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I said, "They didn’t have any drums"

She looked atdruot out of there and I didn’t see any drus" I held up the bone "What happened to the druround with theet out of here"

I knelt down, pounded the bone on the ground I could have e "There must have been reat many of them, Evan"

"I noticed"

"And they pounded with great fervor"

I pounded with great fervor , especially when it was all going on over"I was sorry to run off without warning, Evan But when I saw thehtened" I couldn’t exactly bla their attention Others who have spied on their ht rituals have been killed I was afraid"

"Who were they, anyway?"

"The Nishanti"

"Oh"

"They are outlawed, Evan They have always been outlawed, but with the new government the penalties are most severe And yet the Nishanti flourish There are more of them than ever before"

"What do they do? Besides pound bones on the ground?"

"They raise the Devil"

"I’ll say they do," I said "They raise the devil, all right But what’s the point of it all?"

"No, no, Evan That is what they do" She gestured "Raise the Devil It is their belief that they can coht after a burial, and that they can chant their chants and beat bones upon the ground, and that the Devil hirave and wreak havoc upon the entire world, and that all who do not believe will be destroyed, while the chosen believers, the Nishanti, will be carried into the Kingdom of Eternal Life"

"The Devil Hiht-"

"Up popped the Devil"

"Yes That is why they spared you, you see And why you struck terror upon them"

"They tried to raise the Devil, and they succeeded beyond their wildest drea I suppose it’s always that way I suppose the Jehovah’s Witnesses will be upset when the world cohtened if they’re the chosen believers?"