Ian snaps his mouth shut.  Why's he babbling everything to Lily?  Did she cast a spell on him just now without his noticing?

- he could hardly blame his sister for casting a spell on him to at least tell her what he's planning to put her through -

- why's he calling this spirit his sister?  But, all right, if he did have a human sister, and was putting her through this, he could hardly blame her.

Lily shivers.  She doesn't know what holy water will feel like - or Eucharist-bread - but she's talked with myriads of Fay and spirits who've been burned by them.

But then... they were all Hungrier, or Flitterier, than her.  If the humans' Church burns Hungry Ones and Half-Hungry Ones - well, she can't fault the humans for that.

And she wants to stand among the humans now, too.  That was already too much for the Hungry Ones, even before she made herself the form of a body.  Will it be enough for the humans' Church?

Ian releases his grip on Lily's hand on feeling her shiver.  Even if she were his full-human real sister... well, he doesn't know what he'd do if she was shivering at the thought of holy water, but he wouldn't force her to it.

Lily turns from Ian to stare at the stone saint as if trying to read his thoughts.  What is that spirit he's killing?

But she wants Ian to trust her.  She wants him to defeat the Hungry Ones.  She wants... to be Ian's sister.

Slowly, she steps toward the doors and puts out her hand to open them.  "If it hurts me -" she says with her hand on the handle "- I'll try anyway."

Ian squeezes her shoulder for a moment before lifting his hand again.

If he could trust all his emotions that were screaming at him - if at the very least she hadn't admitted to casting a spell on him that's still entangling his emotions -

The dusty, empty church echoes at Lily's footsteps.

She doesn't burst into fire.  She doesn't get bowled out the door.  She doesn't fall to the ground in pain.

She just walks in.

(There's a dust-free corridor up past the pews to the altar and pulpit.  Not much else - if Lily or Ian were looking closely, they could tell very few of the pews have been sat in recently.)

Ian breathes a sigh of relief.

Even better, there's a font of holy water in the corner.  He walks over, beckoning for her to follow.

Lily follows, looking around appraisingly.  Maybe it's just her imagination, but she can imagine that everything in here is pointing at her and calling out "Imposter!  Inhuman!"

But it's still much better than any story she's heard from Peasblossom or Tigerlily or any other Fay.

Ian bows his head over the font of holy water.

He doesn't know how this works; he's just going off one thing his father said once and a half-remembered chapter he read in one book - but he whispers another prayer:  "Make this work."

And then he dips his finger into the holy water and daubs it on Lily's lips.

She's trembling.  But not burning up!  Or falling down!

The water feels like perfectly ordinary water.

Not a moment later, the door opens again.

Rev. Wright blinks his eyes to see two kids leaning over the holy water.  He can't recognize either of them, which is a little strange in such a small town as Bridgbury.

On the one hand, he feels like he really needs to pray; that's why he came here, after all.  He'd heard those voices again in his head, calling for help.  He still doesn't know what to do about them - he's already been to the doctors, and he really doesn't think writing to his bishop will help - but he can at least pray.

On the other hand, he doesn't want to avoid helping these kids if they need any guidance.  But back on the first hand, are they really here for guidance or just for jokes and games...

"Hello?" he says, trying to sound friendly.

Lily backs away from him.  Even though she can still feel the holy water on her lips.