They worked in silence for a few minutes. Faith was picking metal shards out of the sand when the words slipped out of her on impulse—“Have you ever heard of the Paradise Parrot?”
Locke glanced at her. “Sure, I’ve heard of it,” he said. “It’s been extinct for decades. Why do you ask?”
“Um, you’re right.” Faith was already sorry she’d brought it up, but now that she’d started she figured she might as well finish. “It’s extinct. At least it’s supposed to be…I thought I saw one in the jungle yesterday, and again today. It was probably just a similar species, though,” she added hastily. “We’re all dehydrated, and I was probably just imagining things.”
“Don’t be too quick to dismiss what you see around here,” Locke told her somberly. Then he smiled at her, his whole face seeming to rearrange with the change in expression. “You have an interest in birds, too, then? Not just snakes?”
Relieved that he didn’t seem to think she was crazy, Faith laughed. “Sure,” she said. “One of my earliest memories is going bird-watching in the backyard with my sister. Anyway, I love all animals…”
After that, the conversation moved along easily between them. Locke was surprisingly easy to talk to—unlike most nonbiologists she encountered, he seemed genuinely interested in what she had to say.
They were discussing extinction patterns a few minutes later when George emerged from the jungle nearby. He wandered toward them, shooting her a slightly sheepish look.
Locke noticed him, too. “Hello there,” he called to George. “If you’re not busy, Faith and I could use some help moving this big hunk of metal here.” He rapped on a particularly large piece of wreckage.
“Sure thing,” George said immediately, cracking his knuckles as he hurried toward them. “Where do you want it?”
He and Locke each took one end of the metal piece. At the count of three, they hoisted it up and moved it off to one side, revealing a cache of luggage that had been hidden underneath. After shooing away a few sand crabs that had taken up residence, Faith started opening the bags and sorting through the contents.
Meanwhile Locke and George carried the piece of wreckage away. As she worked, Faith watched them out of the corner of her eye, especially George. He was acting as if nothing unusual had happened between them, but she wasn’t sure she could do the same. Thinking about the expression on his face as he’d grabbed that branch, the things he’d said, still made her feel upset and slightly nauseated.
When the two men returned, Faith cleared her throat. Normally she probably would have let things slide, brooded over George’s behavior in private, and driven herself crazy. Somehow, though, just being on this island was making her feel a little braver. Maybe it was because after surviving that crash, a difficult conversation didn’t seem quite as scary somehow.
“Um, George,” she said softly. “About what happened out there in the jungle a little while ago…”
“What?” he said sharply, shooting her a wary look. “Nothing happened. Wasn’t no big deal—not worth going on about.”
“But those things you said…”
George barked out a short laugh. “Hey, I’m a hot-tempered guy,” he said. “Sorry if I got a little carried away. I didn’t mean to upset you, sweetheart. Really. You gotta ignore most of what I say, you know. I ain’t that bright.” Chortling at his own joke, he turned to Locke. “Now little Faith here? She’s quite the smarty-pants—getting her PhD and everything! Isn’t that something?”
Faith bit her lip. She could tell George felt bad about what had happened before. She suspected he wanted to make it up to her without actually having to apologize. Or maybe he just didn’t want to admit in front of Locke that he’d been terrified of a harmless little snake.
“Is that right.” Locke smiled benignly. “So what is it you do back in the real world, George?”
“Real estate.” George grunted as he hoisted another large chunk of metal. “Back home in Indiana, I buy up old farms or other unused land. Turn ’em into something useful by filling ’em up with brand-new subdivisions. Make a good living doing it, too.”
It dawned on Faith that she’d had no idea what George did for a living back home. Now that she knew, it certainly explained his negative attitude toward her beliefs. His job could be considered the very antithesis of conservation.
“Interesting.” Locke paused as he dug a large, hard-sided suitcase out of the sand. “That why you were in Australia, George? Business?”
