Illusion (Swept Away 1)

“My fingers can’t do as much as other parts of my body,” he said smoothly.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I furrowed my eyebrows together, and then my face flushed. “You’re disgusting.”

“Not as disgusting as I can be.” He leaned toward me, and I was almost positive that he was going to kiss me. Instead, his lips moved to my ear and he whispered softly, “Only, you won’t think I’m being disgusting. You’ll be screaming out my name, begging me to never stop.”

I jumped up then and walked toward the jungle. “You’re so inappropriate. You know that, right? I just had the fright of my life and you’re trying to seduce me. Let’s go!” I shouted without looking back at him. “If you need my help, let’s go.”

“I thought that would do the trick.” He jumped up off the ground and laughed. “There’s nothing that scares you more than sex, is there, Bianca?”

I ignored his question and kept walking. Though he was wrong. Nothing about sex scared me. It was what happened after sex that turned my brain upside down.

“I don’t know if we’re going to find any water.” I sighed as we kept walking through the shrubbery. “I’m getting tired and thirsty.”

“I can crack open some coconuts if you want.” Jakob touched my arm. “If we bash them hard enough into the rocks we can split them open. We have to find the green coconuts though, the ones still in the shell. The brown coconuts are hard already.”

“It’s okay. I can wait a little bit.” I shook my head. “It’s weird that we haven’t seen any trace of Steve, isn’t it?” I stared at the gash on Jakob’s face and bit my lower lip.

“I guess.” He looked away from me. “Let’s stop for a moment so you can rest.”

“Thanks.” I rolled my eyes. “I’m the only one who’s exhausted, right?”

“Let’s stop so we both can rest. Is that better?” He gave me a look that made me feel like a little kid, and I turned away. “Wait here. I’m going to go—”

“Jakob,” I whispered softly as my eye caught something. “Jakob,” I said again, harder this time, and grabbed his arm. My breathing was coming faster, and my words sounded slightly excited.

“Yes?”

“I see something.” I stared ahead, not sure if I was seeing things. I rubbed my eyes and looked again.

“Not another alien or gorilla.” His eyes twinkled at me.

“Funny—not.” I glared at him. “I think I see a building.”

“What?” His eyes narrowed, and he stared at me. “Where?”

“Look.” I pointed to a spot between a gathering of trees. “Over there.” His face turned to look in the direction I was pointing, and I saw him looking hard.

“I don’t see it.”

“Look between the two trees.” I grabbed him again. “I think there’s some sort of shack. It’s covered in shrubbery, but there’s a small window. Do you see it now?”

“I see it.” He nodded and started walking. “Let’s go check it out.”

I wanted to grab him again and tell him to stop. We didn’t know what it was or who was there, and I was scared. I wished I hadn’t complained now. I wished we had kept walking. I would have felt safer. Now I felt anxious and scared. What was waiting for us in the cabin? I took a deep breath and tried not to start screaming. What if Steve was in there with a gun?

The shack in front of us was small and wooden. It would have looked comfortable in the middle of a horror movie, a fact I kept to myself as we walked toward it. My heart was beating rapidly, and I could feel the fear in the tips of my fingers and bottoms of my feet. My face was flushed with heat, and I followed behind Jakob, scared of what we were about to see.

“Do you think someone lives here?” I whispered.

“I don’t know.” His voice was stiff, and I had a feeling that he was as shocked as I was. “I’m surprised that there’s a shack here. We’ve seen no other signs of the island being inhabited, aside from Steve showing up.”

“And this one looks like they tried to hide it. There’s shrubbery all over the front and back.”

“Yeah, it looks like they tried to camouflage it.” He looked back toward me. “Stand back while I go in. If you hear me shout, run back to the beach.”

“And do what?” I mumbled, but he didn’t answer.

I watched as he opened the door to the shack and took a step in. I followed him slowly, not wanting him to go in alone and not wanting to stand outside by myself. While I was worried about what was in the shack, I was also worried about the creature I had seen in the trees earlier.

“Jakob,” I spoke softly as I stepped into the sparse shack.

“Someone’s been waiting for us to find this place.” He looked at me with a thoughtful expression.

“Huh?” I stared at him in confusion. “Do you think it was Steve?”

“I don’t know.” He sighed. “Look.” He pointed to the corner of the room at a table.

On the small wooden table, there were two white envelopes. One envelope was addressed to Jakob, and the other envelope was addressed to me, Bianca London. I froze as I stared at the envelopes.

“Here you go.” He handed me my envelope.

I opened it slowly and read. My fingers trembled as I read the short message, and I felt my heart stop.