Ruth followed Christina’s winding path around the teams, lightly touching certain campers’ shoulders as she passed. As she did so, the camper’s mentor would maneuver the chosen teen into the center of the circle, which then tightened around him or her. This time, Gabi was first, and she allowed the pressure of Luke’s body behind her to urge her forward. It was a similar scenario to the first night, when they placed their hands on each other and sang, but the energy was amplified by the intensity of the last couple of days. And the stakes. For one of them, the unimaginable was within reach. All they had to do was grasp it and surrender.
Surrender, Gabi reminded herself as Luke sang into her ear and cradled her back into his chest.
Luke’s voice kept venturing off-key, but any irritation Gabi felt toward him melted as the heat of his body burned through her thin shift. His close-shaven chin moved at her temple as he sang, and the back of her head was cradled in the crook of his strong neck. Her teammates and their mentors moved closer. Some laid hands on her bare shoulders and arms, while others pressed down into the curly cap of her hair. Their hands and Luke’s comforting body cocooned her. It was the most physically intimate moment of Gabi’s life, and she never wanted it to end.
Luke started speaking into her ear, not lyrics, but an urgent mantra. “Let go, Gabi. Just open your heart, and let it come. God is talking to you. Let yourself hear.”
Dimly, Gabi saw Ginny step into the circle with her, eyes unfixed and far away. The counselor’s lips curled and stretched around unfathomable sounds as she tipped her head back and reached her hands skyward, vibrating with her message. It was, Gabi realized, an invitation. She could either take up translation of Ginny’s strange litany, or join with her as a conduit for the Word.
“I am yours, God, I come to you pure.” The singing of her team droned in Gabi’s ears, shaking loose the fear that kept trying to gain a foothold. Ginny’s words made no sense to her, yet Gabi felt an answering buzzing in her gums and an aching in her teeth that could only be relieved by moving her lips. Was this it? Was this what she was supposed to feel?
Luke tightened his arms around her, and he moved his head until they were cheek to cheek. “That’s right, Gabi,” he whispered, rocking her more slowly, though the pace of the music continued to build. “Let it come.” He sounded like he loved her. She felt a stronger version of the muddled high she’d experienced after gorging at the buffet on the first night of camp. The aching buzz in her teeth mounted as her heart swelled, squeezing against her lungs and expanding up into her throat. She opened her mouth to discharge some of the pressure and give her ballooning heart more room.
“Lessjeezar contasta hivbrum!” Gabi cried as fireworks exploded in her head and her heart became everything. “Bakul gistmeer utaryameen!” Her words meant no more to her than Ginny’s had, but the speaking of them felt like release and union all at once. She wasn’t just connected to everyone around her. She contained them. Ginny’s voice rose to meet hers, and when Gabi opened her eyes, the chorus of their voices twined like dancing snakes in the fog of incense over their heads. Impossible, Gabi thought, reaching up to touch the snakes’ glittering scales.
“He has called us to gather his flock! He bade the oceans rise and poisoned the land to force us to come together again as one!” They were Sam’s words. His translation. How she loved him! Why had she been so quick to judge him without giving him a chance to explain? Gabi opened her eyes and spread her arms to embrace him only to realize the words weren’t coming from Sam, but from Peter. The boy stood in front of Gabi, eyes closed and face inches from hers. He was “translating” the sounds spilling from her lips. Peter’s translation was an exact quote from her father and was part of the Unitas origin story taught to all fellows, but it didn’t feel like what had come through her. Her sounds had been an extension of pure feeling. It was, Gabi imagined, what God felt like, but was it the Word?
As soon as Gabi realized what Peter was doing, she fell silent, but no one seemed to notice. Peter had moved to Ginny’s side to translate for her. Jordan’s eyes were closed, and his brow furrowed as he spoke to Zach, who was scribbling on the pocket-sized notebook in his hand. Unlike Gabi’s ecstatic cries and Peter’s theatrical translation, Jordan and Zach had the restrained dignity of Sam and Messenger Nystrom at work. Beth gestured wildly as she gave her message, punching and slicing the air as though fighting off an attacker while Marnie spoke the translation. If Gabi hadn’t heard the flawless recitation of doctrine tripping from Marnie’s lips for herself, she never would have believed it. It was as though Marnie had every word of the thick book cradled in Ruth’s hands seared into her brain, the way the “Mark of the Beast” was scorched into her skin.
The pleasant sensations still throbbed through her, but as Gabi took all of this in, the avalanche of love that had overtaken her receded. Her tongue felt pickled; an effect of the potion in the goblet, no doubt. Luke, sensing her return to sobriety, stood in front of her, and folded her hands between his. The front of his shirt was soaked with sweat, as was the back of Gabi’s shift. She felt shy in front of him, as though they’d just seen each other naked. Luke’s eyes shone with tenderness as he touched his forehead to hers.
“You
