Dark of the Moon. Siobhan Curham
were shipwrecked a few days ago,’ the Flea explains. ‘Over on the other side of the island.’
Lola shakes her head in disbelief. ‘No way!’
The Flea nods proudly. ‘Yes indeedy!’
‘My name’s Grace,’ I say, climbing down into the water next to Lola. She takes hold of my arm to steady me. She’s grinning like a Cheshire cat.
‘This is brilliant. I mean, obviously it isn’t brilliant that you’ve been shipwrecked, but it’s so cool that you’ve turned up today. Ruby’s last lot of guests have just left and I was thinking that it was going to be so boring until the next lot arrive.’
‘Who’s Ruby?’ the Flea and Dan ask in unison.
Lola smiles at them. ‘She runs the retreat.’
‘The retreat?’ Dan turns back to me and raises his eyebrows.
Lola nods. ‘Yeah. It’s where I’m staying. She set it up a couple of years ago, when she got sick of city life. Wait till you meet her. She’s so calm and serene. She’s like a walking advert for island living.’
The Flea leans close to me. ‘Okay, tell me, am I dreaming right now?’ he whispers.
‘What’s that?’ Lola asks.
‘Nothing,’ the Flea says quickly. ‘It just seems very different on this side of the island.’
‘No kidding,’ Dan mutters.
Lola stares at him, puzzled. Then she turns to look at Belle, who’s still in the boat and staring ahead of her blankly. ‘Is your friend okay?’ she whispers to me.
‘Yes, well, no – not exactly. She just lost her sight.’
Lola’s huge eyes widen. ‘That’s terrible! What happened?’
‘It’s a very long story.’
‘But how?’
I look at Lola and shake my head. If Belle hears us talking about her it’ll only make her feel a million times worse.
Thankfully, Lola gets what I’m trying to say and nods. ‘Okay, well let me take you guys up to the retreat. You look exhausted.’
The Flea and I help Belle from the boat.
‘It’s okay, Belle,’ I whisper in her ear,‘she seems really nice.’
Belle nods and gives a tight little smile.
‘Follow me,’ Lola calls, before bounding across the rocks. We trail after her, the Flea arm in arm with Belle, and Dan right behind them. Cruz drops back and takes my hand.
‘What do you reckon about all this?’ I whisper.
He shrugs his shoulders. ‘I don’t know.’
‘I can’t believe we’re back on the island.’
Cruz nods.
‘Do you think it was Hortense?’ I hardly dare look at him.
‘I don’t know. Sometimes you do get freak winds like that but . . .’
He doesn’t need to continue. I know exactly what he’s thinking because I’m thinking it too – Hortense was never going to let us get away that easily.
Once we get to the end of the rocks, Lola leads us through a cluster of trees. But it isn’t like the rainforest on the other side of the island that’s claustrophobically dense and seems to go on forever. These trees are a lot more spaced out and within a half a minute we’ve reached another huge clearing. It’s cut through by a wide, green river, covered with plate-sized lily pads. A rickety wooden footbridge snakes across the water. ‘We’re almost there,’ Lola calls back to us. ‘Ruby isn’t at the retreat right now. She went to the bay to see the last guests off.’
We all exchange glances again. After all this time feeling trapped on the island it’s kind of freaky hearing her talk so casually about people leaving. Freaky, but unbelievably good. Maybe all isn’t lost after all. Maybe we’ll still be able to get out of here.
We make our way across the bridge. As it starts swaying wildly I’m too exhausted to even worry about what could be lurking in the water beneath. Once we’re on the other side, Lola leads us through some more trees and then out into another huge clearing.
‘Wowsers!’ the Flea exclaims.
Several long cabins made from bamboo line the edges of the clearing. But my eyes are instantly drawn to the centre. There, looming above the cabins, is the strangest house I’ve ever seen. It’s three storeys high and perched on wooden stilts so tall it’s impossible to see inside from down on the ground. The walls are a light-and-dark patchwork of bamboo and logs, topped with a slightly lop-sided roof made from sheets of corrugated metal.
Lola sees us staring at it and starts to laugh. ‘That’s where Ruby lives. It’s cool, isn’t it? The retreat guests all stay in the cabins,’ Lola points to one of them. ‘There’s plenty of room. Now the others have gone there’s only me and Michael – my boyf— . . . ex-boyfriend, and Ruby here. The next guests are arriving in a few days – for the party.’ She starts to grin.‘You’ll be here for the party!’
‘What party?’ Dan asks, looking slightly shell-shocked.
‘We can’t stay for any party,’ the Flea whispers.‘We need to get Belle to hospital.’
But before Lola can reply a guy comes out of one of the cabins, rubbing his eyes like he just woke up. He’s broad-shouldered and pale skinned, with copper-coloured wavy hair that almost reaches his shoulders. He’s wearing long swimming shorts and has an elaborate tattoo of a dragon across one half of his chest.
When he sees Lola he starts to glare. ‘Where have you been?’ he asks. His accent is British too. Then he notices us. ‘Who are these people?’
‘This is Michael,’ Lola says to us, her voice suddenly flat.
‘Who are they?’ Michael hisses at her. I take an instant dislike to him.
‘I found them down at the lagoon,’ Lola explains. ‘They’ve been shipwrecked and they were –’
‘And you brought them here?’ Michael scowls at her.
‘Well, yes. Obviously.’
‘But what about Ruby?’
Lola stares at him. ‘They’ve been shipwrecked!’
Ever the optimist, the Flea walks over to Michael, holding out his hand.‘I’m Jimmy the Flea, pleased to meet you,’ he says cheerily. But Michael completely blanks him and continues staring at Lola.
‘I’m sure Ruby won’t mind,’ Lola says, her cheeks flushing. ‘I couldn’t exactly leave them there.’
Michael gives a sarcastic laugh. ‘How compassionate of you.’
I feel my hackles rising. What the hell is this guy’s problem? ‘We’ve been shipwrecked,’ I say. ‘We need help getting back home.’
Michael looks at me blankly before turning back to Lola. ‘Yeah well, it’s your funeral.’Then he stomps back into the cabin.
I stand, rooted to the spot. What’s going on here? Why is Michael so concerned about Ruby’s reaction? I look at Cruz questioningly. He shakes his head, clearly as bewildered as I am.
Lola turns and gives us a weak smile. ‘I’m so sorry. Things are a little tense between us at the moment. We only just broke up. He isn’t taking it very well.’
‘No