The Lost Boys

by Lilian Carmine

  “I guess you know who am I now,” she said.

  “Oh, yes.” I nodded. “Why you didn’t tell me?”

  She thought for a while before answering me. “I didn’t want to rush things for you.”

  “Oh. Okay. I guess …” I said, peeking slyly at her.

  “And you are wondering why I look like this,” she said, noticing me staring. “Everybody sees me differently in here. If you find me terrifying, I would probably look scary to you. A dark creature wrapped in a dark hooded cloak with nothing but bones inside.” She shrugged, like it didn’t bother her at all what she looked like. “If you’re not scared, you’ll project something else. I rather like the look you give me. It’s quite … what’s the word I’m looking for? Dashing?” she offered, smiling warmly at me.

  “Are you saying I make you look like that?” I asked, puzzled.

  “Human personification; it’s all in your minds. You can be very creative and imaginative when you want to be. When you’re not killing things, that is. You’re very good at that; gives me loads of work to do in here,” she said, a hint of annoyance in her voice now.

  “Uh … sorry,” I apologized, on behalf of all humankind.

  She waved her hand at me, dismissing the topic. “So, Joe. How’s ‘Vigil’ doing? Any more punches?” she asked, excited now. I’d forgotten about that. She thought I was very … entertaining. It was like she was asking for the next episode of a soap opera.

  “No, no more punches. We just talk nowadays,” I answered. “Actually, that was why I came here. I need to talk to you about Vigil,” I said, getting to the point. “He said you’re his boss …” I began.

  She frowned and cut in. “I am certainly not. I don’t have anything to do with any of those gray things!” she said, affronted.

  “He told me you … outrank him.”

  “Well, yes. That is correct.”

  “So, you’re kind of his boss, if you’re higher up in the command chain?” I asked, trying to get my point made.

  “I’m as high as it goes, Joe,” she stated bluntly.

  “So, if you told him to do something, he’d have to obey, right?” I asked eagerly. She just shrugged her shoulders, not really getting where I was going with this. “So, if you told Vigil to let Tristan be, he’d have to obey.”

  “I don’t think it works that way, Joe,” she said, finally understanding where I was aiming for. “I don’t decide who lives or who dies.”

  “Come on, now! You, like, kill people every day! You’re Death!” I countered.

  “I haven’t killed anyone in my whole life!” she said, crossing her arms over her chest defensively. “I just show them the path between worlds.”

  “B-but …” I stuttered, at a loss. What could I possibly say to convince Death to let Tristan live? She was our only hope, and it was turning out to be a total dead end, no pun intended. A burning bright light was starting to rise on the horizon. Sky glanced at it and turned to face me again.

  “It’s time for you to leave, Joe. You can’t stay here much longer,” she said seriously.

  “Listen, are you saying there’s nothing you can do to help Tristan?” I asked in a despairing voice, brushing aside her warning.

  “I didn’t say that.”

  “What are you saying, then?” I huffed, annoyed at her cryptic answers. “Are you going to help us or not, Sky?” I pleaded again. “You’re our only hope!”

  “I’m so sorry, Joe. I can’t meddle in Vigil’s affairs. I’m really sorry, but that’s the way it is.” The bright light continued ascending in the sky, its light making the sand glitter like it was billions of shining stars exploding. The luminosity was so intense, it was burning my eyes, making my head hurt.

  “No! There is always a way!” I cried out. I was feeling so tired; my arms were heavy, like chunks of lead. I swayed a little, sitting on the sand by her side, my eyelids getting heavier by the second.

  “Joe, you can’t fall asleep in here. You fall asleep, you never wake up again, do you understand?” she warned me.

  I forced my eyes open, but it was so hard to stay awake. It was like the coming morning was draining all of my energy, leaving me as barren as this waste land.

  “You shouldn’t have stayed this long,” she stated seriously.

  “How long have I been here?”

