Lost: The Novels

by Catherine Hapka

  But she was also strong enough not to give up on her ideals just because the going got tough. She still believed in compromise, so first she wanted to see if there might be another way…

  22

  “LOOK, I TOLD YOU. No compromise, no backing down.” Oscar sounded smug as he pushed the hotel room door shut behind them. “Whatever it takes—survival of the fittest, baby.”

  Faith couldn’t believe that Oscar was standing there arguing with her as if they were merely disagreeing over what to order for dinner or who to support in the next election. As if he hadn’t just killed a man…

  She barely remembered leaving Arreglo’s suite, or walking through his hotel lobby, or the cab ride back to their own hotel. But now that they were in their own room, her mind was starting to break out of its deep freeze, at least a little bit. She walked toward the bed on numb legs, stunned by the enormity of what had just happened. Lowering herself carefully into a sitting position on the edge of the mattress, she felt her heart thumping violently and tears threatening to spill over. Her head hurt, her stomach hurt, and her heart hurt—she almost wished she could go back into her numb, painless daze for a while.

  “This can’t be happening,” she insisted desperately. “Oscar, please tell me what’s really going on here, okay? Because I just don’t get it.”

  She stared at him, hoping against hope that something he might say would help her understand. That he would offer up some explanation, some information that would help her mind make sense of the crazy thing that had just happened. That this could still turn out all right.

  “I already told you.” Oscar pulled the syringe out of his pocket and set it carefully on the dresser. “This was all exactly how it was supposed to go. We’ve been planning for this moment since before you and I met—it was, like, destiny.” Kicking his shoes off, he flopped onto the bed.

  Faith’s brain seemed to be sputtering along like a cold car engine in subzero temperatures. Even so, she was slowly starting to make some connections that perhaps should have been obvious earlier.

  “Wait,” she said. “So you knew those other people before this trip? Mo, Rune, Junior…”

  “Sure.” He tossed his hat and glasses on the bed and glanced at her. “Mostly just online, of course. But we’re all members of IAL from way back—only the most trusted people from the group were in on this plot, naturally.”

  “And when you and I met…” She struggled to understand. “You were just looking for someone who knew Arreglo? Someone who could get you access to him?”

  “But you’re much more than that now, baby.” Oscar gave what she guessed was supposed to be a reassuring smile. “Not only were you absolutely perfect for the role, but you turned out to be quite the cool little girlfriend, too.” He flopped onto the bed beside her, making the mattress bounce, and planted a sloppy kiss on her cheek. “That’s why we changed the plan a little so maybe you wouldn’t have to end up taking the fall.”

  Her entire body shuddered as she pushed him away. “Wait,” she said again. “You guys were going to blame this whole thing on me?”

  “Sure. It makes the most sense, doesn’t it? But once I started spending time with you, I really started to dig you. You have potential—in fact, we were going to let you in on the whole plan if we thought you were ready.” He shrugged. “Clearly you weren’t, so we went with Plan C. Anyway, I know you’ll come around after a while and see that this was the right thing to do. Then everything will be cool.”

  She shuddered again, horrified at how deeply and completely he’d misread her all this time they’d been together. Didn’t he know her at all? She had never been one to believe much in soul mates, but she’d thought that they at least understood each other a little. Now it seemed they’d just been seeing what they wanted to see—on both sides. As if they’d been coexisting on parallel but slightly different planes of reality all along.

  “Anyway, what’s done is done, right?” Oscar was already losing interest in the conversation. “The IAL is prepared to get us both new identities here in Oz so we can disappear—probably to Malaysia or somewhere—and never get caught. You turned out to be perfect for that part of the plan, too.” He touched her gently on the nose. “Nobody’s going to miss you or wonder too much where you are when you don’t go back to school.”

