“What were you all doing at the lake, anyway?” Simon asked, hurrying to keep up with Tristan’s long strides.
“Same as you. Looking for clues,” came Tristan’s clipped reply.
“I had been wondering about a few things . . . How did you know there was something happening that night by the lake?” Simon questioned him. “Nobody knew we were in trouble, except you.” His tone was borderline accusatory.
“What are you trying to imply, here, Simon? That I’m trying to hurt Joey, is that what you’re trying to say?”
“No. But you are a very jealous guy. I can’t get one foot closer to her without you barging in, puffing out your chest like a bloody alpha male.”
“So I’m jealous and trying to kill her, is that it? Yeah, that makes total sense,” Tristan scoffed, with a roll of his eyes.
“Well, all I know is that you wouldn’t have had time to get to the lake so fast that night, unless you’d already been lurking around. You were also close by when she lost her memory. She was talking to some other dude at that time. Maybe you got jealous and aimed for the guy, but overdid it and got her, too. And you were all smug when that ghost thing happened in my cabin. Maybe you were trying to scare me, just so you’d look good in front of her. It all makes a lot of sense, if you ask me.”
“A lot of sense. Right. Then, please, enlighten me: Why was I trying to drown her in that lake?”
“You could have been playing hero, there, and arranged that prank just so you could arrive in the nick of time and save the day. And make me look like shit.”
Tristan halted and turned to Simon. “You made yourself look like shit, pal. You did that all on your own.” He huffed angrily, his patience finally ending. “Don’t try to put the blame on me for your cowardice. If you get scared all the time, it’s your fault, not mine.”
“Halloway doesn’t do tasteless pranks like these!” Josh barked, coming to Tristan’s aid. “Plus, he couldn’t have been in two places at the same time! He couldn’t be pranking you in the lake and arriving to rescue her a second later. If I were you, I’d watch this bloke, Hal. He looks very shifty to me, trying to put the blame on you. I smell a rat here.”
I stepped between them. “Hey, stop it!” I warned, as the rest of the boys caught up to us and joined in the argument. Even though everything that Simon had said sounded logical to a degree, I knew in my heart that Tristan would never do any of those things, for any reason, not in a million years.
“Listen, shut up, everybody! This is stupid,” I said firmly. “You are fighting for nothing! We are all trying to figure this out. If we stop bickering with each other and work together, we might have a chance to crack this thing, okay?” They all grumbled under their breath, but conceded in the end. “All right, let’s get back to the main house, then. Celeste will help us solve this. Come on.”
I turned round, and was about to take a step forward, when Tristan reached out, forcefully pulling me back.
“What?” I asked, startled, but he shushed me and made a signal for the boys to stop talking as well.
“Everybody quiet,” he hissed urgently, his eyes flashing in alarm. He had his eyes fixed on a tree that was invading part of the trail.
“That’s weird. I don’t remember this tree so near to the track . . .” Seth mused, and Tristan glanced worriedly at us.
“Did you happen to notice the giant nest of angry wasps dangling precariously from that frail branch in that same tree?” he asked in a low, cautious tone.
Everybody looked slowly upwards, eyes widening in realization. It was the biggest wasp nest I had ever seen, buzzing loudly, with a swarm of angry wasps on top of its crown. The big hunk of wood pulp and mud swayed in the wind, making the branch it was hanging on creak ominously, threatening to give at any second.
“Oh, shit,” Seth squeaked quietly beside me. “If that thing falls, we’re so dead.” And then, after a pause of pregnant terror, he added, “I hate nature so much.”
“Sorry for making fun of your fear of insects, man,” Sam whispered next to Seth. “I wish you’d brought your bug spray now . . .”
“I don’t think any amount of bug spray could handle this, Sammy. Look at the size of that thing! It’s ginormous!” Harry murmured, enthralled by the magnitude of the nest. “Did you know some wasps do not sting?”
“Are those by any chance that kind?” Seth asked, nodding at the nest.
“I don’t think so. Look at the size of their ovipositors. I’d say these wasps are highly venomous,” Harry said in awe.