  She pondered her answer as the morning drew near. “Time is relative between our worlds. One minute of your world can be hours here,” she pointed out. “But the most important rule of this place is that you cannot stay after the waking sun. You have to go now,” she urged me again.

  “Can I come back again?” I asked urgently. I hadn’t got what I came for – a way for Tristan to live.

  “As much as I enjoy your visits, Gray, I don’t advise it. It is a tricky affair, counting on your guardian spell to protect you in here. But no human spell can save you from this sun, Joe. And that is why you need to leave now.”

  “You have to help us first!” I begged.

  “Why? Why would I help you?”

  I stared at her for a moment before answering, “Because … because I-I love him,” I said, crying, despair filling my heart.

  “Yes, I have heard that plea before, Joe. From many others. Love is very common of your race. I don’t blame you for trying to stay together. I have seen many before you, and I will see many after you’re gone. When he leaves, it will hurt. But this pain will pass,” she said, wiping a tear from my face with her long, slender fingers. “You have to go now,” she informed me one last time.

  The scorching sun of fire was almost in the middle of the sky, burning everything in its wake. The heat felt like it was burning me from inside, making my blood boil. I slumped over the hot sand, too tired to sit any more. I just wanted to curl up and sleep. I remembered Tristan’s voice somewhere in time. It seemed like so long ago since I last heard his voice … I felt like I had been here for centuries.

  “Wake up now, Joe,” Sky said, walking slowly over to me, her heavy black boots crunching on the melting sand.

  “I-I … don’t know how,” I whispered, trying to keep my eyelids open, trying to resist sleep. Numbness was taking over my whole body. I could feel tears streaming down my face. They were burning hot over my skin.

  Sky kneeled in front of me, and just seconds before I closed my eyes, she pressed her thumb over my forehead. A sharp piercing pain shot through my head, making me flinch, and all my body seemed to be washed away by a cold rushing sensation.

  The next thing I remembered was opening my eyes in a dark room. My room. All my instincts were shouting for me to stay still and remain calm, to get back to reality slowly, but I panicked and bolted up, gasping for air. I clutched my throat with one hand, searching desperately for help with the other. I found Tristan lying by my side and gripped him hard, but I couldn’t speak! I still could feel the scorching heat from the desert place, burning me from inside.

  Everything hurt. I fell back down on the mattress and my body convulsed as I shut my eyes tight, because of the blinding headache piercing my skull. My stomach twisted inside, making me feel sick. I cried out in pain and heard Tristan’s trembling voice telling me to breathe. Just keep breathing. Relax. Calm down. Everything was going to be all right.

  I felt his body holding me, his voice drifting inside my head, his touch making the pain in my body slowly melt away. I sighed and relaxed; I wasn’t suffocating any more. I could breathe!

  “Joey? Joey? Can you hear me? God, please, let her be okay!” I heard him whispering over me. I breathed for a while before answering him.

  “I’m fine,” I mumbled, slowly trying to open my eyes. My voice sounded crooked and parched. For now, I was focusing all my energy on breathing. Slowly, deeply, inhale, exhale …

  “What happened?” he asked me anxiously. His voice sounded anguished, shattered. He was suffering, seeing me in pain like that. “Was it Vigil? Did he hurt you, in your dreams? I’m going to kill him,” I heard him growl, with so much f
ear and anger in his voice. I fluttered my eyes open and looked at him.

  “I think I’m okay now,” I said weakly. “It wasn’t Vigil. God, my head, it hurts so much,” I said, grabbing my throbbing head. A wave of nausea hit me like a punch in the stomach and I stood up fast, trying to walk to the bathroom. I didn’t want to throw up in the middle of the room! My legs gave away and I would have fallen to the ground if it weren’t for Tristan’s speed. He grabbed me before I hit the floor, his face a mask of worry.

  “Bathroom … feeling sick … fast,” I managed to say, and he carried me there quickly, putting me carefully on the floor by the toilet. Another wave of nausea hit me and I threw up for the longest minute of my life. I felt his hands pulling my hair away from my face, his body pressing into mine, giving me support to remain upright. After a while, I stopped throwing up and felt a little better, so I tried to move away, but Tristan stopped me.

