When they met mine, I was sure he’d peeled back my skin and was seeing what hid inside me. I wanted to look away, but I couldn’t. None of us could.

“The purity of your hearts has been acknowledged,” he began. “You are ready to see what few have ever seen.” His voice was gentle and kind, with unmistakable authority. “Will the bride say yes to Jesus?”

“Yes,” Rose whispered from where she knelt.

Then others and all: “Yes.”

“Then you are ready,” Sylous replied.

A long beat of silence held us on edge.

“In three years’ time, because the world has turned away from holiness, the world’s sin will rise up against them in monstrous form and destroy the wicked.”

The floor under our knees began to vibrate. The old wooden pews shook, knocking against the floorboards. I was aghast, terrified, but Sylous continued without a concern in the world.

“Today you will be shown a foretaste of the destruction to come so you might be delivered. Seeing what you see today, you will seek refuge away from the world and wait for that day of reckoning. When it comes, you will be spared in a safe haven as you wait for the world to be cleansed of sin.”

Dust fell from the ceiling onto my shoulder, and a back pew rattled loose enough to slap against the floor. A shutter to my left fell from its hinges. Hands were extended everywhere, searching for something sturdy as the building felt like it was going to collapse.

“For then those with eyes to see and vigilant of faith will be spared from destruction and inherit the earth as the pure bride under the law of a holy God.”

With the last utterance of the prophecy, the shaking stopped and, but for dust in the air, all was still again. My mother was breathing heavily beside me; Jamie’s hand was clenching mine with enough force to leave a mark. Only little Lukas remained oblivious in his deep sleep—how, I have no idea.

“Now I give you eyes to see,” Sylous said.

The sound of rushing wind filled the church. It surrounded us, behind and in front, to the right and to the left. What the rest of the world couldn’t see, we saw.

And what we saw struck terror in our hearts.

Screams ripped through the chapel. Cries for protection, weeping from some. All in the blink of an eye, as what couldn’t possibly be real closed in around us.

My bones rattled and my skin went numb. No one could experience what visited us that day and remain the same.

Through all the chaos, Sylous’s words whispered through my mind.

Now I give you eyes to see.

And so we saw.

Chapter
Two

Thirteen Years Later