Lost: The Novels

by Catherine Hapka

  Especially George.

  She bit her lip as she remembered what he’d said. Had she overreacted? Gayle had always said she was as sensitive as a canary in a coal mine, often seeing criticism where none was intended…

  Crack!

  Snapping back to attention, Faith stopped short and glanced around warily. The noise had come from somewhere up ahead and to the left, though she could see nothing moving in the thicket of vines up there. She’d been in such a hurry to get away that she’d almost forgotten her earlier fear of being alone in the jungle, but now it all came flooding back. Her heart started to beat a little faster and her palms felt clammy. How far was she from the beach, anyway?

  Taking another few steps, she held her breath and listened. The hairs prickled on the back of her neck, giving her the eerie feeling that she was being watched. She tried to convince herself that that was silly—she was a good distance away from camp, and there was no sign that any of her fellow castaways had ever come this way. Still, she walked a little faster, her eyes darting from side to side. The jungle was full of movement, as usual—small brown birds hopped from branch to branch overhead, calling cheerily to one another; the breeze tickled the fronds of a cluster of squat palms nearby; just ahead a lizard scurried out of sight with a flick of its long, whiplike tail.

  It should have been an idyllic, soothing scene. Normally Faith would have loved the freedom of being alone with nature in such a beautiful setting. But no matter how she tried to convince herself otherwise, something about this place just didn’t feel normal. Maybe it wasn’t safe out there; maybe she should head back right now and…

  A sudden flash of color just ahead distracted her from her thoughts. She gasped, her eyes trying to focus on the small blur of turquoise and red, pale green and dark brown. She stepped forward into a sunbeam so intense that for a second she was almost blinded. Staggering through it, she blinked rapidly, trying to follow the movement of the bird hopping along the leaf-littered ground just ahead, jumping from one puddle of dappled shade to another. If she could only get a closer look at it, at least she would know…

  Her foot came down on a dry twig, setting off a sharp retort that echoed through the jungle. With a flurry of feathers the bird took off, darting between tree trunks, its long tail flicking up and down as it flew with an undulating motion.

  “Wait!” Faith blurted out, breaking into a run. She dashed in the direction the bird had gone, fearing that she’d lost it again already. But as she rounded a rocky outcropping, she caught another glimpse of the turquoise feathers just above its tail before the bird disappeared again into the shadows.

  She raced after it, keeping her eyes trained straight ahead. As she passed through a small bamboo grove, the rustling of the dry, narrow leaves seemed to harmonize with her panting breath. Emerging on the other side of the grove, she almost ran straight into a cluster of heavy vines hanging down from an ancient tree. Skirting around it, she paused for a moment, breathing hard as she scanned the area around her for the parrot.

  There was a flicker of movement in a bush just ahead. Faith barely caught a glimpse of the bird before it took off again, flying fast and low to the ground. She took off after it again, jumping fallen logs and rocks and doing her best to avoid getting snagged or snapped in the face by branches and undergrowth. The humid air was still and close, and she could taste her own sweat and feel it stinging her eyes. Running alternately through bright sunlit clearings and dense shade made her feel a little dizzy, but she didn’t dare slow down. She didn’t want to lose the bird again.

  As she started to wonder how much longer she could keep up her pace, the parrot abruptly changed course, veering downhill and to the right through a sunny, hilly wash dotted with enormous boulders. Faith skidded after it, trying to keep upright on the shifting, rocky footing. Just when she thought she’d lost her quarry yet again she saw it dead ahead. It was perched on a long, straight branch in the shade of a large overhang, its head bobbing slightly.

