The older sister sat beside her and placed an arm around her shoulders.

“You are not alone tonight,” Elena said.

Sasha’s lips trembled once, then steadied. “I know.”

In another part of the city, Samuel sat on a hard bench inside a dim room where time had stopped pretending to move kindly. Questions had been asked. His answers had been brief and respectful. He had not hidden who he was. He had not spoken rashly either. At some point the officers seemed to tire of trying to read more from him than he would give.

He did not know where Sasha and Nathan were.

That was the hardest part.

Not the room. Not the accusation.

The not knowing.

Yet beneath even that, something remained untouched. He belonged to Jehovah. So did they. And no locked door had authority over that.