“Repent, Grace,” Bobbie said. She appeared at the side of the stage. “Save yourself today and we’ll figure everything out later.”

Rose waited, watching me carefully.

“Denounce Eli’s heresy,” Bobbie snapped. “Think of your baby.”

My mother’s death was evidence of what Rose was capable of under Sylous’s guidance. What would she do to my baby? Standing there before them all, I was terrified.

There is no fear in love. Only love casts out fear. A beat passed, and then, See the shadow.

And with that, my vision changed. As if someone had removed dark glasses that were distorting my view, the scene before me transformed into a terrifying picture. Thick cords of darkness crept along the walls and the ceiling, smothered in a wispy black fog. It was whispering and clicking, speaking its own language of fear.

The cords grew like vines from the floor, crawling over the pews, clasping the ankles of every member, winding tightly around their chests and necks, penetrating their ears and eyes without their knowledge.

It was the fear Eli had shown me before, part of the Fury. Like their scent. The wraithlike beings I thought of as the Fury were still hidden from my sight, but the whole place was surely filled with them, thicker here than anywhere.

I inched backward. Rose looked at me with confusion. The others stared, oblivious to the dark cords of fear that enslaved them.

There are two kingdoms, daughter. Choose love over fear.

The words hit me like an anvil dropped from the sky, and I began to shake. I was seeing fear coiling around the children and covering their mothers’ faces. That same fear was also in me, and I looked down to see black cords sliding up my legs and coiling around my belly like a snake. I could feel them slipping into my ears.

I started to panic, but the words whispered again.

It’s only fear, daughter. It’s a lie.

“Speak!” Rose snapped. Wafts of fog escaped from her mouth as she spoke. “Do you understand your sin and repent?”

I blinked a couple times to clear the darkness from my view, but it remained. I was shaking as I stood there, seeing our creations. I closed my eyes, ignored the thoughts begging me to end it all with a few words of confession, and spoke what I knew to be true despite my fear. This was my true repentance.

“There are two kingdoms, two paths, two choices,” I began. “Love and fear. Light and darkness. Sight and blindness.” A surge of power filled my chest and spread through my body. “We have given ourselves over to fear, but fear is a lie. Only love can set us free from fear.”

The surge of power running through me grew and heated my chest, and I opened my eyes. A glow hovered around me. The tentacles of fear clinging to my body were writhing and softening their grip.