Get Lost (6 page)

“Why did it turn blue?” A panic hits my heart as more projectiles fly back and forth.

“Because those are freezing bolts. They froze its insides, and when it fell, it shattered like ice.” Jimmy smiles proudly.

“Why would you make something like that?”

Jimmy pauses, throwing his golf ball out the window before answering. “For fun.” The crazy dwarf cackles, while the white ball rolls to the middle of the crowd, expands, and shoots small bullets all around, destroying several of the Dark Watchers.

Another creature pops its face, which has a gaping scar down the side, in the window. Reacting instantly, I turn the bow, shove it in its face, and pull the trigger. The Dark Watcher freezes before falling backward and shattering the moment Justin travels down the stairs.

“Impressive!” The word sends tingles down my spine. Justin sighs. “We can’t stay here. We’re like sitting ducks in this ship. Where are the keys?”

“Office.” Jimmy nods the direction of a small, closed off area. The three of us peek through the windows to see a few more Dark Watchers falling from the ceiling right in our way.

Justin asks calmly, “And the keys to office?”

“In the front seat of the truck.”

The words make Justin thunk his head into the wall fiercely. Mildly frustrated, he repeats to himself. “So, we’re in a boat that doesn’t move because the keys are in your office, but the keys to your office are in a truck, which we can’t get to without likely being massacred.”

“You’ve been in worse.” Jimmy’s retort puts a small smirk on Justin’s beautiful face.

“It’s true.” He grumbles, tapping the side of the wall. Leaning down, Justin stares at the enemies, who for the vast majority, are pouring from the ceiling through three vent holes. “If we could just seal those, we could make a run for it to the truck. I mean, most of the ones on the floor are quick kills. Our biggest problem is what’s coming from the rooftop.”

“If we close the vents and trap them inside, won’t that force them to use the other entrance instead?”

Jimmy tosses another golf ball out the window. “Yes,” Justin sighs deeply, “but if we make it to the truck before that happens, it’s a lot easier to run them over than to keep shooting them like duck hunters. Here’s what we’re going to do: I’m going to shoot them closed; Jimmy, you’re going to throw two balls on the flanks; and Peyton, you’re going to start to make a run for it.”

“By myself?” The pressure of this situation has caused a serious increase in my heart rate.

“We’ll be behind you shortly.”

“In heels?” After a sarcastic look, I sigh. “What if I don’t make it? What if they get to me? What if they figure out our plan? Yeah, I don’t think I can do this. Isn’t there another way? Another plan?   Another—”

“Peyton”—Justin cracks a crooked grin—“the greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. So right now, the only thing possibly putting us at risk is your lack of faith in yourself. You can do this.”

Quickly, I slide off my heels, hand them over to him, and point. “Don’t lose those. They were my first pair of designer shoes.”

With a soft chuckle, Justin puts the plan in motion. The three of us head up the set of spiral stairs, where Justin immediately shoots the vents closed. As quickly as he takes action, Jimmy tosses his balls, and I leap over the side of the ship, making a mad dash for the entrance to the hallway. While I can definitely say I’m not the most athletic, I can also say that, in terrible situations such as this one, anyone can run like a demon. Running like the wind straight toward Dark Watchers equipped with motive and methods to stop me, I’m pleasantly surprised as bolts and arrows fly past, clearing the path to the truck. However, moments before I reach freedom, I’m sadly blocked by a small, black figure that plops down in front of me.

Glancing behind, I’m disappointed when I notice Justin and Jimmy are currently occupied with a few of their own. My head turns back to the creature, which pulls off the mask to reveal long, orange colored hair and eyes to match. Slightly relieved it’s a female rather than a male, I relax a little. Almost instantly though, my fear is reinstalled as she shoves her foot directly into my ribs and tosses me backward.

Bent over in pain, I whimper. “Justin.”

He instinctively glances in my direction. “A little busy.”

“Help!” I call out as she backflips my way to toss another kick in my other side. “She’s going to kill me!”

