The Prophet of Yonwood

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__________ Contents

Title Page

Epigraph

THEVISION

1. The Inheritance

2. The Third Floor

3. The Girl in the Closet

4. Break-In

5. The Fiery Vision

6. Mrs. Beesons Idea

7. The Short Way Home

8. A Crack in the Sky

9. At the Prophets House

10. The Photograph and the Journal

11. Trouble Spots

12. Inside the Backyard Shed

13. The Perfect Living Room

14. Someone in the Basement

15. Up to the Woods

16. The Snakes Dinner

17. Hoyt McCoys Horrible House

18. What Grover Saw

19. Blue Envelopes

20. Orders

21. Getting Ready for the Open House

22. An Indoor Universe

23. The Emergency Meeting

24. The Bracelet

25. The Open House

26. Catastrophe

27. The Chase

28. One More Trip to the Woods

29. The Last Day

30. Nickie and the Prophet

31. Love

WHATHAPPENEDAFTERWARD

Will anyone find Kickie's journal?

Acknowledgments

About the Author

Other Books by Jeanne DuPrau

Copyright Page

The universe is not only stranger than we imagine, it is stranger than wecanimagine.

J.B.S. Haldane

______________ The Vision

On a warm July afternoon in the town of Yonwood, North Carolina, a woman named Althea Tower went out to her backyard to fill the bird feeder. She opened her sack of sunflower seeds, lifted the bird feeders lidand that was when, without warning, the vision assailed her.

It was like a waking dream. The trees and grass and birds faded away, and in their place she saw blinding flashes of light so searingly bright she staggered backward, dropped her sack of birdseed, and fell to the ground. Billows of fire rose around her, and a hot wind roared. She felt herself flung high into the sky, and from there she looked down on a dreadful scene. The whole earth boiled with flames and black smoke. The noise was terriblea howling and crashing and cracklingand finally, when the firestorm subsided, there came a silence that was more terrible still.

When the vision finally faded, it left Althea stunned. She lay on the ground, unable to move, with her mind all jumbled and birds pecking at the spilled birdseed around her. She might have lain there for hours if Mrs. Brenda Beeson had not happened to come by a few minutes later to bring her a basket of strawberries.

Seeing Althea on the ground, Mrs. Beeson rushed forward. She bent over her friend and spoke to her, but Althea only moaned. So Mrs. Beeson used her cell phone to call for help. Within minutes, four of her best friendsthe doctor, the police chief, the town mayor, and the minister of the churchhad all arrived. The doctor squatted beside Althea and spoke slowly and loudly. Can you tell us whats wrong? he said. What is it?

Althea shivered. Her lips twisted as she tried to speak. Everyone leaned in to hear.

Its God, she whispered. God. I sawI saw She trailed off.

Merciful heavens, said Brenda Beeson. Shes had a vision.

Of course they didnt know at first what her vision had been. They thought maybe shed seen God. But why would that frighten her so? Why would she be muttering about fire and smoke and disaster?

Days went by, and Althea didnt get better. She lay on her bed hardly moving, staring into the air and mumbling. Then, exactly a week later, a clue to the mystery came. The president of the United States announced that talks with the Phalanx Nations had reached a crisis. Their leaders would not give in on any of their demands, and the leaders of the United States would not give in on theirs. Unless some sort of agreement could be reached, the president said, it might be necessary to go to war.

Brenda Beeson made the connection right away: War! That must be what Althea Tower had seen. Mrs. Beeson called her friends, they told their friends, the newspaper wrote it up, and soon the whole town knew: Althea Tower had seen the future, and it was terrible.

All over Yonwood, people gathered in frightened clusters to talk. Could it be true? The more they thought about it, the more it seemed it could be. Althea had always been a quiet, sensible person, not the sort to make things up. And these were strange times, what with conflicts and terrorists and talk of the end of the worldjust the kind of times when visions and miracles were likely to happen.

Brenda Beeson formed a committee to take care of Althea and pay attention to anything else she might say. People wrote letters to the newspaper about her and left flowers and ribbons and handwritten notes in front of her house. The minister spoke of her in church.

After a few weeks, nearly everyone was calling her the Prophet.

CHAPTER 1 ______________

The Inheritance

Nickie Randolphs first sight of the town of Yonwood was a white steeple rising out of the pine forest that covered the mountainside. She leaned forward, gazing through the windshield of the car. Is that it?

Her aunt Crystal, who was driving, put one hand up to shield her eyes from the rays of the setting sun. Thats it, she said.

My new home, said Nickie.

You have to get that notion out of your mind, said Crystal. Its not going to happen.

Im going tomake it happen, thought Nickie, though she didnt say it out loud. Crystals mood was already bad enough. How long till we get there? she asked.

Well be there in twenty minutes, if nothing else gets in our way.

A lot had gotten in their way so far. The Streakline train was closed down because of the Crisis, so theyd had to drive. Theyd been on the road for seven hours, though the trip from Philadelphia should have taken no more than five. But long lines at gas stations, detours around pot-holed or snow-covered stretches of highway, and military roadblocks had slowed them down. Crystal didnt like delays. She was a fast-moving, efficient person, and when her way was blocked, she became very tense and spoke with her lips in two hard lines.

They came to the Yonwood exit, and Crystal turned off the highway onto a road that wound uphill. Here the trees grew thick on either side, and so tall that their bare branches met overhead, making a canopy of sticks. Drops of rain began to spatter the cars windshield.