  Finally! Faith crept forward, her heart in her throat. All she had to do was keep quiet, and she would have the answers she needed. If only she could make a positive ID, could confirm that there was indeed a living example of Psephotus pulcherrimus sitting on that branch just ahead, she knew it would make everything bad that had happened over the past couple of days seem a little less disastrous. It might even mean that landing here in this jungle really did have a purpose…

  Squinting, she stepped carefully toward the bird. Its bright lime-green chest seemed to glow out of the dimness of the shady overhang, but in the sharp contrast between light and dark, her eyes had trouble making out any other details. She had to get closer…

  At her next step a rock twisted out from beneath her foot, sending her falling heavily to her knees. Pebbles and larger stones went skittering noisily down the hillside. Startled, the bird flew up and over the scrubby trees in the wash, disappearing back into the jungle.

  “No!” Faith cried out in frustration, her words bouncing back at her from the edges of the wash. “Come back…”

  Picking her way across the rest of the wash as quickly as she could, she jogged into the jungle in the direction the bird had gone. There was no sign of it, so she picked a direction at random. Moving as quickly as she could in the dense underbrush, she scanned the treetops in vain. It was only when she tripped on a tree root and almost fell flat on her face for the third or fourth time that she knew it was time to give up. The bird was gone.

  Sighing with frustration, her toe throbbing from where she’d tripped, Faith glanced around…and suddenly realized she had absolutely no idea where she was. The excitement of the chase wore off quickly, replaced by fear. She was lost.

  Looking around, she tried to hold down her panic. This wasn’t the first time she’d found herself off course in the wilderness—all she had to do was stay calm and retrace her steps. But she was only able to follow her own prints for a few yards before they were lost in the deep leaf litter on the jungle floor. She was surrounded by a forest of tall, weird-looking, smooth-barked trees with enormous clusters of dangling air roots. The undergrowth here was sparse, making it impossible to trace her path through broken branches or other signs. Glancing up, she realized she couldn’t even see the sun through the dense tree canopy to get a sense of which direction she should head in to get back to the beach.

  She wandered aimlessly for a while trying to get her bearings. The humid air seemed to breathe with her, making her feel claustrophobic and panicky. Why had she run off willy-nilly like that? It wasn’t like her to be so impulsive and thoughtless. Somehow, though, catching up to that bird had seemed like the most important thing in the world—for a moment it had made her forget all her fears and anxiety, all the problems of the past couple of days. Now here she was, without what she’d been after, and even worse off than before. So much for acting on impulse. What was she going to do now?

  After a few minutes she stopped in a clearing, trying to fight back the panic welling up inside her. She looked around, willing herself to stay calm and think things through, figure out a way to get herself out of her predicament. Stately, gnarled trees surrounded the clearing, their thick leaves far overhead blocking her view of the sun and casting gloomy shade over the area. Vines dangled here and there like long, lifeless fingers stretching toward the earth. The ground was covered with a carpet of two-foot-tall, pale-green grass that undulated slightly as a breeze glided through the clearing.

  Or was it a breeze making the grass move that way? Faith’s palms went clammy as she suddenly noticed that the movement was confined to one area—the thin blades tipped and swayed exactly as if brushed aside by a large, unseen snake slithering toward her.

  Taking a step backward, Faith glanced around nervously. Another section of the grass started to sway and bend. Then another. And another.

  She spun wildly in a circle, sudden dread gripping her throat and making it hard to breathe. The movement was everywhere. She was surrounded! The jungle ar
ound the clearing had gone oddly silent, and she could hear the faint sssh, sssh sound of scaly bellies brushing along the ground.

  Even in the midst of her growing fear, a small part of her mind rebelled against what was happening. Snakes—it was only snakes. Staring at the circle of motion, she tried to convince herself that it was silly to panic. She loved snakes. She understood them; she had devoted her life to them.

  But that didn’t change the fact that now, for the first time in her life, she found herself utterly terrified of them…

  A bird cried out from somewhere just above her head, startling her. She glanced up. There was no sign of the bird that had called, but she noticed one of the thick, fingerlike vines hanging down just over her head

  Her eyes darted back to the ground. The unseen serpents were only a few feet away now, coming fast from all directions. They would reach her in seconds.

