Lost In Lies

by Xavier Neal

  “Wow. I can’t imagine living like that, you know. My parents and I are close. I mean, we used to be closer but—”

  “What happened?”

  My voice stumbles around as I realize my word vomit has complicated a very simple question, “Difference of opinion.”

  “On?”

  With the last conversation I had with my father playing back in my ear, ringing like an alarm clock to wake up and realize I may never really know who to believe in life, I sigh, “Life.”

  Sensing my vexatious temperament, he merely smiles, reaches his hand out to link with mine, which I do, and then looks off into the distance. Pleased with his simple gesture to soothe my aching self, I let my shoulders slump, relieved. You know, Justin feels the need to say everything he can think of under the sun to make the situation better, but it’s nice that Nick doesn’t. It’s nice that he knows not everything requires wise words, especially when a simple physical sentiment would do the same.

  To my surprise, I hear the sound of horses that aren’t ours but don’t see anything. My stomach begins to twist into knots, knowing danger is close but unsure from where. I swallow nervously and continue to search around, slowing my horse down.

  I turn to Nick to tell him we should probably head back when I see an arrow hit him right in the side, causing me to squeak as he falls flat on his horse. Glancing over my shoulder, I see Lola fast approaching on a black horse. Unsure of what exactly to do, I hop down, grab a hold of Wish’s reigns and tie him to the closest tree.

  With a soft rub on his hair and kiss on the forehead, I whisper to Nick, “Sorry, I wish I could explain.”

  Without hesitation, knowing it’s me Alex wants for leverage, knowing I’m always the bargaining chip to make my team squirm, I hop back onto my horse just as Lola sends another arrow flying after me. Ducking, hardly missing the arrow, I kick my heels into the side of Star and take off.

  Galloping down the path, I avoid arrows as best as I can, knowing that, if I look back to see where they are coming from, I’ll never know what’s up ahead. I veer the horse to the right, getting off path, and weave in between brushwork, hoping to lose my tail. I like that riding a horse is indeed like riding a bike; once you get in the groove, everything else will work itself out. Finally gaining some distance from Lola, I relax my shoulders prematurely because Alex drops down on the back of my horse.

  His arms wrap around me as his head lands on my shoulder, “You know, I really enjoy being this close to you.”

  After mentally thanking him for testing my gag reflexes, which are working fine thank you, I shove my elbow into his stomach in hopes of knocking him off.

  Alex merely chuckles, shakes his head, and places his hands on my hips in a position that makes me feel even more uncomfortable. Feeling around, he grumbles, “Could you please get still? Just need a little something out of your purse.”

  “No!” I pull Star to an abrupt stop, causing him to neigh loudly and bring his front two feet in the air, just like you see in the movies. Clutching onto the horse leaves me no chance to clutch onto my bag, which Alex has managed to snatch.

  “Thank you for this,” his face leans around, winks, and plants a kiss on my cheek. He flashes me the box that contains the imprint I stole for Justin.

  Before I realize it, Alex shoves me off the horse and rides back the way I came, leaving me stranded. Upset, disappointed, and confused on how he knew where I was, I stand up just in time to have an arrow fly right at my head. My body spins out of the line of fire and right into the arms that are always going to be there for me.

  “That was close,” I whisper in his embrace.

  “A danger foreseen is half avoided,” Justin beams down at me proudly.

  “What’s the other half?”

  This time, a bullet smacks into the tree beside him, barely missing his shoulder, “Realizing there’s more.”

  Lola rides steadily at us, reloading in the process. Justin hits his elbow against the tree trunk, and a coconut falls at my feet. With a smile, he nods, alerting me that obviously I’m going to have to do it because, well, he’s not. With no hesitation, I pick up the object and nail Lola in the ribs, not only knocking the weapon out of her hand but freeing the horse from her control. She rolls across the ground, sand covering her like a golden blanket.

  Justin immediately locates the weapon and makes a dash for it as Lola struggles to get up. As he hops over her, he yells at me, “You know my rule!”

  “Yeah, yeah,” I grumble as Lola struggles to get up.

