ISLAND ILLUSIONS (#2 PARADISE ISLAND duology)

--twelve--

"Be very careful, as that action might be your last."

Jessa's words, in the ruler's voice, rang in his head so incessantly that he forgot all about the coffee brewing in his cabin and marched over to the stone steps, instead. He paced back and forth in front of them, debating whether or not to run down and find Kera and warn her. Or to throw himself down the stairs and wait to see if he survived when he hit the bottom.

He cringed; no, he wouldn't kill himself. But maybe if he hurt himself badly enough, he'd be allowed bed-rest, and from there he'd have more time to waste thinking about what to do.

Because he still had no clue. Save Kera? Leave her be and play the ruler's games? Come to terms with his captivity and accept that this was his life from now on? Dismantle the alien's system from within while posing as one of the groupies? Attempt his own escape, which would risk him getting eaten by monsters or transformed into them?

"Would they rather eat me?" He slowed his pacing. "Or want me to be like them? I wonder."

He didn't wonder for too long, preferring to not envision any future with furry, creepy beasts at his heels.

When he ventured back to the camp a little while later, thirsty for the coffee he'd abandoned, he discovered Taryn and Lorenzo fighting near the fire. Not play-fighting—they were legitimately throwing punches at one another, screaming bloody murder as they kicked and clawed and tried to dodge the other's attacks. Jessa was on the sidelines, watching them draw blood with a satisfied smile; and Vick was nowhere to be found.

I'd better be on the look-out for him, since he's basically Jessa's sex slave.

Miles returned inside, poured his coffee into a to-go mug, and shrugged on yesterday's hoodie. When he exited his cabin, no one paid him any heed, so he opted to return to the stone steps to continue considering his next action. On his way out, he found that Taryn and Lorenzo were no longer fighting, but instead dry-humping each other on the ground, with Jessa seated by them, caressing Taryn's lower spine. She was licking her lips, fixated on Taryn, who unzipped Lorenzo's pants—

Miles didn't stick around any longer to witness the rest of that scene. Sure, the idea of some girl-on-girl action had always excited him, and threesomes were definitely a turn-on. But with Lorenzo thrown in the bunch, he preferred not to watch. He'd seen his share of penises so far—Vick's, and it still made him gag to think of it—and didn't plan on seeing any more.

He sat on the top stone step and set his coffee beside him. He rested his elbows on his legs and cupped his chin with his hands, letting out a sigh that released most of the air from his lungs. Trapped air, constricting air, air poisoned with the alien gods' toxic ideas and values, and with Jessa's earlier pungent scent that wouldn't stop swirling in his nostrils. A spicy floral, a peppery cinnamon, sexy and disruptive and—

"Fuck," he spat, grabbing his coffee. "I need to not let her get to me like that."

He had bigger, more important things to focus on—such as saving Kera, and then saving himself. But where to start? Hunt down Kera, which would put her in even more danger since it was evident Miles was being carefully watched now? Return to the barrier and continue to investigate? Find a means to reach out to that strange girl who'd given him Ms. Moreno's notebook, cryptically implying she wanted to help, but at a distance?

"Yeah," he said, planting his feet firmly on the step, with the intention of standing up. "Yeah, her. She knows more, she has to. Maybe she needed me to read the notebook first, and now that I have, she'll provide more information."

The notebook was useful, and yet it'd created more problems with its existence. With all its heavy implications and its truths, he'd managed to draw a new spotlight on himself, and not a good one. Jessa, or possibly the ruler, at this point, had made it clear he was on his last straw, and the gods had noticed he was flimsy, failing to participate. He wasn't joining in on all the fun festivities they organized, and if he didn't, he'd soon be tested and thrown into the same bucket as Kera—the disbelievers. The ones who were hounded by hairy creatures night and day until becoming one of them, or winding up chewed up in their bellies.