Chapter 25: Chapter 25

THIRTEEN

I take a step into the room only to freeze as my eyes spot what's wired up along the top of the ceiling. I follow it down to the metal contraptions set up on the floor.

Great. We come this far without any traps and she set's room up to be a freaking mind field.

"What are you waiting for?" Devin questions and tries to walk around me but I put my arm out to stop him before pointing up to the explosives strapped up to the ceiling.

"Well, that's a problem." He says simply his eyes going down to the bear traps the explosives are wired to.

Step on one of those and you'll not only get your foot caught and mangled, but you'll set off the explosives if you move the trap or open it.

"Now I'm seeing what you meant when you said she loved traps...and explosives," Jason mutters.

"How the hell are we even supposed to get across this room?" Cody questions. They're all crowded around me, but no one makes any move to even attempt to move further into the room.

I study the traps laid out on the floor, and the explosives strapped to the ceiling. Lily left this for me. She wanted me to get across but wanted to make sure no one else would be able to get across.

I try to find a pattern in the traps. There's less around the edges of the room, closer to the wall. But there's a ton of them in the middle of the floor.

That discourages people from trying to walk through the middle. She's trying to make it so you have no choice but to walk along the sides. Why?

If there's anything I know about Lily, she loved tricks just as much as traps.

It clicks in my mind. She's done something like this before as a joke, as a prank. Of course, it was nowhere near as dangerous as this is...but she'd know I'd remember it because she pulled the prank on me, and I learned the hard way.

I just pray I'm right.

I suck in a deep breath and begin to walk forwards. I hear a million protests from the boys but I ignore them and duck out of the way before they can pull me back.

I walk calmly across the center of the room, kicking traps out of the way as I go and stepping on others, but nothing happens. I stand at the other end of the room and turn around to face the boys who all look rather surprised.

"They're fake?" Chase finally asks and I shake my head.

"Not the ones lined up on the sides. Those are very real. But the ones in the middle? Yeah, they're fake."

"Why?"

"For anyone who didn't know her, they'd try to go across the area with fewer traps, the sides and she knew that. So she put real ones on the sides. But for anyone who knew her...well let's just leave it at, she's done stuff like this before."

The boys still walk cautiously over to me. Glancing down as they walk and being careful not to stray from the trail I left.

"Don't take this the wrong way," Jason starts as he makes it to the other side. "But I'm kind of glad I'll never get the chance to meet this girl."

I smile and shake my head. "She'd take that as a compliment."

Devin walks past me to the only thing in this room. A large desk with an older computer sitting on top of it. He takes a seat in the swivel chair and powers up the computer.

"Hey look. It works." He says.

"It's not that old." Cody retorts and Devin shoots him a flat look.

"There's a password."

"Of course there is," Jason grumbles.

"What is it?" Devin asks, his question directed to me.

I ponder over it for a moment. This was meant for me to find, and only me so...

"Move," I tell him and he rolls himself and the chair to the side. I lean over the computer keys in a way that keeps my movements hidden. I type in a code and press enter. It unlocks.

"What was the code?" Devin immediately pesters me and I just give him a sly smile.

"My name."

"Why didn't you let me see you type it in?!"

I just roll my eyes and he rolls the chair back over, bumping me out of the way and placing one hand on the keyboard and the other on the mouse.

"There's nothing even on this-oh wait." He clicks on the only file on the computer. A video file.

The screen's black for a moment before slowly coming into focus. The room in the video is this room. The same drab gray walls and top of the black swivel chair can be seen, as well as the opening of the bookcase in the back.

"Is this thing even working?"I hear a familiar voice grumble before Lily's face comes into the view of the camera as she raises her hand up and pokes at the screen.

I feel four sets of eyes burning a hole in my head. I ignore all of them and stare at the video. She's wearing a bright pink shirt and her hair is dyed a bright royal blue. Her emerald green eyes sparkle as she continues to poke at the camera.

"Why can't this...." Her voice goes low as grumbles a few colorful phrases. "Have a damn blinky light that tells me when the freaking thing's on? Is that too much to ask for you damn piece of shit?"

Devin laughs. "I like her." He says simply staring at the screen.

"She's definitely Ryder's sister. I'll give her that." Chase mutters.

"Oh screw you!" She suddenly shouts and throws her hands up in the air before collapsing into the swivel chair. "I guess I just have to hope the damn thing's on cause if it's not I'm going to have to redo this entire..." She adds a few more choice words to the end of her sentence and runs her hands over her face.

She puts a smile on her face and faces the camera, her eyes boring into it. "So, if you're watching this then that means...well, I guess it means I'm dead..." She trails off and leans back in the chair staring up at the ceiling quietly. I can practically see the gears turning in her head.

