Never Ever (17 page)

A bell rang out in the distance. It was almost five p.m. and time to gather in the clinic for a dose of birth control.

“I'd better go. I can't miss the Pill.”

Wylie helped Phinn get back on his feet and they walked to shore. They quickly got dressed as a light mist showered them from above.

“Now that I'm ten minutes older, will you promise not to leave me for a younger woman?” Wylie teased.

Phinn answered the question by giving Wylie a long kiss. She kissed him back just as passionately. Once they came apart, they each tossed back a
parvaz.

“Don't get weird on me again, Phinn,” she told him as they hovered in the sky, poised to fly their separate ways.

“I won't. You have my word.”

Wylie watched him fly off, then whizzed past the trail to the Clearing to make a quick stop in the kitchen. Lola had been late to the last few birth-control rituals, and Patrick and Aldo were beginning to lose their patience. When she got lost in a recipe, even the sound of the bell couldn't snap her out of it. Right about now, she was probably tasting the seafood stew to make sure the flavors of the broth met her standards, even though Wylie had told her to take the afternoon off.

“Loles!” she called as she landed in the garden, but there was no sign of her. She hurried into the kitchen, but it was empty.

“Lola, are you in here? The bell rang. I'll see you in the clinic!”

The girls were all in their places when Wylie arrived. She grabbed a spot at the end of the line and scanned the room for Lola, but she was nowhere to be found. Maybe she actually did take the day off with Maz and lost track of time? Patrick and Aldo gave her a look, but Wylie just shrugged.

“I checked the kitchen. She's not in there. I'm sure she'll be here any minute.”

“This is the fourth day in a row she's late,” Patrick said, making a note on his clipboard. “Phinn's got strict guidelines. We ring a bell for a reason.”

Wylie placed a pill on her tongue and washed it down with a cup of water.

“She'll be here. No one has to tattle to Phinn.” She said the last part loudly, signaling to the rest of the girls to keep their mouths shut.

“Maybe she's pregnant,” Tinka chimed in.

“That's not funny, Tinka,” Aldo said.

A half hour passed, and Lola still hadn't shown up. The latest she'd ever been was fifteen minutes, but today she'd set a new record.

“When was the last time you saw her?” Patrick asked.

“This morning. We were in the garden together and she left to find Maz. Phinn and I went to the beach, then I stopped by the kitchen to get her, but she wasn't there.”

Tinka reached out and touched a strand of Wylie's hair.

“Your hair is wet. You didn't convince Phinn to let you swim in the ocean, did you? 'Cause that's against the rules. If word got out he was bending them for you, well then, it would be total anarchy,” Tinka said. The other girls stared at Wylie, waiting for an answer.

“I showered after the beach and then came here. Hence the tardiness and the wet hair,” Wylie lied. “Like I said, Lola will be here any minute.”

BUT LOLA NEVER SHOWED UP. THREE HOURS HAD passed and they'd all been ordered to gather in the Clearing. They had scoured the entire island, but everyone had come up empty. Wylie's brothers had paired up on the search, and they were the only two who had yet to return.
Please
, Wylie thought.
This can't be happening
. They would find Lola, and tonight she'd tell her everything she knew about Austin, Texas.

“When did you last see her?” Maz asked Wylie for the tenth time.

“This morning, in the garden. She said she was going to see you.”

“I haven't seen her all day,” Maz said, raising his voice.

“That's what she told me!” Wylie said.

“You shouldn't have let her go anywhere alone!” Maz snapped.

“This isn't Wylie's fault,” Phinn intervened. “She didn't do anything wrong.”

“Well, the love of my life is missing and I want an
explanation.” Maz's voice quivered as he tried not to break down in tears.

“We're going to find her.” Phinn's voice was calm and even. It was the same tone Wylie had used as a kid when her parents erupted into an argument and her brothers tiptoed into her room. She knew it was difficult for him to keep a brave face, but he had to. Otherwise, the entire island would go into panic mode.

The leaves of the palm trees rustled as the rain started to pick up. It had been sprinkling all night, but right now the weather was the least of their worries. Joshua and Micah, both out of breath, landed in the middle of the Clearing.

“We found something,” Micah confessed.

Phinn squeezed Wylie's hand as they followed her brothers through the dining room and into the kitchen, where Wylie and Lola spent their days laughing and arguing over cooking methods.

“There,” Micah pointed.

Carved right into the wooden counter were the words
HOPPER WAS HERE.

forbidden sides

fourteen
days had gone by with no sign of Lola, and every inch of the island looked different to Wylie now. It didn't matter that the lagoon sparkled in the moonlight or that thanks to days of rain, the
parvaz
field was even more lush than usual. All that mattered was that Lola was gone, and no one knew if she was ever coming back. No more hushed late-night conversations about the mainland. No more strolls through the garden. No more recipes to taste-test and adjust accordingly.

The hours in the kitchen were the most agonizing part of Wylie's day. The island still needed to eat, and she was the obvious candidate to replace Lola as the resident chef. But feeding fifty people without any help proved exhausting. Wylie tried to honor her friend by making only the recipes Lola had taught her, but most were far too labor intensive and took double the time to cook by herself. So lately it was salads all day, every day. The vegetables in the garden were
starting to wilt, and sometimes the chickens had to go without being fed, but it was inevitable that a few tasks would fall through the cracks. How had Lola ever done this alone?