  “Take it easy. Sit still for a while,” he said, wiping the sweat off my face. Seth’s hands appeared at my side, holding a glass of water for me to drink. I took it with shaking hands and drank a few gulps.

  I looked at both boys. There was so much fear in their eyes.

  “I’m sorry to scare you like this,” I murmured. I was feeling so tired, like I had just run an entire marathon. I have never been sick like this before. This was the price for staying in the desert place for too long. Heavily taxed and duly collected.

  “What happened, Joe?” Tristan asked, frightened.

  “You’re going to be mad at me,” I began, and then, sitting there on the cold, tiled bathroom floor, I told him everything about my visit with Sky. I cried the whole time. When I’d finished telling him all that had happened, he hugged me close to him, and rocked me softly with his body, saying that everything was going to be all right. But how could he say that? We had lost our only hope! Sky couldn’t, or wouldn’t, save him.

  “We will figure something out, Joey. Please, stop crying. It hurts me so much to see you crying,” he whispered in a heartbreaking sob as he held me in his arms. “I still have hope. There is always a way. You can’t lose faith like that.”

  His words kept bouncing in my head. It was the same thing I’d said to Death in the end. There’s always a way. Perhaps it was only a lie we kept telling ourselves to keep going. Or was it a real possibility? Whatever it might be, all I knew was that I wasn’t done fighting yet. Tristan was right. I shouldn’t be upset like this, like I had just giving up on everything. Giving up on him. So I stopped crying and hugged him back. I could feel his relief seeping through his arms into me.

  “I’m so sorry, Tris. I don’t know what came over me.” I lifted my head to meet his eyes. “I will never lose faith in us. You’re right, there’s always a way.” I repeated his words and smiled at him. “I would kiss you right now, but I don’t think it’s a good thing, cos, you know, the barfing and all …” I mumbled in embarrassment.

  He laughed quietly at my silliness. “Okay. We can leave the kissing for later. Just promise me you won’t try that stunt again,” Tristan pleaded.

  “Oh, I don’t plan on doing that ever again, if I can help it! It was brutal. And it’s not like I planned it; it was totally an accident that I ended up there tonight!” I said, trying to get up but stopping, cringing, when pain still shot through my body. Tristan grabbed me and carried me to my bed, laying me down carefully like I was made of crystal.

  “Try to get some rest now, Joey,” he said, brushing his fingers slowly through my hair, and I drifted almost immediately into a blessedly uninterrupted and uneventful sleep.

  Chapter Thirty-Five

  Graduation

  The next day I woke up feeling like a freaking train had hit me. Twice. My body ached all over; I think even my hair hurt, if that were actually possible. Tristan didn’t let me get out of bed. He told me we were calling in sick today. I raised my eyebrow at the “we” part, but he said he was staying to take care of me. And he wasn’t asking, he was telling me, he said with quite the imperative voice. He was kind of sexy when he got all bossy like that. I was too weak to contradict him anyway, so I snuggled back under my blankets.

  I spent the whole day drifting in and out of sleep, and my stomach still hurt a little whenever I was awake. Sometimes Tristan would wake me to give me something to eat, or one of the boys or Tiffany would come and check on me between classes. At the end of the school day, Harry came in and sat by my side, hugging me for a long time. I guess Seth had pretty much scared him to death with his tale of my desert expedition. When I woke up, Harry wasn’t there any more, and instead Sammy was in the room, sitting on the floor and leaning by my bed, reading a book. Every time I turned over on my bed, I caught one of the boys around the room, doing something and keeping me company. Tristan was always a constant. Always there, always vigilant, never leaving my side.

  It took me two days to get back on my feet. My little “adventure” had taught me a hard lesson: you don’t overdo time in Death’s domain and leave unscathed. I was lucky I had walked out with merely sore limbs and a weak stomach. It could have been so much worse.

