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she was grateful for his sensitivity.
Pretty sad, isn t it? Susan sighed.
Susan thinks she knows the kids, Jenny offered.
All eyes looked to Susan. She shrugged. Well, one of them,
yeah. Laura Henderson. I ve been working with her for months.
I guess this is her way of telling me to back off.
Not very subtle, Ryan said, shaking his head.
Susan continued, She s basically a good kid. Her home life s
a mess, though. She s pretty desperate for some sort of control,
something to hang on to.
Okay, everybody, Todd shouted to the room. That s
enough for now. Those of you who want to stick around and help
afterward, great. But let s grab some pizza and get started.
We ll talk later, Susan said as she started toward the front.
Jenny accompanied Ryan and Becka to the pizza table. Becka
took a deep breath. She wasn t crazy about meeting new people.
In fact, she hated it. But Z had suggested they do this, and so far
Z had never been wrong.
+ =
Scott continued rummaging through the junk stacked in the
garage. The previous tenants had left dozens of boxes behind,
and it was his job to go through each and every one to see if
there was anything worth saving. Some of the stuff was pretty
strange used toothbrushes, plastic milk cartons, the bottom
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half of tennis shoes. Yessir, whoever lived here before was defi-
nitely unique, in a Ripley s Believe It or Not sort of way.
Then, of course, there were the strange noises they d heard
in the garage, along with the eerie streaks of light that flew
across the room. It s not that Mom and Becka were scared or
anything they were sure there was a logical explanation for it
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all. They just weren t crazy about being in the garage alone. So
Scott, being the official man of the house, had been assigned the
job of working there. He d muttered something about sexism,
but it did little good. He could mutter all he wanted. He still got
the job.
But right now the noises and lights were not on his mind.
Instead, he was thinking of red hair sparkling in sunlight,
incredible green eyes, and a fun-loving smile.
He glanced at his watch for the hundredth time. He had done
the right thing, putting Kara off till Mom got home. But the
hours and minutes seemed to drag by. She was practically all
he could think about. It s not that he hadn t seen beautiful girls
before. Or never been attracted to them. But not like this. This
one was special. And to top it off, this one was interested in him.
Ver y interested.
What had she said? I m a pagan . . . I believe in freedom . . . if
it feels good, I do it. Scott forced the thoughts out of his mind.
He took a deep breath and heaved another box onto the others.
You didn t have to be a genius to know what she meant. You d
have to be deaf and blind not to know what she meant. Deaf and
blind . . . and dead!
Scott sighed. For most of the guys at school, this would have
been the opportunity of a lifetime. Something they dreamed
about. But Scott knew what he should do: Cut her off. Don t get
involved. Run from temptation.
But even as he thought that, he heard another voice: Maybe
I can help her. Maybe take her to church. Who knows, she might
even
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Hey, guy.
He started, and immediately felt his heart begin to pound.
Hey, yourself, he said, turning toward her.
Sorry I m early. Her smile said she wasn t sorry in the
least.
No sweat, Scott replied, trying to stay nonchalant.
Suddenly, right on cue, there was a loud SCREECH!
Scott s eyes darted to the rafters. Fortunately it was bright
enough in the garage that they couldn t see the darting light that
always accompanied the sound.
What is that? Kara asked, stepping closer.
Don t worry, Scott said, still staring at the rafters. Just our
pet ghost.
No, really, what was that?
We re not sure.
SCREECH SCRAPE.
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That s so weird. But instead of backing off, Kara moved
in to investigate. It sounded like it came from up there in the
ceiling.
Before Scott could respond, she hopped up on some nearby
boxes. Her impulsiveness didn t surprise him. Nothing she did
surprised him anymore. She crawled to the next level of boxes,
almost even with the bare bulb that hung down. Then she stood
up, balancing herself precariously.
Scott didn t mean to stare. But even in the harsh light of the
bulb she looked gorgeous. The flowing gauze skirt and tank top
didn t help matters. It was a struggle, but at last Scott forced
himself to look away.
Nothing here. Kara sounded disappointed.
Hmm, Scott said, pretending to examine the contents of
his latest box. Not that he knew what he was looking at. If it had
been gold coins, he wouldn t have seen them.
Aren t you going to help me down?
Scott looked up. Kara stood on the box above him, holding
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out her hands. Somewhere in the back of his mind he heard, Be
careful, but the voice was growing fainter by the second.
Oh . . . uh, yeah. Sure. Scott fumbled to close the box lid
and quickly moved to her aid. He reached up; she reached down.
It was the first time their hands had touched since that after-
noon. Then, before he could react, Kara placed his hands on
her waist and gave a little hop. He had to move closer to catch
her weight, and suddenly, as he lowered her, they were nice and
close. Too close.
Thanks, she said, shaking her hair back and gazing up at
him.
Scott said nothing. He wasn t sure he could speak even if he
wanted to.
Holding his gaze, Kara wrapped her arms around his neck,
rose up on her toes, and brought her lips toward his. The voice
in his head was screaming, but he paid little attention.
Until another voice broke in:
Hey, Scotty. Who s your friend?
Scott spun around. Mom was standing in the kitchen doorway.
The look on her face showed surprise and disappointment.
+ =
The youth meeting at the church was good. Becka had for-
gotten how much she missed being with other believers. Oh
sure, some of them were just hangers-on, guys and girls scoping
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out each other, but there was a handful of kids who were really
committed to God. You could tell by the way they got into the
singing. The songs weren t just the fun, hand-clapping, I m-glad-
to-be-a-Chris tian-aren t-you type of stuff. There were also some
worship tunes that were really directed to Jesus songs that told
him how much they loved him.
Becka didn t know many of the words (being stuck in remote
South American jungles kind of keeps you from learning the latest
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hits). As the new kid with a non-Chris tian friend at her elbow,
she was definitely on the self-conscious side. But eventually she
was able to force that stuff out of her mind long enough to start
worshiping a little herself. It felt good. Real good.
The teaching wasn t bad either. The one who is in you is
greater than the one who is in the world. That was the Bible
verse Todd kept referring to. He was obviously trying to comfort
the kids who were upset and nervous about all the damage. He
talked a lot about the authority Chris tians have over Satan . . . the
promises Jesus made to Chris tians that they can stomp on the
devil if they believe and use that authority.
But as Becka tried to concentrate on what he was saying, she
kept being distracted by the writing scrawled across the wall
behind him.
NEMANATAS
ACCEBERREDRUM
Maybe it s a foreign language, she thought. Or initials. But
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