Althena Book 2

83. Paradise

We sit around the table on the deck. Dacious and Conner are cooking.

Chris sits beside me. "You know..."

I jump up and run to the bar. He has c*m breath so bad. I pour us each a drink of something. Then I shove a glass at him when I sit back down.

He puts an eyebrow up and takes a big drink. He swallows then jumps up coughing.

I take a drink and nearly die. Everything burns and my eyes water.

Drogon takes it away from me.

"That's not wine, love." I cough and nearly choke.

He sips it and nods.

Mike takes Chris's and dumps it out. Then he comes back with two small glasses of wine for us.

Chris gags. "She tried to kill me."

I choke out, "What were you saying?"

"You tried to kill me." He wipes his face off.

"Sorry it didn't taste like glittery rainbows. I'm not a drink maker."

We look at each other and laugh. "Next time send Conner."

"Will do. Now, what were you saying?"

He sits down beside me. "I forgot."

Mike pinches his nose between his eyes. "Like I was saying. We'll be there very shortly. I want to make sure we eat first. No roaming off alone. The biggest island is 9 square miles. The next is 7. I don't know what the last is. It's not registered with area. We don't know what animals are here. Make sure you pay attention."

Atlas shakes his head. "Could there be bears?"

"Yes. I do believe 9 miles is enough area to sustain bears. But I don't know how they would have gotten there."

Cyrus smiles. "Make sure you're in groups. Do not roam off alone and you'll be fine."

After we eat, we stare at an island from the boat. It is big. It seems to be a mountain or 2 sticking up out of the ocean. I can see a waterfall. A crazy number of palm trees and green. It's hard to make out everything from the boat. Birds are flying around it.

"We're ready."

I look at the boys and crack up laughing. They're in athletic shorts, tennis shoes, and t-shirts. But they have gun holsters on over the shirts. I think they each have at least 2 guns. Chris is staring at them like they're crazy.

Monte smiles. "Come here, and I'll put it on you."

"Who am I gonna shoot? We're the only people here."

Atlas looks at me very seriously. "Bears."

Monte tries to put a holster over my shoulder and I climb Mike trying to get away from it. He puts me on my feet. "Baby, more than likely, there's nothing here that will hurt you. But it's better to be safe. And this can get you used to having it on you as well."

I roll my eyes while Monte puts it on me. "Fine. But if I shoot one of you, it's your own fault."

"We'll deal with it." Mike leads us down to the little boat and we take that to the island. For some reason, I'm scared of my own shadow here. I am convinced something is going to pop out and eat me.

Conner carries me to the island and I refuse to let go of him. I keep searching for predators. Even the trees are weird. Some of the palm trees grew sideways, and they are over the sand.

"Atlas, you're fine. There are no bears on this beach." Atlas is trying to hide behind Cyrus and Drogon.

Chris stretches and falls over. "White sand beach. I am in love. I am never leaving. I live here now."

Akmae pulls him up. "Let's go see the waterfall."

Mike shakes his head. "You 2 need someone that actually knows what they're doing in this situation."

Clayton grabs Conner. "Let's go. I want to see it too."

Conner bounces me. "Yea, I'll go with them. Babygirl, can you put your feet down?"

I wiggle and look down. There doesn't seem to be anything weird in the sand.

Chris puts his hands on his hips. "Put your feet down, weirdo. Why are you afraid of sand?"

I put my feet down very slowly. Chris is right. Sand is not scary.

"WHAT THE f**k?" Chris climbs Conner's back. "SHOOT IT."

I climb Monte and look all over. I don't know what we're afraid of.

Clayton cracks up laughing. "It's just a lizard." He tries to walk to it, but it runs away. "That was pretty big."

Monte puts me on my feet. "Yea, about 3 feet. They won't hurt you. The most they'll do is run away."

Mike nods. "It's still a wild animal. Do not try to catch them or corner them."

"Chris, detach. You're strangling me."

Akmae laughs and pulls Chris off him.

Drogon's on his phone talking to somebody. "Yea, send 2. I want to get eyes in the sky. This is bigger than I thought... Yea... Land on the beach by the boat." He hangs up. "Helicopters are en route. If you want to go in on foot, it's fine. If you get lost, call someone."

Dacious drops a big bag. "Extra bullets are here."

Chris, Akmae, Clayton, and Conner go towards the waterfall. Atlas follows Cyrus and Dacious very closely.

Drogon shakes his head. "I'm waiting for the helicopters."

"I'll take this one. Let's go look for tracks, woman." Monte pulls me.

Mike nods. "Don't scare her. She'll shoot you."

"I am aware. She's also the healer, so that's convenient. We'll stay where you can hear us and come back for a helicopter."

We walk the beach for a little bit. It is beautiful. Tropical flowers and bushes fill in between the palm trees. Shells of different sizes litter the white sand. The water is a perfect blue. The waves aren't big enough to surf. They're only about 3 feet. The mountains as the backdrop make everything dramatic. I don't know if they're mountains though. Maybe they're big hills.

