“She’s not here now,” Eli said. “I sent her away because I want you to listen to me before we go back to town.”

He had that power over her? I felt exposed there, but maybe he did have some power over the Fury.

“We can’t go back down there,” I said, voice unsteady.

“Of course we can. You have to take me to Rose. But first, tell me who you are.” He beamed beside me, daring me to tell him what was so obvious.

“You already know,” I said. “Grace.”

“That’s your fear-based self. Who is the true you? Remember?”

I hesitated. “You mean the light?”

“The light of the world. So if you’re the light, why are you afraid of the Fury, who are only darkness and can’t exist in the light?”

Could it be true? Yes, it could be. I knew that in my bones, but it sounded far too good to be true.

“Because you cling to fear and darkness as your protector, that’s all,” he said. “But you can’t serve two masters. You have to let go of one to serve the other. Deny one to know the other. Let go of your whole life bound in fear to awaken to who you are as the light. And that light shows itself as love.”

Looking into his bright blue eyes so full of certainty, I allowed myself to believe him for a moment. It still sounded too good to be true, but surrendering to his words, even for a few moments, flooded me with a hope I had never known.

“So, you’re saying that everyone in Haven Valley is the light of the world, but we’ve all been blinded to that light by the Fury?”

“Just like the rest of the world.”

“Why would Sylous show us the Fury?”

“To increase your fear so you would follow him.”

“Why?”

Excitement filled his eyes. “You’ll see soon enough.”

I couldn’t wrap my mind around what he seemed to be suggesting, so I pushed back again. “That’s the opposite of what Rose teaches. We’re good Christians, so how can the Fury blind us?”

“Actually, you serve fear. You think it will save you, but fear can’t save you. Only love can, and God is love. You can choose the light, which shows itself as love, or you can choose darkness, which shows itself as fear. Not both.”

“But there can also be some wisdom in fear, right?”