  Even though she was pretty sure he wasn’t trying to be cruel this time, Faith felt a stab in her heart at his comment. Anger bubbled up inside of her, hot and painful. She had never liked confrontation, but suddenly her soul was crying out for it. She wanted to leap at Oscar, grab him by the throat, scream at him until he was forced to understand exactly what he’d done…

  Those feelings scared her, and she shot an involuntary glance at the window as if in hopes of some kind of escape. At that moment a pigeon fluttered gracefully in for a landing on the sill, distracting her slightly. She ran her eyes over its smooth, soft gray feathers as it did its slightly awkward bird-walk along the windowsill.

  Think with your brain, not with your heart.

  Her sister’s words popped into her mind unbidden, as they often did during difficult moments in her life. How many times had Gayle said that to her, usually when it was too late to follow her advice?

  But it wasn’t too late this time—not entirely. Her heart pounded as Faith realized she had to make Gayle’s words a reality, right here and now. Despite the almost overwhelming mixture of betrayal, horror, sadness, and humiliation that made her want to burst into sobs of fury and smash Oscar’s face in, she had to keep her cool if she wanted to get through this. Oscar had just showed her how ruthless he could be, and he was clearly more than a little nuts. If he thought she might turn him in or otherwise cause trouble with his precious plan, there was no telling what he would do. She needed to handle him as carefully as she would an agitated rattler coiled to strike.

  Realizing he was watching her carefully, she put a hand to her forehead. “I—I need to take this all in,” she said weakly, pretending to be confused. That wasn’t much of an acting challenge, considering that she was still feeling dazed and not entirely sure any of this was actually happening. “It’s all just so sudden, I—I may need some time to get used to it…”

  “Take all the time you need, babe.” Oscar’s face lit up, and he grabbed her knee and squeezed it. “I’m here for you. You’ll see—we’ll get through this together, and it will be great.”

  “Thanks.” She forced a smile, carefully keeping her voice as normal as she could. Out of the corner of her eye, she was suddenly all too aware of the syringe of snake venom on the dresser just a few feet away. “Um, I think I need to go wash my face,” she said. “Okay?”

  “Go for it.” Oscar leaped up and gave a little bow, all his movements eager and excited.

  Faith stood, willing her rubbery legs not to collapse under her. Choked with fear, she walked carefully toward the bathroom. When she reached the dresser she paused for a split second beside the syringe, then kept going without reaching for it. Instead she continued on into the bathroom.

  She felt a little safer just being around the corner and out of Oscar’s sight. Leaving the door ajar to avoid any chance of raising his suspicions, she ran the water in the sink and splashed her face. The cool water felt good against her flushed skin and cleared her head a little. Plus the activity bought her a moment to think about what to do next.

  Oscar’s voice drifted in from the room outside. “You won’t regret it if you stick with me, baby,” he called. “We’re in this together, and that’s how it should be. We’re a team now. Forever.”

  There’s no such thing as forever.

  That was something Gayle had said a lot toward the end. Lifting her head, Faith stared at herself in the mirror. Her wide amber eyes, so much like her sister’s, stared back at her, but didn’t tell her what to do.

  When Faith emerged from the bathroom, Oscar was sitting on the corner of the bed with his back to her as he dug through his suitcase, which was flung open on the flo
or at his feet. Once again she paused beside the syringe. All she had to do was grab it—she could jab the needle into Oscar’s neck or shoulder before he realized what she was doing. If the tranquilizer and the venom did their trick, nobody would find him until it was too late, and she was long gone.

  But once again she turned away from the syringe. She couldn’t do it. Not even in these circumstances, and not even to him.

  Instead she grabbed the metal ice bucket from the dresser nearby. Acting fast before she could lose her nerve, she jumped forward—and brought the bucket down as hard as she could on the back of Oscar’s head.

  “Hey, I—” he blurted out, sounding surprised. Then he slumped like a marionette whose strings had just been cut, sliding off the edge of the bed and landing on top of his open suitcase with a thump.

