heartbeat but that would have looked suspicious. Did she know the danger she was in? The expression on her face suggested that she did not, but Sadie was so submissive about everything that she would probably go to her death without a peep just so as not to inconvenience anybody.

As I was ushered into my place at the rear of the line, my mind raced. The point of the plan was to stop the sacrifice and prevent the Sudder from being blessed by the volcano, but now the specifics were changing for me. It was not that I didn't care about Norren and the plan, but Sadie came first. My first duty was no longer to attack the Sudder from the inside, it was to save my friend.

Guards flanked us as we marched up the black, ash-strewn slopes of the volcano, singing the Hymns of Change in an elegant three-part harmony. Even at this distance, we could feel the heat from the volcano's summit, and, in fact, feel it beneath our feet. Fear began to get the better of me, making my self-control waver. I started flashing furtive glances down the slopes, looking for the Norren.

When would they attack?

I knew that they wanted to leave it as close to the sacrifice as possible, when everyone would be distracted, but what did that mean? Would they wait until the first girl - Sadie - was in position on the rim of the crater? Was that when they started their charge out of the undergrowth or was that when they hit the party itself?

It seemed a much vaguer plan than it had earlier when we had talked about it in camp. The problem was that the slopes of the volcano were bare and very steep. As soon as the Norren came out of hiding they would be visible and probably audible. From the perspective of the ring of Holy Guards at the base of the volcano, it would be a surprise attack. But the Norren then had to get up the volcano to reach the sacrificial party, and by the time they managed that, the element of surprise would be long gone, and they would probably be pretty out of breath, too. I tried to console myself with the knowledge that these were professionals, they knew what they were doing and this mattered as much to them as it did to me. But it was still not that comforting.

As we reached the summit, the heat increasingly intense, guards lowered the sedan chair in which Senior Rowan had been transported and he was helped out. Flinging his skinny arms wide he began a sermon that made me wonder if being hurled into a volcano was the worst thing likely to happen to me today. Though I tried to resist the urge, I still kept shooting glances down the hill. Where in the hells were they? We were fast running out of time. The sun had already begun to set, a red ball dipping below the horizon. When Senior Rowan had finished whatever nonsense he was spouting then...

I wondered if I could reach Sadie from where I was in time to save her and without being stopped by guards on the way. It didn't seem likely.

"You are all here for a sacred purpose," Senior Rowan announced in his reedy voice. "You are the only hope of our great nation against its enemies. You are the blessed link that renews our connection to the divine volcano, that gives us strength. All Sudder thanks you."

Caretaker Harvest stepped forward and held out a hand. "Sadie."

As ever, Sadie did as she was told, the Caretaker took her hand and led her toward the Priest.

That was it, I was done waiting. Futile or not, I was making my move now. I opened my mouth to scream the truth. But before the words could form on my lips, the ground seemed to erupt around us.

For the briefest of moments, I thought the volcano, which had been on gentle tick-over for as long as anyone could remember, was erupting. But then I realized that volcanoes spew molten lava, not armed Norren. For a still briefer moment, I wondered how the Norren were doing this, springing from the earth itself as if the volcano was spawning them. It was Caretaker Harvest who recalled me to the moment and to what was important.

"Continue the sacrifice!" she yelled in her shrill tones. "Guards! Kill the heathen intruders."

"Sacrifice?" Laura, who was standing in front of me in the line of the Chosen, spoke in disbelief. For a split second, she was still, and then she rushed at a gap between the Holy Guard, whose attentions were, by now, fully occupied by unexpected Norren. And Laura was not alone, about half of the Chosen had heard the word, recognized its meaning, and realized what was happening here - what had been happening throughout their captive lives. They all made a break for freedom, suddenly deciding that religious sanctity was not worth being hurled into lava for. The other half, stayed where they were, either disbelieving or simply not having any will of their own, the manacles beneath their skin chaining them to the spot.

"Don't let them get away," screamed Caretaker Harvest. "The sacrifice must go on."

All of this seemed to happen at once in the instant after the Norren emerged from the ground, and in that same instant, I set off at a run, but in a different direction to the other girls. Shouldering aside any of the Chosen who got in my way, I dashed up the slope. Up ahead, I could see Caretaker Harvest dragging Sadie to the rim of the volcano. Sadie was struggling desperately, crying as Harvest yanked on her hair. Senior Rowan followed them, leaning on his staff.

"Hold her still. How am I supposed to draw her blood if you don't hold her still?"

I cannoned through guards, Caretakers, Priests and Chosen, no one was getting in my way.

"Never mind the blood, there's not time," snarled Harvest. "Just say the words and chuck her in."

Senior Rowan raised his hand in a blessing. "We sanctify this offering - poor but pure - in the hope and expectation of winning your favor. Our sacrifice to your magnificence."

Sadie struggled but it was no use as Caretaker Harvest pushed her over the edge.

"Sadie!"

With a final dive, I reached out, grabbing Sadie's hand as she fell. Her weight yanked my body to the ground, but I held on, all those mornings of exercise finally paying off.

"Can you climb up?" I asked.

"I'll try."

Suddenly, someone kicked me in the stomach and I gasped, desperately clinging on to Sadie. I looked up to see Caretaker Harvest staring down at me with hate-filled eyes.

"I might have known."

Her foot came down forcefully on my arm and I screamed with pain but hung on to Sadie.

"Let me go," said Sadie. "She'll kill you. Let me go."

"Never."

"You can't save me." Tears were in her eyes.

"I can't not try."

"How touching," said Harvest, and raised her foot again. I knew I couldn't stand another blow, and closed my eyes.

I heard a scream. But it wasn't mine. I opened my eyes and saw Sadie still hanging below me, looking shocked. I also saw a distant figure, plunging into the volcano in a plume of fire. Caretaker Harvest was gone and on the ground beside me, lay Senior Rowan, a blood stain tainting his white robes.

The next thing I knew, there were hands on me, and more hands reaching down to haul Sadie up. Gage took me into his strong arms as Jax and Adrien hoisted Sadie to safety.

"You okay?" asked Gage, earnestly.

I laughed, it seemed such a ridiculous thing to ask.

"I don't want to be a bother," said Killian, as he fought off a pair of Holy Guards, "but we still have a battle over here."

"Come on," called Jax. He pressed the trembling Sadie into my arms. "Take care of her. And, well done. You're a Norren and no mistake."

Sadie and I sank to our knees at the edge of the volcano looking on as my men re-entered the battle. I watched them and the other Norren, who included King Aelric, defend the Chosen from any who came near them, risking their lives to protect the innocent.

That was what real men did.

The Priests and Caretakers fled, and the Holy Army soon lost their stomach for the fight. That was what happened when you weren't fighting for something real.

Sadie looked up at me, her face streaked with tears. "You came back for me."

"Of course, I did. Now stop your crying or your face will get all puffy.”

But the truth was, my throat was tight with tears too.

Tears of sadness for the virgins of the past who didn’t have a team of champions to fight for them.

Tears of anger that there were people in the world who thought so little of human life to cast it aside so lightly.

Tears of gratitude that my friend was all right.

And, lastly, tears of happiness in my newfound, bone-deep knowledge that I was loved.

It was a good day.