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grief.
    Esther watched Eddie bring the young man his ginger ale, nobody speaking a word. Eddie clearly ached to hold Esther, but that was out of the question. Not in front of the others.
    So he just gave her the drink.
    As the wind whipped up outside.
    And for a moment, the lights flickered and dimmed, as if the power might go out.

Chapter Four
     
    Outside, a vast, dark cloud engulfed the moon, giving too much substance to the almost living shadows racing rampant across the desert plains. There were spirits in the air to night, rising up and reaching out as if to swallow the world.
    There were spirits in the house, as well, coursing invisibly through the forbidden regions, the locked rooms, the cold spots no fire could warm.
    Throbbing, formless fury, but growing and regaining castoff shapes as they fed on the residue of pain and poisoned memories stored up in those walls.
    Feeling the walls, and the walls within walls. Feeling caged. But not for much longer.
    They wrapped themselves around the knob of the locked door at the end of a long dark corridor, the stubborn steel turning to ice in their shadow hands, and managed to turn it, very slightly.
    And that was great, but it was only the beginning.
    They passed through the door and floated down the long corridor to the edge of the living room, crowded as near as they dared to the withering glare of the fireplace
.
    Close to the living voices that grew louder and more strident, as if they knew exactly what the shadows fed upon, and were resolved to give them a feast.
    The bonding portion of to night’s encounter was clearly at an end. Now they were getting down to it, and the only warmth came from the roaring flames.
    “But here’s what you have to understand,” Esther was saying. “Jake and I had an arrangement…”
    “…to keep the church separate from your daily lives,” Emmy finished. “I understand that. That’s why—”
    Esther cut her short with a wave that almost slopped her drink. “The problem is—I’m sorry—but the fact is that he didn’t.”
    “The church is a registered non-profit…”
    “Yes, but he was dipping into assets that weren’t covered by that at all. My personal assets—”
    Emmy’s turn to interrupt. “That’s your own concern.”
    “Well, yes it is. But since he declared them ‘church expenses’ whether they actually were or not…”
    “I don’t believe that—”
    “They are getting ready to take away my house.”
Esther’s eyes flared as she said it. “Take away the house that I grew up in, and take everything I own, because of debts that Jake incurred. And what I need to know is, how much was he making? And where did all that money go?”
    The fireplace popped—loud as a gunshot—and the wind swelled outside, as everyone jumped. Eddie returned to check the fire.
    In the fireplace, the logs were already burned through, and reduced to embers, yet the fire burned as if fed by a gas line. Eddie pulled the screen back, quizzical. Added a few more logs, which ignited instantly, singing the hair on his hand and forearm to wispy curls of ash.
    “All the money went straight back into the Church of Eternal Life,” Emmy insisted.
    “I only wish that were true.”
    “Emmy…” Mathias tried to intervene.
    “Don’t you believe in Jesus Christ?” Emmy demanded.
    “Well, of course I do!”
    “Then where is your faith in the Gospel, and in your own husband?”
    Esther rolled her eyes.
    “Your own husband,”
Emmy continued, “who devoted his life to his ministry? Do you have any idea how many lost, desperate souls depended on Jake for their faith?”
    “That’s exactly what I’m trying to find out!”
    “That’s because you
only care about the money!
” Now their voices were notching up in pitch as well as volume, each one’s high points climbing to top the other. “You couldn’t even be bothered to show up for the services today…”
    “I think,” Esther cut in tersely, “that I made my reasons clear