By the time we circled up that night, we’d watched a movie, hiked down the back trail, eaten dinner, and even had nap time. The house hummed with happiness. Hannah seemed quiet, but I remembered how much I had to think about the morning after Joshua and I had stayed up talking. Sophie and Jared were obviously sitting in a tree, and I was happy for her. I just worried it left them vulnerable to Joshua’s interpretation. At that point, though, Sophie would have said I was acting paranoid. So I shut my mouth and savored the perfect day at Camp Contentment.

I hid in the upstairs bedroom for an hour or so after dinner. The guys washed the dinner dishes. Sophie and Hannah dressed up and did each other’s hair. I heard squealing and, at first, I didn’t recognize the voice. Then I realized it was Hannah, sounding giddy and girly.

Once we gathered in front of the fire, Joshua asked us to study all the faces around the room. “We’ve spent a full day distancing ourselves from McCracken Hill, from your old selves. Look and see how relaxed you all are. Tension has fled. Worry lines have eased.” None of us were old enough for Botox yet, but I saw what Joshua meant. With her makeup done and her hair curled, Hannah looked like a different person. Older, but less haunted. Jared and Sophie seemed drunk on each other. And Addison looked like the same old comfortable-in-my-skin-and-maybe-yours Addison. Except even more so. He looked like a better version of himself.

“I’ve given over much of the past night and day to reflection. Some of you have noticed me challenging you. That has caused some discomfort. For that, I apologize.” It occurred to me that Wes didn’t seem any more relaxed. He had that trapped look, like he would just sit there in a comfortable chair until the weekend passed and he could climb into the van to return home. Joshua announced, “I feel such optimism about tonight and hope you share that with me.”

Hannah asked the question we were all thinking. “What’s tonight, Joshua?”

“Tonight we’re going to talk about our role in defending the world.”

“You’re joking?” Wes rubbed his hand over his face.

Sophie corrected him. “No, it’s a symbol.” She nodded to Jared.

“It’s not a symbol,” I told her. “He’s speaking metaphorically.”

Sophie looked puzzled. “That’s not the same thing?”

“There is no joke. There’s no symbol and there is certainly no metaphor.” Joshua’s voice rose and boomed. Some of us flinched. All of us focused. “Not every generation has the good fortune of hearing a calling, and I offer it to you. You must listen closely to the universe for it. It speaks to you now. Stand as a cadre of warriors together and hear it. Historically, that’s the way. Youth must rise up and take on the worthy wars. It’s not your parents who will rise up — they have careers and children. Mortgages and country club memberships. Your older siblings are consumed” — he looked at Addison and then Sophie — “by one thing or the other.” Joshua slammed his fist into his thigh so hard, I knew a bruise would blossom there. “You are the ones left to stand and defend us.”

I swung my head to check in with Addison, figuring he’d chuckle and slap Joshua’s shoulder and we’d all have a good laugh. Then we’d put back on the lights and maybe watch the political thriller. Call it a night. But Addison looked as serious as I’ve ever seen him. His chiseled face, his shaved head. He stood at attention like the kind of soldier Joshua was ranting about needing for the front lines.

“None of you will have to fight right away,” Joshua assured us. “We have time, not a significant amount, but we do have time for you to train. When we get back to campus, that’s going to take some creativity. Because you know the strictures they place on you. They are afraid of your potential. Rightly so. The weekend has given us the gift of a head start. Before they even look up, we will have begun preparations for the battle on the horizon.” Joshua dropped his voice down low. “Do you all hear me?” He searched each of our faces. “Do you all trust each other?” He sat back and crossed one leg over the other. “We’re it, for a while. This isn’t information you should share with anyone else.”

“I feel like I missed something major.” Jared spoke tentatively. “Maybe when Sophie and I — you know, we spent a good amount of time alone together. But I don’t remember discussing a conflict besides the private ones we talked about yesterday.” Jared looked around frantically for help. I tried to formulate words and failed.

Addison spoke then. I thought, He knows this has gone far enough. Addison will put a stop to it. But instead he said, “Maybe you should tell everyone a bit more about the situation we’re facing.”

“Thank you, brother. Again, I need to stress that you might not have even considered the looming danger. That’s all right. That’s not your job. Your job is to answer the call. It’s my job to be the conduit for the call. Do you understand what I mean by conduit?” He turned to Hannah.

She looked puzzled. “Usually you use it to describe electricity.”

“That’s right.” Joshua lifted in his seat. “Exactly right. I am the channel for that electricity — that fire, that inspiration. I carry the message to the chosen few. And we’ve spent the past hours uncovering how each of you was chosen. The burdens that have already tested you. The paths that led you right to this place.”

“Who chose us, Joshua?” Sophie asked.