Feeling yet another foot land on my chest, he calls out, “Fight back!”

“I’m not a fighter.” I cower from the ground.

“And I can’t hit a girl.” He begins heading my direction, sliding something on the ground.

“Now’s not really a good time for that kind of moral dilemma.” My voice screeches as she lands on top of me, her hands stretching around my neck.

Squirming underneath the Dark Watcher, doing my best to avoid its hands, I suddenly notice something. Justin slid me my high heel shoes. Thankful one of them landed close by, I grab the shoe and pop it across the face, the heel making a bloody indention on its left cheek. The Dark Watcher hits the wall beside me, and I crawl away as fast as I can. To my surprise, it grabs one of my legs and gives it a good yank. As if programmed all my life for this fight, I swing the other leg around, which smashes it across the face. My leg comes free. Before it has another chance to attack, I grab my heel, pull out the dagger I was hoping was there, and toss it. Astonishingly enough, it lands accurately in its heart, turning it into the same gray smoke as all the rest. With a limp, I grab both my shoes and finally reach the front seat of the truck. However, as I crawl in the front seat, so does another Dark Watcher, this time with a gun pointed at me. My eyes close, ready to encounter serious pain when I hear a familiar sound whiz by me. Relieved to see the smoke when I open my eyes, I smile sweetly at Justin, who is now in the driver’s seat with Jimmy in between us.

Just as predicted, they begin flooding through the side door, which is when Justin apologizes. “Sorry for this  one, Jimmy.”

Removing the emergency break, he tosses the truck into drive and mauls numerous amounts of Dark Watchers. Without slowing down, Justin heads us straight off the dock and toward a main road.

I glance at the side mirror, surprised they aren’t following us, which prompts me to ask, “Aren’t they going to chase us?”

“No.” Jimmy pipes up as Justin slows down. “And why not?” I huff out.

Jimmy suddenly pulls off his left boot and hits a small, red button, causing an oversized explosion of the building. Cackling, he claps his hands together as Justin tosses the truck in park. “That’s why.”

My mouth slides open and sticks in alarm, which is when Justin gently touches my arm and shakes his head at me. “What about all your weapons? And those ships? You made so many of them!”

Jimmy proudly watches the warehouse burn. “It’s what I do.”

Justin slides the keys out of the ignition and hands them to him. “Hey, we have to get going.” Pulling a wad of those weird bills out of his pocket, he counts out what looks like half and hands it to Jimmy. “Hit up Eiden when it’s ready.”

“Will do.” Jimmy puts the cash in his shoe.

“Come on, Peyton. We have a party to get to.” He slips out of the driver’s seat as I do the passenger’s.

With my shoes dangling from my  fingers, I shake my head. “Yeah, I’m not really in the mood to party. Something about being shot at, having possible broken ribs, and meeting a crazy leprechaun took me out of the mood.”

The two of us climb back in the sports car where Justin lets the top down.  “You want your  answers or not?”

My head bounces back and forth, and I feel a throbbing pain from my ribs. “Can I go to the hospital first?”

He emits a chuckle before pulling out the small vial of yellow dust once more. He leans over and slowly lifts my shirt, so it comes up to right underneath my bra. After dipping his finger in the dust, he runs one line down each side. Instantly, I feel the pain subside, which is when I lower my shirt back down.

“Better?”

“Yeah.” My eyes stay planted on him before I ask. “Is that temporary or permanent?”

“Permanent.”

Smirking, he places the vial back in his pocket and reverses quickly. Once out and onto a windy road that I’m fairly certain he doesn’t recognize, he pushes the eject button on his CD player. The faceplate lowers, and what appears to be a GPS system emerges. He types in our destination, and before I know it, we’re headed back to the city.

We arrive outside of a high rise apartment building where teens are in the parking lot admiring what’s under the hoods of each other’s cars. Justin pulls into a space beside someone who is sitting by the curbside as if waiting  for someone.

Turning the engine off, he turns his head to me and smiles. “Ready?”

