She swallowed down another rush of nausea, and turned to look at Scott then, really look at him. His eyes were a pale green with flecks of hazel and his face was tanned, weathered, as though he spent much of his time outdoors. The gentle creases around the sides of his eyes and his cheeks made his kind face look even kinder; it was the sort of face that belonged to someone who felt things deeply and kept smiling anyway. She liked it – him, perhaps – in a way that felt warm and good and unsettling all at once.
‘What – is there something in my beard?’ said Scott, moving a hand to his face.
Naya laughed. ‘Oh no – I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to stare at you like that. I was just...’ She tailed off, feeling awkward suddenly, vulnerable. Her expression always seemed to give her thoughts away – perhaps he could sense that she was enjoying looking at him; that she felt the first stirrings of attraction towards him.
He smiled. ‘It’s OK,’ he said, his gaze fixed on hers now, then quietly: ‘I actually liked it.’
Naya sensed the heat rushing to her cheeks, and felt a sudden urge to move away from this unexpected intimacy.
‘We should really go and...’ She pointed to Thiago and the others outside. Scott nodded.
‘Yeah,’ he said. ‘We probably should.’
They stood up and went to join Thiago outside.
‘Welcome, everyone, to the deeply restorative experience of the sound bath,’ Thiago was saying. ‘For the next hour, I am going to make a variety of sounds that will create healing vibrations, while you lie down, relax and listen. Try to still your minds and focus only on the sounds. You will finish this session feeling relaxed, refreshed and calm. Now, please take a yoga mat, blanket and pillow, and get yourselves comfortable. When you are ready, I invite you to close your eyes and breathe deeply as the vibrations wash over you.’
The group did as he asked, and Thiago began making a soft, pulsating sound with a singing bowl, its pitch and volume rising and falling hypnotically. Listening to it, Naya felt herself drifting away. She was exhausted, drained – and she knew it wasn’t just jet lag. An hour later, blissed out to the point of stupor, the sound bath was over; Thiago was asking them to come back to their bodies, open their eyes.
Paola was waiting for them by the French windows. ‘OK, everyone? I hope you are relaxed. Now, take a cold drink, then you will go for a beautiful walk to the waterfall and bathe in the water,’ she said. ‘I have prepared some snacks for you to enjoy while you are there. You will have a wonderful time.’
‘Oh,sí,’ said Luisa, appearing behind Paola and beaming at them. ‘It is one of the most stunning waterfalls I have seen in Costa Rica, and you can only get to it from Hannah’s land – the pool at the bottom is so clear, you can see all the fish! When you come back, Isabel will come to give you a hot stone massage, then Hannah will be here for evening meditation, and we’ll serve you another delicious meal.’
‘I don’t know,’ Mira said, yawning. ‘Shouldn’t we have a guide, if we’re going into the rainforest? Do any of us have experience trekking somewhere like this?’
‘I do, actually,’ Carly said, smiling. ‘I spent a month in the Amazon, a few years back – plenty of walking in the wilderness. I’m happy to guide us.’
‘Anyway, there is no need for a guide,’ said Paola. ‘The walk is not too far – like Hannah said, only a little over an hour to get there. The path is not very difficult. Everybody is fit and healthy, yes? This will be no problem for you all.’
Naya caught Mira’s eye, gave her what she hoped was a reassuring smile. She felt drawn towards this small, gentle woman. There was a vulnerability to her, underlined with a quiet resolve. Naya needed more of her composure: Mira looked as if she knew how to hold herself together; she didn’t look like the sort of person who was always running late, or who’d speak out of turn at work. She didn’t look like the kind of woman who’d have a complaint filed against her for saying far too much, on impulse.
Unlike me.
Naya couldn’t let herself think about that now. Mira still looked unconvinced about the idea of the hike, but soon seemed buoyed up by the others’ excitement as they chattered about the delicious selection of treats Paola had arranged for them and whether or not to wear their swimsuits now or change at the waterfall.
Fifteen minutes later, her bag packed with water, the food Paola had prepared for her, plus a towel, her first aid kid, some insect repellent – and with her phone stowed in the hallway cabinet as instructed – Naya waited for the others at the front door. Carly and Scott came down next, then Mira.
For several minutes, there was no sign of their fifth companion.
‘Ben? Are you nearly ready?’ Naya called up the stairs. A moment later, they heard his footsteps on the stairs, and he emerged, a little red in the face.
‘All OK?’ Carly said. Then, without waiting for an answer, ‘Everyone packed? I’ve got the map and the satellite phone.’ She showed them the folded square of paper and a bulky black phone that looked like a cross between an ancient Nokia and a walkie-talkie.Let’s hope there are no emergencies, then.
‘I found some torches in the cabinet too,’ said Scott. ‘Shall we take them in case there’s any plants or insects we want to get a closer look at?’
Naya smiled. ‘Great idea,’ she said.
‘And shall we have a look at the route before we go?’ said Scott.
‘Yep, here we are.’ Carly unfolded the simple black-and-white printed map, stamped with Hannah’s branded logo inthe bottom right-hand corner, and traced a line with her finger from the house to an image of a waterfall with a circle drawn around it in red. ‘Just looks like one path the whole way. It should be straightforward.’
Naya swallowed back another wave of nausea. ‘Great,’ she said. ‘Let’s do this, shall we?’
BEN
As he stepped into the open, the humidity hit Ben like he’d opened the door to a steam bath, the air so thick you could cut it with a knife. With the damp heat came an explosion of sounds, kept at bay to an impressive extent by the house’s thick glass. When ensconced inside The Hideaway, he’d almost forgotten they were in the middle of a jungle, but there was no escaping it now, as the trills and cries of a thousand birds and insects roared around him. The ground beneath his feet slipped and slid as he walked, last night’s rain turning everything to mush.
He was a little out of sorts this morning, even after the highs of last night and the sound bath earlier: the beginnings of the itch he always needed to scratch, plus the memory of saying goodbye to Blondie yesterday – leaving her at the doggie boarding house, her chocolate eyes so liquid they looked like they were melting – sitting heavy on his chest.
