PARADISE PARADOX (#1 PARADISE ISLAND duology)

-- fourteen --

"Translate for us. Would you? Please?"

Kera sensed their fiery gazes on her back as she faced possessed Jessa—the ruler. The earthly speaker. A powerful deity-like creature who held the keys to their fates in her glistening hands.

Everything about her shimmered; first, her hair, strands of purple weaved into Jessa's reddened curls. Her skin, irregularly iridescent with violet sparkles like freckles, and violet veins flashing from her wrists to her shoulders. Her nails—which Kera didn't remember the color of before the transformation—were a light lavender, her fingers stained with what looked like purple ink. And her eyes—like bulging amethysts, and sharp ones too; because every time she looked at Kera, Kera felt like she was piercing into her heart, draining it, filling it with her power, then controlling it.

"So?" The ruler pressed her hands to her maroon garb—the only non-purple item about her, though it, too, seemed to radiate a purplish glow. "Questions? I know you have them; I see them fluttering through your minds. Share them for the class."

Kera sucked in a breath as those behind her whispered a multitude of queries—where are we? Who are they? What do they want? But these were already answered by the ruler, and Kera had no doubt this creature would lose her patience should the group get repetitive.

Clearing her throat, Kera thrust her chest out in some semblance of confidence, ignoring the shakiness in her legs. She knew what to ask, what answer would shift the mood for all of them.

They'll be happy with this question, I'm sure.

"What happened when we were all blacked out?"

The ruler batted her lashes and clasped her hands under her chin. "Excellent first question, young lady. Some of you may recall, others might not, and I'm happy to clarify." She smiled; nothing malicious about the gesture, but in such a situation, and preceding such pertinent information, it felt off. "Once you lathered yourselves with water from the bay, you started changing." She gave a slow nod towards Kera—who, coincidentally, remembered the water warping her mind. Did the ruler know Kera had had flashes of the beach before the cave, the nudity, the zombie-like behaviors? "Well, once you all disembarked and stripped of your clothes, you were drawn into the cave, here. To this pool," she motioned at the scintillating, calm waters millimeters away from her heel, "and its magical properties. You drank from it, further enhancing your experience."

"And what experience was that?" Miles' voice boomed from behind Kera, confirming that she'd indeed asked the right question. The ruler's response had drawn attention, and hopefully, more details were to come—though she prayed that Miles and the others wouldn't interrupt her.

That isn't the best way to test her temper.

"Many experiences, young man. You imbibed our magical springs filled with pure liquor—I brought in jugs of it, for your pleasure, as it resides deep in the woods—and enjoyed a drunken stupor. You grew restless and violent, and some of you punched at the rocks, or punched at each other. Yes," she waved at one of the students, though Kera couldn't see who, "that explains your bruises, doesn't it? Your soreness, your limping? You were rowdy, all of you. Antsy and eager to fight. We loved that."

Kera's breaths battled to escape from her lungs. Had she been violent, too? She had no scars or scrapes, and aside from her eerie down-there bleeding—

"Oh, and you had a ton of sex, too," added the ruler, to a chorus of gasps. "I believe you humans call it an orgy?"

Kera's gasp was the loudest, and she crumbled to her knees, no longer able to maintain a facade of confidence. The spot between her legs still ached, still reminding her of what she was now confirmed to have done.