Chapter 19
GHOSTLIKE FIGURES emerged from the darkness, hazy at first. Johanna had to blink her eyes a few times before she could see properly.
She was in the church, in a pew about halfway down the back, a place she might once have occupied when she was simply Johanna Brouwer.
It must be night, because the little windows near the ceiling were dark. The only light came from the candles that burned in sconces along the walls and on the pillars that supported the roof.
She was standing and all the people around her were standing, too. Johanna didn’t recognise any of them.
At the sound of a bell, a procession of people started making its way down the aisle to the front of the church. They wore long dark robes that covered their heads and hid their faces.
No one in the regular church ser
