PAIGE'S P.O.V.

"Morgan!" Bailey and I shouted.

My sister pointed at him. "Hey! That is the shooter from the news!"

Morgan was running down the middle of the street. The ends of his sleeves were ripped, and there were huge holes on his pants. He did not have those rips and holes in the courtroom, so I guessed that he was in a struggle with the police.

Bailey and I shouted his name at the top of our lungs and waved our arms frantically. Morgan noticed us with ease and hurried to where we were.

"Paige and Bailey, is it?" he said. He put his hands on his knees and breathed heavily. "Thank the Lord from above...that I found you."

I let go of my sister's hand and rested a hand on his shoulder. "What is going on? What are you running from?"

He turned his head to me. "Who else would a crook like me be running from?"

"The police?"

"Exactly. I...I..." He began coughing uncontrollably.

Bailey pressed her hands to her cheeks. "My gosh. Are you okay? Is he okay?"

I gently patted his back. "I am praying that he is."

She quirked an eyebrow. "'Praying'? You mean the word 'hoping.'"

"We are Prayer Warriors. We are to not hope. We are to pray."

Morgan punched his chest, and his coughs stopped. "Thank you girls for being concerned about me. Gee. Nobody has ever been concerned about me. Maybe because no one loves me..."

Bailey and I glanced at each other, and I knew by the look on her face that we were both thinking the same thing. We felt bad for him. People assume that he is a wicked man because he tried to shoot teachers and kids. He is labeled a shooter. But like lots of crooks, he was much more. He was a broken soul who only wanted to be loved. He was never loved by his own parents. By the so-called "church."

"I swallowed wrong," Morgan confirmed.

"Oh, I hate when that happens," Bailey responded. "It is a pain in the butt."

"Would you like a glass of water?" I offered.

"That would be great. I have not had water since..." He shivered and hugged himself. "...the cult."

"'The cult'?" Bailey repeated. "You were in a cult?"

I turned to her. "Bailey, go fetch some water."

Bailey did as she was told and flew to a store across the street. I helped Morgan sit on the sidewalk and comforted him, reassuring him that the super Prayer Warriors would assist him every step of the way.

Morgan shook his head and rested it in his palms. "I do not understand. You are superheroes. Why are you helping someone like me? I am a criminal."

"We are all criminals, Morgan, because we have all fallen into sin. If we choose the path of sin, it only leads us to death."

He twiddled his thumbs and licked his lips. "I know that this is going to sound stupid because you know more about it than I do, but...what is sin?"

Bailey returned with a bottle of the delicious water. It was not until I saw the water that I realized that I was thirsty. My throat was so dry.

Bailey handed the bottle to Morgan. He was grateful how we were treating him and took a sip. I asked if I could drink some.

"Are you thirsty?"

"Very much, yes."

He smiled and gave me the bottle. "Anything for the two girls who value my life."

I licked my dry lips and drank like that I never drank before. As I was doing so, Bailey said, "Could you tell us more about the cult that you were in, Morgan? If you are comfortable talking about it, of course."

He frowned at her and slapped his knee.

"Uh...did I say something wrong?"

"I would be delighted to tell you everything that I know about the cult. You will believe me, right?"

"You have not given us a reason not to."

He clapped like a child. "Excellent! Now...where do I begin?"

"How about who runs the cult?" I suggested.

"Yes, yes. I remember them as plain as day. In fact, they were in the courtroom."

The ex-shooter explained Hill and his friends' true intention. The so-called "pastors" were poor excuses for ones because they twisted the Bible and abused their power. They fooled so many innocent people, and once their followers realized what they were doing was wicked, they fled. Morgan said that all those people either stopped believing in God or hated Him.

"What were they doing that was so evil?" I asked.

Morgan hesitated before saying, "...blood. It was our blood that they were after."

It was only then that Bailey and I understood how bad the situation was. It was so distasteful that I was prepared to throw up.

"That was so sad," Penny said. She was sitting next to him. "I am sorry that you had to go through that." She handed him her teddy bear.

He was taken aback by her generosity. "What are you doing? Why are you giving me this?"

"You need Teddy more than me. He will keep you company."

"Thank...thank you. But are you sure that you want me to have him? Will you not miss him?"

Penny planted a kiss on Teddy's cheeks. "As long as he is in good hands, I do not care where he is."

I was so proud of my sister. She was turning into the mature woman that God wanted her to be. I picked her up and spun her around. She laughed.

"Wow, Paige! I did not know that you could pick me up!"

I stopped spinning and set her down. "I have super strength."

"'Super strength'? Why is it super?"

You will never guess what happened next. Bailey and I felt taps on our shoulders. We spun around...

...and there was Betsy.