“And if there is one among us who has conspired with the devil, may God have mercy on your soul. I beg you to come forward now before your defiance of God brings death to us all.”

Fear swallowed me as the reality of my situation returned to me with those words. He was speaking about me. I wasn’t only standing against my family, Rose, and the town; I was in defiance of Sylous. And of God.

And this to protect a boy who could bring about the end of the world.

God help me.

Chapter
Twenty-Six

MY MIND WAS FILLED WITH IMAGES OF ELI. OF HIS bright smile filling with gnarled teeth, his sweet voice turning harsh as he sneered and salivated, his blue eyes becoming bottomless pits of terror. But everyone knew I was given to flights of fancy. Like a child, they told me. So maybe it was only my overactive imagination filling me with wild thoughts. Was Eli leading me astray as Rose suggested? Was I really willing to continue to endanger Haven Valley to keep one boy hidden from a reckoning with truth?

Several hours had passed since we’d left the Chapel in a daze of holy terror. A new sense of desperation to find the missing boy was paramount in every hushed conversation. I was trying to rest as my mother had instructed, but how could I with such unrest everywhere?

I heard the search party called out as the flock descended the hill on which the small church sat. They would start searching outside the perimeter on the south side, sweeping north. By noon they would reach the train tracks and find Eli. I was sure of it.

I sat up on my bed and swung my feet over the side. If I did nothing, the search parties would find Eli with the backpack I’d left for him! It would quickly lead them to me.

If I risked trying to move him into the perimeter, I could get caught red-handed. Worse, I might be bringing the wolf into the sheep pen.

Either way, I was in terrible trouble. Bobbie had warned me.

But there was still the issue of Eli himself that battered my brain. Who was he? Why did he fill me with both fear and great calm at the same time? How could he be both a dangerous beast and an innocent wonder? By helping him escape and keeping him hidden, was I acting in mercy or in deception?

Surely the latter, but I couldn’t bring myself to accept it.

Raised voices drifted through my door, which was slightly ajar. I lifted my head from my palms. Jamie and Mother were having words. Again. I stood close to my door to listen.

“Please, Jamie . . .”