“I’m glad too,” Tristan replied, smiling.
“So, Joey, come on, tell me what happened last night after you guys left?” Tiffany asked excitedly. That was the part she’d been really dying to hear about. She was squirming, looking at me expectantly like she was about to explode with anxiousness.
I rolled my eyes at her lack of tact. “Well, we had a huge fight, then I made him confess and quit his stupid plan of pushing me away, for once and for all. And that’s because …” I trailed off and gave Tristan a pointed glare, egging him on to continue my sentence.
“Because ‘it was the stupidest plan ever in the entire history of the whole wide world’,” he chorused, rolling his eyes with a faint smile.
“Okay. There are a few Lost Boys that need to know all about this secret tale too,” I said, standing up. “Let’s call them into our room now, shall we?”
“I don’t know how we are going to make them believe us,” I muttered worriedly at Tristan. “What if they don’t accept it as easily as Tiff and Seth?” Twenty minutes had passed and I was still trying to gather courage to enter our room. Tristan was by my side, trying to be supportive. I could hear the boys’ voices muffled inside the bedroom. Tiffany’s high-pitched squeals, Sam’s loud laughs and Josh’s grave tone. Seth and Harry were inside too.
“They will, don’t worry, Joey. Let’s just do it, already!” he said, opening the door impatiently. Tristan pushed me inside and closed the door behind him.
“Hey, Grays! What took you so long! We’ve been waiting here for you two for ages! What’s this serious talk about?” Sam asked, sitting on the floor by the foot of Seth’s bed, wearing his customary brown flannel shirt. Seth was leaning against his headboard, holding Tiff in his arms, and they both had knowing looks on their faces.
“Yeah! Seth practically barked at us to come right away! What’s the big emergency?” Harry asked, sprawled over my bed. Harry was always on my bed, taking up all the space, the numbnuts. He was wearing his baggy skater shorts with a large T-shirt, his hair as wild as usual.
“It’s no emergency,” Tristan said, going to sit on his bed at the other side of the room. “We just wanted to talk to you guys.” If he was nervous, he didn’t show any signs of it. I had a butterfly riot in my stomach. Josh was in front of Tristan’s bed, fumbling inside the drawers, looking for something to eat. He had on his usual black T-shirt and dark jeans. “So, spill it, man!” Josh said, munching an ancient-looking cookie. That boy would eat just about anything.
Tristan eyed me, raising both eyebrows. I was still frozen in my spot by the door.
Well, the hell with it. It was now or never, right? I walked over to Tristan’s bed and sat on his lap. Tristan wrapped his arms around my waist and I turned my face, smiling at him. He leaned in and gave me a hard kiss on the lips. It wasn’t hot enough to be considered distasteful, but deep enough to leave no doubt about it being an “unbrotherly” kiss. I guessed that would be a good conversation starter!
Silence descended in the room like someone had just hit the mute button. I felt Tristan chuckling beneath my lips. “This is going to be fun,” he mused softly, ending the kiss and turning to look at the reactions in the room. I turned too, and watched three shocked faces staring at us, and two smiley ones. Harry had his mouth open, Sam had wide eyes and raised eyebrows, and Josh was frowning slightly.
“I knew something was going on between you two!” Josh was the first to speak. “I told you guys! And you wouldn’t believe me!” He made a smug gesture.
“Yeah, man, you told us they were hiding something. Uh, but did you seriously think of that?” Sam retorted in a freaked-out voice.
Harry was staring at me in shock, but when he caught me looking back, he diverted his gaze, embarrassed. “Yeah, that was seriously freaky, even for me,” he mumbled, obviously uncomfortable.
“Before anyone else freaks out, I have something to say!” Tristan said. “Joey is not my sister, and I’m definitely not her brother, okay?” He held up his hands.
“Come again?”
“Say what?”
“I’m sorry, what?”
The three boys replied at the same time.
“We had to lie to get Tristan accepted at the school,” I explained. “It was the only way to get him in.”
