The Stars Never Rise

We’d missed the first part too, but when I looked up at the screen, Sister Pamela was still recapping what everyone already knew about the “crisis in New Temperance,” along with the latest suspicions from investigators about where the outlaws might be hiding.

They’d found the remains of our refuge in the abandoned warehouse and were currently searching that same area for something similar in another unoccupied building.

They were way off base. Thank goodness.

“We’re going to have to go deeper to find Devi and Reese,” Maddock said into my ear, and I followed his gaze to a clique of four policemen at the edge of the crowd. Reese and Devi would have moved as far from them as possible, especially Reese, who couldn’t afford for members of the New Temperance police department to realize they didn’t know this particular brother in blue.

We slowly began to move up through the crowd, sticking close to the wall of the courthouse so Finn would be able to find us once he’d selected a police officer’s identity to assume.

While Deacon Bennett spoke to the cameras, detailing the town’s efforts to catch me and the rest of Anathema, my focus volleyed between the huge screen and the crowd. My nerves were raw, my concentration shot from the knowledge that any second someone could turn and get a good look at me. There was no quick way out of the courtyard from our position, and since they actually believed I was a demon, the crowd could morph into a mob in seconds.

We’d only moved forward about fifty feet when a rumble began at the front of the crowd. I couldn’t tell what people were whispering, but one glance at the big screen made my heart drop into my stomach.

Sister Pamela stood in front of the dais. Deacon Bennett stood next to her, having just finished her short update. In a smaller, inset screen, Brother Jonathan Sayers sat behind the anchor’s desk in a studio thousands of miles away, courtesy of a technology our ancestors had developed and the Church had long ago seized.

“Thank you so much for that update, Deacon,” Brother Sayers said. “Thoughts and minds all over the country are with those of you in New Temperance as you struggle with this horrific demonic uprising.”

Someone was moving around on the dais behind Sister Pamela, but both the light and the camera were tightly focused on her and on Deacon Bennett, so we couldn’t see much beyond that blur of movement in the artificially lit courtyard.

“Brother Jonathan, as you’ll soon see behind me, Church officials here in New Temperance are acting soundly and swiftly in the face of this rising threat,” Sister Pamela said straight into the camera. “As you well know, only the hammer of true faith can beat back the surge of evil in our midst.”

“I couldn’t agree more,” Brother Jonathan said from his inset box near her head, and when I heard the familiar heavy clink of metal in the background, my heart began to thud in my ears. “What’s that going on behind you, Sister Pamela?”

She turned to her right and the shot widened so that the dais was in full view, brightly illuminated by the network’s lights. “Brother Jonathan, this is how the fine people of New Temperance deal with the Unclean.”

An “exorcist” in his black cassock was bent over the center set of calf manacles, checking the hinges for rust or weakness. A second was sweeping dust and fallen leaves from the stone platform, his silver buttons shining in the bright light.

Sister Pamela was careful not to block the view of the dais. “Deacon Bennett has gone into the courthouse to bring out the demon uncovered in the continuing investigation of the Kane sisters and the demonic subculture recently unearthed here in New Temperance. The identity of the human host of this demon has not yet been released to the public, but just minutes from now both his body and his soul will be purified by the only means we know to be effective against the Unclean.”

Oh shit. I stumbled, and Maddock caught me before I could bump into anyone and expose us both. Oh shitshitshit.

Sister Pamela stared solemnly into the camera. “As I’m sure you’ve guessed, Brother Jonathan, the demon’s stolen soul must be purified by the holy flame.”

A ripple of whispers rolled over the crowd. Some people were excited, some were obviously horrified, and yet more were curious, anxiously glancing between the screen and what little they could actually see of the front of the courthouse, from which this alleged demon would soon emerge.

“His soul?” Maddock mouthed silently to me in question, but I could only shake my head, my gaze glued to the screen, my hands gripping the sides of my school slacks so tightly my fingers had gone numb. I had no idea who they were about to burn, and—as horrible as the thought was—in that moment all I cared about was that it wasn’t Mellie.

Not yet, anyway.

Sister Pamela laid one hand over her heart and looked thoughtfully, somberly into the camera. “I’m so grateful to the citizens of New Temperance for the honor of being a witness to this glorious moment.”