After a while, they came to a sign that said, Yonwood. Pop. 2,460. The trees thinned out, and the rain fell harder. They passed a few storage sheds, a collapsing barn, and a lumberyard. After that, houses began to appear on the side of the roadsmall, tired-looking wooden houses, their roofs dripping. Many of them had rockers or couches on the front porch, where people would no doubt be sitting if it werent the dead of winter.

From a small brick shelter at the side of the road, a policeman stepped out holding a red stop sign. He held it up and waved it at them. Crystal slowed down, stopped, and opened her window. The policeman bent down. He had on a rain jacket with the hood up, and rain dripped off the hood and onto his nose. Hello, maam, he said. Are you a resident?

No, said Crystal. Is that a problem?

Just doing a routine entry check, maam, the man said. Part of our safety program. Had some evidence lately of possible terrorist activity in the woods. Your purpose here?

My grandfather has died, Crystal said. My sister and I have inherited his house. Ive come to fix the house up and sell it.

The man glanced at Nickie. This is your sister?

This is my niece, said Crystal. My sisters daughter.

And your grandfathers name? said the man.

Arthur Green, said Crystal.

Ah, yes, the policeman said. A fine gentleman. He smiled. You be careful while youre here, now. Weve had reports indicating there may be agents of the Phalanx Nations traveling alone or in small groups in parts of the area. Have you been spoken to by any suspicious strangers?

No, said Crystal. Just you. You seem very suspicious.

Ha ha, said the man, not really laughing. All right, maam, he went on. You may go. Sorry for the delay, but as you know theres a crisis. Were taking every precaution.

He stepped away, and they drove on.

Terrorists evenhere ? Nickie said.

Its nonsense, said Crystal. Why would a terrorist be wandering around in the woods? Pay no attention.

Nickie was so tired of the Crisis. It had been going on now for months. On TV and the radio, it was all you ever heard about: how Our Side and Their Side had come almost, but not quite, to the point of declaring all-out war. In the last week or so, the radio had started broadcasting frightening instructions every hour: In the event of a declaration of war or a large-scale terrorist attack, cities will be evacuated in an orderly fashion. Residents will be directed to safe locations. Citizens should remain calm.

It seemed to Nickie that everything in the world had gone wrongincluding her own family. Eight months ago, her father had left on a government job. He couldnt tell them where he was going or what he was supposed to do, and he warned that he might not be able to get in touch with them very often. This turned out to be true. She and her mother had had exactly one postcard from him. The postmark had been smudged, so they couldnt tell where the card came from. And the message was no help, either. It said, Dear Rachel and Nickie, I am working hard, everything is fine, dont worry. I hope youre both doing well. Love, Dad.

But they were not doing well. Nickies mother missed Nickies father and couldnt bear not knowing where he was. She worried about losing her job, and so she worked too hard, and so she was always tired and sad. And Nickie hadnt felt happy or safe for a long time. She hated Philadelphia. Something awful seemed always about to happen there. The emergency sirens blasted night and day. Government helicopters circled overhead. In the streets, where trash blew in the wind, dangerous people might be around any corner. And schoola tall, grim building with stinking bathroomswas just as bad. The books were older than the students, the teachers were too tired to teach, and mean kids prowled the halls. Nickie hated being at school.

But she didnt much like being at home, either, in the big tenth-floor condo where she and her mother lived, with its dusty, unused rooms and its huge plateglass windows that gave a frightening view straight down to the tiny street below. She was home alone too much lately. She was nervous and restless. Shed read half a book and set it down. Shed work on her Amazing Things scrapbook and get bored after pasting in just one picture. Shed gaze through her binoculars at people going by on the street below, which she used to do for hours, but even her endless curiosity seemed to have faded, and shed turn away after a few minutes. When she was really desperate, shed turn on the TV, even though there was almost nothing on but news, and the news was always the same: grim government spokesmen, troops in camouflage dashing around in foreign places, and the skeletons of blown-up cars and buses. Sometimes the president would come on, his white hair always brushed perfectly smooth, his neat white beard giving him a look of wisdom. These are dangerous times, he would say, but with the help of God we will prevail.

She was lonely at home, with her father gone and her mother always at work, and she was lonely at school, becauseboth her best friends had movedKate to Washington last year, and Sophy to Florida two months ago. Sometimes, late at night when her mother still wasnt home, Nickie felt like someone in a tiny lifeboat, drifting by itself in a big, dark, dangerous sea.

That was why, as soon as she heard about Greenhaven, her great-grandfathers house in Yonwood, before shed even seen it, she decided it would be her home. She loved its name; a haven was a safe place, and thats what she wanted. The trouble was, Crystal and her mother wanted to sell it.

But why cant we sellthis place instead? Nickie had said to her mother. And get out of the horrible city and go live in a beautiful, peaceful place for a change?

Nickie had actually never been to her great-grandfathers house in Yonwood, except for one time when she was too young to remember. But shed made up a picture of Yonwood in her mind that she was sure must be close to the truth: it was rather like a Swiss ski village, she decided, where in the winter there would be log fires in fireplaces and big puffy comforters on the beds, and the snow would be pure white, not filthy and gray as it was in the city. In summer, Yonwood would be warm and green, with butterflies. In Yonwood, she would be happy and safe. She desperately wanted to go there.

After days of arguing, she finally convinced her mother to let her at least see the house before it was sold. All right, her mother said. Nickie could take a couple of weeks off school, drive down with Crystal (her mother couldnt leave work), and help her get the place fixed up and put on the market. Nickie agreed, but her real plan was different: somehow she would persuade Crystal to keep the house, not sell it, and she and her mother (and her father, when he came back) would go and live there, and everything would be different, and better.