Thyla. Part 9

The label on the tube read, 'Advanced Perfect Night Cream.'

'Why did you steal Inga's night cream?' I asked distractedly. Inside my head, the words were repeating: You're mad, you're mad, you're mad. You're mad, you're mad, you're mad.

Laurel shrugged. 'Partly for you. Those girls are being total b.i.t.c.hes to you. But mostly for fun. You should have seen her, running down the hallway with her hair all sc.r.a.ped back in this big pink claw grip and no makeup on!'

'Yeah, she looked like one of those photos you see in Woman's Day Woman's Day: "Stars Without Their Makeup". It was cla.s.sic!' said Erin. 'Just goes to show those girls are only human once their ten centimetres of makeup come off. Which is kind of disappointing. I was sort of wis.h.i.+ng they were covered in scales ...'

'I might go in now,' I interrupted. I was suddenly feeling very tired, and my head was beginning to ache. I was grateful that Laurel and Erin were standing up for me (in their own peculiar way) but I needed to get away from them. I just wanted to lie down and sleep and forget about what had just happened ... and what it might mean.

'No, hang on, love. You haven't told us why you you are outside at 11 pm,' said Erin. 'Didn't they tell you we have a curfew?' are outside at 11 pm,' said Erin. 'Didn't they tell you we have a curfew?'

'If there is a curfew, then why are you you outside now?' I retorted. outside now?' I retorted.

Erin rolled her eyes. 'We don't really do do curfew,' she said. 'But if you don't do curfew, you gotta do it right. Stay safe and stay hidden. You go in, but I think we'll hang around outside for a while. It's for our own safety. You know, because we have an insane makeup-deprived ogre on our tail. Right now, she's probably rallying the troops, and there's nothing scarier than a gang of bimbos who've had their makeup stolen!' curfew,' she said. 'But if you don't do curfew, you gotta do it right. Stay safe and stay hidden. You go in, but I think we'll hang around outside for a while. It's for our own safety. You know, because we have an insane makeup-deprived ogre on our tail. Right now, she's probably rallying the troops, and there's nothing scarier than a gang of bimbos who've had their makeup stolen!'

Laurel bent over double with silent, wheezy giggles.

And I laughed too. Just a little bit. Laurel and Erin were funny.

'Are you like us?' asked Erin, while Laurel attempted to cease her giggling by pressing hard on her mouth with the palm of her hand. 'Are you a bit rebellious rebellious too, Tessa?' too, Tessa?'

I shook my head. 'I'm not rebellious. I just needed some air.'

'Well, that is is disappointing,' Erin replied. 'For a minute there I thought we'd found another girl who thinks Cascade Falls is bulls.h.i.+t.' disappointing,' Erin replied. 'For a minute there I thought we'd found another girl who thinks Cascade Falls is bulls.h.i.+t.'

I felt myself blus.h.i.+ng at Erin's coa.r.s.eness. 'Um, how do you mean?' I asked feebly, feeling foolish for my embarra.s.sment.

'You know: stupid, posh, w.a.n.ky school that gets all its money from big business capitalism and churns out girls whose only goal in life is to marry posh, w.a.n.ky capitalists. You know, the sort of school where girls who are as dumb as half a chicken can get to be prefects just because of who their daddies are. That sort of thing. Bulls.h.i.+t,' Erin said, shrugging.

'So, why do you go here, if you feel like that?' I asked.

'Scholars.h.i.+ps,' said Laurel and Erin at exactly the same time.

'Lord's Trust scholars.h.i.+ps. Would you believe we're actually pretty smart when we put our minds to it?' said Laurel, tapping the side of her head. 'You know there were only a few of us who got picked to go here from Scottsdale Public. What was it, E? Five of us in the beginning? The other girls couldn't hack it, though, and they were always getting in trouble for breaking curfew and stuff. Like, you reckon we're bad, you should've met them! They were the kind of bad Cat Connolly wished she was. But they didn't do it properly properly, like we do.'

