Sacrifice for a Dream

Chapter 11

When the Lost Boys finally got me back to the camp, there was a big campfire and sleeping bags set up partially away from the bonfire.

"What happened?" Phoenix asked me.

The rest of the Lost Boys glared at Phoenix. Saint told Phoenix, "Give her a minute. You can tell she just went through something."

"I think she drugged me. She told me this crazy story about Weverland Boarding School being cursed. The whole Tribe too," I told them, trying to shake the vision from my head.

"Did she say how to break it?" Phoenix asked me urgently, he was now in front of where I lay on top of a sleeping bag where Stone held me in the circle of his arms.

"Back off, Phoenix," Stone growled at him, "she doesn't know anything."

"She has to, Stone. Why else would they have brought her here," Phoenix looked at Stone imploringly.

Luck and Legend sat on another sleeping bag next to the one we were on, but Saint who stood behind us spoke, "Does it matter? Everyone is dead. Even if we break the curse, what do we do next? Where do we go?"

"What curse," I asked. Everything seemed foggy and I was extremely tired. I had really wanted to stay up for the S'mores the boys had brought, but I didn't think there was any way I could keep my eyes open, so I laid my head on Stone's chest, took a deep breath of his incredible smell and fell asleep.

*

The next morning, I woke in a new environment. It felt like I was lying on a breathing pillow, a hard breathing pillow. I opened my eyes slowly and was surprised to see Stone laying under me. I had been using his chest as a pillow. There was a small spot on his shirt where I had drooled.

It was kind of his own fault since he had not pushed me off when I fell asleep. I felt a heavy arm over my waist that was not attached to Stone. I turned my head to catch sight of a sleeping Saint. His face was relaxed and boyish.

Behind him were the twins laying in matching blue sleeping bags curled into each other like puppies and just on the other side of the fire, away from everyone else was Phoenix. Unlike the others Phoenix wasn't asleep but sat with his legs crossed and a cup of coffee in his hands.

His eyes meant mine. "There's more coffee up at the main house. Food, too."

I untangled myself from between Stone and Saint, "I could really use the bathroom."

Stone grunted a little when I stood, pulling my blanket from the sleeping bag and folding it while I stood. Saint rolled over onto his other side, pulling my sleeping bag over his head. I looked down at my shoeless feet, I didn't even remember taking them off.

"You were really tired, so Stone took them off for you," Phoenix told me when he saw me look at my feet.

I glanced around and found my shoes near my bag which I grabbed and hunted for the stuff I would need to get ready. Changing my mind, I grabbed the whole bag and walked to the main house. Phoenix followed close behind.

I had assumed when I agreed to a sleep over that I would sleep in the house with Fala, but I didn't see Fala anywhere. "Where's Fala, Mika, Talon and Hawk?"

"I don't know about Talon and Hawk. Mika is at the main house with her parents and Fala is with Zuur," he told me as we walked.

"Who's Zuur?" I whispered. The name buzzed in my brain.

"You don't remember what happened last night?"

"You mean at the dinner the Tribe held?" I asked him. Something wriggled in the back of my brain, a memory I couldn't quite catch between my fingers.