Warning:Thar be spoilers ahead.
(Excerpt from The Janus Perspective Book 9)
The rain falls with belligerent intent, accompanied by a fierce electrical display. Booming thunder shakes the windows and rafters. Although Kevin still can’t remember much about his family, he recalls a warning when he was a child: ‘Sit down somewhere and be quiet during a storm.’ He’s not sure of the reason for the advice. As an adult, there’s no way he’d give a child such ridiculous instructions. Did they think lightning would somehow find me because I was making noise?
Kevin sits in bed with Char leaning back against his chest, silently reading passages from The Book of Revelation. Kevin has never read it but is familiar with much of its imagery. He doesn’t feel like it’s healthy content for Char, given her present state of mind. The dark place she described being in when she was bedridden at the clinic seems to have found her again.
Lucas taking Aiden with him earlier was a relief to Kevin. Air kept entering the hole in Aiden’s chest. The way he was breathing sounded very much like a death rattle. Ever since Jenn told him about what she called mummies, he can’t get the thought out of his head. The idea of spending the night in the house with a dead body doesn’t appeal to him. Under those circumstances, he would take his chances sleeping in the leaky shed.
It’s not likely Char’s people will be able to bury Charlotte tonight because the electrical storm is too dangerous. Kevin had decided not to tell Char about the mummies after she likely killed two of her cousins in the shootout. Her insistence on keeping Charlotte’s body in the house another night could bring deadly consequences for Wilbert and the others. It would destroy her to find out that her decision could endanger even more of her family members.
Char takes a pencil from a holder on the nightstand. She marks a few words and phrases on the page before she continues reading.
“You’re really making a study of this,” Kevin comments. “Didn’t you read this entire book the other day?”
“Yes, I did,” Char says while still staring at the page. “Revelation is not that long.”
Kevin tries to make sense of what she marked, but it looks pretty random. “So, what is this reading going to reveal?”
Char leans to the side so she can comfortably make eye contact with Kevin. “Are you about to make fun of me?”
“No, no. I’m just inquisitive.”
“I know you don’t believe in anything in the Bible. You also never struck me as the inquisitive type.”
Kevin does a double eyebrow flash mimicking Char’s occasional gesture. “There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
Char smiles with a soft giggle before returning to her somber expression. She sits up and turns her attention back to the page. She licks a finger before flipping back several pages. Kevin finds himself wondering if anyone has ever estimated the volume of dried saliva within home bibles.
Char reads a verse, which sounds like a word salad to his ears. She then points out a phrase and draws parallels between it and something that recently happened in Pickettsville. She systematically moves through the book while marking other words and passages she forgot to highlight. In just a few minutes, she constructs a convincing argument that they are currently experiencing many of the events prophesied in The Book of Revelation.