“No, I was there for a personal matter.” George frowned, staring down at the twisted piece of metal he was holding. For a long moment it seemed he wasn’t going to explain further. Then he shrugged. “Hell, might as well tell you, seeing as how we’re all stuck here together, right?” He sighed, his eyes suddenly taking on a distant expression. “I went over there trying to talk some sense into my daughter—she’s just twenty-one, and dropped out of college to go live in Sydney with her tree-hugging know-it-all boyfriend.” He glanced at Faith. “She looks a little like you—same build and hair color.”
“Oh.” Faith wasn’t sure what to say to that. The more George said, the less she realized she’d known about him up until now.
George sighed again loudly. “She was gonna be the first one in the family to get her degree.…Could have maybe ended up a smart girl with a fancy title behind her name just like you, sweetheart.” He smiled rather wistfully at Faith, then turned away with a grimace. “Anyway, sorry for going on about it. It just eats me up that she won’t listen to reason, you know? Thinks she can do better on her own without any help from Dear Old Dad.”
“No man is an island, entire of itself,” Locke said as he dug through the suitcase he’d uncovered. “John Donne said that.”
George stared at him as if he’d just sprouted an extra head. “Is that right?” he said. “Sounds like something my daughter might say, actually. She loves quotin’ all that highbrow stuff, too.”
His tone was sarcastic, and Faith cringed, wondering if Locke would take offense. Instead he just stared into the suitcase in front of him. “Well, look at what I just found,” he said mildly. He pulled out a rectangular case.
“Is that a backgammon set?” Faith asked.
“Sure is.” Locke seemed pleased. He shook the sand off the exterior and snapped it open, setting it down on the sand. Bending down, he poked through the plastic pieces tucked neatly into the built-in side compartments. “Looks like everything’s still intact.”
“That’s cool.” Faith was a little distracted by George, who was glowering toward the ocean with a faraway look on his face. “Should be a nice way to pass the time until we get rescued. Keep our minds working.”
George glanced at them. “Right,” he muttered sourly. “Should be a barrel of fun for the intellectual types around here—you know, the ones who care more about the lives of cockroaches and tree frogs than they do about people…”
The words hit Faith like an electric shock to her heart. What was he trying to say, anyway? Maybe he was still thinking about his daughter…but then again, maybe not. Her heart started beating faster, and she was filled with the uneasy sense that George had figured her out; somehow he knew what she’d done.
Impossible, she reminded herself. Nobody knows. At least not anybody around here.…Still the guilt bubbled up inside her, hot and bitter.
“Be right back,” George said, hoisting another piece of wreckage onto one shoulder.
Trying to forget what he’d said, Faith stared across the beach. Her eyes gradually focused on a tall, slim figure approaching. It was the high-cheekboned woman.
“Hi. I’m Kate.” She shaded her eyes with one hand as she stopped in front of Faith and Locke. “You guys have been sorting out the luggage, right? I need a backpack. Something light but strong.”
“Backpack?” Faith stared at her blankly, still half-lost in her own thoughts. “Why?”
Kate looked a little surprised to be questioned. “We’re going on a hike,” she said. �
�Sayid and I.”
That didn’t seem like much of an answer to Faith. Who went on a hike at a time like this? But she couldn’t quite seem to make herself care enough to inquire any further. If Kate and Sayid wanted to take their chances on missing the rescue plane because they were jaunting through the jungle, it was their own problem.
“Backpacks, hmm?” Locke replied, stroking his chin thoughtfully as he glanced around. “You’ve come to the right place. I just unloaded a couple that should do the trick.” He picked up a couple of nylon backpacks from the pile of empty bags. “Take your pick.”
“I’ll take them both.” Kate reached for the packs. “Sayid could probably use one, too. Thanks.”
“So where are you off to on this hike of yours?” Locke asked her.
Kate answered him—something about a transceiver and finding a signal—but Faith’s attention had already slid back to her own problems. She was still angry at George for the things he’d said and done, but the more she thought about it, the angrier she got with herself as well. As Gayle had always reminded her, you couldn’t control other people. Only yourself. So why did she feel herself slipping into old patterns no matter what she did? What was wrong with her?
