The Girl Behind the Red Rope Read online

  The Fury were real.

  How long had it been since Grace left him there? His throat was on fire, his vision blurred, every inch of his body ached. He was dying.

  But he wasn’t ready to die. Or was he? After his encounter last night, he wasn’t sure falling asleep and waking up in heaven would be such a bad thing. The thought of facing the Fury again was unbearable.

  But he couldn’t die now. Grace would make it to Haven Valley and be back with help. He just needed to hold on a bit longer. Even so, he could feel the call to let go whisper like the breeze across his shoulders. It really would be so much simpler to fall back asleep and never wake up.

  He swallowed and leaned his head back against the tree. Maybe he deserved death. He’d brought this upon himself. His memories of the Fury came into full focus and he shivered.

  One moment he’d been alone in the woods, the next surrounded by Fury. Three of them. Terrifying creatures without heads or feet. Death hiding in black shrouds. But the death called Fury had teeth and claws, and they’d tortured and toyed with his mind and body for hours. Manipulated and exposed his deepest fears and doubts, broken his mind and his body.

  Trust us and we will leave you alone. Surrender to us and we’ll keep you safe from harm. We are friends. We are you.

  But he’d resisted them, and the more he did, the harsher their attacks became. During the worst of it, he’d begged for death.

  Death is too small a price for your sins, they’d whispered.

  They wanted him alive for the final showdown. For the day Haven Valley was destroyed from within. Jamie didn’t understand what it meant, but their haunting words filled him with a deeper fear than he’d ever known.

  The Fury were real. What they were was still an enigma, but his injuries proved their power beyond doubt. Could they be defeated?

  Jamie closed his eyes and took a deep, calming breath. Rose had been right all along. The Fury were destroying the wicked, and nothing would stop them. You could only avoid it by believing the right things and following the right path. It was the only thing that made any sense.

  “You really are in bad shape.”

  The voice was low, and Jamie jerked his head toward it, half expecting to find himself face-to-face with another Fury. But the speaker wasn’t a Fury. It was a man dressed in white. A man he’d seen only once before, a long time ago.

  “Hello, Jamie,” Sylous said.

  Jamie blinked, stunned by the man’s casual nature. Nothing about him had changed since he’d visited the Holy Family thirteen years ago. Not his age, not his suit, not a hair on his head, as far as Jamie could see. Because he was more than just a man.

  “I don’t think we’ve been properly introduced,” Sylous said, placing a hand on his own chest. “My name is Sylous.” He shoved his chin at Jamie. “And you look like you’re in a bit of trouble.”

  Jamie lay propped up against the tree, frozen.

  “What do you say?” Sylous pushed. “You’re in trouble, yes?”

  “Yes,” Jamie finally croaked.

  “Clearly.”

  Sylous flicked a smooth white pebble he’d been holding into the air, then caught it in his palm.

  “I help with trouble,” he said. He took a single step forward, eyes on Jamie. “I can help you with your trouble.” Again he flicked the small stone into the air and caught it. “Do you know what your trouble is, Jamie?” He didn’t pause to let Jamie answer. It was that kind of conversation. “Doubt,” he said.

  Flick.

  “Doubt’s a terrible kind of trouble. It leads to thinking and ideas. Ideas that make you wonder if maybe the world could be different. Maybe you could be different. Maybe there’s a great deception brewing.”

  Flick.

  Sylous took two more steps toward Jamie and stuck his free hand inside the pocket of his slacks. “I’m gonna tell you a secret, kid, just between you and me. There is more deception in the air than you can possibly know.”

  Jamie felt the man’s presence stir his fear. It was as though Sylous was surrounded by a force field and that field was pressing against Jamie. The tree bark dug deeper into his back.

  “There are really only two paths in life,” Sylous continued. “One of safety and one of terrible danger. The first with protection and the second without. Safety has its requirements, naturally, and some might say those requirements compromise your freedom, which is true in some ways. But last night you saw just how dangerous freedom can be. The great deception is that you can have a little of both. Not true. You can’t serve two masters. You have to pick a path.”