My ears p.r.i.c.ked up at the mention of Cat, but Laurel didn't share my fascination. She went back to talking about the other girls. 'They made a big show of themselves, and drew attention to themselves,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'And they went to the same places every time they sneaked out, which is the most important thing not to do. Always keep 'em guessing. Always stay one step ahead. Then you don't get caught. I was kind of glad when they left gave us Scottsdale girls a bad name! Anyway, so they took off, never to be heard from since.'

'They still haven't heard from them?' asked Erin.

'Yeah, but it was Kelly Jones and Sally and Heidi Pritchard, remember?' She turned to me. 'The Joneses and the Pritchards aren't, like, the best of families, if you know what I mean. They're kind of rough, and there're heaps of kids in both the families. Dad said Mick Jones and Graeme Pritchard both got letters from the girls saying they were heading up to the mainland. Reckons Mick and Graeme were just happy to have the extra kids off their hands.'

'Our parents aren't like that,' said Laurel. 'Well, apart from your dad and his tigers.'

'Your father has tigers?' I asked Erin, my eyes wide. She laughed.

'Nah, mate. Not real tigers. Ta.s.sie tigers. He reckons he sees 'em sometimes, even though they're extinct. Reckons it's only white men who think they're extinct 'cos they're not in touch with nature like we are. He used to come home all freaked out from the bush and talk about seeing tigers, big as men, running around. Yeah, I know. Completely bonkers. I think he's getting better, though. He hasn't "seen one" since right before I came to Cascade Falls not that he's told me about, anyway. Hey, actually, the last time he saw one was with Mick Jones and Graeme and your dad, remember?' she said to Laurel. 'Isn't it funny that we ended up being the kids who got sent here?'

Laurel laughed. 'Mr Lord probably reckoned he was doing us a favour, 'cos our parents were so barmy. My dad reckons he never really saw one, though. He was just backing up your dad 'cos they're mates. Our parents are all Van Diemen Industries labourers,' she explained. 'But most of the parents in Scottsdale are. Mr Lord picked us because we're super-smart. Kelly and Heidi actually were as well. They just didn't "apply" themselves like we do. We got those scholars.h.i.+ps 'cos our dads were VDI and 'cos we're young Einsteins. End of story. And we're doing the families proud, aren't we, E? Our parents have big dreams about us being the first in our families to go to uni and then becoming lawyers and doctors. Never mind the fact that I actually want to be in a rock band.'

'And I would rather die than be a lawyer,' added Erin. 'I'm going to be a comic book artist. And you don't need a diploma from Cascade Falls to be one of those. What are you gonna be when you finish school, Tessa?'

I shook my head. I didn't know. I didn't know what I was now, now, let alone what I would be when I was older. let alone what I would be when I was older.

I was Tessa. I was tough. I was brave. I liked waffles. That was all I knew.

My voice didn't listen to my brain, though, because it suddenly blurted out, 'I will be the leader.'

'A leader, you mean?' asked Laurel. 'Like, the Prime Minister?' leader, you mean?' asked Laurel. 'Like, the Prime Minister?'

'Yeah, I can see it,' said Erin, nodding. 'Tessa Connolly. Australia's second female Prime Minister.'

'Or third or fourth,' Laurel retorted. 'I reckon now they've seen a chick can do it just as well better than a bloke, they're never gonna let a bloke do it again.'

Prime Minister? Australia had a Prime Minister? And it was a woman? That all seemed very strange to me, but I resolved to find out more about it when my head did not feel as though it were about to collapse in upon itself. Besides, they were wrong. I did not mean the the leader. I just meant leader of ... of ... leader. I just meant leader of ... of ...

I sighed. I couldn't think. My brain was too befuddled. 'I need to go back to my room now,' I said.

'Okay, see ya,' said Erin, looking at me curiously.

'I'm just tired,' I added.

'No worries,' said Laurel.

As I walked away, Erin called out, 'Hey, Tessa. If you want to be a leader, do it! Don't let anything get in your way.'

'Thanks,' I called back.

'And Tessa, one more thing!' Laurel yelled.

'What?' I asked.

'If you're feeling better, can I've my hat back?' she called.

I reached in my bag and pulled out Laurel's woollen beanie, the beanie I never got to wear.

Because I can't leap walls.

I flung it over to her and it whacked Laurel in the face with an audible thwap thwap.

