She stiffened. “You don’t know anything about me.”

“I know you’re in pain,” Eli said. “I know you cry yourself to sleep because it hurts so bad.”

He stepped closer, almost close enough to touch her. The adults nearby inched back, clearly afraid of him. But the children remained, watching him carefully.

“I know you believe you deserve to feel this pain,” Eli said, his voice hardly loud enough for me to hear.

Evelyn was shaking her head slightly, but her eyes misted with tears.

“I know you think this is all your fault. That you’ve failed your mother. That you’ve failed God. That you don’t deserve forgiveness.”

Tears slid down Evelyn’s cheeks, and I swallowed the emotions rising from my chest.

Eli took another small step. “Do you believe you’ve failed God?”

The girl sniffed and dropped her eyes. Eli reached out and took the girl’s hand in his own. Almost immediately, the cords of fear retreated into her body. A quiet sob hitched her shoulders.

“You can’t fail God,” Eli said. “He can’t be threatened. Nothing can compromise him. And in him you’re already made whole.”

Evelyn lifted her eyes and looked at Eli’s face. “I’m not whole,” she said. “I’m not what you say.”

“Yes you are.” Eli lifted Evelyn’s hand up, carefully ungloved her fingers, and exposed the red, harsh rash that covered her skin. He studied her hand, turned it over gently in his own, then looked back up at Evelyn’s face. “You are perfect,” he said. And then he lowered his head and placed a kiss on the top of her blistered hand.

“Get away from my daughter!” Rose’s warning cut through the stillness, and I turned to see her marching toward us, flanked by the guardians Morton and Ralph. Her face was red with anger as she ran toward her daughter.

I heard Evelyn’s cries and turned back to see that Eli had stepped away from her.

“You monster!” Rose screamed, reaching the children. “What have you done to her?” She yanked Evelyn out of Eli’s reach and ran her hands over her daughter’s face, down her arms, looking for whatever harm Eli had caused. “What did he do?”

Evelyn, still sobbing, raised her ungloved hand. We all saw it at the same time. The skin on her hand was clean, free of any redness or rash.

Rose pushed up the sleeve on Evelyn’s arm to reveal more beautiful skin.

“He healed me,” Evelyn said, staring at her skin. “He saved me.”

Rose glanced from Evelyn to Eli. Behind her, two more of our guardians had arrived, staring with curiosity and caution. The children leaned forward to look for themselves.

Harrison arrived and knelt down to examine his daughter’s skin. A larger crowd was gathering. News of the boy’s appearance was drawing them like flies now.

“What happened?” Harrison demanded.