  Jumping straight up, she grabbed the vine and held on tightly, swinging her legs up and out of the grass. She didn’t dare look down as she scrabbled for a higher handhold, her arm and shoulder muscles screaming in protest. Hand over hand, her breath coming in ragged gasps, she managed to drag herself upward. Once she was able to wrap her legs around the vine, climbing became a little easier. She didn’t stop until she reached the refuge of a sturdy tree branch twenty feet off the ground. Pulling herself up onto it, she slid along it until she could lean against the rough bark of the trunk, her chest heaving as she tried to catch her breath.

  When she looked down into the clearing, the grass was still.

  16

  FAITH SAT MOTIONLESS ON the edge of the bed staring at the note from Arreglo. Her mind was filled with half-formed questions, and she wasn’t sure what to think or say or do next.

  “Well?” Oscar spoke up, a touch of impatience in his voice. “Are you going to meet with him, or what?”

  “Um, I don’t know. I guess it would probably be better to wait until we get back home and he’s not so busy…”

  “Don’t be ridiculous,” Oscar said immediately, grabbing the note from her and waving it in her face. “He wants to see you—even set aside some time. It would be, like, rude not to go.”

  “Oh.” She hadn’t thought of it that way. “Maybe you’re right. I’m not even sure how I’d get in touch to say I wasn’t coming.…Oh! I don’t even know how to get to his hotel! How am I going to—”

  “Relax,” he interrupted before she could spin into a full-blown panic. “I’m the one who called him, remember? I know exactly where he’s staying and how to get there. I’ll take you there—but you’d better hurry up and get dressed! We don’t have much time.”

  Her eyes darting to the clock on the bedside table, Faith realized he was right. She’d slept later than she’d thought; it was already nearly nine o’clock.

  Leaping out of bed, she scrabbled through the dresser drawers where she’d unpacked her clothes. She was glad she’d brought her nicest nubby tweed skirt and the pale green blouse that looked almost like real silk.

  “Be right back,” she told Oscar as she scurried for the bathroom.

  The water in the hotel shower heated up right away, unlike that in either the ancient bathtub in her dorm room back home or the cramped shower stall at Oscar’s apartment. She stood under the stream for a long moment letting the water wash the rest of the sleep-fuzzies from her mind. Even then, it all still didn’t feel quite real—the note, the appointment to see Arreglo—but she didn’t have enough time to worry about it much.

  When she emerged from the shower, she heard a low murmur from the room outside. For a moment she thought Oscar had turned on the TV, but then she heard him laugh and realized he had to be talking on the phone.

  Vaguely assuming he’d called Tammy or one of the others, she quickly dried herself off and grabbed her toothbrush from amongst the jumble of Oscar’s toiletries on the countertop. She was beginning to think she’d underestimated him—she never could have predicted that he would react this way to the current situation. She smiled at herself in the mirror through a froth of toothpaste, realizing that just as Arreglo was the one who’d brought them together in the first place, he was now bringing them closer than ever. It almost made Faith start to believe in fate…

  Oscar’s voice had been quiet at first. But as she turned off the water after brushing her teeth, she heard his words coming louder and faster. He always got that way when he was excited, and she listened fondly, vaguely wondering what he was talking about.

  “…mumble mumble…I told you it would work. It’s on!” he said sharply. “It’s totally on.”

  As he lowered his voice again, she reached for the clothes she’d draped over the closed toilet lid. She realized the skirt she was holding was the one she’d been wearing during her first meeting ever with Dr. Arreglo, well over a year ago now. The thought made her stomach flip over nervously, just as it had done that day. Could she and Arreglo really get their relationship back on track? When she thought back to their last conversation, it seemed almost impossible. But his note made it sound not just possible, but likely…

  “Yes!” Oscar’s voice rang out clearly from the other room, breaking into her thoughts. “I told you I’m up for it, and I am. Don’t worry. I can do this—trust me. In fact, I can’t wait.”

