Page 17 of Chasing Paradise

And the Galápagos Islands were home to many a strange lizard species.

I mean, I very vividly remembered a subspecies called Christmas Iguanas that were native to one of the islands and had bright red and green coloring.

I’d pretty much grown out of my love of reptiles by the time I was ten. And had never actually even touched one, to be perfectly honest. But that little girl in me was still excited to maybe get to see a couple lizards in their natural habitat.

So, imagine my disappointment when we exited the little island airport to a view of, well, a whole lot of nothing.

Just a little bit of green grass and cactus mixed in with lots of dead brown. A few white wind turbines. And, way off in the distance, the blue of the ocean.

“Not up to snuff, duchess?” Wick asked, stopping next to me on one of the many sidewalks crisscrossing the area right outside of the airport.

“There’s nothing here. Not really anything even to see.”

“Because this is just step one.”

“Step one?” I asked, unable to keep the whine out of my voice. I was at that stage of tired where my limbs all felt heavy. And my hair hurt. Yeah, I knew that wasn’t possible, technically. But it did, dammit.

“Yep,” Wick said, annoyingly at ease and rested.

“What’s the next step then?”

“Oh, now why would I spoil the fun of you finding out for yourself?”

With that, he walked off, following one of the crowds of people.

I eyed the groups.

Some wore the kind of backpacking supplies that made me think they were hoofing it. The others had the tucked-in shirt, wide-eyed looks of tourists looking to be shown around.

I followed them but kept an eye on the other group for Wick.

I mean, it wasn’t like he could disappear on me. We were stranded on an island.

As it turned out, this island wasn’t where anyone intended to actually visit. We all had to take a bus toward the Itabaca Channel. From there, we would each buy a ticket on a barge that would take us across to one of the other islands.

I had to admit, even out of the streaky window of the bus, I could tell that the other islands were everything the guidebooks promised.

The water shifted from a deep sapphire to a vibrant turquoise around the islands that rose out of the Pacific like scattered emeralds. Their volcanic peaks cut through the horizon, with their black lava cliffs and untouched vegetation butting up to golden sand beaches.

If I had enough charge left on my phone, I would have been taking dozens of pictures to show off when I went back home.

Most of my jobs didn’t take me anywhere all that interesting. Unless seedy bars and strip clubs counted.

They didn’t.

As it was, all I could do was commit it all to memory and hope maybe someone would let me use their power bank so I could charge up and at least get one or two pictures.

When the bus stopped, I realized the “barge” wasn’t exactly a barge. Hell, it wasn’t even a ferry.

Our transport to any of the other islands was… speedboats. Large ones, but still.

I waited in line, gaze scanning the horizon, keeping an eye out for Wick.

Had he beaten me?

No.

There was no way.

---