“I can sand the wood down if you want,” Bandit said, pointing to Hopper's carved inscription on the counter.

“No. Leave it. It's a good reminder,” Wylie told him as she sliced open an avocado.

It was Phinn who had insisted on the bodyguards. He refused to leave Wylie alone in the same place Lola had been abducted from, so he recruited several of his strongest men to trade shifts in the kitchen. Bandit was her afternoon bodyguard and talked ad nauseam about how grateful he was to Phinn for bringing him to the island. Wylie tried to nod and smile and agree, but “grateful” was no longer a word she'd use to describe her state of mind. Her fingers grazed the letters.

Hopper was here. But how?
Wylie kept thinking. How had he managed to enter the island and walk all the way to the kitchen without anyone seeing him? How was he able to kidnap Lola and drag her back to his boat without anyone hearing her scream or struggle?

“He's resourceful,” Phinn said that night as they lay in his bed together. Wylie had practically moved into his bungalow. She couldn't bear to sleep at her own place next to Lola's unmade bed. It also made Wylie think about the three empty bedrooms in New York that would torment her parents for the rest of their lives.

“She told me she was going to see Maz. That was hours before the bell rang, and Maz said he hadn't seen her all day. Plus, I went to the kitchen right before the clinic. Lola
wasn't there, and nothing was carved into that counter. The timeline just doesn't make sense to me.”

“You didn't notice the carving, because you weren't looking for it. A lot of us searched the kitchen for Lola, remember? And your brothers were the first to see that Hopper had left his calling card.”

The lack of emotion in Phinn's voice left Wylie troubled. He was either getting impatient with her, or he just didn't know how to comfort her anymore. Wylie knew that everyone grieved differently, but she couldn't help but wonder why he sounded so bored every time she mentioned Lola.

“You don't want to talk about this, do you?” she asked.

“No. I don't like to see you upset.”

“But why aren't
you
more upset? Lola's one of your closest friends. A member of the inner circle. Maz's girlfriend. And yet you haven't had a single normal human reaction to what happened.”

“That's not fair,” Phinn said. Wylie could tell she'd offended him by the way he abruptly pulled away from her. “I don't have the luxury of losing it. I have to keep calm for the rest of the island. If anyone knew I was afraid or upset, it would be chaos.”

“No one's here but us,” Wylie pointed out.

“And you're upset and scared and I'm trying to be strong for you.” Phinn moved back toward her. “Let's get some sleep.” He gave her a kiss good night, but Wylie wasn't ready to go to sleep.

“What if she went to the Forbidden Side? She said there were herbs that grew over there that she missed cooking with. Maybe she crossed over and got trapped in some
quicksand. Why can't we go look for her there?”

“Because Lola knew not to go near that place
.
Even Maz won't cross over, and no one loved Lola as much as he did.”

Loved
. Wylie had also overheard Maz use that word in the past tense a couple days before in the dining room: “I loved her so much.” Like he knew she wasn't coming back.

“Generally when things like this happen on the mainland, the boyfriend or husband is responsible,” Wylie said. “How do we know Maz didn't do something to her and he's trying to cover it up?”

“Wylie, don't take this the wrong way, but you sound like a crazy person. Last night, Bandit and Joshua had to wrestle Maz to the ground when he tried to sail away by himself to look for her. I have someone guarding the boats and his bungalow so he won't sneak off.”

Wylie didn't blame Maz for taking matters into his own hands. Operation Hopper had only set sail a handful of times and so far, their search was fruitless.

Wylie had one other theory she couldn't mention to Phinn: that Lola had faked her disappearance and finally decided to find a way to the mainland. She could be on a plane right now to California or Texas. But Lola would never leave without Maz and couldn't make it off the island without a boat.

“Take the day off tomorrow,” Phinn said. “I can find my way around a kitchen; I'll make food. Some of us put a memorial together down by the Clearing. It'll make you feel better to see it. For now, try to get some sleep.”

Wylie closed her eyes and tried to slow down her thoughts. If only her parents were fighting in the next
bungalow. Then she wouldn't have any trouble passing out. But all she heard were the quiet sounds of Phinn's breathing.

“Phinn?”

He didn't respond. He was already asleep.

Charlotte, I miss your laugh and your weird sense of humor. The island hasn't been the same without you. Love, Elliot.

Danny, remember our morning flights through the parvaz field? I think about them often. I haven't been able to fly over there since you've been gone. I'll wait for you to get back and then we'll go again together. xoxo Helen.

Jersey, the band hates being short a bass player. We sound like crap without you. We will have a tropic jam session once you come home. Hopefully soon. Love you, goose. Yours, Bailey.

“I can't read all of these. It's too sad,” Micah said. Dark circles had taken residence under his eyes, and Wylie could tell she wasn't the only one who wasn't sleeping much these days.

“I feel like we owe it to the missing kids to read them,” Wylie replied. “But yeah, it's pretty heartbreaking.”

