Author/Uploaded by Daniel Torday
Contents Title Page Copyright Notice Dedication Map Epigraphs Book One In No Time Mourning in Ohio Slack Pitch The Caves Onset of Danger Ankara Esparamos a Ti The Caves (Redux) In the Voice of the Prophet (I) Coupling Assignment Real Dragons The Real Threat of Dragons In the Voice...
Contents Title Page Copyright Notice Dedication Map Epigraphs Book One In No Time Mourning in Ohio Slack Pitch The Caves Onset of Danger Ankara Esparamos a Ti The Caves (Redux) In the Voice of the Prophet (I) Coupling Assignment Real Dragons The Real Threat of Dragons In the Voice of the Prophet (II) The Sheep Meadow Nature Abhors Book Two The Afterlife of Stars Clash of the Uniformed In Prison Decisions Decisions Decisions Raccoon Break-in In the Voice of the Prophet (III) Free Prophet Book Three The Lifting of the Sparks Aftervision In the Voice of the Prophet (IV) Maimonides Wasn’t a Phlebotomist Flies Buzzing Around Your Eyes The Sun in the Firmament Budding Realization Something Revealed The Sin Offering A Growing Concern The Last Philosopher Establishment Clause Some Kind of Miracle Return to the Husks Words of the Prophet Hidden in Your Pocket The Supernal Present The Last Husks Acknowledgments Also by Daniel Torday About the Author Newsletter Sign-up Copyright Guide Cover Title Page Dedication Book One In No Time Acknowledgments Contents Copyright Pagebreaks of the print version Cover Page iii v vi vii 1 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 87 88 89 90 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 98 99 100 101 102 103 104 105 106 107 108 109 110 111 113 115 116 117 118 119 120 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 129 130 131 132 133 134 135 136 137 138 139 140 141 142 143 144 145 146 147 148 149 150 151 152 153 154 155 156 157 158 159 160 161 162 163 164 165 166 167 168 169 170 171 172 173 174 175 176 177 178 179 180 181 182 183 184 185 187 189 190 191 192 193 194 195 196 197 198 199 200 201 202 203 204 205 206 207 208 209 210 211 212 213 214 215 216 217 218 219 220 221 222 223 224 225 226 227 228 229 230 231 232 233 234 235 236 237 238 239 240 241 242 243 244 245 246 247 248 249 250 251 252 253 254 255 256 257 258 259 260 261 262 263 264 265 266 267 268 269 270 271 272 273 274 275 276 277 278 279 280 281 282 283 284 285 286 287 288 289 290 291 292 293 294 295 296 ii iv Begin Reading Table of Contents About the Author Copyright Page Thank you for buying this St. Martin’s Press ebook. To receive special offers, bonus content, and info on new releases and other great reads, sign up for our newsletters. Or visit us online at us.macmillan.com/newslettersignup For email updates on the author, click here. The author and publisher have provided this e-book to you for your personal use only. You may not make this e-book publicly available in any way. Copyright infringement is against the law. If you believe the copy of this e-book you are reading infringes on the author’s copyright, please notify the publisher at: us.macmillanusa.com/piracy. To Erin, Abby, and Delia, my loves We lay there, face to face, and held hands under water. I looked up at the sky. It was all you could see. I thought about God. —JAMES M. CAIN, THE POSTMAN ALWAYS RINGS TWICE Commandment 12: It is not a sin in the eyes of God to kill a maamin who reveals the secrets of his religion. Hate these traitors. Even kill him, if he is dangerous to the maaminim. —FROM THE EIGHTEEN COMMANDMENTS OF THE DÖNME BOOK ONE IN NO TIME The afternoon he arrives in Central Ohio for Gram’s funeral, Ezekiel Leger is stuck in a van heading east on I-70 amid heavy snow. Snow falls lightly over Manhattan. Snow inundates Ohio. Zeke walks out of the Columbus airport to the rental car place, only to discover that the rental car has been rented elsewhere. He will have to take a shuttle van to Mt. Izmir, where later in the day he will have access to the same car. “You’ll be able to pick a sedan up there in no time,” the man at the counter says. He is not apologetic. Zeke walks back curbside to await his shuttle. He stands under a concrete overhang. Snow blows sideways in chunks the size and glint of airborne mica. Wafers bearing the body of someone’s Lord. Not Zeke’s Lord. Zeke does not himself yet believe in the Lord Almighty. The shuttle arrives, and six departing passengers board it. By the time it reaches State Route 36 heading northeast into the rural hinterland, snow has piled on asphalt. Snow falls and keeps falling. Cows lie in fields upon their forelegs as if at worship. Singular barns flake red paint. Roofs sag long past childbearing, silos and wet green fields of wilted long-dead soy and corn. Zeke leans forward to talk to the woman in the seat in front of him. She does not respond, pretends as if he is not there to begin with. He texts his two old college friends who will be at the funeral, waits for the gray ellipses of acknowledgment to appear on his screen, but they do not appear. While he is looking down,