"Let's go in here."

I stare at Monte for a second. I forgot he was with me. Then I follow him into the trees. "What are you seeing?"

"Nothing big. Tracks of quite a few different birds. Lizards. Frogs. Turtles." He points to an animal footprint. "Duck. I've seen a few insects. Nothing poisonous or venomous yet. And there should be a fresh water source nearby. Or more than 1. There is a lot of vegetation growing. I have seen mangos, coconuts, and berries so far."

I pick up a big yellow feather. "This is pretty."

"Parrot."

"You're smart."

"I've studied wilderness survival for a long time."

"You don't see any bear tracks?"

"No big footprints or poop yet. No tusk marks on the trees. It seems peaceful here."

It sounds like something screams and I dive for him. He trips over a stick and lands on his back. I land on his chest and look around. "Did you hear that?"

"It was a bird."

I get up and brush myself off. "It sounded more like a scream."

"Let's head back. I hear the helicopters."

We go back to the beach and walk towards the boat. I pull a leaf out of his hair. "I'm sorry."

"It happens. It did sound like a scream."

We get to the big bag at the same time Drogon and Mike come out of the trees. "Kids found a fresh water lake and waterfall."

Monte nods. "We found out birds can sound like humans when they scream."

They laugh and direct the helicopters to land. I jump in and sit right by the window.

We get in the air and I can finally make sense of it. Two big rocky mountain hills are the first island. There are quite a few waterfalls. The other island is shaped like a crescent moon. It's pretty big and covered in palm trees and greenery too. The islands are fairly close together but too far to swim.

Mike is staring at the map. "Those two rocks sticking up out there are the third island."

I scratch my head. How does that even make sense? But there are two big rocks sticking up out of the ocean. They are close together with no sand or green on them. They're just rocks. And apparently, our third island.

Monte nods. "That crescent island is going to be fun to dive at. That's a lagoon. There's a reef under there."

"Can we do that now?"

"Not right now. Let's figure out what's on land first."

"Do you think we could bring monkeys here?"

"That would take a lot of research. They could kill off the natural vegetation or cause the extinction of some rare bird or lizard."

Drogon winks. "What do you want to do with it, baby? Other than bringing monkeys."

"I want a huge fancy house. Imagine waking up to these views."

He puts his arm around me, and we watch out the window. "We could do that with one of them. Make it our own private paradise. What about the other one?"

I shrug my shoulders. "Monkey sanctuary?"

"I should have seen that coming."

Monte nods. "You should make it into a resort. Hell, you've got the ocean. You can do what the other resort does and more. Your own reef. Miles of white sand beaches. Swim with dolphins. Whale watching. I saw sea turtle tracks on the first island. This is paradise."

I lay my head on Drogon's shoulder. "Invite only resort."

"How would it make money?"

"It wouldn't. But we could go to it whenever we wanted."

Monte rubs his face. "You can take a boat back and forth. House and your private stuff on the first island. Resort on the other. I think they're too far apart for guests to be able to get to your house. The two rocks aren't going to be able to do anything."

"They're pretty though."

"Yea, they can just sit there and add to the ambiance."

"We could put a runway in on the crescent island." Mike shakes open another map. "Or people could bring a boat. It's 131 miles from the dock. It takes 5 hours at 20 knots to get here. Helicopter takes an hour. The plane would take about 20 minutes."

"How do you know all that?"

"I have a conversion calculator on my phone, baby." Mike winks. "But nobody takes off in a plane from the dock. If they did, it would be a 20-minute ride though."

"It would be nice to swim with dolphins whenever I want. But no sharks though."

"Of course."

"And keep it dark. I bet the stars are perfect out here."

Mike nods. "No light pollution. I'm not sure how that works with stars and the moons reflecting off the water, but we can check into it."

We fly around some more. Then the helicopters have to go back so they don't run out of fuel.

I sit by the bag of bullets on the beach and a turtle comes out of the water. He walks right towards me. Then I see something stuck on his flipper. I crawl over and it's plastic. It's really wrapped around.

Mike spots me and throws his papers in the air as he takes off. "WOMAN. DO NOT..."

"IT NEEDS HELP, MIKE."

"Never touch a wild animal, woman. Do not approach them. All of them will protect their homes and kids."

"This one asked for help." It's thick plastic. "I can't get it without hurting him."

He pulls out a knife and cuts it off. "That looks better. Can you heal it? It seems irritated."

"I would be irritated too." I try, but I don't think I can heal animals. I give the turtle a good look over. "Anything else?" It walks up on the beach and starts digging.

Monte nods. "We're on sea turtle nesting grounds."

"What does that mean?"

"Nothing really. In a couple of months, baby turtles will dig their way out and go back to the water."

I point at the hill. "I want to live right there so I can watch the baby turtles."

Drogon looks around and nods. "Ok. That's as good a spot as any. Let's get on the boat and head back. We have everyone?"

"Yep." Mike picks me up. "Time to go."

"Good. I'm hungry." Clayton's first in the little boat.