  Sylous grinned. “I promise you, freedom is a much harder path than safety.”

  Flick.

  “I offered you protection. A safety net. An escape from the world and the monsters that threaten it. And I offered that protection without asking for much in return, yes? All you have to do is follow the law. A law that keeps you good and pure and holy. A law that ensures you’re worth protecting.”

  Sylous dropped the white pebble into his pocket, closed the gap between them, and squatted so his face was only an arm’s length from Jamie’s.

  “You look like you could use some protection,” he said. “But you have to choose, my friend. Which master will you serve?”

  Jamie’s bottom lip began to quiver as the fear of facing another night alone with the Fury coursed through his veins. “You,” he whispered.

  Sylous took a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m inclined to help you with this dying-in-the-woods situation you’ve found yourself in,” he said. “But I need assurances.”

  “Anything,” Jamie croaked.

  “I need you to kill your doubt. Fear me alone. Serve me only and fully. Do that and I will save your life and protect you from the Fury. What do you say?”

  For a moment, Jamie wondered how this was different from what any of them had already done. Sylous seemed to be asking something more of him. But he was in no condition to question the man.

  “I say yes,” he said.

  Sylous nodded. “Wise choice. Don’t waver from it.”

  “I won’t, I swear.”

  “No. No you won’t.”

  Without delay, Sylous reached for his hand and gripped it tight. Energy surged up Jamie’s arm and he gasped. The power buzzed over his skin and rippled down to the soles of his feet, a biting charge of raw current that felt like electricity.

  “Receive my strength,” Sylous said. “Let me protect you.”

  Jamie’s back arched under the increasing energy.

  “Say it!” Sylous said. “Receive me!”

  “I receive you!” Jamie rasped.

  Jamie felt the power mushroom inside his chest, then rage up his neck and into his brain. For a moment, he was sure it had actually lifted him off the ground.

  The world around him began to dim. Sylous’s final words sounded far away as Jamie’s consciousness faded.

  “I need you. I need all of you.”

  Chapter

  Nine

  MY LEGS ACHED AS I RAN, BUT AFTER HOURS OF PAIN, I first accepted it, then ignored it. I used pictures of Jamie slumped against the tree to motivate me as I raced. The thought of him dying before I could get someone back to him pushed me past any concern for myself. My lungs were on fire and felt as though they would burst, but still I plunged forward.

  I was forced to stop twice, both times to vomit, before quickly catching my breath and moving again. Keeping my eyes ahead, watching for markers, praying I was still going the right way. The air cooled as the sky dimmed. Dusk already. There was no way I was going to make it!

  But somehow I did. Standing like the gates of heaven, the tall wooden doors to Haven Valley came into view. I nearly collapsed from relief the last hundred paces.

  Daylight gone now, I reached the gates and pounded. “Help me. Please! Open up!”

  It occurred to me that I could just as easily run along the short wall and enter over the red perimeter, but I had been cast out. Didn’t
I need permission to enter again?

  “Help!” I slammed my fist against the wooden door. “Please!”

  Two large spotlights attached to the top of the wall blazed to life, and I backed away, squinting up. I had been heard and found. Now I would beg them to listen.

  The doors creaked and slowly swung inward. Ralph, the oldest of the guardians, poked his head around, joined by Morton, his twenty-year-old son. They saw me drenched in sweat, panting, and exchanged glances.

  “Tell Rose I’m back,” I gasped. “We have to hurry, Ralph! Jamie’s—”

  “Wait here,” Morton interrupted. Without further explanation, they closed the door. I hoped they’d been instructed to find Rose in the event either of us returned.

  Overwhelmed by fatigue, I dropped to my knees and rested my palms on the dirt, head hanging, trying to get my lungs to fill with air.

  The door opened again minutes later. Harrison and Rose walked out accompanied by Ralph and Morton, both armed with powerful flashlights.

  “You’ve returned,” Rose said.

  “Jamie’s still out there,” I blurted, staggering to my feet. “He . . . he needs help.”

  “And what have you discovered?” Harrison asked, ignoring my plea.

