Grace turned to the elect in Haven Valley as soft sobs and sniffles whispered through the sanctuary. “Eli opened my eyes to see the light. Do you want to see the world the way he sees the world?”

“Yes,” Rose breathed. Then with all the strength left in her body, she lifted her head to stare up at the rafters through tearful eyes. “Yes!”

“Then see,” Grace said.

And they saw.

Epilogue

Two Weeks Later

We sat in the tall grass, maybe fifty souls in all, less than half the population Haven Valley had recently been. The sun was bright overhead and children darted about, caught up in a game of tag. Blankets had been laid out for people to come and sit. This place that had once been off-limits was now a beautiful meeting ground where we could fellowship and remember we were the light.

Haven Valley had been transformed. After the glorious day in the Chapel, when our eyes had been opened to the kingdom of love and the Fury had been exposed as only shadows, nothing had been the same. The first thing to go was the red rope.

But we all had many red ropes in our minds: the boundaries made of fear that we believed would keep us safe—a false salvation born in fear. And not everyone had received the idea of freedom with the same enthusiasm.

Seeing truth, it turned out, is often deeply disturbing to the mind that is deeply invested in the prisons it thinks will keep it safe, a system of security that provides comfort, even if it’s an illusion created in fear. Freedom always comes at the cost of the old.

Some saw and longed to know more. Others saw and were afraid, unable to believe. Still others saw and were deeply offended by having been deceived for so many years. Free from Sylous’s law, Harrison, Levi, and others, including Andrew, had left to find their own way. They had no interest in seeking out the light.

But I was certain that the light would continue calling them home. Love was simply too powerful not to cast off all shadows in time.

For me, the calling had come through the voice and presence of a sweet boy named Eli, and I had surrendered to his love in the chaos of deep suffering. Others might choose prolonged suffering, but eventually every knee would bow in wonder and every tongue would sing the glory of that light. Or so it was written.

I didn’t blame those who had left. I considered leaving myself. In fact, I did leave, if only for two days. Jamie and I simply had to know what the outside world really looked like. So we’d taken the trip four days after Sylous had been cast out of Haven Valley.