Chapter Four
A six p.m. departure left me plenty of time to return to the hotel, pay for my stay, and pack my stuff.
I was back in front of the cafe by five, the waitress offering me a nod as she packed away all the tables I’d watched her get out this morning.
“Still not here to inspect,” I shouted across to her. She smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
I’d half expected to see Nico again, but there was no sign of the mysterious man who’d insisted on buying me breakfast before disappearing.
There were, however, much to my relief, three other men and one woman waiting around, dressed as if they were going clubbing, with gelled hair and copious amounts of skin on display despite the cold.
“Are you waiting for the boat?” I asked.
“Yeah, dude,” the tallest guy said. His gaze trailed over me, the look in his eyes saying he thought little of my attire.
Which wasn’t surprising when, compared to them, I hadn’t dressed up and only wore jeans and a jacket.
They introduced themselves as Jacob, Christopher, David, and Bluebell.
The glint in Bluebell’s eye suggested it wasn’t her real name, but I wasn’t about to call her on it.
If she wanted to be someone else, then who was I to judge?
We exchanged pleasantries until we ran out of things to say, and they went back to talking among themselves, their excitement palpable. Apparently, they were doing “everything” in Wonderland. Whatever that meant.
Half an hour passed before David let out a whoop.
I followed his gaze to the ferry in the distance.
Quarter to six. It stopped short of the shore, just as Nico had said it would.
A small motorized dinghy launched a couple of minutes later.
Once it got closer, I could see three men: one operating it and the other two sitting.
It took the dinghy another fifteen minutes to reach us, meaning it arrived bang on time.
The small group flashed their tickets at the two men before piling on, chattering non-stop.
Which left me. Without a ticket, and still no wiser about what Nico’s parting words had meant.
I could hardly tell the men that I didn’t have a ticket, but I had my face without sounding like a complete tosser.
Neither could I give away my real reason for wanting to visit Wonderland.
For all I knew, these men were involved.
I didn’t recognize any of them, but I hadn’t gotten that good a look at the men who’d abducted Warren, so I couldn’t say for sure.
“Ticket,” one of them demanded, holding out his hand. He had colored beads in his hair, and they rattled slightly with the movement of his head.
I cleared my throat. “I… uh… don’t have one.”
His eyes raked over me, slow enough to leave a feeling of being violated. I crossed my arms, his gaze lingering for a moment on them before he nodded. “You’re good.”
“I am? I mean… great.”
Picking up my suitcase, I went to step into the boat.
“No suitcases,” Beads said.
“I can’t just leave it.”
He shrugged. “Your choice. You either get in the boat without it, or you stay here.”
There would be another boat at the same time tomorrow.
Long enough for me to either ask the hotel to store it or leave it in my car.
But how much colder would Warren’s trail get after an additional twenty-four hours?
And who was to say that the exception they’d made of allowing me to board without a ticket would still be valid the next day?
I left it, watching the abandoned suitcase get smaller and smaller as we motored away from shore toward the ferry.
Other people were already there when we boarded, which meant other pickup points.
Most were small groups like the ones I’d waited with.
All were wearing club clothes and were just as excited.
There were no lone women, but there were three lone men.
After observing them for a while, I made my way over to the one who looked most approachable.
“Lysander,” I said, holding out my hand for him to shake.
“Will.”
“Have you been to Wonderland before, Will? I was just wondering if there’s anything you can tell me about it.” Something about the question seemed to amuse him. “Like, what will I find there?”
“You don’t know.” Amusement transformed into a grin. “You’re going there and you don’t know what you’ll find?”
“Obviously not,” I snapped. “Or I wouldn’t be asking, would I?”
“Hey everyone!” Will shouted. “We’ve got ourselves a Wonderland virgin here. He wants to know what it’s like.”
Everyone turned and stared. Then they laughed. It started off quietly and then gained momentum, like an infection running riot. Cheeks burning, I shoved my way past Will and headed for the stairs that took me out on deck. Apparently, people who went to Wonderland were dicks.
Up here there was no one except employees. Despite Beads not being one of my favorite people either, I joined him at the railing, the two of us staring at the approaching island.
I frowned as I noticed a faint curve cutting through the sky, barely visible like a breath on glass. As the angle shifted, it resolved into a vast dome, arching over the island.
From the shore, glare and distance had hidden it from sight. Out here, it was unmistakable. Waves broke softly against one edge of the barrier, and the skyline bent where it met the glass. Almost the entire fucking island was encased.
Beneath the dome was the city I already knew to be there, composed of tall buildings with neon lights crawling up their sides.
A party town, already lit up for the night’s festivities to come.
Something icy crawled up my spine, and I wondered for the first time what I was doing and whether Warren was really worth it.
“Beautiful, isn’t it?” Beads said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, because it seemed like the polite thing to do. But beautiful wasn’t the word I’d have chosen. “Why is it in a dome?”
Beads’ frown gave away that no one had asked him that question before. “Weather?”
The question mark at the end wasn’t reassuring.
“Yeah,” Beads said, warming to the idea. “No one enjoys getting drenched on a night out, do they?”
“I suppose not.”
We fell silent after that, the island approaching with an inevitability that made my palms itch.
The excitement reached fever pitch when the boat docked.
I hung back, letting the crowd of chattering people lead the way.
Besides, Will was at the front, and one conversation with him had been enough to last me a lifetime.
He’d already had one dig at my expense. I refused to be the butt of any more of his jokes.
A short, winding path led up to the dome.
Once we were at the top, I joined the end of the line queuing for access.
Apparently, they had to carry out security checks before allowing you inside.
A rattle announced Beads’ presence at my side. He bent slightly to whisper in my ear. “Wrong door.”
I swung around to face him. “What do you mean?”
He gestured at the line of people in front of me. “They all have tickets. You don’t.”
I narrowed my eyes at him. “You said it was fine.”
A ghost of a smile graced his lips. “It is fine. But not at this door.”
“Where then?”
The smile grew wider. “Follow me.”