The Third Lie's the Charm (13 page)

As soon as we'd all suited up, we traveled in pods of color to the lake. Situated in four piles along the edge were an inflatable raft, two oars, and a length of rope.

“Each team has a lane,” our Econ teacher shouted. My dad arranged colored posters in front of the lane lines bobbing in the lake. “When the start gun is fired, you will work together to inflate the raft, situate every team member on the raft at the same time using the rope to stabilize yourselves, and use the two oars to row the length of the lake. If a team member falls into the water, your team's time will be restarted. You must have every team member balanced on the raft to clear this challenge. Once your team has reached dry land, you must deflate the raft and zip it back into its bag.” He raised an impossibly small nylon bag in the air. “The team with the lowest time wins.” He smiled and rubbed his jaw. “Good luck.”

Seth beamed in his purple wet suit. There was nothing he liked more than a good team-building activity, and I knew he'd give anything to join Siegfried in Chicago this summer. The rest of his team looked a little bored, rounded out by Porter, who looked shattered. A spattering of members on other teams looked excited at the prospect of a summer in Chicago, which would make the challenge particularly interesting as some would try to lose and others win. Not to mention the fact that the challenge was borderline impossible. There were five people on each team. Five people plus a cheap raft meant for one seemed lofty at best.

But we had to win. I was beginning to think that the farther Naomi and Bradley were from Pemberly Brown this summer, the better. I'd worry about myself later. I surveyed my team. Taylor held hands with Bethany and jumped up and down excitedly. They seemed like they were in it to win it in spite of the fact that Bethany was half giant and might be difficult to balance on the raft. Naomi strategized with Bradley.

“Teams get ready!” Siegfried shouted, pointing a small start gun into the air. Smiles spread around the crowd in anticipation of the crazy challenge, and everyone huddled around the supplies. “And go!” One shot was fired, and rafts were yanked from the bag. Apparently a team trip to Chicago was too much to pass up, because everyone worked fast.

Taylor took position in front of the raft as the first person to inflate it while Bethany and I smoothed the wrinkles. Naomi held a corner and Bradley raised his eyebrows. When Taylor grew tired, we switched and began to make headway, the raft slowly coming to life. Seth's purple team circled around an almost-inflated raft, strategizing before throwing it into the lake. This would be close. Blue wasn't far behind. Liam's orange team was a hot mess of laughter and arguments.

The real fun came when we all tried to pile on the raft. Bethany was the first to board, using the oar against the edge of the beach to stabilize herself. Barely. Taylor came next, the raft tilting at precarious angles. When Bradley loaded, the entire thing capsized from the center out, restarting our team's clock. Taylor pulled herself from the water in her typical dramatic fashion, and I found myself biting back laughter. Other teams were giggling and shouting at soaked teammates.

“We need a better plan,” Naomi insisted, pointing to the letters on her suit. “We have to work together.”

I narrowed my eyes. This coming from the girl willing to do just about anything to fulfill her family's dream. Even murder. Bradley pouted near shore, water up to his torso, droplets glistening off his shaved head. He didn't lose well. Taylor wrung out her hair and nodded in agreement.

“Bradley, you need to load first. You're the heaviest,” Naomi informed him. “But stay low to the raft. Let's squeeze as close together as possible. If we run out of space, Kate, you can sandwich on top of Bradley. You don't mind, right?” She laughed in my direction, her eyes sparkling.

“Of course not,” I said, keeping my voice steady. And yet…

Bradley jumped on the raft belly down. Bethany loaded next, grabbing the rope Bradley held out so she wouldn't tip. She squeezed in as close as she could so Naomi could fit on the other side. The raft wobbled, but didn't flip with Naomi's weight. Taylor clung half on, half off as the raft threatened to tip, but finally jumped into the pile as everyone clung to the edges. I held my breath and everyone, soaking wet around me, did the same. Water splashed over the side, but she made it, the raft stabilizing after a few seconds. I could tell the raft was full to capacity, that my weight would surely tip the entire thing. It probably wasn't worth even trying. But Seth's team in the last lane was just about as close as we were. I couldn't let them win.

Instead, I geared up and slid my body on top of the pile. Bradley tensed as I positioned myself, the raft tipping to the left and then the right and almost buckling in the middle. The orange team cheered, having all but quit the challenge. Seth's team was halfway across the lake, teetering but rowing.

“Come on, guys!” Naomi cheered from her position. “Conventus!” She just couldn't help herself.

The word was distracting to me, the raft swaying dangerously beneath us. I glanced at our competition, square in the center of the lake, attempting to reach one of the oars that had fallen off the side. We were still in this. My fingers wrapped around the oar and I pulled it in, using a lane marker to stabilize myself as best as I could.

