“Please?” He squeezes my hand as he says it, and my insides turn into a warm puddle. I close my eyes. The ground is clear here, a big patch of weedy ground and hard dirt, and I step carefully as Aiden leads me forward. Forward to what, I don’t know. He directs me to step over something, and the ground gets harder under my feet. He tugs me to my left, and lets go of my hand. I miss it, until his hands are on my shoulders, guiding me to where he wants me, rough against my bare skin.

“Okay, give me two minutes?”

I laugh, because I’m nervous. Nervous about what’s in front of me, both literally and figuratively. Nervous about who I’ll be when I get out of this forest. Who I’ll be when Aiden is done with me. Or when I’m done with him.

Something hits the ground, a zipper echoes through the night, much louder than usual, and I can hear Aiden rustling around. Something flutters behind my bare legs, sending a chill up my spine.

“Okay, sit down,” he says.

“Right here?”

Aiden laughs. “Right here.” He grabs my hand and puts the other on the small of my back, helping me to sit down. I’m not sure why everything feels so much more difficult with your eyes closed, but it does. I feel like I might topple over just trying to lower myself three feet.

I expect to land on the rough ground, but meet soft fabric instead. Aiden sits next to me. I hear another zipper, and then music is filling the air. It’s nothing I’ve ever heard before—a strange mix of strings and brass and electronica. It reminds me of the music at the ArtPrize exhibit, and I half expect to see aerial dancers and strobe lights and theatrics emerge from the trees.

Aiden’s voice is soft and he sounds nervous. “Open your eyes.”

I hesitate, because I don’t know what to expect. I wish I knew what I wanted to see. When I finally do open them, I feel sort of disoriented, like in the two minutes my eyes were closed the last remains of the sunset disappeared and everything was plunged into total darkness. And in the darkness, all I see is a gigantic wall of glowing waves.

“Holy crap.” It’s like looking out at the lake at night, except that every little peak is glowing a soft blue. And the big brick wall in front of us is filled with wave upon rolling wave. Along the top, little flecks of light fill the sky—glowing stars looking down over the rough waters below.

“You like it?” Aiden says.

I’m so wrapped up in it that I’d forgotten Aiden was right beside me—forgotten that there was anything to look at but this amazing wall of light.

“What is it?”