It was almost too much to consider. A wilder fantasy than floating around the moon with Bart. A hundred thoughts battered my mind. Wouldn’t all that upset God? Surely. The thought tempered my enthusiasm, but only a little because so far Jamie had been right.

No Fury. Not yet.

“Come on!” he cried and raced up the path. “The city’s just ahead.”

“It is?” I hurried after him, alarmed. “The city?”

“Not the city, but a cliff from where we can see it, like I said.”

The plan had been to reach that precipice before nightfall and cover the rest of the distance tomorrow. I followed him to the edge of a high cliff that fell away to a vast valley.

I pulled up, gasping. “A city!” I whispered.

“Of course. Just like I said.”

It was too far away to see anything clearly, but the outline was there. Tall buildings rose from the right side of the landscape, and shorter structures ran out to either side—homes of all sizes. Roads stretched out between the structures, and a wide green square I thought must be a park sat almost directly in the city’s center.

It was startling to see with my own eyes. Just as Jamie had said, the city shimmered under the afternoon sun, permanent. Present. When we taught children who were born in Haven Valley about the world outside the gates, we spoke of monsters and evil. We told tales of destruction and war. Stories where the Fury had been allowed to invade the earth and bring all sinners to a bloody justice.

From this place atop the cliff’s high edge, nothing looked as I would have imagined.

“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Jamie said. He dropped the pack he’d been carrying. “Can you imagine what it must be like?”

Seeing the city sitting far away, I suddenly felt anxious. We had no business being here. We were being lured. Something was wrong.

“Well?” he pushed. “Can you?”

“No,” I said. “I’m not sure I should want to.”

He looked stunned. “How could you not? You imagine everything else.”

“But this is . . .”

“Real?”

“Is it?”

“Of course it is! More real than Haven Valley, I think.”

“And dangerous,” I said.

“And maybe that’s just an idea too. What if all of our fears are only fears of ideas?”

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard,” I said. “How can you tell from standing here that there’s no danger?”

Jamie sighed and said nothing.

“Don’t you feel any fear at all?” I asked.

Again, no response, which was a response in itself.

“Fear helps keep us safe. When you feel afraid, run, because something’s not right. How can you be ignoring your nature?”

“Fear isn’t my only instinct,” Jamie said.

But my fear was making a quick comeback, and with it, anger. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

“Those other instincts might get us killed.”