We approached the light stone pier, the sun beating down on us and the gentle breeze blowing the hair back from my face. The island looked stunning up close.

The pier was little more than a flat outcrop of rocks with a short metal pillar sticking up with just one other boat moored there. It was a small thing, about the same size as ours, clearly owned by the woman who stood on the pier and waved as we approached.

She called out a greeting in Greek to the sailor before switching to a barely accented English.

“Hello!”

“Hi there!” Mitch called back over the noise of the engine.

I looked at her and smiled flatly before staring at the building that rose up from the island behind her.

It surprised me just how big everything looked. The space just beyond the pier looked almost too spacious and was dotted with short but dense light green trees.

The wall past them looked surprisingly well maintained. The light stone was unblemished even though it was topped with straggly weeds.

“Mitch?” the woman asked, stepping towards us.

I glanced at her as the sailor helped me and then Mitch out of the boat.

She was stunning. Dressed in trainers, light shorts and a t-shirt, she looked completely at home on the semi-abandoned island. Her dark, wavy hair had been pulled back into a ponytail and her smile was wide and welcoming. She almost looked like a treasure hunter from a movie.

“That’s me!” Mitch said, reaching out and shaking her hand. “This is my daughter, Alice.”

“Nice to meet you,” I muttered, looking away again.

“Lovely to meet you both,” the woman beamed. “I’m Vasia and I’ll be leading your tour today.”

“Fantastic! I can’t wait to learn more about this beautiful place. I hear it has a rich history!” Mitch said enthusiastically.

“Well, I look forwards to telling you all about it.”

“I’ll return in an hour and a half,” the sailor called from behind us.

“Wonderful, thank you so much!” Mitch called back, waving as the boat began to pull away. “So, how do we get into this fortress? It is a fortress, right?”

He started marching across the space, further onto the island, but I was torn. I looked back at the boat, watching it retreat and feeling anxiety build within me. It was our only way on and off the island. If something went wrong or if Sterling’s people were here, we’d be trapped.

I mean, we could always swim but that felt like a horrible idea. We’d be sitting ducks in the water.

Or floating ducks.

Reluctantly, I turned and started to follow Mitch and Vasia towards the walls. The ground was less flat the further onto the island we went and it was covered in a smattering of sparse, short weeds.

As we started along the path, something caught my eyes but luckily, Mitch was close enough that I heard him ask, “Is that a shop there?”

He pointed out to the right at the building that sat on the outside of the fortress.

“Ah, yes,” Vasia said. “It’s a self-service coffee shop so if you are thirsty, please, go get a drink.”

Mitch turned back to me, smiling widely.

“Do you want to get a drink, Alice? It looks like it’s a beautiful view!” he asked.

I looked into the coffee shop, pretending to mull it over.

It did seem like it would be lovely to sit under the canopy and look out over the unobstructed view of the water but that wasn’t the reason we were there.

“No, thank you,” I said tightly. “I’d rather just get this over and done with.”

It was a lie but Mitch smiled at me indulgently before looking back at Vasia.

“Sorry. We agreed on no phones for this trip so that it’s purely educational. I’m not sure Alice is too happy about it though,” he said in a loud whisper.

I pursed my lips and looked away as if to hide my irritation.

It was a fight to keep my expression annoyed or even neutral. The island was stunning and I just wanted to stare.

“I think we’ll just move on,” he said, smiling at me.

I returned it reluctantly, trailing after Vasia and Mitch as they started up the stairs towards the entrance to the island. A booth had been placed next to the path, its dark walls covered in posters and caked with sand but today, the shutters were closed.

“Normally, the price would be eight euro per person to enter,” Vasia said with a wave at the booth. “But, you are with me and this is a private tour so it is free.”

“Oh, wonderful!” Mitch cried.

They continued walking, quickly climbing the short ramp which directed them to the sloping path around the side of the fortress.

The wall there was slightly less refined. It looked like it had just been roughly carved from the rock. Scratch marks marred the walls and random shrubs and weeds burst forth from the cracks, some so large that they reached onto the path and we had to edge around them.