  They stood and waited, watching me. An image of the Fury that Bobbie had killed filled my mind, and I shuddered. But I couldn’t tell them about Bobbie. She hadn’t made another appearance during my return, and I wondered if she’d left me altogether.

  “They’re more terrifying than we could have imagined,” I rasped.

  Harrison motioned to Morton. “Bring her. We shouldn’t be outside the gates in the dark.”

  “Jamie’s still out there,” I objected. “We have to save him!”

  “It was his choice to leave,” Harrison said. “And his choice not to return.” And then, as an afterthought, “You’re saying he’s alive?”

  “He’s wounded. He’ll be dead if we don’t get to him soon. Please, I’m begging you. You have to help him!”

  “Calm down, Grace.” Rose stepped forward. “You know very well that there’s nothing we can do for him outside of Haven Valley.”

  “He won’t make it without help!”

  Her eyes shifted to the dark forest over my shoulder. “How was he wounded?”

  “The Fury,” I said. “He was attacked.”

  Her lips flattened. Not a cruel expression, just one that said I told you so. And so she had.

  “I understand why this is upsetting,” she said, “but let’s not forget why he finds himself in this situation. The prophecy gave him ample warning.”

  “He’ll die!” I shouted, forgetting myself.

  “And now you ask us to risk our lives to the same Fury who took his?” she demanded. “Jamie gave up his life the moment he crossed the perimeter. It’s a wonder you aren’t dead as well.”

  “He’s not dead!”

  “Watch your tone, young lady.” Her voice was soft, even apologetic. “Just be thankful you made it. There’s grace on you, my dear. The next time you might not be so fortunate.” She glanced at Ralph. “Bring her to my house. I need to know why Sylous saved her.”

  I wanted to object again, but I knew she was right. I would have to find another way, though the prospect of going back out tonight on my own was terrifying.

  Morton and his father reached either side of me quickly, their strong hands gripping both arms. My legs wobbled as they hurried me forward.

  We were already inside the gate when a soft cry reached us from the forest. “Help!”

  As one, we stopped.

  The cry came again, distant but unmistakable. “Help!”

  Jamie?

  Pushed by adrenaline, I spun around and tore free from both guardians. “Jamie!”

  “Stop her!” Harrison snapped.

  Morton reached me before I’d taken three steps and jerked me back.

  “Help me!”

  “Jamie!”

  A beam from a powerful flashlight cut through the darkness and lit the figure staggering from the forest. Even at this distance I could see that Jamie was a mess.

  I struggled to free myself from Morton’s grasp, but he was far too strong. Jamie stared into the bright light, took another unsteady step forward, and collapsed.

  “Bring him,” Rose ordered. Then to me, “It’s alright, Grace. He’ll be safe now. Please come with me.”

  Relief cascaded over me and tears slipped down my cheeks. We’d made it. Both Jamie and I had encountered the Fury and lived to tell about it. Rose would honor that.

  I stepped back to where she stood as Ralph and Morton hurried to Jamie, hoisted him to his feet, and dragged him through the gate.

  “Now you know,” Rose said softly beside me. “Now we all know.” Then, “Go home, Grace. I will see to Jamie’s needs and speak to him first.”

  I LAY ON MY BED, LOST IN MY THOUGHTS. UNNERVing ones that kept me awake despite my exhaustion. My small side-table lamp gave off just enough light to cast most of my bedroom in shadows. My eyes wandered around the room—simple furnishings, one twin bed, one wooden desk and matching chair, one tall dresser, one nightstand and lamp, walls nearly bare except for the painting of red roses that hung over my headboard.

  Everything was tidy and in its place, as required. The few clothes I owned were neatly folded inside drawers or hanging in the closet across from me. Apart from some personal items—a few devotionals, a journal, and a small box under my bed where I stored my paints—I owned nothing. Idolizing things was a sin, so the community at large attended to only what it needed for survival.

  Every inch of my room was familiar, yet now it all seemed different. I knew the difference was really in me, but how?

