Ten days passed after Cendrillon's departure. Then fourteen. Mercy grew increasingly concerned about her friend. Had she met up with some unanticipated complication?

She arrived at COT to find her co-workers gathered in the conference room, all staring at one another in stunned disbelief.

"What happened?" she asked.

"It's Cendrillon!" cried Ekaterina Risto. "She's gone!"

Mercy frowned. "I know, but she should be back by now!"

Ekaterina raced to her and shook her. "No! Don't you understand? She died!"

"What?" Mercy felt her knees grow weak and had to grab a chair for support. "But no one's died since the glorious appearing! There must be some mistake!"

"No mistake." It was Beth Ann Sebastian, the daughter of George and Priscilla Sebastian. "Her capsule returned to earth, but she wasn't in it. They finally found her body a long way away from it. Nobody has any idea what happened."

"So where is she now?"

"In her parents' wine cellar," Ekaterina told her. "There was nowhere else to store it until the funeral."

Mercy was numb as she went about her daily tasks. She simply couldn't wrap her brain around the fact that her friend, so full of life only days ago, now lay cold and silent in her parents' wine cellar.

Cendrillon, of all people!

She couldn't wait to tell her parents about it.

"You'll never guess what happened!" she exclaimed as she burst through the door of her home that evening. David and Annie both looked up, startled. "Cendrillon died!" Mercy continued.

Instead of looking shocked as she'd expected them too, her parents exchanged a knowing glance.

"I'm sorry that happened, but to be honest, it doesn't come as much of a surprise to us," David told his daughter. "Considering the types of things she's been into lately, i was beginning to wonder whether she was even a true believer."

"But what's wrong with going beyond the canopy?"

"She didn't die because she went beyond the canopy," said David. "She died because she never accepted Jesus as her Lord and Savior."

"How do you know?"

"Tsion's sermons, Mercy."

"Are you so sure Tsion was right about everything?"

David gasped, shocked his daughter would utter such words, but Annie went to Mercy and embraced her. "I know this is hard for you, darling. I had loved ones who are now in hell, too. My own parents and brothers died right after the Rapture without ever believing, as far as I know. You just have to accept that Cendrillon made her choice and now she has to deal with the consequences. It's too late for her, but the important thing is, it's not too late yet for thousands, maybe millions. We have to focus on them while they still have time. Some of them are very close to their hundredth birthday."

"That's what you think? She's in hell now?"

Annie just looked at her with sorrowful eyes. "Mercy, you've been taught your entire life that the only way to heaven is by accepting Jesus," David told his daughter. "Your friend never made that choice, so yes, she's now in eternal torment."

Mercy went to her room and cried until no more tears would come.

The funeral was held in one of the recreation centers on the COT campus and was attended by thousands. Cendrillon's immediate family filed into the first few rows of seats, but for most of the rest, there was standing room only. Mercy saw all her friends and co-workers, as well as many people she didn't know.

Luc Jospin spoke a few words before turning the service over to Cameron. He began by praising Jesus and concluded by asking for prayers for emotional healing for himself and his wife. Nothing was said about Cendrillon's intelligence, her bravery, her indomitable spirit, or how much she would be missed. It was as if Luc wanted to simply erase all memories of his daughter's having existed at all. After handing the mike to Cameron, he joined Cerise, who was staring straight ahead, in the front row.

All was still and quiet as Cameron began to speak. He acknowledged Cendrillon's accomplishments but stressed her fatal flaw of having neglected to give her life to God. As he spoke, Mercy noticed Ekaterina standing with Bahira Ababneh. Both girls were looking her way, and neither was smiling. When the service ended, they approached her.

"We're worried about you, Mercy," Bahira began. "Have you made the transaction with Jesus?"

"Of course!" Mercy had recited the sinner's prayer with her mother at the age of eight.

"You were sincere?" Ekaterina cocked an eyebrow. "We're not going to be standing here in disbelief with you lying in a box up there in a couple of years, are we?"

Mercy shook her head. "I don't think so." Out of the corner of her eye, she saw a young man standing alone, crying. Sergei. She went to him and embraced him.

"I'm sorry," she said. "I know you and she were really close."

"Thanks." He looked at her, and she saw the tears streaming down his face. "You're Mercy, right? She used to talk about you a lot."

"Mercy Hassid. It's nice to meet you. I only wish it could have been under better circumstances."

"Same here. Hard to believe she's really gone, isn't it?"

"Isn't it though!"

"She left behind data. Pictures and information. I have copies if you want to see."