  Faith stood frozen for a moment, ice bucket in hand, staring down at him. His sides moved in and out, reassuring her that he was still alive. She was half-expecting him to leap up, shake off the blow, and come at her furiously. Then it would all be over…

  But Oscar didn’t move. Stunned by what she’d just done, she dropped the ice bucket on the bed and covered her mouth with both hands, willing herself not to throw up or faint. Then, realizing that time was still sliding along without her, she grabbed the phone, stepping over Oscar’s prone form to reach it. Dialing with shaky fingers, she managed to get connected with the local police.

  “H-hello?” she said, her voice squeaky and unrecognizable even to herself. “I need to report a crime. The environmental convention—someone needs to check on Dr. Arreglo immediately—don’t let the security guards stop you. It’s very important he get medical treatment as soon as possible. He was injected with snake venom, definitely from a toxic species, but I don’t know which kind, so you’ll need an ID kit or a polyvalent antivenin…” She didn’t know if it was too late to save Arreglo or not. But she had to try.

  “I see.” The operator sounded surprised and perhaps slightly suspicious. “What’s the victim’s location?”

  For one panicky moment, Faith couldn’t recall the name of Arreglo’s hotel. Then it popped back into her head, and she blurted out the name.

  “All right,” the operator said calmly. “Now your location, please, miss?”

  The Faith who had always been a good girl, had always made her bed and done her homework and respected her elders, obediently opened her mouth to answer. But the new Faith, the person stuck in this strange game where she didn’t know the rules but had to play anyway, came to her senses and took over just in time.

  “Um, I’m…somewhere else,” she stammered. “Now I have to go. Good-bye.” She flung down the phone, feeling panicky, as if suspicious eyes were staring in the windows at her. Spinning around, she saw that the pigeon was watching her with its round black eyes. As she stared at it, it took off in a flurry of wings.

  Faith flew into action as well. She yanked open the dresser drawers and started tossing her things into her carry-on bag as quickly as she could. Now that she’d done what she could to help Arreglo, all she could think about was getting far, far away from this place. Some vague part of her brain knew that it couldn’t possibly end there, but she would have to deal with the rest of it later.

  Somehow she found her way outside to a cab, and then to the airport. Hardly seeing the throngs of travelers going about their own business all around her, she found her way to the Oceanic Airlines counter. “I need to trade this in,” she said to the woman there. “For an earlier flight.”

  The agent looked at her tickets. “I see,” she said pleasantly. “So you’re wanting to head back to the States a bit early, then?”

  “Please,” Faith said, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. “I have to get home now—today. It’s very important. Can I switch to a different flight?”

  “I’ll see what I can do.”

  The agent bent her head over her computer, her fingernails clicking rapidly across the keyboard. After a moment she looked up with a smile.

  “As a matter of fact, it looks like we’ve just this moment had a cancellation on flight 815, which begins boarding in about fifteen minutes,” she said. “Must be your lucky day.”

  23

  FAITH TOOK A DEEP breath. “JUMP, YOU IDIOT!” she shouted at the top of her lungs.

  Her words were so loud they made the nearby trees rattle as startled birds and other creatures jumped or flew off. It even startled her a little—it was very unlike her to make that much noise, ever.

  But it worked. “Huh?” George grunted, breaking out of his silent, fearful stupor.

  He abruptly scrambled forward, almost crashing into the stick Faith was holding. Just in time he lurched off to one side, slipping off the rock shelf and tumbling to the ground, catching his shirt on the edge of the pricker bush before landing heavily on his back.

  “Oof.” He lay there stunned for a second or two before clambering awkwardly to his feet and rushing away across the clearing, tripping over rocks and roots in his haste.

  Faith watched over her shoulder, still keeping a firm hold on her stick. She wanted to make sure he was safely out of range before she moved.

  He finally stopped at the far end of the clearing, where he turned to look back. “Kill that evil thing!” he shouted hoarsely.