“For the party or my answers?” The question causes him to laugh.

After sliding my heels back on, giving my hair an extra brush (thanks to the spare in his car) and reapplying my lip gloss, which I remembered to place in my purse, I get out, and the waiting stranger approaches.

“You’re late,” he croaks, shoving his hands in his jeans pockets.

“Tell me about it.” The  annoyance in  Justin’s voice rises.

Suddenly, I remember where I have seen his face. “You’re the skateboarder!”

“Name’s Aiden.” He extends his hand out for me to shake.

I politely do so and smile. “My name’s,”

“Peyton," he interrupts with a slow nod, “Justin’s mentioned you a few times.” Justin smiles sweetly at me until Aiden continues. “Forgot to mention he’d be bringing  you tonight.”

“Yeah, there’s been a change of plans.” Justin reaches out for my hand before the three of us head toward the glass doors.

“You know, Peter hates changes he doesn’t make.” Aiden sighs, giving his jet black, gel tipped hair a rub. “And I hate being shot at.” Justin flings the door open.

“How…”

“I’m either being set up or stalked.  And for his sake, he better hope it’s the latter.” The words coldly escape him as we slide onto the elevator that goes to the penthouse.

After a quiet elevator ride up, the three of us stroll into what has to be the biggest thing happening downtown tonight. The apartment is packed with half-dressed girls and overdressed guys doing their best to make moves on them. Never really seeing my classmates outside of school, I stare unconsciously, unaware so many of them are capable of acting like this.

“Hey Justin,” a girl with long, black hair down to her butt slides in front of him; swaying her body back and forth, she bites her red painted bottom lip. “I was hoping you’d be here.”

His hand slides away from mine, and he tilts his hat down, licking  his  lips. “Oh  yeah? Why’s that?”

She lifts her lips up to his ear while popping her backside out, allowing him a better view of what’s underneath her red mini dress.

Trying to remain as calm as I can, I allow Aiden to lean over and whisper in my ear. “Don’t worry. This happens all the time.”

This happens all the time? Is that supposed to make me feel better? My head slowly turns to Aiden who gives me a wink. I nod slightly and turn back around as she pulls away and giggles.

Cockily, Justin licks his lips once more and sighs. “While that is a mighty hard offer to turn down— and believe me when I say mighty—I’m going to have to pass.”

With a pout, she crosses her arms, hoping to bulge her A-cup boobs out. “Why?”

His fingertips grab mine.  “Got something else in mind.”

Leading us away from her, he heads toward a door in the back, slides my hand into Aiden’s, and says over the obnoxiously loud music. “Meet you up there in a sec.”

“Where are you going?” My concern is that he’s going back to get the other girl’s number, which would in fact make me jealous, especially since he just made a scene in front of me like it wasn’t going to happen.

“To find Peter.” He gives Aiden a nod, which is when he picks the lock open, allowing us to slide through.

The two of us begin climbing up the stairs in the enclosed hallway. “Where are we going?”

“The rooftop.” He opens a final door which reveals a miraculous view of the city. My breath escapes me as I admire the city lights the way I’ve always dreamed of sketching them.

Aiden adjusts his black polo before plopping himself on the edge of the roof to have a seat.

Nervous for him, I ask, “Um, aren’t you afraid you’ll fall?”

“Fear of falling isn’t the actual fear. Most people are afraid that gravity only works the way they believe, which for the most part is true.” The door opens behind me.

“Does everyone who hangs out with Justin speak like him?” I mumble under my breath as what appears to be Aiden opens the door. My mouth slips open in confusion, “What the—”

“Twins,” the other one answers, wearing a similar attire except for a brown polo and backward baseball cap. “I’m Eiden.”

“Peyton.” I wave as he joins his brother.

“Nice to meet you.” He glances around. “Where’s—”

“You drunken, punk bitch fairy boy!” Justin tosses Peter through the doorway onto the rooftop. “I swear that, if you ever get me ambushed again, I’ll kill you myself!”