“All will be explained, Murphy, dear,” said Grandma, “in due time. But I must insist that you watch your mouth. This is a church. It is holy ground. Your mother helped build the place, after all. You should be able to respect that, shouldn’t you?”

Something thrashed between the pews, something big, a kind of creature. It flopped back and forth on the ground, a massive worm of a thing, chains clanking on the barn floor. I knew it was the monster from my visions. He had finally caught me. I was afraid, I staggered backward, I wanted to run. A fat rusted-metal chain snaked out from behind the pews, fastened to the barn’s center beam.

“Oh, don’t fear, children,” said Grandma. “He’s harmless, see? I got him all chained up for you.”

Grandma set the lantern down. She grabbed the chain and pulled it backward into the aisle between the pews. Again I marveled at how strong Grandma was. It scared me a little. She dragged the creature into the light.

“Oh my god,” said Murphy.

Wrapped in chains, swaddled in garbage bags, a gag over his mouth, lay Horace. Blood was caked on his forehead, and his face was covered in bruises. He looked like he’d been beaten and starved for days, like she’d just dragged him out of a ditch on the side of the road.

“He got here before y’all did,” said Grandma. “He prattled on and on about you kids and how worried he was about y’all. Cried about your mother too, the hypocrite. I poisoned him, naturally. Drugged his coffee, and he slopped right over. Kept him locked up in here this whole time. Neither of you children figured it out. Didn’t think Lee would, sweet as he is. Jeremiah would have found out immediately, though he was a bit more devious than you, Lee, dear, so don’t take it as an insult. Kind of disappointed Murphy didn’t. Would have liked to see the look on her face when she figured it out, when she learned her own role in this plan. When she learned her place in this world.”

“My place?” said Murphy. “The fuck are you even talking about?”

“Language,” growled Grandma, the veins in her neck bulging, her teeth bared like a wolf’s. She took a deep breath and let it out slow. “You are the guardian.” She spoke softly now, daintily. “The protector of the prophet. That is your one and only purpose in this life, Murphy, dear, same as it was your mother’s: To protect your brother. To protect him from people like this filth here.”

She kicked Horace in the chest as he grunted and whined.

“Grandma,” I said. “Who are those people out there?”

“Go ahead and find out,” she said. “Open the barn door, Lee. Don’t worry, they won’t hurt you. Quite the opposite.”