"Veronica isn't going to hurt anyone. She took care of me when I got sick, before you found me."
"We'll talk about this more later. For now I better get you girls out of here. Veronica, can you walk? Do you need me to carry you, sweetie?"
Veronica got to her feet, a curtain of dark hair obscuring her face. Becky took her hand and then led her towards the opening with Molly following behind. Veronica stopped at the fountain to stare into the water. Molly didn't know what she saw, but it made Veronica cry.
"You can't change me back, can you?" Veronica asked.
Becky knelt down beside her, parting Veronica's hair to look into her eyes. "I'm sorry, sweetie. I wish there was a way, but there isn't. It's not so bad, though to grow up again. In time you'll get used to it. You can live with Molly and I in our house. You and Molly can share a room. I'll have Wendell make you a bed all your own. And you two can work with me in the bakery. We'll be one big family. You'll see."
"No," Veronica said.
"No? I know it's difficult now, sweetheart, but in time-"
"In time? I'm three years old! I'm a baby!" Veronica's eyes narrowed into angry slits. "If you think it's so easy, let's see you do it."
She shoved Becky with more strength than Molly thought possible for a toddler to possess. Becky stumbled back, teetering on the edge of the fountain. She reached out to grab Molly's hand, her fingers grazing the edge of Molly's jacket. Molly stood there frozen, unable to take Becky's arm.
Becky tumbled backwards, her last desperate grab for purchase snatching Veronica's shirt. They plunged into the fountain together, disappearing in a flash of light. "No!" Molly shouted. She tried to reach into the fountain to pull them out, but her arms wouldn't reach.
Then she saw the sweater lying nearby and dangled it over the water. "Grab it and I'll pull you up," she shouted. For a moment nothing happened, but then a hand emerged from the water to seize the sweater. Molly pulled with all her might, praying the sweater didn't fall apart.
A chubby shape plopped out of the water, gasping for air. The light around the shape evaporated to reveal neither Becky nor Veronica, but some hybrid of the two. The girl, about the same age as Molly, was fat like Becky, but with skin a light shade of tan and hair a brown so dark it bordered on black. The girl finished spitting out water and then held up a hand. "I'm fat! And white," she shouted.