“Joey’s mom was cool enough to help me with this,” Tristan said, and then he turned to look at me. “I cannot thank her enough for all she has done for me,” he said softly. “I also need to thank her for having you. She gave the world the best gift ever,” he whispered the last line into my ear. I blushed and smiled and then he kissed me again softly on the lips.
“Oh, man! This is so messed up!” Sam shouted from the floor. “I know you just told us you’re not related, but it’s still so weird to watch you two … you know. Give us some time to adjust before you go swapping spit like that!”
Josh, Seth and Tiffany laughed at how freaked out Sam was about all this. Harry was still silent on my bed, watching everybody with cautious eyes.
“Hey, so that’s what the fuss was all about earlier in the year?” Josh said. He was a fast thinker. “We thought Joey had broken up with her boyfriend at her old school, and was very down for a while. We tried to cheer her up, and all,” he said.
“Oh, man! That’s right! That’s when Tristan dropped out of rehearsals! It all makes sense now!” Sam said, all excited, like he was solving a mystery murder crime.
“And the songs you two have been doing! Don’t take me wrong, they’re brilliant, but now that we can put the puzzle together, it’s kind of funny … I mean, sorry, not the fighting part, the story behind the lyrics part,” Josh said apologetically when he saw us frowning at him. Then he looked up at Tiff and Seth, and put yet another piece of the puzzle together. “Hey! And the golden couple over there knew about it all along, didn’t they?” Josh shouted, getting as excited with his discoveries as Sammy had been a minute ago.
Sam turned around to glare at Seth, and put his hand to his chest, faking hurt. “Oh, the betrayal!” he said theatrically.
“Sorry, dude. They made me swear. I couldn’t tell.” Seth held up his hands.
“What about Caroline?” Harry asked quietly, for the first time.
Tristan’s arm tensed around my waist, and his jaw clenched a little. “That was … a mistake,” he said quietly.
“But everything is fine now,” I cut in. I didn’t want that to be discussed in front of everybody. “And we thought it was time to tell you guys the truth, because we know you all can keep our secret.”
“Of course, you can trust us, Joey!” Sam said seriously.
“Always,” Josh added, and Harry nodded reassuringly as well.
“Okay. Good. I’m glad you are coping well with this,” Tristan said, smiling at the room. “Because now comes the really big revelation.” He made me sit by his side.
And then he told them about our history, the same way he had done with Seth and Tiffany by the oak tree. He told them everything. The whole truth.
At first they looked at us incredulously, making funny remarks and joking around. They weren’t believing any of what Tristan was telling them. Harry kept glancing at us and then at Seth to see his reaction, and when Seth stared back solemnly, he was left all confused about what to think.
After a while they realized we weren’t laughing. Then they started throwing questions at us, and we tried to answer them the best we could. The truth was, there were lots of things we didn’t know how to explain and some parts of the story were still a mystery to us as well. The only thing Tristan didn’t tell them about was about my ability to tell if someone was lying. I guess he thought it was my secret and not his to tell. I was glad he hadn’t told them. I couldn’t bear my friends being afraid to look me in the eyes.
But even so, Tristan glanced at me and I could read the question in his eyes. He wanted me to check how the boys were feeling. I surveyed the room. They wanted to believe, but the whole story was too fantastical for thei
r skeptical minds to cope with. I looked at Tristan sadly and shook my head in a negative gesture. He sighed heavily and stood up. “Okay. I reckon this supernatural stuff is a little hard to swallow. I may have to do something more drastic to make you believe. This is just a special ‘treat’ I got to bring from Dead Land. It’s a ghost trick of sorts.” He walked to the middle of the room, so everybody could see him properly.
What was he talking abou— Oh no! He wasn’t! Before I could say anything, he faded out of sight.
Chapter Thirty-One
Finding Death
Well, at least for the people in the room he did. For me, Tristan turned into that partially faded state, like he was part of the background somehow. But if I focused a little, I could discern his form clearly. Not for the first time I wondered why I was the only one able to see him like that. Was it yet another peculiar quirk of our magic bond? But even before the spell, when he was still a ghost, I was always able to see Tristan, even though I couldn’t see the other ghosts in the cemetery. Maybe Tristan and I shared something deeper than a magic spell: an ancient connection? Maybe our souls were linked and I would always be able to see him, no matter what.
