Early the next morning, at first light, Jessica, Bridget, Veronica, and I were assigned four different boats. For a time, we could keep track of each other, four boats rushing toward the sunrise.
Then I saw the island. It was larger than I thought, circular, with a beach along the outside and dense jungle packed in the center.
The four boats veered off in widening directions, presumably to stop and drop off their candidates at different points on the beach. Soon, we lost sight of each other.
The boat carrying me pulled up toward the beach, and the servant indicated that I should hop out here. So I did, my feet splashing in the shallow ocean water. As I sloshed my way toward the shore, the boat behind me drifted back and then disappeared the way it had come.
I felt exposed standing ther