  My foot goes to kick her in the ribs in a hope to keep her down when she grabs me by the foot and yanks me to the ground. Doing my best not to wince in pain, I struggle to free myself before her fist lands in my face with the force of a brick. God, what does she eat for breakfast? Wheaties doesn’t have this effect on me. I force myself free and on top of her, where I pin her with all my weight.

  “Have I told you just how much I hate you?” she glares as my body continues forcing her down.

  “Today?” I raise an eyebrow and think. “Not yet.”

  Lola spits in my face, which releases enough of the pressure to allow her to get free. Without a second thought, she nails me across the face, knocking me off. Disgusted by the moisture on my face and the throbbing pain, I lay in the warm sand for a moment.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa,” I hear Justin’s voice say slowly.

  Propping myself on my elbows, I see the crossbow she was using against us aimed right at her head. “Thought you couldn’t hit a girl.” She spits at Justin

  “Rules are meant to be broken, but you can’t make broken rules, especially when it comes to almost killing my girlfriend.”

  Lola raises her hands in the air like the prisoner she is.

  “All this is over, almost,” she sticks her bottom lip out at him.

  “You have something that belongs to Peyton.”

  “Your heart.” I jostle Lola as I join Justin’s side.

  Dusting off sand from my bottom as well as my top, Justin tries to stop from smiling, “Her purse.”

  “I don’t have her purse,” Lola wiggles her empty hands before wiggling her short shorts that are hiding a pair of purple bikini bottoms underneath. “Wanna frisk me?”

  His tongue grazes his lips as if struggling with his inner attraction for her versus his vengeance for my life. It really feels like the age-old idea—which body part is he doing the thinking with. Gaining his composure, he smiles, “Thank you for the offer, but I’ll pass—”

  “This time?”

  “You are coming with us.”

  “Hostage? Because I’ll go anywhere you ask,” her continuous single entendres make me wish he’d stop wasting time and just pull the trigger already.

  “Alex will come back for her, and when he does, we’ll make a trade, her for the purse,” Justin explains, sliding the crossbow into my hands before lowering himself to the ground, where he removes the laces from both of his shoes.

  “Sounds like Alex is getting the shaft in that deal,” I toss Lola a dirty look.

  She rolls her eyes as Justin takes her hands and places them behind her back. Snuggling against his body, she glances over at him, “If it were up to me, I’d let you keep me.”

  “Then you should’ve never tried to kill Peyton.”

  “Still upset about that?” The words sound like she’s unbothered by the situation. “You really should learn to let things in the past go.”

  I snap, “It was yesterday!”

  “It wasn’t really that bad.”

  “Easy for you to say! I wasn’t the one making it so you couldn’t breathe—”

  “Jealous you can’t fight that well? Look, if I wanted you dead, you’d be dead. Let’s be clear about that.” Justin stops the backtalk with a tug. Under her breath, she begins muttering to herself, “If we would have just gone with my idea of kidnapping the stupid Nick guy, this right here could have been avoided. But no! ‘No Lola, we don’t want the entire wrath of the Pre
cious Society to reign down on us. That’s not a situation we want.’ But oh, getting me held for leverage is one he can settle on?”

  He leads her forward like a prisoner as we begin to go back the way we came. Treading through the forest, Lola walks without a fight but can’t seem to stop trying to seduce my boyfriend. Should I call him that? I mean, he does keep calling me, well, the other half.

  “I’ll never understand it, Justin. I mean, Alex not only offered you a deal, but he offered you a better one! I mean, what, you play lackey to Peter, yet you do all the work, get none of the credit, and are punished for essentially being better. What could he have possibly had to offer you that we didn’t?” she whines as I keep the crossbow pointed at her.

  “Family,” the response brings a crooked grin to my face. “You let your own die without blinking, leave them behind, and don’t think twice about anyone else. Peter’s not perfect, but at least I know that, if there’s an arrow in my back, he didn’t put it there.” After a pause, he mumbles, “Most likely didn’t put it there.”

  Lola rolls her eyes and sighs as her red shirt falls, exposing her swimsuit top. “You know, you were really sexy on the Jones job.”

