Burning Moon (Wattpad Version)

Chapter 13

I'm the girl who is always on time.

I'm the girl who doesn't go out on weeknights.

I'm the girl who files her books according to the Dewey decimal system.

I'm the girl who never bunked a day of school in her life.

I'm the girl who takes her rented movies back on time. Sometimes even early.

I'm the girl with a plan.

I'm the girl with a routine.

I'm the girl with the well-ordered, well-arranged, well-organised, well-placed, well-structured, well-controlled, well-everything'd life.

So...

So...

So...

... What the hell was I doing on a boat with Damien, speeding across the waters to some island, somewhere, out there, on the way to some strange, wild, mysterious party where, for all I knew, the requirement would be total nudity, fire dancing, fire breathing, drinking alcohol with worms in, belly dancing with snakes, orgies, swinging with your partner, swinging from the trees, drinking blood, and human sacrifice -- okay, so maybe that last part was extreme, but then again, I've seen stranger things on the Reality Channel.

I was hit in the face with a spray of water that jerked me back to reality. It really was beautiful here; the waters were a deep greeny-blue and dissolved into an incandescent light blue the closer they got to land. Small islands rose straight up out of the water; most of them simply looked like enormous rocks. Some were covered in tropical plants, while others had sheer white cliff faces that plummeted metres, and metres down into the swirling waters below. Although spectacular, the islands looked completely uninhabitable; there was no way you would be able to access them with those high slopes and sheer cliffs.

The boat sped through the water, sending a soft warm spray into my face. Two enormous pillar-like rocks came into view; they rose straight up into the air and were only a few metres apart, creating a thin passage between them. We entered the passageway, and it was long, so long in fact that at one point I wondered if it would ever end. It was also extremely narrow and if I stuck my hand outside the boat, I could touch the cliff face. 

We finally popped out the other end and entered a huge crystal lake enclosed by a large island that wrapped around it completely. Huge white beaches ran the entire length of the shoreline and from them, imposing rocky faces rose vertically. The boat stopped at one of the beaches and Damien and I climbed out. The driver immediately turned around and disappeared back into the tunnel.

"Beautiful," Damien said, looking around.

"Where's the party?"

"Aaaahh, patience, it's only 12pm. It starts at 7pm, and I am sure it's going to be quite an adventure getting there."

"What do you mean?"

"Oh, that's part of the fun, they always choose a really remote location that's hard to access, keeps the rabble away."

I looked around nervously, the only way from here was up. And that didn't thrill me at all.

"Do you think we'll be going up... there?" I looked up and pointed nervously.

"Well, there's nowhere else to go, is there?" He was so nonchalant about it despite the fact that climbing one of those things would be madness and potentially detrimental to your health, i.e. you might fall and die.

I think he could see the terror painted across my face.

"Why, does it worry you?"

"Um... I'm kind of scared of heights."