Luke and Ursula drifted over to a cluster of flat rocks, where they began digging through the daypacks they’d brought along with them. “Come on over, you two,” Ursula sang, waving a couple of wrapped packages in the air. Luke was already eating cream-filled chocolate cookie sandwiches two at a time.
“Oh, man,” he groaned. “I’ve been waiting for this since last year. These things are my favorite. Try some!” He extended the package toward Gabi and Troy as they approached while Ursula nibbled at a beige confection that smelled of peanut butter. Troy plucked a cookie from the plastic tray. Gabi hesitated, but only for a moment. If Luke and Ursula were eating them and they came prewrapped, they must be fine. She took four and ate them two at a time, like Luke.
“Where do you put it?” he chuckled, offering Gabi another handful.
“Yeah, that package of cookies is bigger than you are!” Ursula added. Gabi knew they were kidding, but she was tired of being the butt of jokes. She grabbed the cookies from Luke, and a double handful of salty corn chips Ursula produced from her bag. Neither she nor Troy had brought anything to drink, since no one had told them where they were going or for how long. The chips, which were less offensively old than the cookies, made Gabi’s tongue adhere to the roof of her mouth, and she saw Troy licking his pale, parched lips.
As if on cue, Luke pulled four thermoses from his pack and handed one to each of them. Luke’s Adam’s apple bobbed in his tanned throat as he unscrewed the cap from his thermos and chugged half in one lusty gulp.
“My other favorite part,” he said, wiping moisture from his lips with the back of his hand. “Lemonade, with real lemons!” Luke’s thermos was blue, Ursula’s was green, Gabi’s was yellow, and Troy’s was red. There was no way to be sure none of them were contaminated. The liquid in Gabi’s thermos was lemonade all right. The sweet-sour smell of it caused her salivary glands to gush, but there was something else in the scent; something chemical underneath the tang of fresh lemons. She would just have to go thirsty for a bit longer. Surely the Weak Faithers would be heading back to the lodge soon.
Troy copied Luke, tilting his thermos up and drinking straight from the bottle with gusto. Gabi pretended to do the same. If she used the cup, everyone would see she wasn’t really drinking. The sun was directly overhead now, pouring down on their heads like warm oil as the breeze ruffled the empty plastic wrappers strewn around them. To be sitting in such a place, with actual in-the-wild trees and remnants of snow that wasn’t toxic before it hit the ground, was paradise. Gabi hadn’t even known such places existed. When Mathew told her about camp, he’d focused more on the food and new friends than the beautiful setting. With the untouched contours of the landscape undulating beneath her, Gabi felt less alone than she had in her whole life. Going back to Alder, with its bleak, graded tracts of biograss and slushy mud waiting to become dust, would be a difficult adjustment after even a few days of this place.
Troy lounged back, supporting himself on his hands and laughing at some terrible pun Luke made. The boy looked transformed, perhaps from the confidence he’d gained from passing the challenge, or maybe it was the smaller size of the group that put him at ease. Or maybe, Gabi thought—noticing the dreamy cast to the boy’s eyes and the loving way he looked at all of them—maybe it was the lemonade. Gabi joined in their laughter, remembering that she was meant to be high on success and tainted lemonade as well.
Luke brushed off his hands and packed up the trash from their picnic with a protracted sigh. “Well, we should finish this up, folks. I know you just tanked up on cookies, but you do not want to miss what the catering staff have planned for lunch.”
Gabi lurched to her feet, groaning as the movement jostled her right side. Troy was slower getting up, giggling and stumbling as he wobbled upright. The boy was definitely drugged, but why bother doping them up when they were about to go eat more of the altered food in the lodge?
As though he’d read her mind, Luke furnished the answer. “There’s just one more challenge,” he said, nodding at Ursula, who unzipped the front pocket of her pack and pulled out a flat, black box. “Then we can get the heck out of here and go get some grub. It’s going to be good times and smooth sailing after this.”
Gabi’s heart plummeted, but Troy actually looked happy about this latest development. More likely, he was feeling happy about everything in general.
“Who wants to be go first?” Ursula asked, her pupils dilating with excitement as she handed the box to Luke.
“To do what?” Troy asked, blinking at it.
“There are two roles,” Luke explained. “You only have to do the exercise once, so you don’t have to switch when you’re done.” Then he opened the box. Troy frowned, squinting at the object inside without recognition, but Gabi identified it instantly. It was much older than any of the ones Mathew had pointed out to her in the back issues of Mission Possible that his friend, Kenny Ames, snuck out of the recycling bin in his dad’s study. Burton Ames was a high-ranking Apostle and one of Mathew’s heroes. Kenny had no such aspirations, being a rather fey boy with artistic leanings, but he was happy to supply