“Of course they are,” Seth grumbled darkly.
“Guys, how about everybody shuts their pie hole and steps slowly back and far away from that thing?” I hissed in exasperation. “We can walk off the trail and find another way back to main house, yes?”
“Yes, please,” Seth whimpered, already shuffling to the back of the group.
“That is so weird. I don’t know how we could have walked past that thing before and not noticed it . . .” Harry mused, still observing the wasps with an intrigued expression. “They are very loud; we can hear the buzzing all the way from here. It must be mad busy inside it. I’m sure we walked down this exact trail. How could we have missed it? It doesn’t make any sense . . .”
“Harry, can you please reason about this some place else?” I said, tugging at his T-shirt and trying to pull him back with me. Everybody had already retreated a few meters away, leaving only me, Tristan and Harry behind. “That thing looks like it’s about to fal—”
I didn’t get to finish the sentence before a gust of wind swept fiercely through the trees, and the frail branch where the wasp nest was suspended gave way, taking it to the ground. The bulky nest crashed and split into many pieces on the grass, releasing its angry dark content with a vengeance. The buzzing swarm spilled outside, ready to swipe at everything in its wake.
“Everybody, run!” Tristan shouted, grabbing my hand and yanking me back. “Stay together! That way! Go! Go!” he ordered, and the boys took off running back to the lake, with Tristan, Harry and me at their heels.
We ran like mad people, with Josh taking the lead, but somehow he started to derail from the main track in his attempt to swerve around some bigger trunks, and before we knew it, we had lost the path.
“Shouldn’t we be reaching the shore by now?” I panted, trying to keep up with the boys. My lungs burned and my legs were complaining about the strain, but I kept running until the vegetation suddenly gave way to a barren, rocky cliff. Everybody halted in surprise, gasping for air and looking for a way off or around the cliff. We were cornered.
“Wow. That’s steep,” Seth said, peeking cautiously over the edge of the cliff.
“Look!” Simon pointed to an almost vertical slope at our right. “That was the same boulder we fell off last time, Joey. I can still see the trail marks we left on our fall! We need to get off this cliff! The only way is back through the forest,” he realized, eyeing the dark waters of the lake with terror. We could hear the buzzing coming from the trees at our back, approaching scarily fast.
“We can’t! We’d be running directly into the wasps, Simon!” I tried to pull him back, but he yanked his arm away. “I don’t care! You’re thinking about jumping, aren’t you? No way! Are you insane? I’m not going back into that lake!”
“It’s the only way, Simon! We’ll be safer in the water.”
“No! No, I won’t! I’d rather face those wasps! Anything is better than the lake! Anything! I’m not jumping! You can’t make me!” he yelled madly, already running back to the forest.
“He’s running towards the wasps, Tristan!” I cried out, terrified. “He’s going to die!”
Tristan cursed loudly and was preparing to run after Simon when a dark buzzing cloud broke from the trees, heading our way.
“It’s too late! We have to jump! Now! Go! GO!” he ordered, and Josh promptly obeyed, grabbing Seth and Sam by the arms and pulling them along, while Tristan did the same with me and Harry, and w
e all jumped off the cliff and into the lake.
The cold water hit me hard, taking all the air from my lungs. I pulled myself quickly upwards, sputtering out water as I reached the surface. One by one, five heads slowly poked through the surface of the water, sputtering and coughing as they struggled to catch their breath. Everybody looked up towards the top of the cliff, to check if we’d managed to escape the wasps, which apparently we had.
“YES! The wasps stayed up there!” Sam cheered in victory. “They are not following us! Whoop!”
“I don’t mean to rain in your parade, but maybe it’s too soon to be cheering, Sammy,” Josh countered, looking in alarm at the water around us.
“Why? The wasps aren’t coming near the water!” Sam said, flicking his wet curls of hair out of his face.
“No, but the mystery creature slash murderous crocodile might be,” Harry pointed out, splashing closer to him.
“Oh, God! Out of the frying pan of deadly wasps and into the water with killer crocodiles,” Seth wailed in despair. “Seriously, I frigging hate nature so frigging much!”