"That's an interesting concept to grasp." She mutters finally. "I guess there's really only one thing for me to say..." She trails off and leans forwards towards the camera dramatically.

"You better have given me a freaking fantastic funeral. I'm talking balloons, fireworks, lots and lots of flowers, but I swear if you got me any lilies I'm going to crawl out of my grave and strangle you. Just cause my name happens to be Lily, doesn't immediately mean I like those crappy flowers."

I laugh lightly as do the rest of the boys.

"And yes I know you're supposed to wear black to funerals to pay your respect to the dead but seriously, doesn't that just make it worse? Black is associated with sadness and therefore it is not allowed at my funeral. If any of you people wore black I'm going to haunt you for the rest of your life, and even after you're dead too...unless you died with me and which I case I feel really bad...oops."

She drums her fingers on the desk deep in thought. "Well, I guess you and I will be killing the devil and taking over hell together. But in all seriousness, don't worry about me. Even though heaven wouldn't take me, the devil obviously had no choice and I've likely already taken over hell by now."

There's a huge smile on her face as she says this. "That sounds amazing. I'll be having the time of my life." She sighs dreamily and then a frown makes its way across her face and her nose crinkles in disgust. "Until Ryder shows up and tries to take away all my glory and power. Freaking tyrant."

She sits straight up and smoothes out her shirt. "I'm getting off topic. I had something important to say..." She trails off with a frown on her face and begins to drum her fingers on the desk again.

She can't remember what she wanted to say.

It's like a light bulb goes off in her head and she smiles opening her mouth to say something but gets cut off by the sound of the doorbell. Her face lights up.

"That's my pizza." She holds up a peace sign. "Later loser. I'll be back...eventually." The screen goes black. It comes back on a moment later to Lily stuffing her face with pizza. I roll my eyes but smile.

"This is so good." She mumbles through a mouth full of pizza. She takes a moment to chew and then swallow before turning her attention back on to the camera. "Now where was I?"

She taps the crust of her pizza against her chin. "Oh yeah, I had something important to tell you. I know what you're looking for and yes I have it...but it's not here." She holds up a hand to the camera. "No cussing me out that I had enough common sense to not store it in a place that could end up being discovered by anyone else other than you...granted you have to be half stupid to find this place but that's not really a problem for you is it?"

She cackles like it's the funniest thing ever and Devin laughs loudly along with her. I shoot him a glare only to notice the rest of the boys holding back smiles. I scowl at them.

"Anyways, I'm not going to outright tell you where it is because A, where's the fun in that? And B, do you not know me? You should remember the numbers, 9538813722209, in that order. They're kind of important."

I notice Chase type the numbers into his phone.

"As for exactly where it is...where did you and I go for Christmas that one year when we ditched your brother and boyfriend for a little fun?" I smile widely. "Well in case you forgot...I'm not telling you."

She begins to tap a pencil on the edge of the desk and I can see her leg bouncing up and down. This girl could never sit still. She always had to be doing something. "What else, what else?" She mutters. She lets out a sigh. "Well, I guess the only thing left is the list of my regrets."

She leans back in her chair. "I regret not being able to talk you into getting a dog. I only half regret letting that one dog loose in the amusement park...not my finest hour. I regret not introducing you to Ryder..." She grimaces.

"No, I lied. I definitely don't regret that. There's absolutely no reason you two should ever meet unless he needs to get his ass handed to him a freaking silver tray. I guess the biggest thing I regret..."

She sighs and her expression gets sad, but her eyes still hold their spark. "I regret not being able to be there with you. To make more memories. I mean screw J.D. and Garrett, me and you were the best partners in crime ever!" She fist pumps in the air and begins to think again. "Yeah, I think I'm done now. I've said my piece. Good-bye Forty-five."

She reaches her hand up to turn off the camera. "Oh wait! I lied. I'm not done." She retracts her hand. "I don't know how long it'll take you to get here but she has access to the backyard and she's pretty resourceful all on her own. She's pretty damn sturdy as well. But if you see Angel, take her with you."

She clicks off the camera without explaining any further and the screen goes dark. They all turn and look at me.

"What?" I question.

"Who's Angel?" Devin asks. That wasn't the question I was expecting...but this is Devin.

I shake my head. "Hell if I know."

"I don't even understand how you two were best friends," Jason mumbles quietly, still looking at the screen. "That girl had a few too many screws loose."

Jason turns and walks out of the room and Chase follows. Devin continues clicking on random things on the computer. I feel a hand on my arm.

"You good?" Cody asks. His expression soft. I take a deep breath and just nod. He nods back at me. I look back at the video as Devin begins to replay it.

I smile as I stare at her. "I'll be fine."

And for the first time in a long time. I mean it.