A Division of the Light (32 page)

Some hours later, when he least expected it, a vision came to him. Even though he was the only person in the caravan there seemed to have been a change in the light, as if something bulky yet furtive had paused in front of his mirror. A prickling sensation tingled at the corners of his eyes. Gregory had experienced this before, a week ago, but it had subsided. Now he felt that something was about to happen that he must witness but not necessarily understand. He put down his Bible and stared into the mirror.

At first he thought that the glass was lying, as he could see the back of a naked man's shoulders and head. As he stared, the man slowly turned and rose, as if his feet had lifted free of the ground. Gregory saw he was looking at himself. And then, quite suddenly, the reflection became edged and defined by a white halo of light that radiated outward for several seconds before dissipating to leave no trace behind.

Gregory stared at his new self in the mirror. The surface of his skin became translucent and within the bars of his ribcage there pulsed a gigantic heart. It almost filled the entire chest cavity, and it glowed a fierce blinding crimson with each unyielding beat.

Outside on the caravan roof, across the settlement, and over Little Maria's broken-roofed cowshed at the top of the hill, snow began to fall—quiet, deep and relentless.