“Perhaps it would be wiser if we started swimming to the shore as soon as possible, guys,” Tristan suggested, looking around cautiously to find the right direction.
“It’s that way,” I told him, even though it was not visible through the mist swirling over the water’s surface. “I don’t know how or when, but I remember swimming away from this boulder that way.”
“Come on, swim that way! Quick!” Tristan motioned for everybody to get a move on.
I think we broke a swimming speed record then, as we ploughed towards that shoreline. Seth was a blurry human propeller ahead of us, while Sammy, Harry and Josh kept circling at my flanks, with Tristan guarding at the back. Pretty quickly we were stepping out of the water, adrenaline kicking into overdrive in our systems as we slumped, completely drenched, on to the sand.
“I . . . can’t . . . believe . . . we made it out . . . of that lake . . . alive,” Seth wheezed, in between labored breaths.
“I don’t mean to be a party pooper, here, but we are kind of back at square one, guys,” Harry muttered, standing up. “How are we going to get to the main house now?”
“We could try going up a different trail,” Sam suggested.
“Those wasps could be anywhere now. How will we know what’s a safe trail?” Seth asked, looking scared.
“We are going to have to risk it, Seth,” Tristan told him.
“What do you guys think happened to Simon?” I asked, worriedly. “You think he’s still alive? He might need help! Maybe we can start a search and look for him?”
“I don’t think it’s wise to run blindly through these woods looking for him now, Joey. We don’t know our way around these parts; we don’t even have a map. We’ll get lost and surely bump into those wasps again. We should go back and call for help,” Tristan advised wisely. “Come on, the sooner we leave, the faster we’ll get there.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Beneath the Starlight
“ARE YOU HAPPY now, Harry?” Seth grumbled to his grinning friend, as we left the main house. “Is this enough outdoor excitement for you?”
“Hell, yeah!” Harry yelled happily. “That was epic! Can we do it again?”
Sammy and Josh laughed out loud, while I shook my head, listening to their silly banter. Harry had certainly had his dose of adventure for one day: running all over the woods, jumping off high cliffs and having a good dip in the lake. He surely couldn’t complain about the lack of activities today. That was more than I had bargained for, though, and I was glad we had all left the forest unscathed, including Simon.
As soon as we’d arrived at the main house, the Harkers were already on alert by the front steps, organizing a search party, which wasn’t really necessary since we’d managed to get back safe and sound at the eleventh hour.
Simon had preceded us, having had a good head start when he ran madly back to the forest, miraculously managing to escape the angry swarm of wasps. Tristan and the boys eyed him from afar in the main lobby, filled with suspicion and distrust. His I was so lucky to escape speech wasn’t flying with them at all.
“We need to get him alone somewhere and pressure him until he spills, Hal. That guy is hiding something,” Josh had whispered quietly to Tristan, as we left the main house.
“We can come back tomorrow and talk to him,” Tristan had agreed. “It’s a shame we have nothing to show to Celeste now,” he said to me, pulling a crumpled, sodden piece of paper out of his pocket. The paper fell apart in his hands, and he sighed in regret. “We should have come straight to her when we had the chance. I don’t know what I was thinking when I made us go to the lake to try to find more clues. Now we have nothing.”
“Oh. Pantaloons,” I grumbled and Tristan raised an eyebrow at me. “That wasn’t cursing! It doesn’t count as a curse word. You can’t get mad at me because of Pantaloons!” I protested.
“That’s veiled cursing, Joey. But I’ll let you keep this one because it’s more funny than offensive,” he reasoned.
“Thank you,” I said with a grateful smile. “Anyway, can’t you try to draw by memory some of the symbols you saw on the paper?” I suggested.
“I don’t know if I can . . . I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. We’ll figure out something else. At least we told Celeste about Craig having this paper. She said she’s going to pay him another visit today. Maybe she can find another clue. You can rest assured that tomorrow we’ll have more information on him.”
“Yeah, tomorrow,” Seth piped up. “But right now, can we please go back to our cabin?”