I pushed the oar into the water and got the raft moving. Soon we were positioned close to Seth's team, one ridiculous pile of people neck and neck with another. And then the second I thought we had the win, the moment I pictured Naomi and Bradley miles away for the summer, removed from the equation, we were under the water instead of on top of it, the raft flinging out from under our weight.

“Congratulations, Purple Team, and congratulations, Ms. Lowry!” My flaming hair was plastered to the sides of my face and I choked on lake water when I heard Siegfried say my name. “You have all won internships with my company this summer!”

“But I lost!” I sounded like a petulant child, but I was too cold and too tired to care. A summer internship sounded like the most miserable form of punishment. Especially if it meant leaving Naomi and Bradley behind.

“You won the first challenge, Ms. Lowry. That has not gone unnoticed.” Siegfried's eyes were kind, and my dad gave me a double thumbs-up from behind his back. Of course he wanted me away for the summer. He probably thought getting away from Pemberly Brown might help me heal or at least help me forget.

Yeah, right.

And the cherry on top of my melting glob of ice cream was when my eyes landed on Liam on the beach beside Bethany. She had him wrapped in her arms and was whispering something into his ear. Suddenly being hundreds of miles away from my life didn't sound so terrible.

The sky had turned the kind of inky black that only exists outside of the city. The night was so clear that I felt like if I just stretched high enough, I might be able to reach up and pluck out one of the millions of stars sparkling in the sky.

Siegfried had pulled out all of the stops for our last night. The rich smell of charred pig laid out on a spit had the boys salivating and the girls gagging, but the tables heavy with wood-grilled pizzas, fresh fruit salads, and an array of bite-sized desserts meant that there was something for everyone.

Well, everyone except me. I didn't have much of an appetite when I considered heading back to Pemberly Brown, back to Headmistress Bower, having made absolutely zero headway with anything. For all I knew, another Factum Virtus had been delivered and some ex-Brother was in serious danger. Bradley's expression was blank, his eyes fixed on the great lake spread out before us, seemingly unseeing. And then there was Porter, equally vacant, as though he were glued back together without any of the pieces fitting together in the right way. I had nothing.

I had to go.

And I had no one to tell. I made my way over to the food tent. My dad had a full plate of food. I moved past the buffet line and found Bethany and Naomi laughing with Liam. Seth. I had to find Seth. Searching the crowd, I finally spotted his red hair a few yards down on the beach. He would care that I was calling it a night, that I felt defeated in every way possible. He'd walk me back to my cabin and promise me that everything would be okay.

But when I started toward him, I noticed that his head was tilted kind of funny. And then I saw another curly head of hair. Brown frizz attached to Maddie's face. Maddie's head close to Seth's. Their lips touching. Oh my God, my best friend was making out with my ex-best friend. It felt like watching siblings stick their tongues down each other's throats.

Oh God, oh God, oh God. Why was this happening right now? The only two people I could really talk to were engaged in the grossest make-out session of all time, and I wanted to scream.

So I ran. I ran because that was what you did when you found your best friend making out with your other best friend and it brought up even more confusing feelings that you had absolutely no idea what to do with and you'd managed to fail at the one thing that gave you even the slightest semblance of control and you had absolutely no one to talk to about any of it.

But as I sprinted past Naomi's cabin, I stopped and noticed the door was ajar. I looked back toward the party and saw Bradley sitting stone-faced in front of the fire. Instead of really thinking about what I was doing, I let my body move instinctively. I slipped into the cabin.

If I could just find some evidence, something to prove that she had hurt Porter, then maybe this night wouldn't be a waste after all.

It didn't take me long to locate Naomi's huge duffel. It smelled like gardenias and expensive leather. It smelled exactly like what every perfume ever bottled aspired to smell like. It smelled like hot girl.

Within thirty seconds, I had the contents of her bag laid out across Bradley's bed. My hands pressed against the thick satin lining, feeling for something hidden there. Maybe a Factum Virtus, paper, the pen, anything. There had to be something. There was no way her bag was really just full of bathing suits and overpriced grooming products.

“Find what you're looking for?” Like his sister's perfume, Bradley's voice was overprivileged and kind of unmistakable.

“Nope.” I decided it couldn't hurt to be honest.

“What the hell are you doing, Kate?” He was standing next to me in two big steps and stuffing Naomi's belongings back into her bag. “One second you're all over me, the next you're in here alone digging through my sister's stuff.” Without warning, he closed the remaining inches between us, and his eyes ground into mine, his body too big, too strong, too close. “What the hell is your problem?”

“Your sister.”