  I glance back to see Justin trying to hide a smile, which prompts me to ask, “What was the Jones job?”

  “You don’t know?” she sounds disgusted. “And you want to call yourself his girlfriend.” She shakes her head and sighs, “The Jones job was a jewel heist from a set of pirates passing through Neverland. Justin conned his way in and out within two days, and no one saw it coming.”

  “No one ever does,” the words fall out of his mouth and cause my shoulders to slouch.

  My eyes meet his, and I nod, “You’re right. No one ever does.”

  “Peyton, I…”

  “Sh, do you hear that?” I cut him off, not allowing him a chance to respond. Quickly, I toss the weapon in his hands, which is a great idea because, sure as day, Alex lands behind us.

  Whipping around, Justin grips the weapon firmly, “Alex.”

  Nodding his head, Alex pulls on his tank top, “Justin.”

  “I want the bag.”

  “Sure,” Alex tosses it at me.

  Catching it, I dig through it, looking for the box containing the imprint. Unsuccessful, I toss Justin a shake of my head.

  “I want the imprint back.”

  “And I want to see what’s under Peyton’s top.”

  “That’s not gonna happen,” I cross my arms over my chest to defend it.

  “And now we’re on the same page,” Alex’s wink forces my lips to sneer as I realize he’s cleverly trying to tell us we aren’t getting what we want.

  “Then you’re not getting Lola back,” the threat doesn’t cause Alex to so much as blink twice.

  “Keep her,” he flips his hand at us.

  Not bothered by his lack of concern for her, Lola merely tosses the loose strands of hair that have fallen in her face and tilts her head to the side.

  Under my breath, I mumble, “Wow.”

  “However,” Alex grows the same creepy grin Peter does before he makes a tornado motion with his finger.

  Dark Watchers pop out from the tops of the trees with weapons pointed at us, ambush style. My eyes wander around the multiple faces desperate to put an arrow or bullet in my brain, and I feel my knees tremble for the first time. Scooting closer to Justin, I try to keep up the best front I can.

  “If you’d like to trade her life to save yours, I think I can arrange something,” Alex’s cocky smirk causes Justin to lower his weapon.

  Gently, Justin nudges Lola forward, and she saunters over to Alex before turning her body around for him to untie.

  With a wide smile, Alex sighs, “It’s all right, Justin. Everyone faces defeat at least once.”

  “’Being defeated is often a temporary condition. Giving up is what makes it permanent.’ Marilyn Sovant.” Justin winks at them. Lola giggles, while Alex feels the same disgust that I do.

  “Then until your next temporary condition,” he nods before turning the way they came with the army of Dark Watchers following behind them.

  Once they’re out of sight, I throw my hands in the air, “Now what? We have no leverage, no imprint, and we’re stuck in the middle of nowhere with no way back to shore.”

  “We can always fly,” he floats to his feet before smirking. “You need the practice.”

  Annoyed because it’s true, I rise the way he does and endure a few brief lessons in flight as we navigate toward where I believe I left Nick. Doing my best to keep good balance as I maneuver around trees, we reach him before I realize it. The two of us land beside his motionless body.

  “Is he dead?”

  “Wishful thinking,” Justin says in a monotone before letting out a heavy sigh. “He was hit with a sleeping dart.” His two fingers touch the side of Nick’s neck before declaring, “He’s got maybe another 15 minutes.”

  “What am I going to tell him? I lost my horse during a battle.”

  “How about be thankful you only got knocked out instead of kidnapped like Lola wanted?”

  “Seriously! Could you be sincere for like one minute!”

  “You know.”

  “You don’t have to tell him anything.” The guy we were renting the horses from approaches.

  “Sorry I didn’t come right back, Jake,” Justin apologizes as Eiden follows behind him. “Got, well, busy.”

  “Looks that way,” Jake looks at Nick with a puzzled look.

  “Did you get it back?” Eiden asks. Justin shakes his head, and he continues, “The order’s processed. Packed and ready.”

  “Good deal?”

  “Come on, Justin, you know me! You really think I wouldn’t give you a good deal?” Jake’s motion reminds me of the drug dealers you see on TV who try too hard.

