I took a deep breath and tucked my fingers into my palms. Anxiously glanced at the thin silver watch that decorated my wrist. The hands hadn’t moved since I’d looked at it last. It felt as though time itself had slowed. Jamie should be here by now. I looked back at my watch and stared until the small hand ticked forward. Other than the simple wedding band that circled my finger, it was the only piece of jewelry I was permitted to wear.

Both pieces were new. Both received five months earlier on my wedding day as gifts. One from Andrew Marks, the man I now called husband, the other from Rose Pierce. Receiving a gift from her had humbled me. Rose loved me and I loved her for that love.

I often considered leaving the watch safely in my room, but I wasn’t sure what Rose might think if she saw me without it. I feared disappointing her more than harming the watch, so I wore it and made sure to protect it, as I did with everything of value. My eyes, my mind, my voice, my body, my heart, my soul.

I was betraying all of that by being here now.

I shuddered, closed my eyes, and wished this moment was different. Harrison Pierce’s words spoken from the pulpit filled my ears. “To keep another’s transgression in the darkness, never bringing it to the light, is to participate in transgression yourself.”

It was true, yet there I stood, participating in transgression by helping my older brother venture beyond the perimeter. I hadn’t followed him past the boundary—God forbid—but I was definitely participating. So wasn’t his sin my own?

A railway car stood against the edge of the forest fifty feet from me. We couldn’t see the town from the abandoned tracks, which is why Jamie had me wait by them. But looking at the old cars only reminded me of the danger we were both facing. Jamie had always been headstrong, but now he’d lost his mind.

I heard a rustle to my left and turned, hoping to see Jamie. Nothing but the trees. The forest stretched for miles in every direction, protecting the valley we’d moved to after Sylous had opened our eyes to the truth.

The perimeter was marked by a thick red rope staked six inches off the ground. Staying behind that red rope was a matter of life and death. We all knew the terrible danger of being exposed beyond that line of safety. Hell. Death. The Fury.

We had all seen the Fury. Our eyes had all been opened thirteen years earlier on that hot Sunday, and we’d all seen exactly what the coming judgment looked like.