Gem's Gypsies — Jill Penrod

With their leader missing, the teens look to Gem to head the search to find him. Embarrassed by his upbringing and trying to avoid his destiny, Gem resists, but eventually he leads his closest friends across the continent to find a beloved warrior of the god. However, Gem's lies to his friends haunt, and restoring their trust and faith in him is harder than he expected. Disguised as a gypsy troupe, the group touches villagers with music and dance, draws the attention of evil cults, and finds itself sailing into the great sea to find clues to some of their pasts. Again they face danger and learn things about themselves they don't want to know. Gem himself fights new-found visions, which speak of danger and death in the futures of his friends. As the journey leads them into the waters, the group continues to fight their way home, even though they have no idea what will constitute home for this group of misfit, broken, exhausted teens and adults. Gem's Gypsies is book three of the Sekou Saga, a Tale of Balia in Four Parts. The entire series includes Chessa's Rescue, Dane's Mountain, Gem's Gypsies, and Casimir's Silence. The Tales of Balia: Stories of a world not unlike ours and the deity who will stop at nothing to get his children home. Historic fantasy with a Christian worldview.