“Damn it, man, do as I say.” The Prophet shoots Noah a fiery look of rage.
Noah jerks back at the Prophet’s profanity within a house of God. It’s a sign of the Prophet’s unravelling—how he’s losing control—but still it doesn’t stop his henchman from doing what he’s told.
Noah raises a trembling hand and cups Daisy’s chin to lift her head. She mumbles something I can’t make out and tries to pull away. Noah’s hand is shaking so badly, he can barely hold Daisy’s face up.
He must be wondering what happened to the man he’s worshipped for all these years. The Prophet is shouting profanities, he’s sexually assaulted me in front of Noah, and he’s clearly losing it.
I need for the good in Noah to win out, but I want to scream in despair when I see the moment he capitulates. That minute when all the years of doing what this one, evil man dictates overrides his indecision.
Noah swallows hard and lifts his other hand, prying open Daisy’s mouth. Daisy whimpers and tries to twist her face away, but the man is too strong.
“No,” I shout. “Don’t do this. No. Help. No. Noah, don’t do this. Help!”
Another slap, this one hard enough to make the room spin and my ears ring. It shuts me up long enough for the Prophet to force the liquid into Daisy’s mouth.
“Swallow it all down like a good girl,” he murmurs as he pours it down her throat. “And soon, you will see the face of our savior... or perhaps the fires of hell.”
The door to the church bursts open, and the weak light of early dawn illuminates the aisles and pews.
“What on earth is going on in… oh, my word.” Lizzy Chantrail, an old busybody, stands at the entrance of the church gaping in horror at the scene in front of her.
“W-w-w-hat’s the meaning of this?” she demands. “Why are those girls tied up. Noah? Prophet? I… I don’t understand.”
“They tried to kill us all.” The Prophet lies with such ease, and I see what he really is. A conman. The wizard hiding behind the curtain and pulling the strings of this community. “They must ascend first.”
“Oh, they’re… um… ascending?” She looks at me, wet, my nipples and most private parts on clear display since the Prophet soaked me with holy water.
“Yes.” The Prophet is getting angrier by the second. “They will ascend, and Ophelia will open the gateway for you,us,all to follow.”
“Shall I fetch a cloak?” Lizzy asks.
He frowns. “What for, woman?”
She points at me. “To cover her. She’s indecent. She cannot ascend like this.” There are other voices now, coming from the village. “If the others see her like this, Prophet, some will be upset. This is not… it’s…”
She can’t tell him that this is wrong, but she knows it is. As does Noah. Two more people enter the building behind her, and the Prophet curses under his breath, but I heard it. A vulgar, disgusting word and one he’d never normally use in front of others.
“Oh, my goodness, Daisy!” A woman who has just entered the church rushes forward, and I recognize one of the teachers from the small school that was housed in a barn.
The woman reaches Daisy and lifts her face. “What is wrong with her?” she asks the Prophet.
“She is ascending,” he says simply. “This is the plan. We talked about this.”
“No one said anything about tying women up.” The deep voice comes from a man called Jeremiah, and he’s staring at the Prophet as if he doesn’t know him.
“They tried to turn us in,” he says. “They brought people here with them, to destroy our way of life. To ruin our ascension. They are traitors, and this one,” he grabs my chin and yanks my face up, “she fornicates. She is not married, and she commits great sins. I am saving their immortal souls.”
My heart shatters at the way they look at me, eating up his words.
“We must make haste and begin the ceremony. These two will guide you. They will go first and lead the way for all of you, my precious children, and then I will follow last. We will all be together in the glory that is heaven. Reunited in a place with no pain, only love.”
He points to Jeremiah. “Please prepare the faithful for the ascension.”
There’s no hope now. I’m going to be given that wine, like Daisy, and that will be it.
My mind is foggy, and I’m feeling myself start to drift as if leaving my body. My head hurts, and I wonder if he’s killed me with the last blow to my face. Maybe my brain is slowly bleeding out into my skull and that’s why I feel so strange.
I smile as I think how sweet it will be if the Prophet can’t make me ascend because I’ve already gone. And as I smile wider, the world fades.
