“I found a sense of purpose. I spent all my time while I was sick reading books about adventure and faraway places and listening to the stories my parents and their Witness friends told. I realized I would do anything for the chance to live that kind of life. What could be more exciting than risking your life to bring the Word to people suffering in the darkness? It’s like giving a message times a million.” So Luke was a Messenger, just like Gabi’s father insisted she was destined to be. “I took my first trip last summer, and now I’m hooked,” Luke continued. “I’d like to go pro, try for an Apostleship if I work hard enough. Otherwise, I’ll probably end up teaching like my folks.”
“Your parents are teachers?” Gabi fantasized about a house where every shelf groaned under the weight of books. A house where questions and curiosity were encouraged, and no secrets were necessary.
“They’re both in the biology department at the university, though my mom spends most of her time working in the lab.”
This was getting weird. Luke was ridiculously handsome, humble, and Gabi felt more understood by him in a few minutes than she had by almost anyone ever, except Gram. Luke had also dreamed of getting out of Alder by joining a Witness team, and his parents were experts in a subject that had been Gabi’s primary fascination for years. Her skin prickled, and the fine hairs rose on the back of her neck. While she was enjoying Luke’s company and undivided attention, something about the situation niggled. “But, hey, here I am talking about me and I’m supposed to be getting to know you,” Luke said, breaking into her reverie with a gentle poke to her arm.
“Why?” Luke’s complete focus on her, though thrilling, was making her uncomfortable.
“Why what?” he asked, his head tilted so close to hers that she could feel his breath on her face.
“Why are you supposed to be getting to know me?”
“The idea is that each camper should have a mentor to help them open to their calling. It can be sort of pressured and scary if you don’t have someone more experienced to encourage you and answer your questions. Do you have any more questions, Miss Gabriela? You are definitely the curious type.”
Luke’s attitude was playful bordering on flirtatious, but Gabi had no idea how to talk to someone like that, and she’d already discovered how pitiful she was at making small talk during her bonding time with Marnie.
“I meant, why you?” Gabi pressed. “Is it random how counselors are matched with campers, or did they use some kind of system? We have stuff in common that definitely wasn’t on the questionnaire.”
A muscle in Luke’s jaw jumped. Perhaps he was unused to people who didn’t flirt back. Tell the truth, Gabi pleaded silently. If Luke couldn’t be straight with her, how could she trust him? He shifted away from her and looked over toward Ruth.
“Names in a hat,” Luke said, turning back toward her and stretching his smile wider until it reached his eyes again. “Totally random.” He was lying, and he was almost good enough at it to fool Gabi, but not quite. She could breathe again, her heart no longer working overtime in response to his charm. She was disappointed, but not surprised.
“Ten minutes, then dinner,” Ruth sang from her post by the fireplace.
Luke straightened and gave Gabi a mock-stern look. “Okay, down to business. You’ve gotta give me something to work with here, Miss Gabi. Tell me about the first time you ever felt the Holy Spirit, because that’s what we’re working toward here. That feeling, but bigger.” Luke spoke with total conviction that Gabi would become a servant of the Word in the next forty-eight hours, and whether she believed him or not, she needed him. For all she knew, Luke himself could be an undercover recruiter. If she didn’t find a way to stand out this weekend and receive her calling along with the rest of them, her best chance to honor Gram’s dying wish would vanish.
“I feel the Spirit every day,” Gabi stated firmly. “I can’t actually remember a time when I didn’t feel it.” A lie for a lie.
Chapter TEN
DINNER WAS another lavish buffet, and the effects of the heavy food combined with the fire in the hearth had turned the pack of rowdy teens into a docile herd. After they disposed of their plates, Gabi, Marnie, Peter, and Jordan arranged themselves on the carpet to face each other in awkward silence. Their halfhearted attempts at bonding had proven unsuccessful thus far. Peter kept belching behind closed lips, and Marnie was distracted, her eyes glued to her mentor, Beth, as she circulated around the room. Marnie and Beth had only paused from their initial conversation long enough to get plates and retreat to a corner to eat huddled together. Jordan still had most of his dinner in his pockets, which bulged with rolls and rounds of cheese coated in waxy rind. Gabi hadn’t seen one bite of food pass his lips and wondered if he was too self-conscious to eat in front of the group because of his weight. Ruth, Zach, and a handful of others walked among the teams while the staff cleared the dishes and ferried everything down the hall to the kitchen.
“This group is so special,” Ruth crooned over the sounds of settling in. “The Spirit has been so strong here ever since you guys arrived. Can you feel it? Can you feel how this place is just pulsing with the Presence?” Nods and murmurs from the counselors and the drowsy but accommodating campers. “I’m serious, you guys. You all are so alive with the Word. It’s totally inspiring. You are lifting us up with you, and I can’t wait to see what all that energy can do. You came here to be chosen, but I am telling you that
