Jake and I head back to our bungalow, promising to meet Javier at the ferry tomorrow morning. The next flight out of Manilla leaves tomorrow night and it will take nearly a full day of travel to get there. Selfishly, I don't want to leave Boracay. It's almost as if being here has been an escape from reality. If only I could stay here, spending MaxLife's money and forget about everything that happened, believing that Dad is safe back at home and Jake's dad isn't being accused of a crime he never committed.
Inside our room, I charge up my phone using the transformer we bought at the airport. Then I sag onto the soft bed and lean against the fluffy pillows. I pull up the message from Mom.
Mom: Where are you? Sun called and said you left for the Philippines? I need you to get home now. The feds have said these people are extremely dangerous. Call me.
Me: Hey! I'm fine. We found another lead. I can't turn back now. I'm headed to China. Should be home in a few days. Don't worry. Don't be mad.
Jake's voice rises, pulling my attention to where he's talking to his dad on the phone. He's pacing the room, rubbing his free hand through his hair as he talks.
"Can't one of your guys track the SWIFT codes?" Jake asks. "It can't be that hard. No, it's gone. I um, dropped it in Bangladesh. Killed the hard drive. I just need enough money for a new computer and a flight. Dad!"
He pauses and glances over to where I'm curled up against the pillows of the bed. "Listen, it should just be a few more days. I'm close."
Another pause and then, "A lot closer than any of those idiots who work for you. If you'd just listened to me—" He listens for a moment. "Okay, you're right. I shouldn't have done that. They know? How did they know it was me? Unless you told them."
I focus back on my phone, trying to ignore his dad's yelling muffled voice that carries to where I'm sitting. I open the messages from Sun and Tony.
Sun: Tell me you're ok. Worried.
Tony: Any breakthroughs?
I sigh and then despite myself and Javier's warning to not tell them anything start texting.
Me: Yes. We are headed to Macau. Flying into Hong Kong. Tomorrow. Should be there by tomorrow night or the morning after.
Sun: Not cool. Macau is a seedy area.
Me: Lau's headquarters are there.
Sun: OMG
Tony: Come home
Me: Miss u guys
Sun: Do u have to go?
Me: Yep
Sun: You make me so mad
Me:
Sun: !!!!***#&####
Seeing Sun's last text makes me laugh. It's her version of swearing. I turn my phone off and lean back against the pillows, suddenly feeling achy and unsure about everything. What if they're right? I roll my eyes, chuckling. Who am I fooling? They are right. This idea of ours is stupid. Ludicrous.
Jake hangs up and tosses his phone onto the chair, clearly frustrated.
"Didn't go well?" I ask.
"It's fine. Other than the fact my dad believes in his incompetent employees rather than me. And he told the feds about you guys going into my dreams to get the codes." He plops down on the bed beside me, staring up at the ceiling. "Were you laughing?"
"Just at how ridiculous it sounds that we can actually outwit Zhang Lau and get my dad back and recover the Federal Bank's money. Tony and Sun think it's not safe."
Jake turns on his side so he's facing me. "If you want to back out, I'm okay with that," he says. "You know I want to nail these people for what they've done and clear my family and my name, but I don't want to put you in jeopardy. It's not worth the risk."
"Thanks." I reach out for his hand and trace the lines on it. "Your plan is a good one though. I just hope the three of us can pull it off. Actually, it's not that. I know you and Javier can, it's me. The last time I went into the Dreamscape, I started thinking about my mom when I heard Bach. And well, I freaked out. I'm—"
"Smart, brave, capable," he says, and my eyes search his. There's truth to them, sincerity. "Beautiful."
He takes a strand of my hair in his fingers and pushes it out of my face. I catch my breath, remembering how he did that in his dream. He shifts closer to me and suddenly it's just his presence in the room, filling up every crevice, taking away all of my fears and insecurities.