“And what should we do until tomorrow? Sit and wait for my memories to come back?” I asked, as we walked up the hill to our cabin. “We need to keep trying to make me remember, right? Or have you guys given up on that?”
“Pft. We are Lost Boys. We never give up!” Harry boasted beside me.
“Although, we are kinda running out of options . . .” Sam muttered close by.
I glanced at Tristan. He seemed to be deep in thought about something, but then he caught me looking his way and the creases in his brow softened as he gave me a smile, his gray eyes twinkling with mischief.
“About that . . . I have an idea for tonight.”
I stared for a while in silence, trying to figure out a better way to ask him this. I decided eventually to go for direct, blunt honesty.
They say honesty is the best policy, right?
“Okay, fine. But what are you doing here?” I asked the blond boy sitting cross-legged at the bottom of the bed.
“I am here because you’re getting ready for your very first date with the big guy – it’s kinda your first, anyway, since you don’t remember any of the old ones – and you need support during this exciting, yet nerve-wracking time. I am also here on Tiff’s behalf,” Seth said.
“Tiff?” I asked, puzzled.
“Oh, yeah, you don’t remember her, either. I mean Tiffany. She’s the one who usually helps you do all the stuff girls do to get ready for dates. She’s your BFF, and as Tiff’s boyfriend, I’m here as her stand-in,” Seth explained, while he fumbled with his phone. “I am actually trying to get her online to see what advice she’ll have for me, but the internet connection here is the worst! Just pretend I’m a blonde supermodel with a lot of attitude, ordering you to wear heels or something incredibly uncomfortable that you’ll hate putting on, and we should be fine. I think . . .”
“All right. So you’re here as my BFF’s stand-in. What about them? What are they all doing in here?” I asked, gesturing to the three other boys loitering around the bedroom.
“I am here because I am your best ‘guy’ friend. Tiff is your girl, I am your guy,” Harry stated proudly, spreading out on the bed while the other boys booed and threw stuff at him. “You can boo all you want! You know I’m right! I’m her bestie and that means she loves me more!” he shouted, while a tidal wave of more things was thrown at his
head.
“I am here to gather priceless material. There are so many golden jokes to be made of this situation, and I cannot miss any of them.” Sammy barked out a laugh, but then Harry kicked him on the shin and he looked up and saw the expression on my face. “Only not right now, because making fun of you now would be very insensitive of me, of course. Jokes will only be allowed after you’ve fully recovered. Pinky swear,” he vowed solemnly.
“And I’m here for moral support. You’re my band-mate. I’ve got your back, bro,” Josh said, thumping his chest lightly.
I shot him a weird look. “Okaaay. Thank you, ‘bro’. Look, I appreciate all the support, guys, but I think I can manage to stay in the cabin on my own. You can go, you know – do whatever you want to do – I’ll be fine. But thanks again. For the support. I’m good, though. You can leave now.”
“She’s giving us her I think y’all are a bunch of weirdos and I can’t wait to get away from you speech, Seth!” Harry protested, with a scowl.
“Harry, we are a bunch of weirdos. She needs time to get acclimatized to us, is all,” Seth said sagely.
“This amnesia sucks! What if she never gets her memory back, Seth? What then?” Harry complained, looking really upset. “It took her all these years to trust me to be her bestie! What if it’s a one-shot-only deal? I don’t know if I can do it again!”
“Look, I know this has been the most horrible experience for you, Harry. But try to see this from her point of view, will you? I’m sure you’ll agree this has been an inconvenience for her as well. We are ALL her best friends” – Seth paused purposefully to shoot him a meaningful glare – “and as her best friends, we must be supportive. So let’s all chill. And also tone down the weirdness, all right?” he said, and they all grumbled in agreement.
“Sorry, Joey. We’ll try to be less weird from now on,” Sammy mumbled.
“Look, guys, it’s not the weird that bothers me, honestly. You are kind of funny with that. It’s the level of intimacy you have at the moment, and I’m not used to it, because I don’t remember all the years we’ve been together.” I tried to explain how I was feeling, so they wouldn’t feel so bummed about my reactions.