“Hey, are you okay?”
“Huh?” Faith blinked, realizing that Kate was staring at her with a concerned expression.
“You look kind of pale.” The other woman shrugged. “Maybe you should get out of the sun for a while?”
“Um—maybe.” Faith forced a smile. “Thanks.”
“Sure. Bye.” Kate hurried off again, backpacks in hand.
Faith hardly noticed. Her mind was churning, and she wasn’t sure she was ever going to feel normal again. She wasn’t even sure she deserved to feel normal…
“Want to play a game?”
She’d almost forgotten Locke was still there. “Excuse me?”
Locke looked up from his position crouched beside the backgammon set. “Game? I think we’ve done enough here to deserve a little rest.” He didn’t seem to notice her consternation, even though she was sure it was as clear on her face as that vertical scar was on his. Was he truly clueless, or just being polite? Faith was too upset to know, or even to care much.
“I don’t think so,” she blurted out. “I—I think she was right—I probably need to get out of the sun for a while. I think I’ll go take another look for that bird I saw.”
“Be careful out there,” Locke replied. “And Faith?”
“Yes?”
“I hope you find what you’re looking for.”
14
“…AND SO YOU SEE, Faith, it’s very important that the one thing works with the other thing and the third thing plays an integral part. Then all the little birds can fly away home. That’s just the way of the world.” Dr. Arreglo smiled broadly at her. “I’m sure you understand.”
“No, I don’t!” Faith struggled to follow what her adviser was saying. But the more he tried to explain why he’d chosen to support Q Corp’s plans, the less sense it made to her. Why couldn’t she understand? She wanted to understand…
Suddenly a bird flew in the window and landed on Arreglo’s desk. It was a species Faith had never seen before, a pretty little parakeet. Fluttering its colorful wings, it let out a chirp and then spoke to her in a familiar voice. “It’s okay, Faithie. You don’t have to understand everything. You just have to know who you can trust.”
“Gayle?” Faith’s heart pounded faster as she recognized her sister’s voice. When she looked closer, she saw something of her sister looking out at her through the little bird’s eyes. “Is that really you?”
The bird let out a melodic, twittering laugh. “Of course it’s me, sweetie! You knew I would never leave you all alone, didn’t you? That’s why I came back. Now we can be together again—a family.”
“Oh, Gayle!” Faith could hardly speak around the lump in her throat. “I’ve missed you so much…”
“Faith,” Dr. Arreglo spoke up sternly. “Your sister is right. You must figure out whom to trust, or all is lost.”
“Don’t listen to him, babe!” Suddenly Oscar burst into the room, his eyes wild and angry. “He’s lying to you. His type always lies. How stupid do you have to be? He probably tricked you into thinking that bird is talking to you, too.”
“No, Oscar!” Now that Gayle was back, suddenly everything made perfect sense. Faith knew exactly how to reconcile Oscar’s views with Arreglo’s so that everybody would be happy. “Please, just listen…”
“The time for listening is past.” Oscar stepped closer, his eyes blacker and narrower than ever. “It’s time for action.”
In the blink of an eye, his skinny limbs melded together…and in place of her boyfriend she saw a large tiger snake. Before she could react, it slithered up onto the desk and sank its fangs into the bird-Gayle. The little creature struggled for a moment, a weak chirp emerging from its tiny beak. Then it went still.
Faith tried to scream as the Oscar-snake turned its beady eyes toward her, but her throat spasmed like a writhing snake, and nothing came out…
“Faith! Yo, wake up, babe!”
Opening her eyes, Faith stared groggily up at Oscar, who was sitting on the edge of the hotel bed shaking her by the shoulder. “Whu—huh?” she mumbled as the remnants of her nightmare drifted away like mist.
“Wake up,” Oscar repeated. “It’s getting late. Besides, I just came in from getting us some coffee and there was a note at the front desk. For you. I thought you should see it right away.”
Faith pushed herself to a sitting position, rubbing her eyes sleepily and wondering if she was still asleep and dreaming. Who would leave her a message at the hotel desk?