The second he disappeared out of sight, Harry let out a small yelp. Sam stood up fast, ready to sprint for the door if he needed to; and Josh, his eyes wide, blurted out a disbelieving, “What the hell?” Tiffany just held Seth’s arms in a deadly grip, frozen in fear. Even Seth looked surprised. He and Tiff had previously accepted Tristan’s story unconditionally and without proof, but now they were able to see for real what Tristan had been talking about all along. While our friends stood in this half-frozen, half-ready-to-flee stance, Tristan walked towards me and turned his fading off as he sat down by my side.
“Holy crap!” Harry was first to speak.
“Almost had a heart attack here, but definitely believing it now, dude.” Sam was sitting slowly back down on my bed, gasping with his hand over his chest.
“This. Is. So. Freakin’. Cool,” was Josh’s reaction. “Seriously, how did you NOT tell us that you can do this before, man? It’s like you’re one of the X-Men, or something! Does anybody else here have any superpowers they haven’t been telling us about?” He glared at the rest of the boys.
“Nope. Not that I know about,” Sam said. “Wait! Does super-human good looks count? Cos I’m certainly guilty of that one!” Sam winked playfully at Josh, who just rolled his eyes at him.
“And Harry has his freaky ‘super-hook-up-radar thing’,” he added thoughtfully.
“Yeah. That is freaky,” Seth agreed with Sam. “He’s never once got it wrong …”
Everybody turned their heads suspiciously towards Harry, who just reclined against the headboard, shrugging. “Don’t hate me cos I’m special,” he said mockingly.
Everybody laughed at Harry’s theatrics and seemed to relax again. After that little display of supernatural powers, a new round of questions was launched at Tristan. He tried to answer the best he could, but most of his replies were along the lines of “Don’t really know” or “Can’t really say” and sometimes “I’m not sure.”
After that the boys stopped their interrogation and switched to high praise for his superpower special ability thing. He just listened to the boys joking around, and smiled contentedly at their excited faces. I could see sincere affection in Tristan’s eyes, how much he cared for our friends. And the rest of The Lost Boys clearly felt the same about him. I couldn’t help but smile. Not in a million years would I have imagined myself being part of such an amazing group of friends, and part of a band with them, too. How cool was that? I felt Tristan’s hand squeezing mine softly, and I turned to look at him. Once again I was blown away by the intensity of his piercing gaze. He grasped my chin lightly with the tip of his fingers, making me tilt my head up a little, and leaned in to give me a soft kiss. I was so engulfed by his kiss that I completely forgot about anything else. I could happily spend all eternity lost in his kisses. They made me forget about the rest of the world.
But then Sam’s voice cut in sharply, startling us and making us part.
“Hey! You two, cut it out! Some of us still haven’t adjusted to this new relationship yet!” Sam shouted from my bed. “So no kissing for at least the next twenty-four hours!” he said, frowning and making a parting gesture with his arms.
Tristan chuckled and leaned back on his headboard, pulling me with him and wrapping his arms around my waist. “How about hugging. Is that allowed?” he asked, resting his chin on my shoulder.
Sam pondered the question for a second and sniffed loudly. “I suppose a little hugging is acceptable. But please keep the lovey-dovey stuff to a minimum. It’s very unsettling,” he said, making everybody crack up laughing all over again.
The boys started pondering the many ways of turning Tristan’s fading ability to their advantage, suggesting he could sneak inside the staff room and have a quick look at test sheets.
Tristan chuckled lightly at their absurd requests but shook his head at all suggestions thrown his way.
I laughed hard at his refusals. It was like trying to convince Superman to do something against the law. It just wasn’t going to happen. Not in a million years.
Seth was apparently the only one on Tristan’s side. “You’re right, man. Don’t do it! With great power comes great responsibility!” Seth said, quoting the famous line from Spider-Man. He was such a geek. And so was I, because I knew where that line came from.
“Could you be more lame, dude?” Harry scoffed.
