My heart was so loud in my ears, and I managed a dull nod.
“I’m right here with you, babe.Always.”Lizzie pulled my chin toward her, meeting my eyes as she leaned forward and rested her head against mine.
Her presence warmed my clammy skin, and I held onto her.“Okay.Thank you.I’m…I’m alright.Let’s go.”
Exiting the car, we walked over toward my mother, and I was suddenly so grateful for the clothes we were wearing.They acted like some strange disguise.They were so different from anything we’d be caught dead in that the polyester and starch acted like ingredients to a spell, keeping us nearly invisible to the people around us.And there were so many of them, too.At least forty.
As we all filed in, the seats in the front of the tent, which had been cleared of the red wooden ring and replaced with a pulpit lifted on a dusty, crooked wooden platform.This smaller section of the tent, the stands blocked off by bits of the fabric that could apparently fold in on themselves, was so much smaller than the usual ring.That, of course, meant that while my mother beelined to the very front for the only seat left up there, Lizzie and I were left to stand near the back.
Totally okay with me.
Lizzie?I looked over at her, and she nodded subtly.Seems safer than talking out loud.Just keep your head down and play it cool, babe.
I nodded back, ever more grateful for her talents.Then, a single spotlight hit the pulpit, and we watched as the Ring Lead, Jeb Junior, walked up and patted on the microphone to get everyone’s attention.
“Welcome, folks.So glad our devoted followers could make it to another sermon.We heed His call.”
“And give our will to Him that is higher,” the crowd answered.
“Excellent, excellent.And I’m so glad to see that all of you have heeded His call to bring more of the faithful to the tent.Welcome, new faces.”I ducked my chin, not making eye contact with him as the people around us clapped softly.“Now, today, we have the most glorious news.He is so emboldened by your faith, your ongoing support of our small traveling parish.My father, rest him, would be so proud.”
Ha, I bet.Your dad was a rapist fuckbag who killed kids.
It was too real to be funny, and my stomach coiled into knots as the crowd around us began to sort of move, shifting in unison in a subtle back and forth.They were hanging on this guy’s every word as if they were hypnotized by it.Lizzie noticed it too, but the two of us weren’t feeling the effects.I was quick enough to start mimicking them, Lizzie right there with me, but why didn’t we feel the “faith” like everyone else did?
Cerberus?He knew this asshole was fake.What if being with him protected us somehow?
That’s fucking lucky, Lizzie.What if we hadn’t performed the soul weaving?Gods, we need to tell Caleb about this.Do we sneak out?
Not yet.I want to see what this is all about.
“Now, He is so close to us, friends.The time is almost here.Come moonrise this very night, our savior with walk among the mortals.The heathens will bow down or be trampled by His might, and it is all thanks to your unyielding faith.”
“Praise Him!Praise Him!”everyone chanted, low and strange.
Jeb Junior came around the pulpit and stepped down from the platform, walking in front of the first row.Each person there offered an eager hand up, looking to touch this man like he was some kind of walking avatar for a god.Which, I supposed, wasn’t too far off, except for the fact that the Ring Leader was the mouthpiece of anevilentity that had been terrorizing people for millennia.
“His field is watered with the essence of His followers.And this night, this holy night where He will pierce through the veil holding Him back, He requires even more from us.”
“What can we give?”one person shouted out.“We live to serve Him,” yelled another.
“You are all so blessed in His name.Such valuable, devoted people.The parish’s custodians have gathered together ten from this morning’s sermon, but alas, one of our brethren has proven false.”
“Boo!Cast out the blasphemer!”Chills worked down my spine as the crowd cried out with such hatred, and I grabbed Lizzie’s hand, a building dread starting to choke me.
“Yes!Yes, that is right, my faithful!But we require another.Someone of total conviction and faith to stand in for that dreaded waste.”
Too many people to count called out, volunteering to be the replacement, begging to be lifted up in “His” name.Lizzie turned to me, and I could see the unease and anxiety peaking in her expression, undoubtedly a reflection of my own.
“I will choose, my blessed congregation.I am His hand, and through me, He will find His missing lamb, to walk it freely in the realm of the Lion.”
He was going to take someone, and going by the bodies we’d found earlier, I didn’t think it was going to end well for them.
Dammit, Lizzie.What do we do?We can just let this guy scoop someone up and butcher them in front of all these people.
I don’t know, Temps.This isn’t—Fuck, we almost died last time.We…we need to get Caleb and Cerberus.Look for a moment to sneak out.
Nodding, I made sure that I was standing level with the person next to me, and then slowly, so godsdamn gradually, I began to back up more, putting a hand behind me so that I could feel the tent when I got to it.No one was paying attention to us, and Lizzie and I got farther and farther away from the main show.