I let myself fall behind, taking my time and examining the place. The wall was jagged and uneven but I wasn’t sure if that was a bad thing or not. It meant that, if needed, we’d probably be able to climb it which would probably come in handy.

But, there were lights on the other side of the path, pointing at the wall. Maybe that would be a problem. If they were on and we were climbing down, we’d be too obvious.

We reached the top of the slope where a big but seemingly useless gate waited, the doors tied open. I’d expected the island to have giant wrought iron barriers, used for hundreds of years to stop people from trying to escape, but the gate in front of me was almost a disappointment.

The main frame of it was wooden and the bars were metal but it seemed so out of place. It looked like it had just been dropped onto the middle of the path but didn’t belong there. It seemed to be only connected to one of the walls too. On the right, the wall was fairly flat and seemingly impossible to scale but the other was much rougher and barely connected to the wooden frame.

That wall looked like just a pile of bricks, so easy to climb that the gate was useless. That made me feel better. If we did go to the island after the gate was shut, which felt likely, it wouldn’t be too difficult to get over.

I almost did want to climb that wall. There was a strange circular building much higher on the other side, with some overgrown grass and shrubs blocking what would be my path. I immediately wanted to go that way, to explore the weird building and find out its secrets but I had to follow the others.

Mitch and Vasia had climbed the stairs just to the right of the gate and I clambered up after them, coming to a halt in what looked like the ruins of a church. A small white stone box with a cross on lay amongst the weeds. I stepped towards it but was stopped by a thin rope barrier.

I stared out towards the white box, squinting to read the words that had been etched into the top. I wasn’t sure quite what it was but there was a date on it.

“Is that a grave marker?” Mitch asked, pointing at it.

“Yes,” Vasia said. “It actually denotes—”

“I think we’ll probably going to go straight to bed when we get back. It’s been a long day of travelling, hasn’t it, Grace?” my mom asked.

I blinked, dizziness almost overwhelming me, and let my head fall back against the headrest.

“Yes,” I agreed, only half hearing what she had said.

Lights exploded in my vision, startlingly bright against the dusky world outside the car.

I stared out the window again, watching the rolling green world fly past, before blinking back into Spinalonga.

“That’s so cool!” Mitch was saying. “Man, it must be so fun getting to learn about this place and wandering around it all day.”

Vasia laughed softly.

“It is a pretty fun job. Shall we?” She gestured back towards the stairs we had climbed to the graveyard.

I’d missed what she said and couldn’t even recall it but I assumed the slightly raised rectangular shapes around the place were graves.

I followed them down the stairs, stopping briefly to examine the map that had been attached to the brick wall below. It didn’t have many details on the map, just some buildings of interest and a thin black line which showed our path. We appeared to be walking around the edge of the island, if the red dot showing our location was anything to go by, but there was a lot of space untouched by the path.

I glanced at Mitch who had continued walking, chatting freely with Vasia. I couldn’t stop them to ask if we’d be able to go into the buildings away from the path, it would be wrong to interrupt them. Alice would never.

I looked back at the map before shaking my head slightly. I just needed to trust Mitch. He had been doing this forever, he knew what he was doing.

I longed to at least take a picture of the map though. That way, if we did get lost or if we needed to find out what a specific building was or its history, it would be easier. My hand reached for my pocket before stilling. We’d left our phones at the hotel.

Well… I had, I wasn’t sure about Mitch but I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d brought his. It seemed stupid not to.

I walked away from the map reluctantly, following the cracked path which was starting to be overrun by bushes with small white, yellow and red flowers. They made me smile a little. I knew the island had a dark and horrible history but I still liked to think there was some beauty or happiness there, even back then.

We continued along the path, Mitch and Vasia far in front of me, pausing so that Vasia could point out another grave on the right, out amongst the seemingly wild plants. I wasn’t sure who she said though, the name wasn’t familiar at all but I assumed they must have been important to have a grave far from the others. Either that or the opposite.

“Can we go up there?” I heard Mitch say excitedly from in front of me. “I want to see the fortress. That’s what that is, right?”

I glanced at where he was pointing, a tiny flutter of anxiety and excitement starting in my stomach.

