Chapter Twenty-Nine #2
Bernard worries her in particular because of his age. But then, when he’s not in sessions or eating, he’s down at the cliff-face infinity pool baking himself the colour of mahogany. So perhaps she shouldn’t worry about him.
‘This is not hot,’ says Stavros, Corfu born and bred. ‘This is nothing.’
Christos laughs.
‘True,’ he agrees. ‘It was cool last night. I have to wear my sweater in the evenings.’
‘We’re used to it,’ sighs Rose, who feels at home in the heat after five years in Corfu. Here the blindingly hot summer sun has swirling sea winds to take the sting out but in LA, where she lived for years, it was hot desert sun that baked the land and Rose’s skin like old leather.
Now she uses organic face oils from the Sia sisters who run the spa and is never out without a hat. Her skin has improved no end.
‘The guests all like the heat,’ points out Christos.
‘I suppose,’ says Rose but she has the oddest feeling that something is wrong. It’s a fleeting sensation that skips across her brain and then vanishes.
Today’s sessions were excellent. Everything is going so well …
Rose tells herself to stop worrying and admires her handiwork on the beach.
It’s tough to move everything up and down every day but the beach does not belong to Villa Artemis, so they cannot leave valuable things out overnight.
As usual, Rose has put out towels, bottled water on a small table, as well as some throws should anyone feel cool. She has her teeny gong to use at the start and end of meditation. Everything is perfect.
‘Rose!’
Rose, Stavros and Christos all look up to see Keera, blonde hair bouncing in a plait behind her, running down the wooden path from the hotel.
Rose’s anxiety ratchets up instantly.
‘Have you seen India? Or Dan?’ asks Keera breathlessly, coming to a halt beside them and panting in the late afternoon heat.
‘No,’ Rose says.
‘India went out with Dan for a hike, that’s more than three hours ago,’ pants Keera, ‘and they’re still not back! No way they planned to be out that long. India was going to come into Xanthe with me later. She’s not answering her phone.’
Rose feels her heart lurch. This is serious. Three hours! They are clearly lost.
‘Search party?’ she says, turning to the two Greek men. Christos and Stavros exchange worried glances.
Christos does not need to say anything. People have died on the islands in the past years. The hills can be treacherous to anyone not used to walking here. There are rocks, jagged ravines – all places where the unwary can fall and break limbs. And more than anything, the heat can kill.
Rose stands perfectly still, thinking, her eyes focused in the distance. Nothing betrays the way her heart is racing with panic.
‘They’re young,’ says Christos. ‘That matters.’
‘We did warn them about going off without enough liquids, with maps, didn’t we?’ Rose asks.
Christos nods. ‘Dan is clever,’ he says. ‘Plus, there are two of them,’ he says.
But he takes out his mobile phone.
‘I’ll ring the police.’
India is sitting on a rock under the shade of a large cypress tree, draining the last of her water and glaring at Dan.
‘That was a brilliant plan, wasn’t it?’ she snarls at Dan, who is holding India’s phone high above his head trying to get coverage.
Phone detox much?
He had used an eSIM so he could easily connect to the local phone companies but India had not.
‘You have no signal,’ he says lamely, wondering where the hell they are. ‘If there were stars, we could navigate our way back—’ he begins.
‘Stars! I don’t want to be here at night!’ she shrieks.
‘We won’t,’ says Dan firmly. ‘I promise.’
‘But how do you know? You don’t, do you? Nobody knows anything.’
India feels the exhaustion rise up in her and meet the fear head-on. They’re stuck somewhere in Corfu, which is almost six hundred square kilometres, as Dan has told her.
His vast knowledge is absolutely useless right now.
Anything could happen. Anything!
Are there mad wild animals here? Wolves?
India has no clue. She only concentrated on the nice part of Greece, not any scary bits.
They have no food, nothing left to drink, her phone isn’t working.
India starts to scream.
‘Help! Help!’ she yells into the still air, doing nothing but stopping the insect life from making noise for a brief, startled moment.
Dan stares at her in alarm.
‘Shout too!’ she says. ‘They could be looking for us!’
Privately, Dan doesn’t think anyone is looking for two youngish fit people who went off for a hike.
No point saying that.
‘Let’s head downhill,’ he says. ‘We’ve come too far up and that’s a mistake. We might be going around in circles. Let’s go down, straight down, OK?’
He holds out a hand to India who stares at it for a moment, before taking it.
Fifteen minutes later, they come to a gap in the forest and spy a glitter of sea.
‘The sea!!! There must be a road nearby,’ says India.
She starts to run and Dan keeps up with her.
‘Be careful,’ he says. ‘Don’t fall.’
But India’s too hyped up at the thought of safety now. She skips lightly over rocks and pebbles, dances over small plants.
And then Dan sees it, just as India shrieks, ‘Omigod, it’s a road!’ She stops running, backing into Dan in relief.
He catches her, supports her, both of them laughing manically with relief.
‘It’s a road,’ he agrees delightedly.