His fingers trail down the side of my face and then across my shoulder. My skin responds to his touch, burning as if it's on fire. My breathing intensifies as he kisses my bare shoulder, his lips so soft that every part of my body craves for him. To hold him tight. To realize that there's more to Jake than being there to fix everything.
Another kiss on my neck, and slowly, his lips trail up to meet mine. Then I'm reaching for him, my fingers tangling in his hair. Outside, the ocean waves crash, creating a rhythm of magic and passion, and we become lost in each other's arms. This moment. It's wilder than any dream I've ever entered.
This reality is more fantastic than any fantasy I could conjure.
Morning comes too quickly. The alarm from my phone clashes against the cry of seagulls outside and distant laughter from beachgoers. I sit up in bed, sheets tangled about me. Jake is already awake, eating rambutan fruit and staring out the window. He's not wearing a shirt this morning and I find myself blushing when he turns and catches me gazing at the line of muscles along his back. The sheets hang loose around the lounge where he slept last night.
"Rough night?" he asks. "You cried out in your dreams. I sat by you a few times, but I've heard you shouldn't wake someone from their dreams."
"Yeah." I laugh faintly at his joke and run my hands through my hair, trying to tame the mass of curls, but finally, give up. "I guess I did have a few nightmares. But even still, I don't want to leave. I guess I'm kind of scared of what lies before us."
"I know. I feel the same."
It's a relief admitting the truth and hearing him agree. "What we're about to do feels uncertain, wrong even."
"No." He leans against the wall, strands of hair falling in his face. "What they've done is wrong and they asked for this. We've got to stop them before they hurt someone else."
We pack up the little belongings we have and head outside in the morning light. The soothing sunbeams soak into my skin as my feet shuffle across the sand-packed path.
"Do you realize we haven't even been here for twenty-four hours?" I say with a sigh.
"It's a shame." He gives me a mischievous side glance. "I could really get used to this."
I think about last night. Being with Jake made me forget everything that has happened so far, but then it was almost like a fantasy in the end. I wonder if this is a relationship that will last or if it's only the passion of the moment.
As planned, we don't cross paths with Javier until we arrive at the airport where we find him standing in line at security.
"I can't believe we're traveling to another country again," I say, wearily dragging my suitcase behind me. "If only we could've found our answers here in the Philippines. I'm so tired of traveling."
"Join the club." Jake's got dark circles under his eyes. From the looks of him, he didn't get much sleep last night. "I'm so messed up. I don't know what is day or night."
On the flight, we don't have seats together since we booked the last available ones. As I stow my suitcase into the compartment above me, I memorize where Javier and Jake are sitting. After everything that has happened, being alone makes me feel exposed and vulnerable. It's only a two-hour flight so I tell myself that nothing could happen in that short amount of time.
Once in the air, the stewardess passes out drinks and pretzels. I pop open my bag and nearly consume all of its contents at once, kicking myself for not eating breakfast.
My thoughts are interrupted by a man shuffling past me. It's his side glance that stops me from chewing. Did I just imagine that he was staring at me more than necessary? I swallow my pretzels and stow the rest away, suddenly my appetite has vanished. I wait a few seconds before glancing over my shoulder to check on the man, but he's just settling into one of the window seats and pulling out a magazine.
For the next hour, I'm so distracted that I can't rest. So I pull out Dad's watch and put it in one hand and then pull off Grams' emerald ring and hold it in my other.
Seeing both of these, it's like a part of them is with me on this insane journey. I lean my head back and let out a long breath, trying to pull up one of my favorite quotes in my head.
Fear brings two choices. Forget everything and run or face everything and rise.
I tell myself to stay calm and decide to get a little sleep before we arrive in Hong Kong. I'm half asleep when I get that prickly sensation someone is watching me again. My eyes pop open and a tingling feeling crawls along the back of my neck. I sit straighter and look around me, trying to make sense of that sound, but no one looks out of the ordinary other than me and my hyper sense of being watched.
I'm so tired. I'm sure it's just my paranoid brain making stuff up.