say, remembering how viciously Ravan fought me in our last confrontation.
“Oh, she’s scared of you, hon,” Sadie assures me, with an added nod to emphasize her words. “She’s just tryin’ to make the world do her dirty work for her. She wants you dead, but she doesn’t want to bloody her pretty little hands with the job.”
“Why don’t you like Ravan?” Mason asks.
“Sweetie,” Sadie says with a tilt of her head, “this is the Bible belt. We’ve spent most of our lives preparing for the Apocalypse. Anyone with a brain and the Good Book can tell you that she’s working with the devil. Just because those people in the news say she’s our savior doesn’t make it so. In fact, it just proves what we already suspected.”
If these people figured out what was really taking place, it was a safe bet that there were others around the world who understood the truth of what was transpiring as well. Perhaps our task wasn’t as daunting as I’d first thought. So many people simply take what they see and hear in the media as the gospel truth. It was refreshing to know that not everyone could be led by the nose like a group of lemmings to the edge of a cliff.
“Would you like to come with me to The Pyramid?” Brand asks Vern. “I wouldn’t expect you to just take my word on what’s happening there.”
“I’ll go,” Jamie, Vern and Sadie’s son, says, taking a step forward as he volunteers.
“I can go, son,” Vern says.
“No, Dad, you stay here and take care of Mom,” Jamie replies. “This shouldn’t take long if we can trust this man.”
Brand holds out his hand to Jamie. Cautiously, Jamie shakes Brand’s hand.
“Brand Cole,” he says, making a formal introduction.
“Jamie Myrick.”
“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Jamie,” Brand says, not letting go of the other man’s hand just yet. “Are you ready to go?”
Jamie nods his head, and Brand phases them both away.
“Can I ask you something?” Shelby says to me directly.
“Of course,” I reply.
“The way the two of you looked at us when you saw who we were,” she says to Leah and me, “was almost like you already knew us. How is that possible?”
I let out a small laugh and have to grin.
“Well,” I say, “I could tell you, but I’m not sure you would believe the explanation. Even I have a hard time believing the truth.”
“Try us,” Shelby encourages.
“Do you want the long version or the short one?”
“Short,” Shelby says instantly. “I have a feeling we don’t have time for the long one.”
I go on to tell them who we are and where we come from. Out of natural curiosity, they begin to ask me about their counterparts in my reality. I tell them what they want to know, and feel relieved that Jamie isn’t around to hear what became of him on my Earth. Thankfully, John Austin takes the news of his engagement to Faison and subsequent death in stride.
“I knew the Faison here,” he tells me. “But her Uncle Dan rarely let her out of his house after she went to live with him. I only saw her at school and, even then, she pretty much kept to herself. I don’t think any of us were too surprised when she ended up killing herself when she was fourteen. It hit our community pretty hard, though. We all felt like we should have done something to help her when we had a chance. We knew Dan wasn’t right in the head.”
“Well, the Faison in my reality is happy, married to a wonderful man, and expecting her first child,” I tell John Austin. “She avoided the fate yours ended up with.”
“I’m glad to hear that,” John Austin says sincerely. He tightens his arm around Shelby, “but, to be honest with you, I can’t imagine my life any differently.”
“And you shouldn’t,” I tell him.
Brand and Jamie come back, but neither of them appears to be too happy about what they found in Memphis.
“What’s wrong?” I ask.
“The Pyramid isn’t a safe place to go,” Brand tells me unequivocally.