He’d pointed along what I thought originally must have been a long and not particularly steep set of stairs that doubled back along the path we’d taken from the pier but where ours had brought us through the gate, that one took us towards the strange circular building.

I fought the grin that wanted to appear on my face and looked at Vasia, worried that she’d refuse. It looked important, like it could have the treasure. Surely the biggest building on the island would have the most security and therefore, the treasure was most likely to be there… right?

Vasia hesitated for just a moment before saying, “Yes, but there is no barrier on these steps so go carefully.”

Mitch beamed at her and started up the stairs excitedly.

I wasn’t sure if he was just playing his part to perfection or if he were actually really excited to be going towards the building but either way, I clambered up behind Vasia.

The stairs were uneven and covered in dried grass but the view as we climbed was beautiful. Vasia has been right, there was no barrier or anything at the side to stop us from falling if we were to stumble but that also meant that I had an uninterrupted view of the world below.

It was stunning. The remains of what I think was the church were somehow more impressive from above. The graves were less obvious but, when I focused on them, the sheer number was sobering.

But, that couldn’t be it. There were a lot of graves but surely not every single person on the island who died there was buried in the graveyard. Had the church been there from the beginning or did it come later?

With a shudder, I realised there was no way of knowing. I could be walking on countless graves and I would never know.

“Oh, wow! Look at the fortress, Alice. It’s so tall!” Mitch called back at me.

He was almost at the top of the stairs already but had stopped to look back at me and make sure I was okay. Or, maybe he was using that as an excuse to examine the bay and make sure that there was no sign of Sterling’s people coming for us.

I turned away from the graveyard and stared up at the giant round fortress before continuing up the stairs, edging around the weird bushes. They looked almost like cacti, with strangely thick and rounded leaves but there were no spikes. Or maybe there were but they’d been worn away from years of people climbing the steps and brushing past them.

I reached the top, my view of the bay hidden by a crumbed, barely standing wall that was taller than I was but not by much. I was aware that, if I really wanted to see, I could have climbed onto the grassy edge next to the wall and peered over but I didn’t want to risk it.

I knew there was nothing on the other side but a sheer drop and, although I wasn’t scared of heights, it worried me. My stomach felt a little tight as I stared at the wall. It was just a dream, of course, but I was high enough from the ground that if I fell, I’d be badly injured, if not worse. It wouldn’t hurt me in real life, probably, but I couldn’t just continue the dream after that. It would ruin Mitch’s plans.

I wanted to find out the secrets of the island, discover what treasures lay beneath the surface.

“Alice?” Mitch called. “Are you coming?”

I looked away from the wall to where he waited at a fork in the path just ahead of me.

“I guess,” I muttered, hurrying towards him a little too fast.

“This side here is blocked off,” he said, pointing to one of the paths that had a thing rope barrier. “But, apparently we can get in this way! Isn’t this exciting? It feels like I’m back on Spinalonga in its heyday!”

He grinned and scampered towards Vasia who watch him with a slight smile on her face.

I followed them, the tall yellow-flowered weeds brushing against my legs as I started climbing again.

The island seemed to be full of stairs. It made sense, in a way. The whole place was built on a hill so it was either that or just making everything slopped but it made me glad that Mitch had insisted I didn’t push myself too hard at the gym. If I had, the slight burning in my calves would be unbearable, I could tell.

We followed the precarious path as it looped around the fortress. Mitch and Vasia walked ahead with so much more confidence than I did, barely looking down over the short wall that would crumble if I were to fall on it. And then there’d be nothing stopping me from falling.

I swallowed and moved slower, staring at the ground and staying as far away from the not even knee-high wall, aware that they were waiting for me at the top. I could hear them talking softly and I rounded the corner at the top just in time to see Vasia laugh and lay her hand gently on Mitch’s arm. She snatched it away when she saw me approach but Mitch just smiled at me.

“Look how tall the fortress looks from here!” he said, turning towards the towering structure and looking up at it. “It’s huge!”

