My second thought was the trail, but if they went back over the area due to the whole stranger sighting Melissa and I had planted, they might end up discovering it there, too.
I finally settled on close to that. I’d hike up the trail higher, then veer off into the forest somewhere before the top. Not too far so I didn’t get lost, but far enough that no one would stumble across it. I’d have to figure out some way to get back to the path, as my sense of direction was useless. Yes, early tomorrow morning, before they put anything together.
.o0o.
My mom caught me sneaking out. She carried my brother’s baseball bat when she entered the hall. “Mom,” I hissed, waving before she swung.
“What in the world are you doing up? I thought we were on the same page when it comes to this stuff. But you need to tell me instead of scaring me to death.”
“Sorry, I just thought of it. I need to hide the bottle just in case they come looking for it. If they talk to any of Melissa’s friends, they’ll know something’s up.”
“So you decided to leave in the middle of the night?”
“It’s four in the morning. I’m just going for a hike to see the sunrise,” I said, wanting to wash my mouth out with soap for saying what I considered to be dirty words.
My mom softly laughed. “On a Sunday? And you’re going by yourself?”
“Well, I’d take Melissa, but she’s got a gaggle of girls at her place,” I said as I started for the front door.
“Wait. I’ll go up with you.” She set the bat down and started for her room.
“I’ll be fine.”
“Last time you went hiking, someone fell off a cliff.”
“True. But that someone wasn’t me.” I grinned despite the fact she probably couldn’t see it.
“Someone needs to go with you or I get dressed.” I imagined she was folding her arms about now.
I pulled out my cell phone and went to dial Melissa anyway, but I hesitated, then cleared it and dialed another.
“Yeah,” Tyler’s groggy voice came over the phone.
The butterflies activated, making me giddy at the sound of his voice. You’re just sleep deprived, I told myself as a smile spread across my face.
He cleared his throat and I realized I hadn’t spoken. “Sorry to wake you up.”
“No, what’s up at four in the morning? You okay?”
“It’s stupid, never mind.” My finger hovered over the end button.
“Just tell me. You can’t wake me up like this and not tell me.”
What if they were taping us now? Would they really waste their resources on two teens? Just in case. “I wanted to go for a hike.”
“A hike?”
Tell me about it, buddy. I’m just as confused as you are, I thought as I held the phone tighter. “Yes, to see the sunrise,” I replied, not bothering to hide the sarcasm in my voice.
“Who did you call, Melissa? Say hi to Melissa for me,” my mom said as she stepped closer.
“Hi, Melissa.” I gave my mom a thumbs-up sign in the dull glow of my cell phone light.
“You’re not joking,” he said after a few seconds of silence.
“Nope. Mom said I have to have someone go with me. Like I said, it was stupid.”
“I’ll be over in fifteen minutes.” The phone went dead.
I put my phone away and looked back at my mom. “I need something so I don’t get lost when I leave the trail.”
“I’ve got an idea,” she said, grinning as she went to the kitchen. She flipped on the light and we both flinched as our eyes adjusted. She pulled a loaf of bread out of the breadbox and tossed it to me.
“Real funny, Mom,” I said as I tossed it back.
She laughed and started for the laundry room and came back with bright red yarn and some duct tape. “Here. Use this to seal the cap,” she said, handing me the tape. “And tie that to a tree by the trail to follow your way back.” She set it in my hands and hugged me again. “Be safe!”
“I will.” I reluctantly let go.
Chapter Eighteen
“So you sent that poor guy running down the street?” Tyler asked as we started up the dusty trailhead.
“Yes, after your mystery savior. I pity her when they catch up.”
“I think you’d look horrible with black hair.”
“And so romantic.”
“I hate to say this, but it seems too easy.” Our eyes met and the worry of the last few days melted away. His fingers brushed mine and my breath hitched. His contentment swirled into me and made my heart flutter.
“Well, we’re going to look considerably less guilty if they don’t find another bleach bottle on me,” I said, sliding my hand in his.
“So what made you think this was a good idea?”
“It’s out in the middle of nowhere. If we bury it deep enough, no one will find it and I don’t have to keep cleaning up messes.”
“If you could take it all back, would you?” He squeezed my hand and I leaned against the same rock that had supported me my first time up.
“What I did with you, I don’t regret. But the other thing I did with the water bottle, it got out of control. Even though I meant to do the right thing, I think in the end it was the wrong decision.” I sighed.
“So want to tell me about the other water bottle stuff that I don’t know about, now that we’re here? And why it’s now in a bleach bottle?”
“Caitlyn’s little brother died last year. She was struggling with it and I thought I’d help. I didn’t think it would work. By taking that sadness away, I made her a different person.” I felt surprisingly lighter after the confession. I didn’t realize how heavy the weight of my mistake had become until I was on the final journey to put it to rest.
“So you helped your friend. You didn’t know what would happen.” The trail narrowed and he let go of my hand.
“Even if I didn’t know it would work, I should have taken precautions or something. This was big. It affected Emily, Caitlyn’s neighbor. Suddenly she’s super depressed, and she didn’t know why.”