“See, you want me to say God, because that would give you an excuse to dismiss me. If I claim that God talks to me, then I am a kook. I lose my credibility. So I will say the universe chose you. I will say that confidently and leave it at that.”

Addison whispered to him, “We all feel chosen.” When he said that, I panicked for a second, that Add would only make the whole thing worse. But then I thought, Okay, it’s true that we all chose each other in some way. Maybe that’s what Addison means. Maybe he’s just trying to break down the metaphor for us.

“You’re telling me to tell them about the war.” Joshua’s voice grew grim. Addison issued a curt nod. It wasn’t difficult to picture him saluting next.

Joshua cleared his throat. “In less than two decades, we will be fighting a war against the militant vegan movement.”

I blinked.

Sophie mouthed one word, “Wow,” and didn’t manage to close her mouth again.

“Jesus Christ. You take that much issue with the fact that I’m a vegetarian?” Wes sounded pained. “Greer, seriously — has it caused that much inconvenience to make meatless meals? I haven’t made any kind of fuss. I’m not vegan, for Christ’s sake.”

“This isn’t about you.” Joshua spoke before I had the chance to tell Wes to stop worrying about that. To remind him that I kind of understood the idea of dietary needs. Or to mention that Joshua had just announced we would be fighting a war against vegans and that was kind of outrageous. Joshua went on, “Think of what history has taught us. Wars are fought when the poor go hungry, when resources run dry. Haven’t you heard of vandals destroying SUVs, picketing new industry? Ecoterrorism. That’s the first wave. When food starts to run out, when we start to change the way we eat, then the conflict between omnivores and herbivores will turn bloody. Just like the dinosaurs.”

“Wait. What?” Jared’s eyes bugged out a little. “You’re saying the dinosaurs killed each other off over food?”

“What, does a random meteor make more sense to you? When resources run low, animals turn on each other. Make no mistake — we are animals!” Joshua’s face contorted as he spoke.

Tears washed over Hannah’s face. “I don’t understand what we’re talking about. Joshua, you’re scaring me.”

“You should be scared. We need to capitalize on our own fear and fight back. Your families have already cast you out. You are disposable to them. But in this group, each of you has a very specific function. You contribute a piece to the machine. I’m telling you, it’s as if the force of the universe delivered you to me. Don’t turn away from that, I beg you, for the sake of the future.”

Addison said, “Maybe if you show them how — like you explained it to me.”

“No one resents your vegetarian diet, Wes. It provides insight. It teaches us about the enemy. Jared and Addison have been training so hard as athletes. They have already developed the bodies of warriors. And they can testify to the importance of the omnivore diet. We need them to sway the masses if it comes down to that.”

Wes threw up his hands. “So now I’m not built enough to be a warrior. On top of all the other ways I’m a loser. This has been a terrific weekend. Thanks for inviting me. Really.”

My mouth tasted sour with fear. Joshua turned to Sophie. “Sophia, your name means wisdom and we need your intellect. I’m one of the four smartest people I know, but you are the first. Do you hear me?”

Sophie bit her lip and nodded. I tried to make eye contact, but her gaze stayed on Joshua. “There’s more, though. You know there’s more.” Sophie nodded and swallowed. Joshua said, “Tell me.”

“Money.” She said it miserably.

“I know it sounds crude, but it will cost us money to arm ourselves.” An audible gasp blew through the room. He held up his hand again. “Not now. There will come a time, but not now. We still need to train. We need headquarters off the grid, where we won’t be disturbed. You take care of the access here. I will find a way to ensure that McCracken Hill allows, encourages, our field trips. They just will not know that we consider them field ops.”

Sophie looked sick. Joshua asked gently, “Can you make that happen?”

“Maybe. Yes.”

I tried to shake my head with my eyes. I wanted to send her a message telepathically. I’m sorry I got you into this. I followed Sophie’s eyes around the room. They stopped by her family pictures. The last time she’d been up here was the week she’d lost her brother. Now we were talking about turning it into home base for the meat-eating militia.

“Why me, Joshua?” Hannah’s voice sounded shaky and small.

He turned to her with one of his enormous, bursting-with-pride smiles. “You didn’t think I’d forgotten you. What have I told you, Hannah Rose? What do I keep promising?”

As if auditioning for the part, Hannah spoke in the smallest voice possible. “The meek will inherit the earth.”

“That’s correct. Maybe your brothers and sisters can explain why your presence will be so valuable. What happens when others meet Hannah? Sophia?”

“They want to help her.”

“Exactly. The myth of Hannah’s fragility will be our strength. Do you all see that? Hannah, you inspire empathy. We’ll need your talent for drawing in others when it’s time to swell our ranks.”