Vasia turned quickly too without looking at me, as if she was worried about how I’d react to her flirting with Mitch which made me a little sad. I didn’t want her to worry even though I did understand. I was acting like a brat and I knew that Alice would probably have something snide or rude to say but I didn’t want to be like that. I would just pretend I didn’t see it.

Mitch might have been flirting with her for a reason. I mean, if she thought he was into her then maybe she’d let us get away with exploring the island more? Or maybe he just wanted to flirt.

“Let’s go up there!” Mitch cried before rushing towards yet another set of stairs that snaked around the side of the building.

I followed them slightly less cautiously this time, feeling more confident about the wall which was actually still standing and didn’t look like all it would take was a strong breeze to send the rocks tumbling, and before long, we ducked under an archway which led us into the inside of the fortress.

I looked around, disappointment sinking within me. I’d expected it to be a grand military base, filled with leftover canons and relics and stuff or something that hinted at its past but it was really just a shell of a building.

There wasn’t even a roof. It was just a mostly roped off area of rocks that had fallen from the building and another set of stairs which took us into the rounded centre of the fortress. There wasn’t even much to see there but that didn’t stop Mitch’s excitement. He rushed across the grassy space and climbed the dangerously thin set of stairs that had been built into the wall, not even waiting for Vasia or me to follow him.

I wasn’t sure if he was actually excited by the fortress or if it were an act but it seemed genuine. His excitement was contagious too. Every time he turned to look at me, a grin on his face, I had to fight to not smile too.

The car jolted to a stop and I blinked, staring at the world around me in confusion. I knew that we’d stopped at the gates to my grandparent’s house and, from the front seat, I could hear the annoyed clicking of the button from my grandmother as she repeatedly pushed it even though the gate was already moving, but something felt a little off. It looked just wrong.

I shook my head slightly, trying to push that feeling and my dizziness aside. It was probably just that I was too used to being in Crete with Mitch. I was used to the sun beating down on us, not the dreariness of dusk in Scotland. It wasn’t quite dark but it definitely wasn’t still light.

My stomach clenched and my hand tightened on my phone as we sped down the path a little too fast for how dark it was. It always made me anxious when we drove down the drive at night. My grandparents didn’t have any lights fitted out there, for some reason, and the thick trees that lined the path blocked out too much sunlight. We were essentially driving blind and hoping that my grandfather knew the route well.

I wanted to slip back into my fantasy, to Crete, but I was too tense. It felt like every muscle in my body was clenched as I held my breath and hoped he wouldn’t hit a tree. He was going too quickly. If he did hit something, we’d be badly injured.

But, somehow, we made it to the house without incident.

I tried not to get out of the car too quickly as we pulled to a stop but he had barely switched off the engine before I was out of the door. I breathed in the fresh air, a smile growing on my face despite the anxiety that was still coursing through me.

That was one of the things I liked about being there. It always smelt so good. It just smelt fresh. And not fresh like the air around where I lived that was always tinged with manure. It smelt like grass and plants and nature.

I missed it sometimes, which felt silly to admit. It wasn’t my home, I shouldn’t miss it. Not that I missed my actual home ever.

“Are you tired, Grace?” my mom asked pointedly as she climbed out of the car.

“Oh, yes. Exhausted,” I was quick to say.

“It’s been a long day and we were up early this morning,” my mom told my grandmother who didn’t even respond.

She started towards the front door without even looking back at us.

I had a moment, a fleeting thought of what would happen if I didn’t follow. If I turned and walked away from the house instead of traipsing after them obediently, what would they do? Probably nothing. I could see my grandmother just locking the front door and leaving me to sleep outside.

According to my mom, she used to do that sometimes when they were kids. If they came back later than she wanted them to, she’d lock the door and they’d either need to climb up the ivy on the side of the house, if it held them, or they’d sleep in the shed.

The last time we were there, after my grandparents had left and my mom had had too many glasses of wine to celebrate, she told me she used to keep a blanket out there, hidden so that my grandmother wouldn’t find it and bin it. Apparently, that had really annoyed my grandparents when they finally worked it out. They’d said she didn’t deserve it, even though it was the middle of winter.

I glanced towards the shed at the edge of the garden before sighing and following them towards the house.