“Not just them,” said Jeremiah.

I looked out past the Hummingbird Grove, past the garden, to the trees surrounding us. People were there, dozens of them, maybe hundreds, standing stock-still, watching me. They were all naked, pure as God had made them, like they’d just tumbled out of Eden, and they gazed upon me, eyes wide with wonder and faith, like I was everything they’d been waiting for.

“They will come from all over for you,” he said. “They will hold your words dear to their hearts, dearer than all else. They will forsake husbands and wives for you, and children will abandon their parents. They will all come to follow you.”

“But why?”

“Because the Spirit chose you before the foundation of the world. You were raised up for exactly this purpose.”

“Can it be true, Jeremiah?” I said. “Can that be the reason for my visions? Could I really be destined for all of this?”

“The Spirit never lies,” he said.

“But it’s been wrong before,” I said. “I’ve seen visions that didn’t come true.”

“Each vision is a world,” he said, “a possibility. You will not be the victim of fate, who must suffer the winds of change like all the peasants of this world, if you only choose not to be. You are no peasant, Lee. You are a prince of this earth. The reality you seek is that which you will. That is your power, Lee. That is your truth.”

I left the Hummingbird Grove with my heart reeling, the happiest I’d ever felt in my life. I finally knew the purpose of all my visions. I was to be a leader, a guide for this community, a force for good in the world. I was so happy I just sort of wandered around the woods, all the way to the Split Tree. I didn’t know why, but I had a feeling something new would be there if I looked. I stuck my arm deep into the hole and pulled out another tape, this one dated 12-1-88.

I also found a note scribbled on a piece of paper, folded and dropped into the tree. It said, “COME TO THE TENANT HOUSE TONIGHT. AFTER MIDNIGHT.”

Holy shit. It was an invitation to go hang with Cass and them. Of course I would be going. There wasn’t any way on earth I’d miss something like that.