  I lost track of time. They’d taken Jamie to the medical clinic immediately and I’d asked to go with him, but Rose had refused. News of our return had brought my mother to tears of joy. She’d been allowed to go to Jamie’s side. Ralph and Morton had been positioned at the front and back door of my home to “protect” me. From what, I didn’t know. Rose and Harrison would want to speak with me, but not before morning. Until then I should rest and pray for my brother.

  I was still unsure how he’d made it to the gates so soon after I had. It was only one of many questions I couldn’t answer. Where had Bobbie gone? What was she? Had the Fury destroyed the people in the city we’d seen? Why hadn’t they attacked us until we stopped for the night? How many were there and how close were they to Haven Valley? Was Jamie okay?

  The questions swirled through my head, making sleep impossible.

  Something creaked downstairs, and I glanced at my door, slightly ajar. My mother must be home. Or maybe it was one of the guardians.

  Another creak and I sat up. Someone was moving through the house.

  “Mother?”

  The movement stopped. That was odd. I stood and walked to the door, opened it a tad farther. Stuck my neck out and twisted to look in both directions. The house was eerily quiet. A sudden wave of uneasiness hit me and I strained to hear.

  “Hello?”

  Again, nothing.

  I swallowed my anxiety, shook off my discomfort, pulled my head back into my room and shut the door. Whatever it was, it no longer mattered. I was safe in my room. Right?

  “Being safe is important,” a familiar voice behind me said.

  I jerked around, heart in my throat. There, standing in the far corner, was the woman who’d saved me on the mountain.

  “I thought we agreed that you’re going to call me Bobbie,” she said.

  Dressed in white and black, she casually leaned her right shoulder against the wall, arms crossed over her chest, watching me with bright beautiful eyes. Fury couldn’t cross the red rope. They couldn’t be inside Haven Valley. So she couldn’t be a Fury.

  “Like I said, I’m Wisdom, here to protect you.” Bobbie smiled. “Unless you think this is a dream.”

  Could it be? How many times had Jamie told me my wild imaginations got the bet
ter of me?

  “Look at your hands and feet,” she said. “They say you can’t see your hands and feet in dreams.”

  I lifted my hands. But I already knew it wasn’t a dream.

  Part of me wanted to run from her, the part that knew I was probably breaking a law even by talking to her. Any sighting of anyone or anything not part of the community had to be reported immediately. But there had never been an intrusion.

  Until now.

  “Until now,” Bobbie said. “But that’s not entirely true either.”

  “There are others like you inside Haven Valley?”

  She just stared at me.

  “You have to leave!” I snapped. “Or I will.” I grabbed the door handle, thinking I would report her.

  “Before you do that, you should know a few things,” she said.

  I hesitated. “Know what?”

  “For starters, you’re the only one who can hear or see me. Like I said, you’re my only concern. I won’t reveal myself to anyone else.”

  I turned back around, heart still hammering. “And?”

  She pushed herself off the wall. “You have to believe that I didn’t come to hurt you, Grace. If I wanted you dead I could have let the Fury kill you or done it myself many times over by now.” She spread her arms. “I appear to you in this form to make you feel comfortable, not so I can trick you into some elaborate scheme. I need you to trust me.”

  “Why?” I asked.

  “Because, Grace, you’re going to need my help.”

  “I’m afraid of you.”

  “Fear can be good for you. It helps you make wise choices. Don’t touch the flame or you’ll get burned. Don’t run with scissors. Guard your eyes, guard your ears, stay away from anything that can harm you. We do all these things in fear of harm, which is wisdom. And trust me, Grace, evil is most definitely trying to harm you.”

  “Not in Haven Valley,” I objected. “We’re safe here.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Of course.” Even so, I felt doubt tug at me.

  Bobbie smiled. “Can I ask you a question?” She continued before I could respond. “What will they say when you tell them about what happened in the woods? How will you explain the fact that you didn’t get a scratch? Because you were saved by a strange creature and willingly followed that creature into a cave? A creature that then followed you into Haven Valley?” She tilted her head and grinned. “That’ll ruffle a few feathers. They’ll assume I’m a Fury in sheep’s clothing.”