The Diviners by Libba Bray Read Free Book Online

shortly.”
    Evie turned to the stuffed grizzly looming beside the fireplace. “I don’t suppose
you’ve
got any hooch? No? Maybe later.”
    Other than Jericho, she hadn’t seen a single soul in the museum. She was hungry and thirsty and a little put out that she’d been left all on her own without so much as a hello from her uncle.If she was going to live in New York, she’d have to start fending for herself.
    Evie patted the bear’s matted fur. “Sorry, old sport, you’re on your own,” she said, and left the library in search of food. She heard male voices and followed the sound to a large room in the back of the museum where Uncle Will, in gray trousers, waistcoat, and blue tie, his shirtsleeves rolled to his elbows, stood lecturing. His hair had darkened to a dirty blond over the years, and he sported a trim mustache.
    “The presence of evil is a conundrum that has taxed the minds of philosophers and theologians alike….” he was saying.
    Evie peeked around the corner to take in the whole of the room. A class of college boys sat taking notes on Will’s lecture.
    “Now we’re cookin’,” Evie whispered. “Sorry I’m late!” she called as she breezed into the room. The college boys’ heads swiveled in Evie’s direction as she scraped a chair across the floor to join them. Uncle Will regarded her over the tops of his round tortoiseshell glasses.
    “Go on, Uncle Will. Don’t mind me.” Evie perched on the edge of the chair beside one of the College Joes and did her best to look interested.
    “Yes…” For a moment, Uncle Will’s bewildered expression threatened to become permanent. But then he found his stride again and began pacing the room with his hands behind his back. “As I said, how does one explain the presence of evil?”
    The boys all looked to one another to see who would answer.
    “Man makes evil through his choices,” someone said.
    “It’s God and the Devil, fighting it out. That’s what the Bible says, at least,” another boy argued.
    “How can there be a Devil if there is a God?” a boy in golf knickers asked. “I’ve always wondered that.”
    Uncle Will waved a finger, making a point. “Ah. Theodicy.”
    “Is that a cross between theology and idiocy?”
    Will allowed a small smile. “Not exactly. Theodicy is a branch of theology concerned with the defense of God in the face of the existence of evil. It brings about a conundrum: If God is an all-knowing, all-powerful deity, how can he allow evil to exist? Either he is not the omnipotent god we’ve been told, or he
is
all-powerful and all-knowing, and also cruel, because he allows evil to exist and does nothing to stop it.”
    “Well, that certainly explains Prohibition,” Evie quipped.
    The college boys laughed appreciatively. Again Uncle Will looked at Evie as if she were a subject he had yet to classify.
    “Any good world would allow for us to have free will, yes?” he continued. “Can we agree to this point? But once human beings have free will, they also have the ability to make choices—and commit evil. Thus, this very good thing, free will, allows the possibility of evil into our fine world.” The room was silent. “One to ponder. But, if I may continue with our earlier discussion…”
    The boys sat up straight, ready to take notes as Will paced and talked. “America has a rich history of beliefs, a tapestry woven together by threads from different cultures. Our history is rife with the supernatural, the unexplained, the mystical. The earliest settlers came here for religious freedom. The immigrants who followed introduced their hopes and haunts, from the vampire legend of Eastern Europe to the ‘hungry ghosts’ of China. The original Americans believed in shamans and spirits. The slaves of West Africa and the Caribbean, stripped of all they had, still carried with them their customs and beliefs. We are not only a melting pot of cultures, but also of spirits and superstitions. Yes?”
    A boy in a