chapter ten

My eyes open and are blinded instantly from the sight of a bright light. I wince, my eyes feel like they have been closed for eternity and its been a while since I've seen such light. 'I must be in heaven,' I think, as I see a pretty girl standing beside me. Her hair is a soft, pastel purple, and her eyes a bright violet. She wears a simple, long white dress, that reaches her ankles. When she sees me watching her, she smiles, to reveal perfect glimmering teeth.

"We were wondering when you'd wake up," the girl says examining me with a curious look, "You've been unconscious for days. We were starting to worry."

"Unconscious? But aren't I in heaven?" I reply, the girl already igniting my own curiosity.

"Heaven?" She laughs. "That's a very cheesy pick up line."

"Oh no, I didn't mean-"

"Its okay, I'm only teasing. You're not the first one. Although, you are the first one to have been thought dead before you even reached the island."

"The island? So we did make it?"

"Yes." Once again, she laughs. "Where else could you be but the island? If you were at Pangaea, you'd be dead by now, hearing from the crimes you've committed. Your friend tells some pretty interesting stories."

"Mheia! Is she okay?!"

"Relax, she's fine. She's been awake for ages. She told us your name. Kai, is it? I'm Lavender."

"Lavender? What an unusual name."

"Yes, it is. You're very rude." For the first time, her voice moves from light and bubbly to a serious, grumpy tone.

"Oh, I'm sorry. It's just, I've never heard of it before." I feel embarrassed, hoping she'll forgive my apology. She does.

"That's okay. My mother was a florist."

"What on earth is a florist?"

"A florist is a person who styles flower arrangements."

"You have flowers here?"

"Yes, and my mother was a florist, so she arranged them. She was very talented too. She loved flowers, and her favourites were lavender, daisy and rose. Hence, my sisters and myself's names. She gave birth to us triplets, naming us Daisy, Rosy and Lavender, just like the flowers."

"Really? What are the flowers like?"

"They're beautiful. Daisies are many colours, but my mothers favorite was white and gold. Roses are many colours too, and my sister, Rosy, is named after a red rose. Lavender is a light purple, the exact tone of my bob." As she explains, she reaches into a vase on the bedside table and pulls out one of the three flowers.

"Can I go and meet your sisters now?"

"Of course! Here you quickly get changed into these clothes right here, and then I can be your tour guide!" Lavender's voice has hit a higher pitch, and I try not to flinch in order to not hurt her feelings.

Once I'm changed, I open the door and find Lavender waiting outside. Spinning, and slightly skipping, she takes me through to a little boat. When I look around, I'm amazed. Instead of streets, there is water, and people are riding boats through it. All the buildings look old, but beautiful. Some women are wearing old dresses from the history books, whereas other are wearing more modern clothing. Seeing my amazement, Lavender starts to tell me about the place as we float through the buildings.

"This place right here used to be a city called Venice, which was in a country called Italy. This isn't the only place on the island, and the buildings never used to be this clean, but I've always loved this place. There are other settlements here on Red Bay too, which are all land and grass and trees."

"So the island is called Red Bay?"

"Yes, and this particular place is called the Rainlin Settlement. The other settlements are called the Flora, Battini, and Farmlands Settlements. I live in the Flora Settlement, which was named after my mother because she planted just about every plant and tree there. Soon, you'll get to choose which settlement you'd prefer to live on."

As we went through the Flora Settlement, my mouth gaped open at the beauty of the place. There were flowers and big trees everywhere you looked, and there was one path where all you could see was cherry blossom forming an entire forest. As I saw lots of blossoms under our feet, I gasped, but Lavender just laughed, and explained that it was the normal way of nature for the flowers to fall off the trees. Next, she took me to the Battini Settlement. I didn't like it much there, all the people were grim faced, which made me shocked at what Lavender told me next.

"The Battini Settlements are practice for battle ground. I know its not very appealing, but most of our warriors prefer the environment for their practice. In fact, this is where I would be settled if I didn't like flowers so much and the Flora wasn't named after my mother."

I gape. "You're a warrior! But I thought you were a nurse!"

"Ha ha, no, Daisy is a nurse, I was just filling in for her. I don't have that kind of patience, and I like to kick ass when I get the chance." She grins and then keeps on walking.

Eventually, we make it to the Farmlands. I like the peace of the place, and of how everyone has their own little space. There are brilliant trees of gold and orange with leaves in the shape of stars, which Lavender says is called maple trees. All around is green grass, and animals that I've never seen before called horses and cows and chickens. I couldn't believe that you could ride horses, and that chickens were the real genius behind eggs.

"This place is so much better than Pangaea."

"I've never been to Pangaea," Lavender states simply, "I was born here."

"Good. They would turn you into a monster. They'd make you have normal hair like blonde or brunette." I wink, and she plays on the act.

"My goodness!" She says dramatically, "What torture!"

We're both laughing when we make it to a big building in the Flora that has rose vines all up walls of snow white brick.

"We're here."