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“All right,” he says softly, nodding to the right, “I’ll get you out of here.”
With my pride in my back pocket, I follow behind him. I shouldn’t trust that he’s leading me in the right direction, but I have no choice, unless I want to be stuck out here all night.
We’re walking in silence when I break it. “Of all the things you could do to mess with me, you just had to play that recording, didn’t you?”
Jagger’s head snaps around as he steps over a branch in our path. “What recording?”
“You know exactly what recording. Quit denying it and just tell me why you did it?”
“I seriously have no idea what you’re talking about. Did someone do something to you out here?”
I jog up to him and grab him by the back of the shirt, stopping him from walking any farther. “You know something happened. Now tell me why?”
“Dammit, Scar!” He grabs my shoulders. “I do not know what the hell you’re going on about, so if something happened then just fucking tell me.”
He sounds so convincing that I almost believe him.
“In the lunch bag you gave me, there was a note. Are you telling me you really had nothing to do with it?”
He looks over my shoulder, staring into thin air as if he’s pulling something from memory. “A note?” His head shakes. “I didn't leave a note. Maybe it was Andy. He’s the one who got it from the cafeteria.”
“Why would Andy, someone I don’t even know, leave me a note that says,If you think this is a game, you’re dead wrong?”
He tucks his chin. “It said that?”
“Yeah, it did. And right after I read it, someone played a recording out here through a speaker. A recording of me and Maddie making a promise to never come here.”
Jagger looks dumbfounded, which confuses the heck out of me. “That doesn’t make any sense. We never discussed anything like that.”
“Well, if you are telling me the truth, it seems your friends have left you out of the loop.”
“No,” he bites out. “No, they wouldn’t do that. Neo and I have consulted on everything, and there was nothing like that in the plan.”
“What about Crew?”
“Crew’s…” he trails off. “No. He wouldn’t pull that shit either. Not if it involved Maddie.”
“So you expect me to believe that someone else, who knows about my promise to Maddie, just came out here to fuck with me for no good reason?”
“I don’t know what you should believe, because I don’t know what the fuck is going on. I’ll ask the guys, but I doubt it was them. Sure as hell wasn’t me.”
I’m biting hard on my bottom lip, observing him for any proof that he’s telling the truth, but my gut still won’t let me believe him. “I don’t care what you say. The coincidence is uncanny. You were there, then you weren’t. I was lost, and you found me. Come on, Jagger. Do you think I'm a complete idiot?”
“Actually, I don’t. In fact, I think you’re pretty fucking smart.” He snatches my hand in an instant and squeezes as he pulls me. My feet try to keep up, but he’s walking so quickly.
“Let me go!”
He doesn’t stop, though, and less than a minute later, after moving through the trees, we’re standing on the edge of a mountain directly in front of a Ferris wheel and an open field.
“Wow,” I say, eyes on the sight in front of me, “what is this place?”
“Eldridge Park. Well, what’s left of it.”
Down below is a wide-open space overrun with weeds and tall grass. Only a few feet away from us is an old Ferris wheel that has tipped and is now pressing against the side of the mountain. It looks to be around fifty years old, with more than a dozen swinging cars spaced out from one another, all faded, but still showing a hint of their original pastel colors. If I reached out far enough, I could touch one of the cars.
I glance over at Jagger, who’s watching me. “Is this where you were?”
He nods. “It’s sort of my secret place, so don’t go sharing it with anyone. My dad told me about it when I was a kid. He and my mom used to come here to escape the craziness of The Academy. Now, I like to come here to get away.”