  He sounded almost angry, and she shot a glance toward the door with concern. His voice had already dropped back to mumbling volume, and even when she stepped closer to the door, she couldn’t hear what he was saying.

  Then her gaze fell on her wristwatch, which she’d set on the countertop. Seeing the time, she forgot about Oscar’s conversation and hurriedly finished dressing. She was so nervous that she felt physically ill, but she clung to the idea that Arreglo wanted to see her. If she could make things right between them, it could end up being one of the best things to come out of this trip.

  One of the lines from his radio speech popped into her head: One can’t have an influence if one isn’t willing to engage. It could be seen as an excuse for selling out one’s values—or a tribute to the potential and power of compromise. Maybe even Oscar would someday come to understand that.

  “Faith?” There was a knock at the bathroom door. “Almost ready, babe? We need to go.”

  “Coming.” Quickly running a comb through her damp hair, Faith gave herself one last glance in the mirror and then hurried out to join him.

  Oscar was standing in the narrow hallway outside the bathroom, tapping one foot. He was wearing a wide-brimmed hat she’d never seen before, and had Faith’s blue nylon windbreaker slung over one arm.

  “I probably won’t need that,” Faith told him, nodding toward the jacket. “Not if it’s as warm out as it was yesterday. Where’d you get that hat?”

  “Better put it on anyway,” Oscar said, ignoring her question. “It’ll be air-conditioned at Arreglo’s hotel, and your hair’s still wet.”

  Touched by his concern, she shrugged on the jacket despite the clammy heat of their room. She was still surprised by how supportive he was being about this. Following him down the hall outside, she gazed at him with a new sense of wonder, admiring the determined set of his jaw as he punched the elevator button several times.

  “What?” he demanded, noticing her stare.

  “Nothing,” she said shyly. “I’m just kind of impressed that you’re being so cool about this, writing that note and everything.…You know—because of how much you hate Dr. Arreglo.”

  He shrugged and shot her a little half smile. “Hey, I’m full of surprises.” He laughed, grabbing her and giving her a quick squeeze. “Seriously though, babe, your happiness is more important to me than anything else.” Letting go, he jiggled his weight from foot to foot and glanced up at the elevator indicator. “How long does it take to get an elevator in a freakin’ six-story building?”

  Faith ducked her head to hide a smile. It was obvious that he was feeling tense. It couldn’t be easy for him, knowing he was doing something nice for his sworn enemy, Arreglo. She promi
sed herself that she’d figure out a way to pay him back for this later.

  “Finally!” Oscar snapped as the elevator doors slid open at last. “Come on, babe. We gotta hurry…”

  Fifteen minutes later they were walking into the hushed, elegant lobby of a high-dollar hotel. Even in her best clothes, Faith felt a little out of place among the fashionably dressed men and women standing at the concierge desk or browsing through the magazines in the spacious sitting area. She pulled her windbreaker closer around herself and glanced around nervously.

  “Ready to head upstairs?” Oscar asked.

  She noticed that he’d just pulled out a pair of mirrored sunglasses and put them on. “Why are you wearing those in here?”

  He grinned and yanked the brim of his hat a little lower. “Cut me a break, babe,” he said. “I want to be here to support you and all. But I don’t want any of my friends seeing me hanging out with Arreglo.” He laughed loudly, causing a few people to turn and glance at him curiously.

  “Very funny.” Faith smiled nervously. “But listen, I’m okay from here. You don’t have to come upstairs with me—maybe you could wait in the coffee shop or something…”

  “No way!” Oscar said immediately. “I want to be with you—you know, for moral support. I figure I owe you after being such a jerk about this before. Please?”

  Faith hesitated. She really wasn’t sure it was a good idea to take Oscar up to meet Arreglo. What if he couldn’t resist saying something obnoxious once they were face-to-face?

  Seeing the doubt in her face, Oscar grabbed both her hands and gazed at her over the top of his sunglasses. “Seriously, beautiful,” he said. “I want to prove that I’ll do anything for you. You’re my world, you know.”