The Sifting Read Online Free PDF Page A

system. You will. Be. Sifted. And there is nothing you, or I can do about it. If I let you go, they will merely find you and make you sorry you didn’t play by their rules.”
    “Their rules?”
    “Actually, your god gave the go ahead on testing his children. Nice little perk, huh?”
    “W-what happens if the person…doesn’t renounce? Even after the sifting?”
    He shook his head, his eyes hard. “That has never happened. They always renounce.”
    She stared at him, horrified. “Fuck shit, fuck,” she gasped, “fuck shit, oh my God.” She jerked at her ties more. “I-I-I don’t understand,” a sob threatened her words, “why are you with me, doing all this with me, Micah, I thought, I thought you loved me.”
    He suddenly covered her with his body, wrapping his arms around her, pressing his face into hers. “I do love you. And I can protect you.”
    “If I renounce my God?” she said hysterically. “I can’t do that, I can’t, you should never ask that of me!”
    “Shh, shhh, okay. Listen to me sweetheart,” he whispered softly, holding her face tenderly. “I do love you, more than my heart can contain.” He stroked her cheek with his thumb. “I shouldn’t love you, it’s not lawful for me to love you, nor is it lawful for me to take your virginity before the renouncement. But I did it to protect you.”
    Her jaw hung open as she stared at him. “Protect me from what?”
    “If by some horrific chance you don’t renounce. You will be sacrificed as a virgin. Only you are no longer a virgin.”
    Her jaw dropped further in horror. “Oh my God. Oh my God. And you think that will keep them from, from sacrificing me?”
    He sighed and hung his head. Then shook it slowly. “I don’t know. Nobody has ever broken that rule. I ’ll be punished, but I don’t care, I just…I need to keep you safe. And alive. And if you renounced, that would make it a whole lot easier, Sarah. Your god should not hold it against you for being chosen for sifting, nor should he expect you to suffer torture and death in his behalf, how does that do a damn thing for him, you said yourself he needs nothing?”
    “Stop it, just shut up.” She shook her head, suddenly feeling dirty. And used. And cold. “Just…shut up.”
    “You would have everything Sarah. I would see to it.”
    “Shut! Up!” she screamed. “I don’t want everything. I want you! And I cannot! I will not renounce my God!” She jerked on the restraints. “Untie me!”
    The second he did, she flew off the bed and stormed to the wardrobe.
    “What are you doing ?”
    “Leaving.”
    “You can not leave.”
    “Watch me.”
    “Sarah, they will hunt you.”
    “Let them hunt. If God wants me to suffer for him, then I will, if he wants me to die for him, then I will. But until he tells me that is what he wants, I! Will! Not! ” She jerked the yellow pastel dress from the hanger and fought to get the layers over her head.
    Micah hurried to her. “Dammit Sarah, please. I beg you, don’t go. They will send the Hell Hounds after you, they will not only kill you, but all of your family, unto the seventh generation. Do you understand me!”
    She froze and turned. “Seventh?”
    “This is not just about you if you run.”
    Sarah jumped at hearing a soft knocking on the door. Micah snapped his head toward it. “Who is it,” he barked.
    “It’s Raleigh, Master Seven. Here with your requested bottle of wine for your newest wife.”
    “Leave it at the door.”
    “As you wish.”
    Sarah gasped one laugh, the sound of hysteria. “Newest? Wife?” She numbly made her way to the bed and turned. “How many do you have?”
    He lowered his head before muttering the unbelievable words. “Twelve.”
    Sickness churned her stomach. “And I’m supposed to be the thirteenth wife. Guess I’m kinda unlucky for you, seeing as I’m not fucking cooperating, right?” She laughed.
    “Thirteen is a holy number to us. You were highly anticipated.”
    An odd humor hit