friends with Lauren on Saturday. James hugged Eve and they kissed each other on the cheek, but this time he reminded himself that Eve’s affection was put on to encourage him and his family to become Survivors.
Lauren, James and Dana were immediately taken in separate directions by their chaperones. The community room was being used by a group of elderly ladies for a music and movement class, so Eve took James upstairs to a shop with an elaborate glass frontage. It had clearly been a jeweller’s before the mall went bust.
The inside was filled up with bean bags and foam blocks and a group of teenagers were sprawled over the cushions. There was a TV hanging on the wall and it was showing a programme about the building of the Survivors’ second Ark in Nevada.
James smiled. ‘You’ve even got your own TV station.’
‘The programmes get flown in once a week from the Ark on videotape,’ Eve nodded. ‘It’s a mixture of films, shows from normal TV and documentaries and news programmes that we make ourselves.’
‘Looks a bit dull,’ James said. ‘Can’t you flip to something else?’
‘No,’ Eve said, looking thoroughly offended. ‘We don’t want to bring the influence of devils into our home. Besides, it’ll be switched off in a minute when our service starts.’
As James strode uneasily over stacks of bouncy cushions and trailing legs, he was greeted with smiles and handshakes. A few minutes later, a forty-something women dressed in a white robe came in. She introduced herself to James as Lydia, before sitting in the centre of the room.
‘Welcome James,’ Lydia gushed, as if she’d been waiting her whole life to meet him.
As soon as she said it, the two dozen teenagers started clapping, before repeating her welcome. When it quietened down, Lydia stared directly into James’ eyes and smiled at him.
‘James,’ she said. ‘You visited us here for the first time on Saturday. Did you have fun?’
James nodded. ‘Yeah, it was cool.’
‘You saw the exhibits in the hall downstairs. You saw the good work we do for the environment and for poor people around the world?’
He nodded again, though he hadn’t actually paid much attention.
‘But I’m told you don’t believe in God.’
James was surprised to find that his casual remark to Ruth had been reported. He wondered if anything else he’d said would come back to haunt him.
‘Well …’ he said weakly.
‘That’s OK, James,’ Lydia smiled. ‘Maybe one day you’ll feel differently. We can tell that you’re a kind and considerate person. We understand that you’ve moved to a new town where you don’t know very many people. But hopefully you’ve found friends amongst us here?’
James nodded. ‘You’re all really nice. In fact you’re amazingly nice.’
James felt cold inside, because he knew Lydia was trying to manipulate him. But he was still disturbed by how easily he’d bonded with the group four nights earlier. If this had been his real life instead of a mission, he’d still be sucking up the warm feelings while the Survivors took control of his life.
‘Does everyone here think James could become an angel?’ Lydia asked.
‘Yes,’ every teenager in the room shouted, before breaking out in cheers, whoops and clapping.
James smiled, but as soon as he found himself feeling genuinely flattered, he used one of the techniques Miriam had taught him. She’d explained that thinking of something you found physically repulsive stops you becoming overwhelmed by strong positive feelings. In James’ case, he’d trained himself to think of a soggy cheese and mayonnaise sandwich that he’d encountered in Arizona ten months earlier. Just imagining the smell of it made him gag.
‘James, would you like to learn about the Survivors and the work we do for the planet?’ Lydia asked.
He nodded uncertainly.
‘We’d very much like you to become our friend and learn about us, James. We don’t want to force you into doing anything you don’t want to do. But we would like to offer you this necklace as a token of our friendship.’
Lydia stood and pulled a leather strap necklace out of a pouch on the front of her robe.
She stood above James. ‘James Prince, do you take this necklace from us as a symbol of our friendship?’
‘Sure,’ James said, making a point of grinning and nodding as if he was really flattered.
He raised himself up on his kneecaps and allowed Lydia to loop the necklace over his head. Once it was on, she urged James to stand, before giving him a hug. While they embraced, a line of clapping kids