"The island is shrouded from the outside world by magic," Ixion explains. "When was the last time either of you had contact with anyone beyond these shores?"
"Err..." You pull out your mobile phone. "You'd switched it off, since you had failed to pick up a signal since coming ashore. You now switch it on again - there's no change. Rachel tries her new Tri-band phone. Although it rings out, there's no answer. She keys in another number - then gives up and shakes her head.
"I can't get an response," she tells you. "From home - or even from my friend, Marina, back at the hotel."
"By entering the island's interior, you have both entered another realm," Ixion tells you. "Right now, everyone who knew you - your family, your friends in your country, your working colleagues - their knowledge and memories of you are slowly being...erased. Any material record of your existence is also slowly disappearing from your world... It is the same for any of the visitors who stay on these shores too long."
Rachel gives a gasp of horror. "The 'Dawn' Syndrome! Ben - it's like something out of 'Buffy'! Dawn was created out of nothing. Her new family and friends had false memories 'imprinted' on them. This is..."
"...the opposite effect - I recall seeing it in 'Neverwhere', on the BBC, years ago," you reply. "So that's why no one's officially disappeared? Those that get transformed - their loved ones don't remember them any longer. They simply...cease to exist in the records of our world."
"Correct." Themis nods.
You look again at the lush scenery, the blue sky, and the clear sea. It seems so peaceful here. You see a pair of younger centaurs - a male and a female - racing each other, laughing, as they gallop along the beach, and head for some low barn-like buildings where they presumerably live. All of the centaurs seem content, happy.
"What is it like...being what you are?" you find yourself asking Ixion.