LOT'S MOUNTAIN

CHAPTER TWELVE: Walkin' on Water

It doesn't take me long to get to the address on the pamphlet. That's when I see a little white church on the right. As far as I know, it's been abandoned for a long time. Even in the dark, I can see the dirt smeared across the outer walls and that some boards, like two brown x's, have been nailed across a few of the windows. There are a couple of houses clustered around it.

Two signs have been staked in front of the church. One's a wooden sign with big hand-painted letters that say The First Church of Lot's Mountain.

The other says: miRacuLs.

Miracles? Well, I kinda doubt that I'll find any of those in there.

"You cold?" someone says.

I spin around and see a guy near me. He's wearing a black shirt with a white collar, the kind a preacher wears. His eyes look weird. They're too pale. After I stare at them a little longer, I realize that they're made of glass and that I'm standing face to face with the Glass Man.

There's no breeze tonight, but it is cold. It's the kind of cold that worms up under your jacket and crawls across your skin like an icy hand. I don't know why, but the branches of the trees by the side of the road are moving. It's like autumn itself is rustling them just enough to get the leaves to rub together and make a hushed, brittle sound. It's the kind of sound that gets you thinking about how October isn't that far away, how summer's really over. In fact, on a night like tonight, summer seems a whole forever away.

What's the Glass Man going to do to me when I can't find what he's looking for? Do I just look him square in the face and say no? Yeah, that oughta turn out real nice for me. Well, I'm figuring that it's not going to be great for me either way. I really do need to learn how to plan ahead.

"I'm not going to find stuff for you. I couldn't even if it wanted to. So, why don't you just go back in your church and sing a coupla hymns and pray or something." Yeah, that should do it.

He acts like I didn't say anything at all.

"I'll tell you right now, as clear as summer sunshine, that you never do know who you might run into in the dark of night." Then he adds, "My people left a note for you, but I didn't know you'd come walking right up to my door this evenin'."

A woman's standing with him. I don't notice her until she starts walking forward. Did she just show up, and I'm just now seeing her? She's older than me, but not by too awful much. She's in her twenties or somewhere close to there. Her white dress hugs her real tight and is slit up to her hips.

Honest to God, I'm trying to look at that preacher, but my eyes keep sliding over to that woman with him. Her long pitch-black hair slips downward, into her dress. She has this old-timey white lace around her neck, the kind old people put on their tables to make them look all fancy. Anyway, just past the lace, the dress is partially unbuttoned down the front so that I can see the pale skin at her neck and a little lower. Well, a lot lower.

If people dressed like that at church all the time, I'd be wanting to go a whole lot more.

"Esther," I say. Right before her name pops into my head, I feel my keys disappear out of my pocket. Wonderful. But that look on her face is worth it. For once, I'm surprising somebody instead of them getting the best of me.

"Now, don't be rude, boy, and don't make me on the jealous side. I thought you were here to see me." The preacher's voice is smooth, but there's something dark in it, something that's almost edging toward a growl. "Now I reckon I'll need to make our first meeting somethin' you're gonna remember."