  Faith stared at him. Then she glanced down at the rock by her foot. She kicked it away, sending it bouncing off into the shadow of some scrubby trees. Then, with one last deep breath, she released her grip on the stick and leaped away as fast as she could.

  The snake let out an angry hiss, whipping around into striking position. But seeing nothing close enough to attack, it almost immediately turned and slithered rapidly across the rock shelf, disappearing into a fissure near the back.

  Faith let out a breath she wasn’t even aware she’d been holding. Just then she heard shouts from the jungle behind where George was standing. She turned just in time to see a small group of survivors emerging from the trees. Locke was leading the way, followed by Michael, Claire, and a couple of others whose names she didn’t know.

  “What happened?” Claire called out.

  Michael hurried up to George. “We heard you guys yelling all the way at the beach.…Is someone hurt?”

  Faith cringed in anticipation of what George would say: She let a dangerous snake get away—she’s crazy…

  But when she glanced over at him, he was smiling at her. “I’ll tell you what happened,” he told the others, his voice already returning to its usual booming tone. “This girl saved my life, that’s what happened!”

  Everyone talked at once, demanding more information. Only Locke was silent, rubbing his chin thoughtfully as his eyes wandered from Faith to George and back again. George was talking fast, quickly outlining for the others what had just happened.

  “Nice work, Faith.” Michael stepped forward to clap her on the back. “Very brave.”

  Claire nodded, shivering slightly. “Definitely brave,” she declared. “I came across a Death Adder once while hiking out in the bush—they’re totally scary!”

  Finally George held up a hand for silence. “Listen, I want to say something.” He turned toward Faith. “I was in a pretty bad spot there, and I don’t know what might’ve happened if you hadn’t come to my rescue. And after some of the things.…Well, let’s just say I wouldn’ta blamed you for passing me by.”

  Faith blushed. In the background, Claire tittered slightly and a couple of the others exchanged glances.

  George shrugged. “Anyway, I ain’t much with the flowery words. So I’ll just say thank you, Faith. You’re a brave and honorable person—a good friend. I won’t forget this.” His eyes were sincere as he held out his hand.

  “I—uh—you—” She was so surprised and touched that she wasn’t sure how to answer. So she just took his hand and shook it.

  As she pulled her hand away, she caught a glimpse of bright feathers nearby. For a moment she thought it was the tiny parakeet that had flown by ea
rlier, but when she glanced over, she saw a larger bird disappearing into the trees. Her heart thumped.

  “Excuse me,” she told George and the others hastily. “I’ll be right back.”

  She raced off after the bird, tracking it as it zoomed along just above the forest floor. It led her through several patches of light and shade, around several rocky outcroppings, and along a narrow, winding stream. For a while it pulled so far ahead that she was sure it was going to get away again, and the thought nearly broke her heart.

  But then, quite suddenly, she caught up to it in a small mossy clearing. It was perched on a rock, preening its colorful feathers.

  Breathless, she stopped short and stared. The sun was shining down into the clearing, and she was finally able to see the bird clearly. It lifted its head and hopped down from its rock, jumping a few feet across the ground. With a chirp, it turned around and hopped back onto the rock again.

  She stayed there for a while watching it. Then she heard a flutter from overhead, and looked up just in time to see a dozen nearly identical birds swoop down toward the clearing from the tree canopy. She gasped as they dropped to the ground like a shower of colorful jewels; her ears were filled with their melodious cries.

  Soon she couldn’t pick the original bird out of the group. The parrots hopped around on the ground for a moment, mingling and merging. Then, as if on some unheard signal, they took to the air all at once, smoothly and swiftly, like multiple parts of a larger organism. Their flapping wings filled the air as they rose high above the clearing, free and alive.

  Smiling, Faith tipped her head up toward the sky, watching the birds fly off together. Somehow, all this time she’d pictured a single parrot living here in this jungle all alone. She was glad to see that that wasn’t the case—but then again, she should have known it already. After all, nature didn’t often leave her creatures all on their own.