Chapter 7

Adam didn’t have a restful night of sleep. If it wasn’t enough that Emily’s presence had made falling asleep incredibly difficult, his dreams had been strange and twisted - nebulous shapes and figures dancing just beyond his perception. He sighed, rubbing at his eyes. They felt full of grit and heavy.

Adam glanced over to his left. Emily lay sprawled on the bed next to him, taking up far more of the bed than her frame would suggest possible. His sister was on her back, one arm behind her head, the other stretched out towards Adam. One of her legs was drawn up, the foot resting against the thigh of her other leg. It didn’t look comfortable at all to Adam, but he supposed that his older sister was flexible enough that it didn’t matter to her.

Emily had kicked off the sheet sometime during the night and her entire body was visible to Adam in the dim pre-dawn light. Her top, more akin to a loose-fitting crop top, had rucked up due to Emily’s movements, exposing the smooth and tanned skin of her belly. The fabric draped over his sister’s large breasts in such a way that Adam could make out every curve of them. He could even see the slightly raised spots where her nipples lay. Adam swallowed hard. It was somehow even hotter than if she had been laying there topless.

Adam licked his lips as he studied his sister’s sleeping form. It worried him that even after everything that had happened last night, after everything that he had finally remembered ... he still felt a surge of desire when he looked at Emily. He wanted to reach over and pull her to him. To fit her perfect body against his. Adam knew he could do that. It could still happen if he wanted it to. He only managed to suppress those thoughts through effort.

A worrying amount of effort.

Instead, Adam focused on his sister’s face. He could see her in profile as she slowly breathed in and out, unaware that he had awoken. In sleep, Emily’s face was soft - lacking the usual frown or pinched expression she wore when she looked at him. She looked younger. Like someone he didn’t know.

Adam took a deep breath. Carefully, as slow as he could, Adam slid out of the bed. Luckily the mattress was firm enough that Emily barely moved as his weight left the bed. He didn’t want to wake her. He didn’t want to see anyone until he had a better handle on what was going on. Adam muttered quietly to himself as he swiftly got changed.

“I’m doing something to them. That’s obvious. But what exactly? Something about sex, that’s a given. Does it last? Fuck, it’s like everyone around here is being roofied.”

Adam paused as he was pulling on shorts. His eyes wide.

“Shit, is that it? Is everyone being—. No that’s stupid. How would that even work? And that wouldn’t explain why I was able to—”

Emily murmured in her sleep and rolled over. Adam saw that even asleep she was reaching towards where he had been laying. He got up quickly, not bothering to put on shoes, and slipped out of the bungalow as quietly as he could.

The grounds of Serenity Falls was eerily silent. Not even a bird call broke the quiet. All the bungalows were dark, no lights were on anywhere that Adam could see. Everything was cast in shades of grey, the only exception being a faint glow from the direction of the ocean. The sun, minutes away from breaking the horizon.

Adam walked down towards the beach access track. He saw what he thought was fog as he approached, but then he realised it was mist and sea-spray from the ocean — visible before the heat from the sun burnt it off. Adam flinched when he arrived on the beach. The sand was cold under his bare feet. He hesitated, almost going back for his shoes, but decided not to risk it. The orange glow out to sea was growing. He didn’t need shoes, things would warm up soon enough.

Adam began to walk briskly towards the first headland. He was brimming with energy. Adam wasn’t entirely certain what he was going to do when he arrived at his destination. He just knew that he had to see it all again. To prove to himself that it wasn’t some kind of fever dream.

He sped up, breaking into a light jog. It wasn’t just that he was filled with energy. It was more than that. Adam increased his pace further until he was running along the beach, his heels kicking up clumps of wet sand as he veered closer to the lapping waves. It was easier to run there as the sand was more compact. The cool morning air was invigorating as it blew into his face.

“Damn. Okay, this is pretty cool.”

Adam wasn’t running at some superhuman speed or anything like that. That would have been too much, would have freaked him out. But he was definitely moving at a pace that he wouldn’t have been able to sustain a few days ago. It wasn’t immediately noticeable, but there were definitely some physical changes going on along with everything else. Adam felt like he could run forever.

When Adam reached the first headland he wasn’t even breathing hard. The young man took a few moments before he made his way over to the first cove. This was definitely another change he had no explanation for, even if he wasn’t entirely unhappy with it.

Adam took a deep breath and then followed the relatively easy path over to the first hidden beach. His nerves were jangling all over the place and he could feel his adrenaline beginning to rise. After the last few days where his emotions had been artificially suppressed, he was finally starting to react normally. Every step he took increased his awareness of just how much he had been ignoring.

Adam’s bare feet touched the sand of the first hidden cove. He looked around and sighed. It really was beautiful here. A place he’d have loved to invite Holly and Kendra to. Adam could almost picture both of the lovely young women exploring, appreciating the natural beauty here. Kendra would be cracking jokes, Holly would have a quiet smile of appreciation...

