FRANKIE AND Janet took seats at a round table in Kevin’s kitchen. Kevin poured three glasses of tea and offered them Fig Newtons before sitting down.

“So how is everyone?” Kevin asked once they were settled. “How’s my boy Gary doing? I bet he’s married now and has a brood of kids who look just like him.”

Frankie exchanged a dark look with Janet, whose lips formed a thin line. Gary Humphrey was Kevin’s successor. “Gary was killed in a car accident seventeen years ago,” Frankie said, feeling an uncharacteristic twinge of sorrow as he remembered the day it happened. “It was one of those freak things. He had the windows rolled down and they think a bee or spider got inside and caused him to panic. He went off the road into a utility pole.”

Frankie could hear the breath leaving Kevin’s chest. “Oh no.” Kevin’s Adam’s apple bobbed up and down. “Did he have a…a…”

“Replacement? Yes. He chose Martin Hampstead shortly before he died.”

Kevin’s mood lightened a little. “I remember him! He went to that Methodist church down the street from St. Paul’s. Always cracking jokes, that one was. Never knew he’d end up being chosen. Is he doing all right?”

Frankie had known their conversation would take a turn like this since Kevin had been out of the loop for so long. “I’m sure he’s doing quite a bit better than we are. He was murdered in 2002.”

Kevin’s face was now utterly devoid of color. “Murdered?”

“He was helping a woman and her ex didn’t like it, so he shot Martin in the chest. I’ve been told his death was instant.”

Kevin bowed his head, and his shoulders shook. “I just can’t believe they’re both gone. And so young! I mean, I…”

“They’re not gone, Kevin. Did you forget who called us to be Servants? Do you think the death of our bodies is the very end? You know it’s not! Or have you chosen to forget everything you knew back home?”

Kevin’s pouchy face was damp with tears. “No, Frankie. You don’t understand. I came out here because it’s so quiet. Nothing ever bothers me out here. I didn’t think I’d find peace again, but I did. This is where God wants me to be.”

“Can you still heal?”

The question took the former Servant by surprise. “Pardon?”

“I said, can you still heal?”

Kevin frowned. “Of course I can still heal. Why wouldn’t I?”

“Prove it.”

“I don’t understand. You don’t believe me?”

“When was the last time you did it?”

“I don’t know. Maybe last month? Chet cut his paw on a rock when we were walking through the creek at the back of my property. All I had to do was touch him and he was just fine. He’s a good dog.”

Janet squirmed in her chair and gazed into her tea. She had never allowed Frankie or Carly to have any pets that weren’t fish. The idea that a dog might be good was wholly foreign to her.

“So we’ll practice and see if your ability still works on humans.” Frankie eyed a knife block sitting on Kevin’s cluttered counter. “Excuse me.” He rose from the table and selected the largest knife he could find. Kevin needed to get over his cowardice. This might help.

Janet gasped when Frankie returned to the table with the knife. “Frankie Jovingo, what in the world are you doing?”

Frankie twisted his left arm so his palm faced upward. He pressed the tip of the knife to the skin of his wrist and made a light incision about two inches long. It stung when the top layer of skin separated from itself, but the pain would pass soon enough. “There,” he said. “Heal it.”

Kevin looked ill even though the quantity of blood seeping from the cut couldn’t have filled a thimble. “You’re crazy,” he said, and brought the fingers of his right hand to rest on the cut.

Warmth penetrated his skin, and the pain vanished.

“That’s what they keep telling me,” Frankie said as Kevin took his hand away. Frankie pulled a napkin out of the holder sitting in the center of the table and wiped away the blood. He held his arm closer to his face. His skin was unbroken—there wasn’t even a scar.

Kevin rose on shaking legs and went to the sink to wash his hands. “I had nightmares,” he said in a strained voice. “Horrible ones. Since I’ve lived here, they’ve mostly gone away.”

“You didn’t need to have nightmares,” Frankie said. “God is on your side. With him, there’s nothing to fear.”

“I’m not you, Frankie.” Kevin dried his hands on a dish towel and resumed his seat, looking forlorn.

Janet looked to Kevin. “I’m sorry he’s treating you like this. I told him to leave you alone but he insisted on finding you, so I came along to keep him in line.”

To Frankie’s surprise, Kevin’s face broke into a smile. “Keep Frankie in line? That’ll be the day. I remember what it was like. Roger would just about have a heart attack whenever you’d skip town without notice. Graham always thought that was so funny.” His expression sobered. “Please tell me Roger and Graham are still doing okay.”

Frankie cleared his throat. “Roger is quite well, though I do keep advising him that he should probably lose some weight. Graham, however, is not.” He proceeded to tell Kevin about all that transpired during the past year in regard to Graham’s plot against Randy, whom Kevin had never met.

“So if this Randy survived and was replaced by a new guy,” Kevin said when Frankie finished, “then what in the world do you need me for?”

Frankie straightened his shoulders. “An angel told me to find you.”

“An angel.”

“Do you doubt me?”

“You’re making it up.”

Frankie had expected Kevin to doubt him. Many would. “He clearly thinks your ability will be of use to us.”

Kevin’s bottom lip trembled. “Do you want to know what I dreamed about before I left?”

“I don’t need to know. We do ask that you consider returning with us. I don’t know what disaster awaits, but I do know it must be bad enough that God sent one of his messengers to intervene.”

“Did this messenger have a name?”

“Yes. Caleb.”

Kevin looked like he’d just been slapped. “You’re sure?”

“Why?”

Kevin cleared his throat. “He and I may have been somewhat acquainted at one point. Back when I was the Servant, you know. He told me…never mind.”

Interesting. Frankie’s own grandfather had mentioned receiving help from an entity named Caleb, as well, which had lent some credibility to the message Frankie had received.

“I don’t want to go back,” Kevin said.

“I didn’t think you would.”

“Then why did you come?”

Frankie leaned forward. “Because I didn’t feel it would be proper to disobey such an urgent request.”

Silence. Then, “No offense, but I don’t want to deal with you people again. I’ve been a happy man since I came out here. I’ve got my land, I’ve got my dog, and I’ve got my God, and I don’t need anything or anyone else.”

“If you truly feel you’re right in the eyes of God, come with us. If someone dies because you’re too stubborn to come out of your little hermit hole, you will take the blame for it.”

Tears filled Kevin’s eyes. “Oh Lord. Oh geez. Oh Lord.” His breaths became shallow, and he grabbed onto the edge of the table. “Lord, what am I going to do?”

“That’s your decision to make.”

“Oh geez.” Kevin shook his head. “Word for word, what did Caleb tell you?”

“He said, ‘Find Kevin Lyle and tell him to return to Oregon.’ I asked him why and he said, ‘Because someone important will need him.’”

Kevin dragged a hand over his tired face. “Lord have mercy. Let me think this over.”