My Hands Came Away Red — Lisa McKay

For some reason I thought you'd know on the day you died.

Thinking largely of escaping a complicated love life and having fun on the beach, eighteen-year-old Cori signs up for a ten-week trip to help build a church on a remote island in Indonesia.

Six weeks into the trip, a conflict that has been simmering for years flames to deadly life on the nearby island of Ambon. Before they can leave, Cori and her teammates find themselves caught up in the destructive wave of violence washing over the Christian and Muslim villages in the area. Within days the church they helped build is a smoldering pile of ashes, its pastor and many of the villagers are dead, and the six teenagers are forced to flee into the hazardous refuge of the mountains with only the pastor's son to guide them.

As the team hikes through the jungle, Cori's search for spiritual answers and emotional stability proves just as difficult as the physical journey home.