“Dammit.”

Adam kicked at the sand in frustration. He wanted that to happen. A lot. If only he could trust that their affection for him had been genuine. How much of what had happened between them all had been because of whatever freaky shit was going on in this resort? More than Adam would like, he was sure of that much. He had to admit that most of what had happened between them had to be because of what had happened to him in the cave. Adam just hoped that part of them actually did like him. That the time they had spent together still meant something. Anything.

Until he got some answers Adam wasn’t going to risk anything happening to someone he cared about. Or, he supposed, Emily.

Adam made his way towards the second headland at a more sedate walk. Part of him was dreading what he would find. It ... frightened him. Adam had never even remotely believed in the supernatural. He had been raised semi-religious, but that had faded as he got older. Now he wouldn’t call himself a believer in anything. This though ... this was hard to dismiss.

The cave, and everything that had happened since, was still something that part of Adam wanted to be able to explain away. A hallucination? Had the air been bad down there? Maybe he had just started tripping and only come back to his senses when he had stumbled out into the fresh air. But those dancing lights ... those cavorting figures ... it had all seemed far, far too real.

Even if Adam wanted to delude himself into a rational explanation, it didn’t explain anything else that had happened to him. He had hurt himself in the cave. He distinctly remembered scraping his shoulders as he squeezed through the narrow entrance. Holly and Kendra had both remarked on his injuries when they had first met. But then every single cut and scrape had faded, almost vanishing by the time they had reached the front office of the retreat.

“This sounds so dumb, even in my own head. What is this, some kind of healing factor? This just doesn’t happen. Otherwise everyone would know about it.”

More eerily still, the thought of his healing cuts had barely even entered into his head. Adam was positive he would never normally overlook something like that. He would have tested it somehow, and resolved to look into it when he got back to the Retreat. A small cut with a knife or something should do it.

This was the kind of thing that Adam found the hardest to explain away. Every step of the way, until last night at any rate, Adam had been unable to critically think about what had been happening to him. It had all been so hazy, so unimportant. It had only come into focus when he had rejected whatever it was that had been suppressing his normal thoughts.

Adam decided his sister deserved some gratitude for once. Looking back on last night, it was as though there had been someone else in his head. Influencing and guiding his actions. The scary part of it though was that Adam could still remember every decision and justification he had made last night as though it was his own. If Emily hadn’t been so confrontational last night, so intent of dropping painful truth bombs about their family ... Well, Adam didn’t want to think too much about what would have happened. Especially since part of him, that part that had been in control and was still within him, still craved it all.

“Why didn’t I just sleep in the other bed last night? Or even just told Emily to sleep there? Anything other than sleep next to her all night! I guess I was pretending to be asleep, but still ... It’s not like I wanted something to happen...”

Adam shivered. He’d never once in his life wanted something to happen between him and Emily. She was far too abrasive for him to ever entertain that thought. There was something seriously wrong.

Even with that though, Adam still counted himself lucky. If Emily hadn’t chased after him, hadn’t caught up and continued their fight, he would have gone straight to Holly and Kendra’s bungalow. With the mindset he had been in, Adam had no doubt he wouldn’t have hesitated for one second when confronted with the lovely couple. This morning, instead of waking up to Emily, Adam would have been in their bed. Sandwiched between the blonde and brunette, their bare skin touching his...

Adam kicked at the sand again.

“Fucking conscience.”

He was glad he had snapped out of whatever it was that had a hold on him. He really was. But still.

It kind of sucked.

Adam walked to the second headland that led to the small, rocky beach that held the cave. He took a moment and glanced around idly. This was where he had first seen Emily and Todd together. That was another thing. Adam hadn’t really cared at all that Todd had been cheating on Fiona with Emily. He had when he first saw them, but afterwards it hadn’t concerned him at all. Apart from appreciating the memory of his sister, naked on her hands and knees while she got fucked from behind...

Adam shook his head from side to side. He didn’t need another reminder or temptation. Not until he got some answers.

Trying to keep his mind off his sexy older sister, Adam rapidly scaled the second headland. It wasn’t all that high, but Adam was distantly impressed at just how quickly he climbed it, almost throwing himself up the rocky outcrop. Adam barely paused, swinging his legs over the top as he jumped down to the pebbled beach.

“Shit!”

Adam fell back onto his behind, holding his foot as his face screwed up in pain. He had landed right on a sharp outcropping of stone, mostly buried amongst the smaller smooth pebbles that had made up the beach. Adam lifted his foot to inspect the damage. He swore under his breath as he saw there was a sizeable gash on his heel. It didn’t look worryingly deep, but it was still bleeding enough that Adam gingerly hopped down to the water’s edge to wash it out.

“Well, that was a fucking stupid thing to do.”