“Is it from Tammy?” she asked with a sudden flash of alarm, wondering if something had gone wrong with one of the snakes.
“Here, see for yourself.”
He handed her the note. Yawning, she leaned forward and took it from him.
She came wide awake as soon as she saw the brief message scrawled on the scrap of hotel stationery. The handwriting was bold and distinctive—and very familiar.
Dear Faith,
I received your message. I would like to talk with you ASAP—I do hope we can work things out—you have been one of the most promising students I’ve had the pleasure of knowing.
If you can, please come to my suite this morning at ten. I have a few hours free at that time, so we will be able to talk privately for as long as you like. I’ll give my people your name—they will let you through. I look forward to seeing you.
Yours sincerely,
L. Arreglo
Faith just stared at the signature for a moment, stunned. For a second she wondered if this was some kind of weird joke. But no—she had seen Arreglo’s handwriting often enough to be certain that he had written the note himself. When she lifted the paper closer to her face to examine it, it even smelled faintly of his aftershave.
So the note was real. But what was he talking about? She hadn’t left him any messages…
Suddenly noticing that Oscar was gazing at her with a sheepish grin, she stared back at him suspiciously. “What?”
“What do you mean, ‘what’?” he replied playfully.
She frowned and pushed back the sheets, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. “Look, it’s too early for games,” she said. “Just tell me what you know about this note, and why you look like the cat who swallowed the canary, okay?”
He held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “Okay, okay, you caught me,” he said lightly. “I, um, might have left a note for Arreglo at his hotel.”
“Might have?”
“Okay, did,” he admitted. “I called it over there and had his hotel staff transcribe it so the handwriting wouldn’t give me away—I wanted him to think it really came from you.”
Faith put one hand to her forehead. Her mind still felt a little fuzzy with sleep, and she was having trouble following his story. “But why?” she asked. “What did y
ou say to him?”
He shrugged, letting one hand fall onto her knee. “I felt kind of guilty, you know?” he said. “Putting so much pressure on you—I know you, like, still admire the bast—er, I mean Dr. Arreglo. It wasn’t right of me to try to turn you against him and stuff.”
“Really?” she said cautiously, waiting for the punch line. Was she still asleep and dreaming? This didn’t sound much like the Oscar she knew at all.
“Really,” he assured her with a laugh, giving her knee a squeeze. “You don’t have to look so surprised, babe. I want to do whatever I can to help you reconcile with him—if that’s what you want, it’s what I want. I just want you to be happy.”
“So you sent him a note telling him I wanted to talk with him…” she said slowly, still trying to wrap her mind around what he was saying.
Now that she was slowly starting to catch up to what had happened, the thought of what Oscar had done made her a little uneasy. Sending a note like that wasn’t at all something she would do—and she really wasn’t sure it was his place to do it for her, especially without checking with her first. He was so impulsive.…What if he’d decided to send an insulting note instead, something that would ruin her relationship with Arreglo once and for all?
But he didn’t, she reminded herself, her worry gradually starting to be overtaken by gratitude. As surprising as it was, Oscar had put aside his hostility toward Arreglo—just to make her happy. Whether she would have handled things the same way or not, she was touched by the gesture. It had been a long time since anyone had done something so selfless for her. A very long time…
I guess he really does care about me, she thought with a shiver. It felt good to know that she was no longer alone in the world.
15
IT FELT GOOD TO be alone as Faith trekked into the jungle. Even though the crash had only happened about twenty-four hours earlier, give or take, she was already growing weary of living in a crowd of strangers. It wasn’t that most of the people weren’t perfectly nice; in fact, she was surprised at how much she already liked several of them—Locke, Claire, Hurley.…It was just that she was used to spending much of her time alone, or with one or two carefully chosen companions. As a child she’d wondered if there was something wrong with her for not liking big parties or other crowded events. But she’d grown to accept that it was just the way she was made—sort of like a snake, preferring a more solitary existence most of the time. After a day in the company of others, she just needed to get away from everyone for a while.
Lost: The Novels Page 10