This was about the time I remember wanting to stand up and call bullshit. I sat there and listened to the news about the impending vegan invasion, the dinosaur cage fight, but the idea of Hannah working a crowd counted as the most unbelievable part of the plan. It wasn’t just that she was awkward. She usually managed to say the most wrong thing at the worst possible time. She did not appear to understand the complexities of human emotion. She veered between aloof and needy, apparently depending on whether or not she had a good book to enjoy. She could not have served as the ambassador to a ham sandwich, let alone help inspire a world revolution.

While I ranted in my head, the room had grown quiet. Everyone stared at me and for a second, I worried my Hannah Green rant had come out main mix. “Elizabeth,” Joshua said.

“What?”

I must have sounded superdefensive because Addison sang lightly, “Greer, Greer — you need to hear.” He took my hand in his. I waited. Joshua kept me waiting even longer.

He stood up and stretched. We all watched him pace around the room. He bounced a little, like a boxer headed into the ring. My hand felt sweaty. When I moved to wipe it on my pant leg, Addison just squeezed harder and said, “Greer, Greer — no need to fear.”

Joshua sat down and leaned forward. “Some force has selected all of you to serve as warriors.” His eyes shot arrows at Wes. “Even those of you who continue to doubt your own calling — the universe has chosen all of you.” We nodded, maybe because we had grown used to nodding. “Except you, Elizabeth.”

So once again I was cut from the team? Honestly, that was the first thought that popped in my head. Who will I sit with in the dining hall when everyone else is avenging Oscar Mayer? “Elizabeth, you only think you are a warrior. You fight everything. You fight your parents, your teachers. You fight me. You fight love. You fight your own physical form. Would you like me to tell you why?”

Go for it, guru. I nodded.

He said, “I need you to vocalize it.”

“Yes. Please tell me why I fight everything.” He kept staring at me, so I added, “Even my own physical form.”

“Because you shouldn’t have one.” Here we go. The same old Greer-Cannon-actually-died-as-a-ten-year-old argument. Hannah seemed baffled. Sophie looked troubled. Addison appeared prepared. Jared and Wes looked as if they were hoping we could break for some kind of snack.

Joshua clapped his hands loudly and we all snapped to attention. He looked around at the gathered group, at everyone except me. Then he proclaimed, “Elizabeth is an angel, sent by God to protect us from our enemies.”

Jackpot. I got to be the angel. No going to the gym, no ponying up cash. No infiltrating the mysterious vegan underground. Surely I’d make eye contact with someone and then we’d all start giggling. The jig would be up but at least I could savor this moment while it lasted.

But that’s not what happened. Instead we all hushed and sat there, studying our own hands. Joshua kept pressing. “How does hearing that make you feel, Elizabeth?”

I went with, “Confused.”

“I understand that. And shocked?”

For whatever reason, I didn’t want to give Joshua any sense that he’d caught me by surprise. “No.” That’s all I said. We sat staring at each other.

“How about you, Addison?”

Part of me hoped that the fact that Addison had spent time with his hands in my pants would preclude him from believing that I was actually an otherworldly being.

“I know in my heart that it’s true. I feel this emanating power when I’m in her presence. Since we first saw each other — we were in class together and I recognized her as the source of so much comfort. She keeps me safe and strong.” Addison’s voice sounded choked. He was saying all the right things, for all the wrong reasons.

“You’re speaking this to me. And I thank you for trusting me. But, brother, I noticed this lightness wash over you as soon as you first mentioned her to me. Why not tell Elizabeth about it?”

I could have sworn I heard his head creak as Addison turned to face me. Maybe Joshua would next announce that Addison fulfilled the necessary cyborg component of our team. When Addison stared into my eyes, he looked very much human, though. I saw tears. He meant all of it.

He looked at me just like I’d dreamed of him looking at me. This was simply a different context. When he spoke up, I expected the usual singsong, but instead he used Joshua’s name for me. “Elizabeth, you have my complete faith.”

I guess Elizabeth was more challenging to rhyme. I couldn’t tell if he was trying or not. “Feel free to respond, Elizabeth,” Joshua prodded, and I wished someone would tell him to cram it. I felt my eyes well up too, but it wasn’t this outpouring of joy. Joshua had invaded us. That’s what I wanted to tell Addison.

The way we felt about each other had been good because it had been real. I couldn’t stop myself from looking away, but managed at least to look down at our entwined hands. Staring at them, I thought, All I have to do is play Joshua’s stupid believing game. Addison is the prize I win. Right then he still seemed worth it. Even now I’d swear he was worth it. So I squeezed his hands back and looked in his eyes and told him, “Addison, you have my complete faith, as well.”

Joshua meant for it to seem like a wedding. I knew that. He meant us to feel as if we were making vows. So I made mine. It probably counted as the first time I looked at Addison and lied.