The salty water stung his wound, but the sea was cold enough that it soon went numb. He lifted his foot again, looking at it ruefully. Adam inspected it closely, trying to see if he could notice anything change in the gash. Nothing appeared to change, although the cold water seemed to have slowed the bleeding some. Adam looked around. He had nothing to bind it with. It was going to be a long walk back to the retreat.

“And it’s going to be full of sand by the time I get back. Cleaning that out is going to be a lot of fun. I guess that answers the question about being able to heal though.”

Adam sighed, setting his shoulders. He needed to do what he had come out here for. The sun had mostly escaped the horizon at this point and everything was bathed in the orange glow of morning light. Adam got to his feet and started to hobble towards the cliff face, trying to not let his heel touch the ground too much. He had only gone a few feet when he paused, frowning.

There was nothing there.

Adam looked along the cliff face. It was almost sheer, completely cutting the small rocky cove off from the forested hills behind it. It wasn’t a big area, Adam could easily see the end of the second cove from where he stood. There was no way to miss the cave, even if the opening had been a narrow crack in the rock. He tried to be logical and work out if he was turned around somehow. Adam looked up. The day he’d found it, he had been clinging to the rocky headland, looking back over into the first beach as he watched Emily and Todd. He’d then jumped down and ... the cave should have been there.

It wasn’t.

There wasn’t even anything that could be mistaken for a crack in the rocky cliff. Not a thing.

Adam stared. He licked his lips, suddenly nervous. He hadn’t even been sure if he would have gone in again, not with all the weird shit he now remembered, but he hadn’t ever considered it wouldn’t be there at all. Adam started to doubt everything all over again. There was no way he could have imagined it. He had squeezed through the narrow opening, hiding there as he watched Todd and Emily look around the beach for any trace of him. It had happened right here.

Adam walked up and ran his hand over the rocks in the place he thought the narrow crack in the cliff had been. There wasn’t a sign of anything other than smooth stone. He sunk down to his haunches, mind whirling. What was he going to do now?

Adam climbed back over the rocks to the first hidden beach, moving a lot slower this time around with his injured foot. His mind was wandering, lost in thought, so that he didn’t see the figure watching him until he was fully on the sand. When he did, Adam jumped back in surprise, narrowing his eyes at the patiently waiting figure.

Delilah stood on the sand looking at him with a serenely calm expression. She was wearing a long flowing dress, slit on one side half way up her thigh. It was cut low around her chest, showing off her impressive cleavage. A woollen shawl was wrapped around her shoulders, her only concession to the chill morning air. Delilah glanced down at Adam favouring one leg and tutted, holding a finger up to her lips.

“Adam we spoke about this only the other day when you got hurt exploring the first time. And yet, here you are again at the break of dawn. Alone and injured.”

Adam stared at the woman. For once he wasn’t taken in by her looks, lovely as she looked in the early morning light, the light breeze playing with the bottom of her dress. He had other things on his mind. His voice sounded flat, even to him. Angry.

“What are you doing here?”

“Is that really the issue at hand? Serenity Falls is mine. I have a duty of care for my guests. Now, how badly are you hurt?”

Adam took a step towards the older woman, purposefully putting weight on his injured foot. His heart was hammering loudly in his chest and his mouth felt dry.

“I didn’t see you on my way here. The beach was empty. How did you know I was here? How did you even get here so quickly? I ran — you don’t exactly look puffed.”

Delilah’s head rocked back at Adam’s barrage of questions. For a moment she looked unsure, concerned. Worried. Then she shook her head, her dark midnight hair rippling in the wind. She forced a smile onto her face.

“I saw you leave, Adam. My private residence is in the hills above the Retreat. It offers quite the view of the grounds and beach. I saw you headed this way and grew concerned about your safety.”

Adam scoffed inwardly, skeptical of her claims. Even if that were true, how would Delilah have known exactly where he was headed? She couldn’t have been watching him the entire time, or gotten her so quickly. Adam hadn’t been sprinting on his way here, but his pace had eaten up the distance fast.

“That’s not true and we both know it. I’m sick of secrets and weird shit happening. You know something and I want to know what it is!”

Delilah took a half step backwards, looking worried once more. Then her expression firmed.

“What weird things do you mean, Adam? If something is going on I need to know. Are you alright? Should I be concerned about ... anyone else?”

“Stop it, stop it! Stop ... deflecting. I know you’re doing it. There’s something about this place. I can’t explain any of it. But you know, and you’re going to tell me!”

Adam was shouting at the end. His heart rate had sped up, pounding like drums. Thumping in his chest like the sound he had heard when he had first discovered the cave. He recognised it now, knew what it signified. He was too angry to care.

Delilah paled. She nodded her head obediently, opening her mouth to speak. Then she paused, a faint frown appearing on her brow. She shivered and shut her mouth so fast that Adam heard her teeth click together. She bit at her lip, hard enough that a drop of blood appeared. Delilah squared her shoulders and took a deep breath. When she looked at Adam, her eyes were steady. Filled with a steely resolve.