Bex swerved to the right, nudging one of the cars off the road. Claire readied her weapon.

“Just wait,” Samuel said. His voice was even, creating a strange calming effect.

I watched him for a moment. “Why can’t you stay with us until the Sepulchre?”

“So that you may rise above your struggle,” he said. “And because that was the agreement. I will keep you safe throughout the flight and trip to Jerusalem. Then you must rise above your struggle. Only then will you appreciate your plight.” He shrugged. “It is the way of the humans. It has always been the way.”

I wasn’t exactly sure where he was getting at, but I didn’t want to question him more. He wasn’t as practiced as Eli at human relations, and I had a feeling that no matter how in depth he explained it, I would only be more confused.

Kim leaned into my ear. “He means he can’t just give us a Get Out Of Jail Free card, because it behooves our character to struggle before success. God is all about being fair and not interfering.”

“And Hell is the opposite,” I groused.

Another swerve threw me into Kim. “I’m glad you’re here.” I said, righting myself.

One side of her mouth turned up. “I’m not.”

“Plan B,” Bex said. “I’m taking the next exit!”

Samuel held up his hand. “Stay the course. Think of them as an escort.”

“Not the good kind.”

As we approached the city, the cars and trucks around us became more uniform, and it was evident that everyone around us had shelled. I peeked out of the window to see the sedan running alongside us. It contained a woman in her mid- to late twenties. An empty car seat was in the back.

I closed my eyes. When Samuel left us, they would attack, and we would have to kill them.

“Jared?”

“Yes?” he said, albeit distracted.

“That woman over there,” I said, nodding in her direction. “She has a baby.”

Jared barely glanced at her. “Yeah?”

“We can’t kill her.”

The woman looked at me, her eyes bulging and black.

Jared drew my attention away from her, gently turning my jaw to face him. “She can’t kill you, either. We’re going to make plenty of tough decisions between now and then. Let’s not dwell on the shells. We can’t.”

I nodded, but Ryan glanced at the woman in the car, and was visibly unsettled.

Jared grabbed the barrel of Ryan’s weapon and jerked it. “Everyone can shell. Everyone is a threat. The demons are counting on you to see the human and hesitate. Hesitation will get you killed. Got it?”

“Got it.”

“Five minutes!” Claire called.