‘But nothing. The challenge of the Bible Code is that you have to know the specific words or phrase you’re searching for in order to establish whether a pattern exists or not. Now confess, how did you really know what to look for?’

‘I didn’t. Certain letters just sort of jumped out at me.’

Rabbi Steinberg feels the blood drain from his face. If he can really look at the text and recognize patterns, then … my God.

‘Teach me to read Hebrew, Uncle Rich. Teach me now.’

9

OCTOBER 10, 2020: BELLE GLADE, FLORIDA

Don’t get me wrong, Reverend Morehead, your granddaughter is a remarkably gifted child—’

‘Foster granddaughter,’ corrects the minister.

‘Yes, of course.’ The guidance counselor makes a mental note. ‘Lilith tested as the brightest girl in her class, perhaps the entire school.’

‘Then why she gettin’ all Cs and Ds?’

‘In my opinion, it’s low self-esteem. On the second day of school, she locked herself in the bathroom for almost an hour after a teacher’s aide yelled at her for talking.’

‘Yeah, she’s always talking. Yap yap yap yap yap.’

‘Lilith’s teacher noticed bruises on the back of her legs. Do you know how she got these welts?’

‘How would I know? You know kids … always falling from trees, climbing over fences. Uh … what did Lilith say?’

‘She said Chester kicked her.’

‘Chester? Who’s that?’

‘We don’t know. There’s no boy named Chester in our school. But Mrs. Walker noticed Lilith at recess, talking to an imaginary friend named Brandy.’

Quenton grinds his teeth.

‘You don’t seem surprised?’

‘The girl’s mother, she suffered from similar, uh, delusions. Leave it to me, I’ll handle it.’

‘Reverend, if this is some form of mental illness, then Lilith should really be seen by a professional.’

‘Believe me, ma’am, when it comes to this, I am a professional.’

Longboat Key, Florida

Immanuel Gabriel stares hard at his brother’s computer screen, the rows of Hebrew letters blurring in his vision. ‘I still can’t see any patterns.’

‘They’re there,’ Jacob says, smugly. ‘I bet there’s a million warnings encoded throughout the Bible. References to the dinosaurs and extinctions, Martin Luther King and the Kennedys, wars in the Middle East, the World Trade Center, the 2008 Ebola outbreak—’

‘Shut up.’ The dark-haired twin covers his ears. ‘I keep telling you, I don’t care.’

‘You’d better care. I came across our names, too.’ Jacob advances the text to another page where series of letters are highlighted like a crossword puzzle. ‘Going across, this says Gabriel Twins. See these intersecting letters going down? That means Time Tunnel.’

‘Time tunnel?’

‘It’s the Bible’s word for wormhole. It’s how we’ll travel to Xibalba.’

Immanuel shakes his head. ‘I’m not going to Xibalba.’

‘Yes you are.’

‘No I’m not.’

‘It’s our destiny, Manny.’ His eyes widen. ‘It’s in our blood … the End of Days!’