  “Excuse me,” I interrupt. “How do know you each other?”

  “This is Jimmy’s brother,” Justin explains. “Jake, this is Peyton Darling, the first Lost Girl.”

  “Darling, like—”

  “Yeah,” Justin cuts him off.

  “How’d Peter…”

  “I did,” he smiles and nods slowly.

  “Ah,” Jake touches his nose and then points to Justin in a motion of understanding.

  Confused by the secret language they’re speaking, I put my hands on my hips and sigh, “Hate to break up the reunion, but we need to get back to shore. Can you take us?”

  “Of course,” Jake smiles. “I knew she was one of you. Saw the tat. Can’t believe you’re in Landlin.”

  “Know where Jimmy is?” Justin asks as Jake unleashes the horse I tied up.

  “No. And even if I did, I wouldn’t tell you. You and I both know my little brother isn’t found until he’s ready.” He rubs the horse on the nose, “Go home.”

  Effortlessly, the horse takes off the direction of the stable, and I tilt my head to the side in confusion, “How did, how did, how…”

  “Magical horses do magical things,” Jake pats my shoulder. “No worries about Wish. He made it home. They always do.”

  A smile crawls across my face as Justin looks at Nick’s body, “I’m not carrying him.”

  “Then wait for him to come around. It shouldn’t be much longer,” Jake shrugs. “Why don’t we catch up a bit?”

  “All right,” Justin nods and looks at me as I slide my body down next to Nick’s. “Have a couple things to do first. I’ll be that way in a sec.”

  Eiden and Jake stroll back the direction they came as Justin points to Nick’s pocket.

  “What?”

  “Grab his cell phone for me.”

  “Why don’t you grab it?”

  “Because I’m not the one who kissed him.”

  My lips slide open to respond quickly, “Look, Justin, I can explain—”

  “You don’t have to,” he lowers to a squat and pushes the hair that’s fallen in my face. “You did what you had to to protect your cover. And as long as that’s
all it was, it’s OK.” I smile in relief until he asks, “That’s all it was, right?”

  “Do you even really have to ask?”

  “No,” he touches my cheek. “Get the phone please.”

  I slide my hand in Nick’s pocket and hand it over to him. My face peaks around the phone to see him send three urgent texts to Dubs, with the words, help, I think he’s hurt bad, where are you. Afterward, he makes a call, which after one ring goes straight to voice mail. Pleased, he tosses the phone back beside Nick.

  “What’d you do that for?”

  A simple grin grows on his face before he places a kiss on my forehead, “Glad you’re safe.”

  “Thanks,” I lean against the tree. “See you at the hotel soon.”

  He nods, stands up, and heads the direction Jake strolled away. I lean against Nick, rest my head on his shoulder, and pour my heart out a little, “Look Nick, I don’t really want to do this to you, you know? This whole manipulating you thing was OK when I thought it was just for a room, but now that you have something I really need, it just ... It just feels like you’re feeling like I probably felt—you know, falling in love with the wrong person for the wrong reasons. I mean, I really am a nice girl, and most of what you know about me is real. It’s just ... we can’t really date, you know? I’m, well, a Lost Boy, er, Girl, and I have a boyfriend. I think? All I want from you is that perfume.” There. I said it. The truth is out there, and while he’s unconscious and can’t respond, it doesn’t matter. I feel better.

  Sure enough, after about 15 minutes, Nick comes to, gripping his head like he’s got a massive headache.

  “Geez, my head’s killing me,” he groans, easing his body up. “What the hell happened?”

  “Fell off your horse, hit your head. You were out for a few,” I place my hands on the back of his head, giving it a gentle rub. “You going to be OK?”

  “I hope so,” he rubs the same spot, so that his hands land on mine.

  “We should probably get back and get you some rest, huh?” I remove my hands and give his leg a soft pat.

  “Did you, did you wait here with me the whole time?”

  “I did,” the lie feels natural. “I would have called the boat guy, but I lost my phone on the ride. I just used yours though. Also tried to call and text Dubs—no answer.”