“That sucks.”
“Don’t worry. It gets better. I was taking it out of Emily, and Melissa touched me. Next thing I know, it’s in Melissa, and she’s already struggling with some serious crap. But I didn’t tell you that part.”
“You think I didn’t put together there was some major stupidity going on when the exes took us on double dates together.” His laughter echoed on the rocks around us.
“Seriously, how could two separate people decide that was a good idea? And to my defense, I didn’t know it was a double.”
“I knew it was a double, but I didn’t know it was with him.” I glanced back this time to see him shaking his head. I smiled.
“Got it out of her and put it in a water bottle.”
“I follow you now.”
“Caitlyn stole the water bottle and dumped it into the football team’s water cooler.”
“Okay, so Melissa was stupid, but Caitlyn’s messed up. What the crap was she thinking?”
“Exactly. So I finally got it out of the football team, come to find out it went into a lot of the cheerleaders too.”
“You’re joking.”
“I wish I was. I spent last night pretending to be a psychic so I could pull it out of all of them. Anyway, each time it goes in, it gets harder to unravel where it ends and someone begins. I’ve got to put it somewhere no one has to deal with it—specifically myself—ever again.”
“Hence the hike.”
“Hence the hike,” I replied.
We fell silent. Me mostly because I started struggling to breathe and it was hard to have a romantic conversation when you’re panting up the mountain of doom. I wished I knew what he was thinking.
When my muscles became so tired they felt like Jell-O, I slumped against another rock. “Can I ask you a question now? How close to the top are we?”
“Honestly?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, regretting it
even as I asked.
“We’re not even halfway.”
“So last time, I only made it like a fourth of the way.”
“Last time, we probably didn’t even make it that far.”
I groaned. Okay so maybe we wouldn’t make it to the top. Maybe we’d make it a little more than halfway and bury it further off the trail. I veered off shortly after that and handed Tyler the red string. We plowed through the underbrush. I was glad we hadn’t seen anyone on the trail up because if we’d had, they’d hear my every step. I was not a graceful wood nymph by any standards.
“You know my mom first handed me bread,” I said to break up the clomping.
“I don’t buy it, Gretel,” he said as he gave me a gentle shove.
“What? You think I lie?”
“You’re not the Gretel type. In fact, had your father asked you to go into the woods, you would have been like, ‘You go to the woods. I’m staying home.’”
“It’s true. What about you, Hansel? What character are you? I kept calling you Charming, but I’m curious.” I used the excuse to unravel some more yarn so I could watch him as he answered.
“I always thought I was more like Jack and the Beanstalk.” He took the yarn out of my hands.
“Why Jack?” I looked into his blue eyes, waiting for the answer.
“I was always waiting for some magic bean to come along and change my life. I wanted more than a house and a family. I wanted to be a rock star. I wanted to travel and see the word.”
“Well Jack, I think you got your wish. We’re about to bury your bit of magic, and I pray no beanstalk comes from it.”
“I’m going to go with you on this one,” he said before stepping in front of me and continuing. We were nearing the last bit of string so we’d need to find a place soon. He seemed to have the same idea, for in the next few steps, he stopped and started to dig. I pulled a small gardening shovel out of my backpack and handed it over.
It didn’t time long before we had a decent-sized hole. “Lilly, you said taking it away changed Caitlyn. Can you give it back to her?”
“It’s so tangled in there, I don’t know if I can, or if she’d take it back if I could.”
“Do you want to try? I think once we leave, it’s going to be hard for either of us to find this. Just checking.”
“I only have the jug,” I said, holding up the bleach bottle. It had a little pink flower on the front, I think because it was supposed to be scented, and it struck me as funny.
“I’ve got a water bottle,” he said pulled his out of his backpack. The one I’d bought for him.
“No, that’s yours.”
“Yeah, but it’s for a good cause. And I promise if it doesn’t work, or you change your mind, I’ll come up and bury it myself.”
“Well, with an offer like that, how can I refuse, Jack?”
I set the jug on the ground and unscrewed it while Tyler unscrewed the lid of his.
“Set it on the ground, just in case,” I said. Before I was willing to dip my fingers into either of them, I wanted him to be safe.
It was easier with the mass not attached to a person, but it clung to itself as a parasite clings to its host. Bile rose up my throat but I pushed it down. Around my fingers was the worst liquid knot that ever existed. I felt like a magician thrown in a tank, trying to undo the rope before the air ran out.
“Hey,” Tyler’s voice interrupted me after what seemed like forever. I had only managed to unload half the emotions, and I wasn’t any closer to the beginning then I had been thirty minutes ago.
“It’s going to be awhile,” I replied, not bothering to keep the frustration out of my voice.
“It’s not that. I think I hear someone.”
“We’re pretty far out here,” I replied, not wanting to draw my attention from the task in front of me. If I lost the little progress I’d made, I wasn’t going to start over again.
“That’s what I was thinking, but whatever I’m hearing has gotten louder. I’m going to go back and see what I can find out. You okay with being out here by yourself for a bit?” he said.
