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A terrible, knowing cold came over her How could she have been so stupid? Howof it? It was in the Book of the Brethren, and in Ida Knowles’s diary She’d heard Pastor Algoode say it when she was under The new Brethren disciples had preached it outside the fairgrounds The rotted houses in the old camp on the hill had been painted with exactly the same symbols

Prepare ye the walls of your houses…

It wasn’t a pendant or a book or any other object keeping John Hobbes alive It was a place A room This room

The Book of the Brethren lay on the altar, opened to the page for the eleventh offering Evie stared at the drawing of the beautiful girl dressed in a shi eye painted on her forehead and outstretched palms Her chest was open and her heart was in the hands of the Beast

This was his true lair, then The reason he’d had Mary White keep the house ready for hiht into it, into the belly of the Beast She had to get out of there at once If she had to, she’d throw a hty John back to whatever hell would have hi, "Naughty John, Naughty John, does his ith his apron on"

Evie’s fingers fumbled for the matches in her pocket Yes, she’d throw the hts cloudy Desperate She sank to her haunches like an animal who knows it’s cornered by the wolf

Don’t faint, don’t faint, don’t faint, whatever you do, don’t faint, old girl…

The as at the door His shadow spilled into the rooers, Evie lit athe flame fizzle into smoke She lit another and another, all reason lost now, the whole book of s, Evie’s mind did not cooperate Her eyes rolled back in their sockets and she slipped to the ground, unconscious

THE WOMAN CLOTHED IN THE SUN

Stars That’s what Evie saw first Above her, the inky sky twinkled with the false hope of stars Her head ached where she’d hit it on the floor Her mouth tasted of blood

"Ah You’re awake," the voice said "Good"

Her vision blurred for a second, then focused on the sight of John Hobbes He was a big man with a thick mustache He’d re his chest, back, and arhtmarish tapestry Anoint thy flesh…

The eyes were the same ones she’d seen before: cold and blue