“Naomi?” Bradley's voice was choked with rage, his hands balled into fists. “You honestly think she's the problem when you're the one who has conveniently inserted herself right in the middle of warring societies? You're the one who Alistair called twenty times the night he died. You're the one who left your friend in a burning chapel.”

He unleashed the torrent of words on me, spitting out all of his anger along with them, and before I even knew what I was doing, my hand went crashing down across his face, the sound of skin slapping skin echoing through the walls of the cabin. Bradley's entire body went tense and my knees went weak. I should run. I knew I should run. But I couldn't seem to get my legs to move. Instead, I stood completely still.

“Kate? Kate? Are you in there? Siegfried needs…” My dad's voice trailed off when he saw me standing in front of Bradley. “Right, hope I'm not interrupting something.” My dad stumbled over his words, his eyes focused on the ceiling, and then finally settling back on us. “Actually, scratch that. I'm completely okay with interrupting whatever
this
is.”

“She was just leaving,” Bradley said, the words finding their mark on my heart.

My dad grabbed my arm and guided me toward the door. “It's past curfew. I suggest you pack your bag and go to bed, Bradley.”

Thank God my dad didn't ask me any questions on the walk back to our cabin, because there was no way I'd have been able to string together any type of answer.

Because I was wrong about going back to Pemberly Brown with nothing. Everything that had happened at Camp Brown was something. But it was all so broken and disjointed, with sharp edges that cut. I had never felt more alone. So alone that I reached over to find my dad's hand. I squeezed it like I used to when I was little and in need of some reassurance. He squeezed back, our secret signal that everything was going to be okay, that I was safe.

But tonight, nothing could make me feel safe. Not even my dad.

“Kate?”

In my dream, time was erased and my hair was brown. Liam stood over me with kind eyes more blue than gray and a dimpled smile. And he repeated my name. It sounded right.

“Kate?”

This time, my body shook with the sound.

“Kate?”

When I opened my eyes, they might as well have been closed it was so dark. But Liam's face was close enough to distinguish, a breath away, his lips inches from my own.

“I need help. Porter's missing,” he said, raising a finger to his lips so I knew to be quiet. It wasn't time to freak out or get Porter in trouble. It was no secret he didn't want to come here. He'd spent the bulk of the time drinking out of some water bottle. He was probably getting high with the maintenance crew. But we needed to find him. Ms. D. was depending on me to keep an eye on him.

We tiptoed out of the cabin and ran as soon as we hit the grass.

“We have to go to the lake,” Liam called over his shoulder. Clouds had moved in, snuffing out the stars and masking the moon in a veil. It was darker. Dangerous. Liam was ahead now, closing in on the shore desperately. He knew something. He was scared.

“Porter!” He screamed his name, his voice carried by the breeze. “Porter!” he screamed again.

“Liam!” It was my turn to scream. “What's happening?” My eyes were wild, searching the water for movement.

Liam didn't answer, but instead ripped off his T-shirt and flung his flip-flops aside. He handed me a thick note card before screaming Porter's name into the blackness again. A light flickered on back at camp, and my hands shook as I looked down at the Factum Virtus I already knew was coming.

The rocks are jagged, the lake deep. Face your death but save yourself. Make your Brother proud or lose him forever.

By now, every cabin was illuminated, and chaperones were sprinting to the lake's edge. Liam had disappeared beneath the water, and I wondered how much more I could possibly lose.

And then chaos. Voices. Fear. Confusion. Panic. Seven minutes. An eternity.

It took Liam, my Econ teacher, and Luca, Siegfried's assistant, to free Porter from between the sharp-edged boulders that lined the south edge of the shore. Everyone stood back as his chest was pumped, as Luca listened for a heartbeat and Liam wrapped a T-shirt around Porter's head to stop the bleeding. A collective breath was released when the heartbeat was found. I collapsed onto the sand, my body shaking violently in the aftermath that was all too reminiscent of the fire that had killed my best friend. Porter was whisked away to be cared for, and questions burst into the night.

Who
found
him? Why did he leave? What was he doing? How did you know?

And finally…
what
is
that?
Naomi pointed to the thick piece of paper I held between my shaking fingers.

“I found it,” Liam said, running a hand through his wet hair. “I woke up and Porter was gone. This was sitting on his pillow. I got Kate and we came here.”

Naomi narrowed her eyes. “It's another Factum Virtus,” she announced, her eyes trained on Liam. “Thank God you woke up in the middle of the night, Liam. Thank God you knew where to look.”

She spoke the words, and understanding struck me like a ton of bricks. I could see where this was going, and it made me dizzy.

