She was twenty-three and single, still living on the streets in San Francisco, when Sylous first promised her true sight and a community that would follow her. They would find a place in the hills of Tennessee, hidden away for them alone. A terrible tribulation was coming to the world, he’d said, but he would protect them from that Fury if they followed him.

Rose smiled as she recounted the events that had delivered them to Haven Valley. She’d moved to a small town in Tennessee, married Harrison at Sylous’s instruction, and begun the process of assembling the faithful. Ten years later, Sylous had shown them all the Fury.

Three years following that day of true sight, they’d moved to this valley so far off the beaten tracks that even if the world hadn’t succumbed to the Fury, no one would pay them any mind.

She scanned the basement, eager for his presence. It was a small square room—wall-to-wall brick with exposed pipes and cement for a floor, several storage rooms, and a root cellar, all off-limits to the others.

A single staircase led up to the narrow hall that ran behind the main sanctuary and ended in the only office in the building. The whole Chapel was quite small. The sanctuary, one short hall, one little office, and the basement.

It was the perfect place for them to meet. He would, if needed, come to wherever Rose was, but he called her here.

She felt Sylous the moment he entered the room, like an electric charge that drew every hair on her skin. One moment she was standing in cool, damp air, the next she was enveloped by a force much greater than herself.

In that moment Sylous was all she felt. Then she was herself again, rooted to a lesser reality, awash in his presence.

“I can feel your worry from here,” Sylous said.

She turned to face him as he stepped into the light of the single shaded bulb that hung from the ceiling.

“Should I not be worried?” she asked.

“Have you lost your faith in me?”

“No, of course not. Never.”

“Then try not to worry so much. It will age you, darling.”

Rose took a deep breath and tried to settle her nerves. “Maybe we should shut these two out of the community. They’ve disrupted everything.”

He offered her a kind smile. “All were chosen for a reason.”

“They shouldn’t be allowed the glory of reclaiming the earth, not after their sins against us.”

“They will stay.”

“Even if they place all we’ve built at risk?”

“Are two so dangerous? You’re assuming they don’t play a role in delivering you to the glory you wait for. All things work together for good, at least for those in the narrow way.”