During the hours Wylie had spent slaving away in the kitchen, the residents had erected a memorial for the lost
kids. Phinn had discouraged it in the months right after the tragedy, worried it would feel too much like they were dead. But with Lola now gone, everyone agreed they needed an outlet for their pain. The memorial itself was constructed by stringing several yards of twine between two palm trees. Nadia had cut squares of cloth from leftover fabric, so that each of the residents could draw art or write messages on them, then hang them from the twine. It was strange to see all the names and personal jokes written to people Wylie had never met or known existed.

Lola, I miss your cooking. I miss how you were always kind to everyone. I even miss the way you were always late for everything. Maz is a wreck without you. You have to come back and put the poor guy out of his misery. Love, Aldo.

Lola had only been missing a couple of weeks, and some of the tributes sounded like excerpts from a eulogy. The locals had known Lola for much longer than she had, but Wylie got the sense that they didn't know the real girl. She grabbed a piece of cloth and a Sharpie pen, but couldn't find the words to memorialize her best friend. Instead, she just wrote
Don't mess with Texas
and hung it up next to the other messages. Hopefully she wouldn't get in trouble for making a reference to the mainland, but ever since she and Lola had made their way through the cities in the Lone Star State, Lola liked to remind her not to mess with Texas right before they fell asleep.

“How are you doing?” Wylie asked Micah before he left.
Back in New York, the smallest mishap could raise his anxiety. “You look exhausted.”

“Have you looked in a mirror lately? 'Cause you look like the walking dead.”

“Geez. Thanks a lot.”

“What I mean is, you don't have to worry about
me
so much,” Micah replied.

“I'm your older sister—worrying about you is a job requirement.”

“I know you, Wylie. A bunch of kids went missing. Lola's gone. Now you're worried the same thing could happen to one of us, and it would be all your fault for running off with Phinn and taking us to his boat.”

“It
would
be my fault. I'll never forgive myself if anything happens to you guys.”

Micah glanced up at the bungalows. “My life sucked before we came here. Back home, someone like Tinka wouldn't even try to get to know me.” His face lit up when he mentioned her name. Wylie could tell that for him, this was not a fleeting romance.

“What's up with you two these days?” Wylie asked. “I haven't seen her around much.”

Micah stuck his hands in his pockets. “She won't leave her bungalow. She won't even let me in. I leave her food and talk to her through the door to make sure she's okay. She said she's certain she's going to be Hopper's next victim and that he's ‘going to come after her for what she did to him.'”

“What did she do to him?”

“She won't tell me. For a while, she slipped me notes under the door, because she was convinced someone was
listening in on our conversations. Honestly, I'm worried she's losing her mind a little. She's got this weird theory. . . .” Micah looked around to make sure no one was eavesdropping.

“What theory?” Wylie asked.

Micah took a note out of his pocket and handed it to Wylie. On it were the words:
The Forbidden Side.

“Flip it over,” Micah directed.

The back of the note read:
That's where Hopper lives.

“What does she mean Hopper lives on the Forbidden Side?” Wylie asked.

“I don't know. She won't say anything else about it. I showed it to Joshua, and he said she's being paranoid and that I shouldn't worry. He told me to only go to that part of the island if I had a death wish.”

Wylie hadn't talked to Joshua much recently. When he'd learned Wylie had asked Phinn not to send him out on any of the search missions, he'd stormed into the kitchen and told his sister she had no business using her boyfriend against him. He could have shouted at her till every
parvaz
flower wilted and died, and she still wouldn't have backed down. Since the argument, Joshua had been keeping his distance. It didn't matter. She'd rather have him alive and angry than the alternative.

“If Tinka says anything else suspicious, let me know,” she told Micah. “I can talk to Phinn and see if he can help her.” She didn't want him to carry the burden of Tinka's questionable mental state on his own.

“That's the problem,” Micah whispered. “She made me swear I wouldn't mention it to Phinn.”

“She's lucky she has you to check on her,” Wylie said with as much sympathy as she could muster.

“Someone has to,” Micah replied as he walked away.

Wylie watched her brother make his way up the rickety stairs to the bungalows. She waited until he turned the corner and then she meandered past the small crowd that had gathered at the memorial. In two weeks, the only time she'd been alone was in the bathroom. She needed some air and to get away from all the heartbreaking sentiments hanging in the Clearing. Phinn would be furious if he found out she was wandering around alone, but she had her pepper spray and compass, and more than a few
parvaz
flowers in her pocket. She would probably need the entire supply for where she was going.

The weeds and brush had grown thick around the entrance to the Forbidden Side, making the caution tape and barbed wire almost unnecessary. Someone had covered up Hopper's calling card, but the layer of paint was starting to peel. No one had tended to the barricade, too afraid to get within inches of where a heinous crime might have been committed.

Wylie wasn't sure what exactly had brought her here, but her gut kept telling her that Lola was not snatched from the kitchen. The timeline didn't add up, and anyone could have carved “Hopper Was Here” into the counter. Even if she didn't find Lola, maybe there were some clues on the other side of the barbed wire that Phinn had overlooked.