I shook my head. “No, you don't understand. Liam was watching Porter. He…”

Some kid on the red team interrupted me, his squeaky voice like nails on a chalkboard. “I saw those notes in his bag. The Factum-whatevers. He had a bunch of them.” He pointed a scrawny finger at Liam, and I knew no matter what I said, everything would all come falling down.

And it did. With Liam at the center. They pointed their fingers. They had their guy. The guy who never would have been standing in the middle if it hadn't been for me. The guy fighting everyone else's battles but his own.

“It's late.” My dad spoke the words with new authority as he rested his hand on my shoulder. “Everyone needs to go back to camp. Porter is being cared for, and it's late and we'll find out more tomorrow.”

Slowly everyone scattered back to camp.

Bradley hesitated by the dunes, as though he had something important to say, but ended up shaking his head and walking away without uttering a word. Seth looked like he was about to cry, but he wasn't in the business of breaking rules and he wasn't about to break my dad's. Maddie followed. Finally, only Liam and I were left.

The worst part was that Liam didn't even say anything. I deserved to be yelled at for forcing him into this mess, but he just stood there defeated.

“I'm so sorry, Liam.”

He shook his head and was still scary quiet. A jolt of fear struck my stomach.

“You're sorry?” He said it and made a laughing, choking sound. “Do you have any idea what this has been like for me, Kate? You break up with me and start running around with Bradley-freaking-Farrow. And then you expect me to help you on another one of your insane quests to put an end to the societies that are supposedly destroying our school.”

He was closing in on me, subconsciously moving closer with each word, face red, eyes shiny. “But wait, wait! There's more. You decide to go ahead and join the very society you're trying to destroy. And somehow it's my fault when another kid ends up hurt.”

His face was just inches from mine now. I could feel his breath hot on my lips. “And not only that. No,” he scary-laughed some more. “No, then you stand there with a blank face when I'm accused of picking off ex-Brotherhood members. Classic.” The sarcasm was palpable.

Rage flooded my veins and made my feet tingle.

“You're kidding, right? What about you and Bethany? Was that my fault too? Did I force you to kiss her? Force you to flirt with her on the bus? She follows you around everywhere and it's so obvious you're together. Who the hell do you think you're kidding?”

My words were cut off by Liam's mouth crushing down on mine. He kissed me like he wanted to save me, to pull me back from whatever ledge I'd climbed out on. And for the first time in forever, it felt good to be saved. I clung to him like a life preserver, our bodies sealed so tight that there was no room left for anger or blame, just the raw energy of this one, amazing kiss.

“What the hell?”

It wasn't hard to recognize the voice that called out behind us. The way it sounded cracked and hoarse with grief, I knew it could only belong to Bradley.

I pulled away from Liam and turned around to try to explain.

“Bradley!” But he was already running down the beach at full speed, too far to hear the words that floated after him. I thought about chasing him, but I knew there was no way I'd ever be able to catch up. Not sure I wanted to after what he'd said to me earlier that night.

I stood there for a beat. Watching Bradley disappear into the black night, not ready to turn around and face Liam. Kissing him had felt amazing, but it didn't change anything. Not really. And I had no idea where we were supposed to go from there.

“Kate…” Liam put his hand on my shoulder, but I shook it off.

“I can't do this.” I didn't turn around. I couldn't risk seeing the hurt on his face; I couldn't bear to watch him walk away. I wasn't ready to be rescued. I wasn't ready to forgive or be forgiven. Not until I finished what I'd started.

I sat down in the sand and pulled my knees up to my chin and watched the water lap gently onto the beach and then back out into the lake. Finally, the sound of Liam's footsteps faded and I was alone. Truly alone. I'd pushed myself to this place, and I deserved the pain that accompanied it.

Some of the clouds had dispersed, and the moon's reflection rippled on water that was dangerously smooth compared to what it had been just minutes before. And then my eye landed on something that didn't belong on the beach, something bright and shiny and foreign. An orange bottle nestled into the sand.

Orange. Grace's favorite color. It called to me from its spot on the dunes in the moonlight. I couldn't help but think how she would have stuck a big, pink gerbera daisy inside and arranged it on her windowsill. Even in the cool night air, I could feel the warmth of her smile.

As I walked toward the bottle, it became clear that it wasn't just some plastic piece of junk. It was actually quite beautiful. Heavy and intricate in my hands. I held it up toward the moon to make out the patterns etched into the glass and saw that there was a piece of paper inside.

A message in an orange bottle.

I shouldn't have been surprised to see her handwriting. I should have expected it to be from her. But the loopy words written in Grace's unmistakable cursive turned my muscles to mush. I fell hard onto the damp sand, my hands shaking, the meager light of the moon almost making it impossible to read the words.