Let It Shine by Alyssa Cole Page A

night.”
    The door to the wagon closed and Sofie felt an inkling of real panic wiggling her belly. That officer had been right—they would have no protections at Parchman. It was where they sent people to rot. What if she never got out? What if this had all been a terrible mistake?
    Her breath came in a shallow, ragged gasp, and she wanted to push the door to allow fresh air to enter. The realization that she couldn’t sent her further into a panic. She jumped to her feet.
    “It’s okay, sister,” Michael, the theological student, said. “We’re here with you. God is here with us and cloaking us in His mercy. But it would also help if you sat down and took a deep breath.”
    Sofie tried to fight the animal instinct to kick and claw at the door, but then, as if God had, indeed, had mercy on her, it swung open. Sofie’s panic fled, chased away by pure shock that gave her gooseflesh even in the sweltering wagon.
    “Ivan!”
    He stood there looking quite unconcerned with the police officer who was pulling him by the collar of his suit. That he was dressed so finely, in a crisp three-piece suit complete with a vest, was almost as surprising as his presence.
    “Were you avoiding my calls? I tried to tell you I was coming. I just missed that Greyhound last night,” he said. “Probably better that I had to take the Trailways, though. Staying true to the cause might have been a little difficult sitting next to you on a dark bus.”
    “Oh dear Lord,” Sofie said, covering her eyes with her hands and dropping back into her seat. She peeped through her fingers to see Ivan crawl inside and sit on the floor at her feet, and then the door slammed shut.
    “Hello, everyone,” he said, grinning that grin of his, and the apprehension in the bus melted away.
    “Welcome to the Parchman express,” Michael said, reaching over to clap him on the shoulder. “You ready for the chain gang, brother?”
    “Breaking rocks is a great way for a boxer to stay in shape,” Ivan said. “I’ll look at it as a state-funded bodybuilding club.”
    Sofie stared at him as they bumped along, not quite knowing what to say.
    “What happened to your knee?” he asked, pulling a handkerchief from his pocket and pressing at the bleeding abrasion.
    “Officer Bill,” she replied.
    His expression clouded at that. “Definitely good that I was on the Trailways then.”
    Sofie wanted to reach out and touch him, but she was worried he would vanish if she did. He couldn’t really be there with her, could he?
    “What about your match? I hope you didn’t come out of guilt.” She’d never been happier to see someone, but she didn’t want to be the impetus for his decision. A thought struck her, and she crossed her arms over her chest. “Or because you thought I couldn’t do this by myself.”
    Ivan sighed and draped his hands over his legs. “I came because you were right. I wanted to help, and waiting until after I’d knocked some guy’s lights out wasn’t the way to do it. So I called Calvin and told him why I had to forfeit. Of course, he didn’t want to win like that, so we agreed to reschedule. We talked for a long time, actually—I wouldn’t be surprised if he was making the ride too.”
    He took a deep breath. “And because I knew I would miss you too much,” he said in a low voice. He took her hand and kissed the back of it, a chaste motion, like something she read in her Arthurian legends. Now she knew why Guinevere had fallen.
    He was looking at her with that intense gaze, the one that made Sofie feel both vulnerable and protected at once. She didn’t look away even as the wagon bumped along on the rutted country road. She’d made the journey down by herself, and she knew she could do it alone. But Ivan sitting beside her felt as right as the decision to come itself.
    “Well, if I have to be thrown in the worst prison in the US, I’m glad it’s with you,” she said. The bus stopped and idled at the gates. Sofie knew that she