I nodded and focused on working faster, but the knotted emotions only seemed to pull tighter. This was the ultimate test in patience, and so far I was not feeling very zen.
I was aware time was passing because the light started to dim. We were edging on sundown. I was close, though; I could feel it. I was almost to the base emotion—the death of her little brother. It was still bittersweet, having been concentrated at the near moment it had been born. Time had not had a chance to soften it. If I ever gave it back to Caitlyn, it was going to suck.
When I extracted the last sticky bit, I moved the bit of emotion over to the water bottle and sealed it shut before moving back to the bleach bottle. I jumped up and almost danced around if it wasn’t for the fact my whole body was stiff from sitting still for so long. I glanced around for Tyler, but he still hadn’t returned. It had to have been hours since he left. I prayed he was okay.
The sun seemed to be on fast forward, with every passing second bringing me closer to dark. There was still a bit of light when I finished burying the stupid curse. I shoved the water bottle into my backpack and grabbed hold of the string Tyler had left on the ground nearby. With any luck, I could follow it back to the trailhead. Then I’d start looking for him.
I felt like I should at least be halfway there. I had been trudging forever. I was almost completely going by feel at this point. I swallowed and made myself move forward.
“Tyler,” I yelled. I heard my voice echo back, but nothing else. Wasn’t the forest supposed to be full of animal noises? At the moment, it sounded eerily quiet.
“Tyler, are you there? I’m done,” I shouted again. No response. And then a fear I hadn’t even realized I had became real—I came to the end of the string. It was dark, I was in the middle of nowhere, Tyler was gone, and I had no idea how to get out of here.
Chapter Nineteen
What should I do? Why didn’t I watch Survivor more? I thought as I searched for an answer.
Phone, I thought, pulling it out. Maybe the GPS could get me home. There should be a Lost app for this. I growled and turned my cell on, but not a single bar lit up—no service. Stupid cell phone company. Can you hear me now? I was changing plans when I got back, even if I understood why they hadn’t set up service in the middle of flippin’ nowhere.
The low battery warning came on and I cringed. Must conserve battery for when I stumbled into service.
So I’d keep going in the general downward direction I thought I’d need to go and when it got pitch black, I’d use the phone to lead me further. Hadn’t Tyler said the North Star guided sailors? I gazed up but couldn’t see anything through the canopy of leaves above me. I was never hiking again. Next time the government wanted anything, I was handing it over. In fact, if they showed up right now, I’d give them Caitlyn’s emotion and let them deal with it.
A growl off to my left made the hair on my neck stand up. I’m going to get eaten. I’m going to starve to death and get eaten, I thought, jumping to the worst-case scenario.
The tiredness that came with tangling through emotions was rolling over, muting my fears and telling me to sleep. I yawned and went a few more steps. I’m not Bella. I will not just lay down and give up, I thought, making myself take another step.
Yeah but she did, and she got a cute werewolf to rescue her, another part of me argued. I took another step.
Good point, I agreed with myself and sat down heavily on a fallen tree.
“If you’re out there, come find me,” I whispered into the dark. I shivered when I heard something howl a little too close for comfort. And then I was out.
.o0o.
Come morning, I itched all over. I must have been bitten a million time during the night. I squirmed as I sat up and almost screeched as I brushed a couple of tiny black ants off my arm.
Never hiking again!
Things looked better with the light, and alth
ough it wasn’t very bright, it was easier to see where I was going. I could see the path I had tromped to get here, and I had pretty much been weaving aimlessly. So new plan: Follow my drunken path back to where the string had ended as best I could and see if I could find my original path. Then I’d get out of here, find Tyler, and tell him we were over. He left me alone, at night, in the middle of the mountain. Unless he was in trouble. Then I’d think about it.
My stomach growled and I fished around in my backpack for a granola bar. Hopefully, I’d get cell service before I went down the mountain so I could call Mom and let her know I was mostly okay.
I trudged back until I saw my trampled steps split, then followed the other path as best I could. I got detoured a few times, thinking it went off one way when in fact it hadn’t. I should map this mountain after I was done. I felt like I had gone over every inch of it already. Except you never made it to the top, I argued with myself, so I didn’t get too excited. Wouldn’t want that confident thought leading to me coming back to hike.
When I hit the trail, I had a brief moment where I wanted to get down on the ground and kiss it, like they do in movies. I didn’t because the logic didn’t quite work, but I felt relief all the same.
Still no sign of Tyler. When I did finally get to the bottom, another problem hit me. Tyler had driven me up, and his car was gone. The fact that his car was gone was pretty damning. I flipped open my almost dead phone and went for text instead of calling.
Mom, pick me up. At the mouth of the trail.
I waited a moment, then added.
Tyler’s gone.
I wasn’t sure if the second part sent. My phone gave up the ghost and laid dead in my hand. I reached back and scratched another itch. Maybe we’d need to stop by a pharmacy on the way home so I could bathe in anti-itch cream.
Mom got there in record time. I think she had to have run every light to get here. I crawled into the front seat and dropped my head.
A Touch of Water (Touch of Magic Book 1) Page 14