Laney
I wasn’t exactlysure what I thought I’d see out here, but I did know this wasn’t it.
The circular clearing was surrounded by burning torches. They weren’t just flames on the ends of sticks, like basic tiki torches—they were in golden sconces set on top of tall, stout rods with carved golden serpents entwined around them.
I knew that symbol. The Rod of Asclepius. It was an ancient Greek one, usually associated with medicine and healing rituals. There wasn’t much medicine being practiced in this clearing, though… unless you counted pills and coke as necessary medication. Instead there was a party that screamed ‘hedonism in an enchanted forest’.
In the middle of the clearing stood a towering maypole covered in colorful flowers. Men in gold domino masks and black robes sat on stone seats along the perimeter, drinking, swallowing pills, and snorting white lines off trays, and women in flimsy see-through gowns over gold bras and thongs danced around to rhythmic music. They wore pink and white rose crowns on their heads, and the bare parts of their bodies were painted with silver and gold markings, making them look like woodland sprites.
They giggled and shrieked as they whirled around the clearing, and after a moment it became clear that they were celebrating one person in particular—another young woman in the center.
She was sitting on a huge golden throne in front of a stone altar near the maypole, and she was dressed the same way as the rest, minus the flower crown. She looked nervous, too, unlike the others.
One of the robed men on the edge finally stood, raising his palms upward to demand silence. Someone lowered the volume of the music, and the girls calmed down.
The man stepped forward and made his way to the center. He stopped by the maypole, pulled out an ancient-looking scroll and started reciting words from it. I couldn’t understand any of them. They were either too faint and distorted by the breeze for me to make out from my vantage point behind the trees, or he was speaking a different language.
A cheer suddenly went up from the main group, and the man raised a flower crown over the nervous girl and set it atop her head. Four of the other girls surged forward and playfully dragged her to her feet, cheering and laughing. At the same time, the music turned loud again, and all of the men stood up.
“It’s time to take what you deserve!” I distinctly heard one of the girls shout to the newly-crowned one. She offered her a drink from a golden chalice sitting on the altar, and the new girl gulped it down in one mouthful.
“Pick! Pick! Pick!” the other girls screeched at her.
They danced around her, spinning and flailing as the delicate fabric of their dresses billowed out around them. Despite the frigid night air, they all looked hot and sweaty, faces glowing with excitement under the orange torchlight.
Two of the young women spun closer to my hiding spot, and I stifled a gasp as I realized I knew them. They were part of the group at RFA that Trina referred to as the Supermodel Club—the beautiful, popular girls who considered themselves too good for any of the guys at school.
I’d actually noticed earlier that none of them were at the Friday the 13th party back on the RFA lakeshore. Now I knew why. They were all here instead, throwing their own weirdly-themed rager with these strange men.
I stood frozen in a mix of fascination and fear, wondering if they’d spotted me and recognized me the same way I recognized them. I hoped not. It seemed clear that I wasn’t supposed to be witnessing any of this, because the group had obviously come all the way out to the island for one main reason. Privacy. Like Trina said earlier, no one really came here anymore, so it was the perfect spot to throw a secret event.
The girls whirled onward without a glance in my direction, and I shrank back with a tiny sigh of relief. Then I got low to the ground, lying flat on my belly so there was no way anyone could see me unless they were actively searching for me.
I couldn’t see the activity in the clearing very well from this position, so I pulled my phone out and opened the camera app. When I activated the zoom option to its full extent, I could see exactly what was happening via my phone screen.
“Pick! Pick! Pick!” the girls kept shouting in the clearing.
The newly-crowned girl tentatively stepped over to one of the men and jabbed a finger in his direction. “Him,” I heard her call out.
I drew in a sharp breath, wondering what they were going to do to him. After all the horror movies I’d seen in my life, I half-expected this to turn out to be some sort of witch coven engaging in a ritualistic sacrifice of the chosen man.
Instead, they pulled the man over to the huge throne near the maypole and made him sit down. Two of the girls tied his wrists to the arms with crimson and gold ropes, and then they moved their hands to his clothes, frantically pulling his robe aside before unbuttoning his shirt and unbuckling his belt and pants.
“Do it, do it, do it!” they shouted at the new girl, laughing uproariously. “Take whatever you want!”
I trained my camera on her as she stepped over to the man. She slipped her gold thong off and tossed it back into the crowd. Then she smiled and took another step toward him.
He smiled back at her as she drew closer, and then he bit his lip and let out a groan as she lifted her gown and lowered herself onto his lap, straddling him. She started moving up and down, swiveling her hips at the same time.
A memory suddenly flashed in my mind—the party I worked at a few months ago in the Connery mansion, where I found a secret room upstairs. When I crept in there, I came across a wild affair just like this one, with all the debauchery, flower crowns, and golden serpent symbols. There was no way that could be a coincidence. They had to be part of the same group.
I put my phone away, pulse pounding in my veins.
I needed to get out of here. This party wasn’t mine to see, and if I ended up getting caught, there was no telling what they might do to me. Probably nothing—it was just an event where everyone seemed to be over the age of eighteen, consenting, and having fun, after all—but I couldn’t risk it. Not when I didn’t know for sure.
The erotic sounds of the couple on the throne faded away along with the music and raucous cheering as I slipped away and stumbled back down the path.
I headed to the shore as fast as I could, using only the moonlight to guide me. Then I grabbed my boat and oars from their spot, dragged them down to the gently-lapping water, and pushed myself out onto the lake.