  By Wednesday, I was feeling normal again and insisted on going out despite Tristan’s protests. School routine would make me feel more normal too, helping me divert my mind from grim future predictions and depressing thoughts.

  I talked with my mom a lot during that week too. I guess I was feeling a little homesick, and hearing her voice helped me get better and heal faster. I told her about the grim news on Tristan’s deadline. I bet hearing all that terrible news had her really worried, but she never let it show, keeping her voice calm and reassuring as she tried to keep my spirits up during the whole time we talked.

  Weeks passed and graduation loomed. Tristan, the boys and I talked endlessly between classes and rehearsals, trying to come up with a way to allow Tristan to remain living past the next New Year. But we were dealing with the unknown – it wasn’t as if you could Google “How to keep a ghost alive permanently”! All our research so far had proved futile, including Miss Violet’s occult leads. I tried to remain positive, though: after graduation, we’d still have half a year left before New Year.

  We only had a few more weeks before we would get our final results, and then we’d have to start thinking about what came next. I had no idea whatsoever. I only knew Tristan’s problem was top priority now. And if I had to put my studies on hold until everything was sorted, then so be it. I couldn’t think of university applications or any plans for the future besides trying to find a solution for Tristan’s deadline. I was glad my mother wasn’t pressuring me about my studies and career choices.

  All of our new original songs for music class were finished and practiced to exhaustion. We still needed to perform them one last time for Professor Rubick, and then wait for our grades, but we were confident we’d score the highest marks: we had worked very hard on those songs. Rehearsals were the only time we saw Tristan truly happy, so we practiced as often as possible, even though we didn’t really need to. Playing was the one thing keeping us all sane during this madness of magic deadlines.

  Exams passed in the blink of an eye. We were constantly busy, rehearsing even more now because now we’d been booked for our first ever gig, as the band playing at graduation! So we spent all our time focusing on our show for the closing ceremony celebration and working on our stage performance. We didn’t worry about our outfits, since Tiffany was in charge of that and we trusted she would ace them. I wasn’t over-anxious about my exam results, but the show was worrying me.

  Before I knew it, the day of the concert was upon us. Graduation had been really emotional, especially for our parents, who cried openly during the entire ceremony. My mother had managed a front seat and smiled at Tristan and me so proudly it almost made me start crying as well. I got to see all the boys’ parents and family, too, after the diplomas were delivered. It had been exciting, exhausting and overwhelming all at the same time.

  I was heading to my room to start
getting dressed for the show, when I saw Tristan talking with a short, middle-aged man in the hallway. Tristan was speaking calmly, while the man replied excitedly, waving his hands a lot, clearly impressed by Tristan or what he was saying. I tried to sneak closer to catch what they were talking about, but before I got halfway there the man waved Tristan goodbye and took off fast. Tristan turned around, saw me approaching and walked towards me.

  “Hey!” I greeted him.

  “Hey, Tangerine!” he said with a smile. Tangerine was his nickname for me when we were in public. He only called me Buttons in private. Before I could ask what the guy had wanted, both of our cell phones rang with new messages.

  “Tiffany,” we both said at the same time as we checked our phones and discovered we each had the same text:

  get your @$$es up here ASAP!! need 2 get U ready 4 the show! @ your room! XoXo.

  We ran to our room as fast as we could, passing a few students who waved at us, excited about our upcoming show.

  “So who was that?” I asked as I ran, panting at Tristan’s side.

  “What? Oh, yeah. That was Lisa’s father. You know Lisa? She’s been in all our rehearsals, remember? She has that weird spiked blue hair, kinda hard to miss,” he explained when he noticed my puzzled face. “She must talk about us all the time, and her dad was curious about us.”

  I grunted under my breath. “Us.” Right. She must talk about Tristan all the time, was more likely! She probably had their wedding planned already! The Lost Boys were starting to attract groupies!