“How do you put up with him being so nerdy, Tiffany?” Josh asked, shaking his head vigorously.
Tiffany paused, looking at the ceiling thoughtfully. “Oh, I tolerate all his geekiness because he is so good in bed, you know?” she said, smiling sexily.
Seth choked and turned all red in the face, taken completely by surprise at Tiffany’s out-of-the-blue confession.
Everybody in the room, including myself, gawked at her. Tiffany loved seeing Seth blush. And he was so pale and blond; it was true entertainment seeing his face turning full-on beet red in a matter of seconds. Seth got a round of applause and compliments from the guys after that, making him turn an even darker shade of red. It was hilarious to watch!
We kept talking for a long time in our room after that. The boys also offered to help us by researching Tristan’s situation online and in the school library. I was overwhelmed by their support: they were determined to do whatever was necessary to help us get through this. They were confident about finding a way out of this deadline deal. I felt confidence rising inside of me as well. We could do this! We could find a way!
In the middle of the afternoon, Harry offered to get everybody some snacks and sodas from the cafeteria, and I volunteered to help him carry the food. I had been watching Harry for a while, and there was something he was trying to hide, something that was bothering him, but I couldn’t figure out what it was. So I took the opportunity to ask him while we were walking through the school corridors.
He glanced quickly at me and then went back to staring right ahead. “No. Nothing’s wrong,” he said, but the smile never reached his green eyes.
“Come on, Harry. You can tell me. You look upset … and sad,” I said, reading it in his eyes.
He stopped slowly and turned to me. “I guess I’m still a little surprised, that’s all. I just need some time to let it all sink in.”
“I’m sorry to drop the bomb on you guys like that. We should have told you little by little.”
“Nah, that’s okay. I’m glad you told us everything.” He shuffled his feet “So … you and Tristan, huh? I should have seen it, the way you two looked at each other. It’s so obvious now,” he mused. There it was again. The hint of sadness behind his eyes. “And here I was thinking he was just a jealous brother, when he was in fact a jealous boyfriend.” He chuckled lightly.
“Harry,” I said, smiling softly at him, and then I saw it. Love and hope and then defeat and resignation. He was
giving up on the possibility that something might happen between us. I truly hated my gift of empathy then. I didn’t want to violate his private feelings like that. I wished I hadn’t seen the secrets in his eyes. “Harry … I-I hope you know how much you mean to me,” I managed to say. “You’re one of my best friends and I love you so much. Your friendship means the world to me.”
He smiled in response and I threw my arms around him, hugging him tight. He tensed in surprise first, but then he slowly relaxed and hugged me back. “Of course, Joe,” he said quietly, and then he quickly broke away and coughed, slightly embarrassed. “Come on, you’re way too emotional today, Joey. You’re almost acting like a girl! Let’s go get these snacks, okay?” he teased, walking ahead of me.
I followed him with a heavy heart, and after that day I never once mentioned what I’d seen in Harry’s eyes, to anyone.
That night I slept in Tristan’s arms and dreamed I was walking through the cemetery lanes, back in Esperanza. Everything looked familiar, but at the same time strange. There were still the angel statues and big heavy-stoned crosses, a few scattered trees between graves and the usual grass and weeds growing between the cracks in the paving. But when I started to look more carefully, some things were out of proportion and bent in wrong angles. The light seemed weird too, too foggy to be identified as any particular time of the day. It was the kind of light you only get in dreams.
As soon as I realized I was dreaming, I tensed up. It was Vigil’s favorite place to try to contact me. As soon as this thought popped in my head, I saw his slim figure hunched on the nearest wooden bench. He looked sideways at me, not daring to stare directly. He was trying out a nonchalant, non-threatening pose.
My first instinctive reaction was to shut my eyes tight and try my “wakeupwakeupwakeup” mantra, to break Vigil’s connection. But then I remembered we needed to gather as much information about Tristan’s situation as possible. The library and internet were all well and good, but who would know more than Vigil himself? So instead of shutting myself off from him, I walked straight over and sat on his bench, but as far away from him as I could, just to be on the safe side.