Dr. Allen slid closer and gently brushed a hand across her hair. “Ashley, not all truths can be conceptually or analytically grasped, but that doesn’t make them impossible, so we must accept some truths by faith. The Infinite One has pierced the veil of the finite and has dwelt among us, and the only way to know him is to merge your intellect with faith as you try to grasp what you cannot understand. Only then can you find true wisdom.”
“How can I do that?” she asked, gazing into his peaceful eyes. “I’m not like some of my friends. They seem to be able to put their brains in the garbage disposal and believe whatever someone tells them, a dream that there’s a super daddy in Heaven who reached down to save us with a sacrifice too good to be true. No one has that much love, so people made up a god who supposedly does. It’s just so irrational.”
“I see.” He looked down for a moment, pursing his lips. “Is that the way you feel about Bonnie Silver? Is her faith irrational?”
Ashley bit her tongue. The very idea that Bonnie’s faith would ever be in question stung her heart. She thought back to when she first met Bonnie. She had admired her glow, her seemingly unquenchable faith that led her to dive into the candlestone prison in search of her mother.
Leaning her head back again, she sighed deeply. She would never forget a note she had found in Bonnie’s journal, a message signed to her.
You may think no one understands you, but God knows everything about you. He knows who you really are.
“Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Red will be made white
Darkness shall become light
Faith will be made sight
Squire shall become knight
As the sweet phrases sang in her mind, Ashley shook her head. Bonnie’s irreproachable wisdom had conquered her once again. “No,” Ashley replied. “She’s not irrational. I just don’t understand her.”
Dr. Allen raised a finger. “Exactly. Never dismiss as folly that which you simply do not understand.”
“So what do I do now?” Ashley pointed at the floor. “I mean, right here, right now?”
The kind gentleman smiled and touched her palm. “Remember David and Goliath, and you will do well.” The lantern faded, and Dr. Allen’s voice faded with it. “Combine your intellect with faith, and always follow the light.”
The corridor darkened again to complete blackness. Ashley felt for Dr. Allen but found only the lantern, still warm. She slid it toward her and listened once again to the void.
Clump!
The sound was closer than ever. Ashley squeezed against the wall and froze, holding her breath. She closed her eyes and waited. Sheer terror chilled her heart.
Clump!
Vibrations in the steps buzzed through her body. The giant had to be just a few feet away now.
Clump!
It stopped next to her. A sniffing sound pierced the dark silence, then a deep voice. “Your own stench has betrayed you, but I will let you live if you help me escape this place.”
Ashley swallowed quietly. What should she do? Did he really know where she was in this darkness?
Thin scarlet shafts of light sliced the black void, slowly scanning the stairs. Inch by inch they edged toward her hiding place. She squeezed even closer to the wall, but the infrared eyebeams would be on her in seconds.
She tossed the lantern down the stairwell. It clattered over the steps, its noise diminishing as it rounded the spiral.
The giant lumbered toward the sound. His heavy footsteps masked Ashley’s escape as she snatched up her shoulder bag and scrambled to her feet. Trying to silence her breaths, she stormed up the stairs, but with her body still aching, she wouldn’t last long at this pace.
As she hurried, frantic thoughts raced through her mind. Dr. Allen said to follow the light, but there was no light. He said to have faith, but there was nothing around to believe in, except that murder-minded monster, and she already believed every word he said. But she couldn’t help him escape. Dr. Allen said he would never be allowed to leave.
A jingling sound interrupted her thoughts. She reached into her jacket pocket to silence the coins Dr. Allen had dropped there, and her fingers slid around her photometer. Slowing to a halt, she leaned against