'Ow!' she exclaimed, but she was giggling, and I don't know how a woollen hat could really have hurt her. 'You should join the softball team, with an arm like that.'

She looked down at the hat and screwed up her nose, then threw it back to me. I caught it with one hand.

'You don't want it back?' I asked.

'Nah, don't worry about it,' said Laurel. 'You might need it again. Next time you break curfew.'

'Thanks,' I said again.

I wondered when that time would be. Would I get another chance to follow Rhiannah and Harriet and Sara? Or a chance to learn more about the bushwalk that took Cat.

As I reached the door of Cascade Falls, I looked back at Laurel and Erin, and then up at the moon. It was nearly full just a fingernail sliver away from perfect roundness.

I walked softly down the hallway and opened the door to Casa Rhiannah Tessa. The first thing I noticed was Rhiannah's open drawer. I closed it gingerly, then I changed into my pyjamas and lay down on my bed.

My head was br.i.m.m.i.n.g with images of girls leaping over walls.

I closed my eyes.

I knew I would not sleep.

I was still awake when Rhiannah came in.

She opened the door with a soft click and padded barefoot over to her bed, boots in hand. She sat down and quietly pulled her top drawer open. I knew without looking what she was reaching for. The metal tapped against the side of the drawer, and then I heard a faint rubbing noise as she pushed the bangle back on her wrist.

I remembered the jolt that the bangle had given me. It didn't seem to be doing the same thing to her. If it was, she was being very brave and quiet.

I opened my eyes, just a crack, to look at Rhiannah, who stood in a shaft of moonlight.

What I saw made a scream catch in my throat.

It was was Rhiannah I was looking at definitely. She had the same cuttlefish-white skin, the same ink-black hair, many of the features of her face were the same ... Rhiannah I was looking at definitely. She had the same cuttlefish-white skin, the same ink-black hair, many of the features of her face were the same ...

But in her mouth, I saw the hint of pointed fangs.

And her wide eyes, which were normally dark brown, were now as black as her hair, and wider and narrower. There were black markings around her nose, and her nostrils seemed to point forwards, rather than down.

The hands that were slowly, quietly, pulling down her dark trousers now no longer had slightly pointed fingernails, but long dark claws.

But it was her legs that scared me the most.

As she pulled down her jeans, I saw that the skin on her legs was mottled white and black together. And her knees ...

Her knees no longer pointed forwards, the way human knees did. Instead, her legs were bent backwards like an animal's. It was almost as though Rhiannah was something halfway between an animal and a human.

But then, as I watched, her knees clicked forwards, into normal, human knees. I heard her gasp quietly. Her body shuddered as the claws retracted into fingernails. I looked up to see her face jolt and s.h.i.+ft her ears slid sideways and her fangs flattened into regular teeth.

I squeezed my eyes tightly shut.

It's just a dream, I told myself. It's just a dream. It's just a dream.

But I knew I wasn't sleeping.

'Wake up, sleepyhead,' a slightly scratchy-sounding voice whispered in my ear. I felt a hand gently shaking my shoulder.

I jerked out of a brief, dreamless sleep and opened my eyes. It felt as if my eyelids were filled with gla.s.s shards.

Rhiannah was staring at me, her own eyes bloodshot, with dark half-circles tattooed beneath them.

But her irises were brown.

Definitely brown.

I wondered again if I had dreamed what I saw. Rhiannah looked normal now. Tired, but normal.

It had felt so real real. All of it the shock from the bangle, watching Rhiannah and the others leap over the fence, and then seeing Rhiannah transform transform when she returned. when she returned.

And yet now she just looked like Rhiannah. Had Had I imagined it? I imagined it? Was Was I mad? I mad?

'How did you sleep, mate?' she asked. 'Gawd, you look as tired as I feel!'

'I feel as tired as you look,' I admitted, cringing as I felt that the broken gla.s.s was not only on my eyelids, but in my throat as well.

'Up all night studying?' she asked, indicating with her head at the pile of schoolbooks beside my bed, the ones I had been reading to try and bore myself into sleep. No matter how I tried, I simply could not find mathematics interesting. History fascinated me. Art cla.s.s was exciting and fun. Science intrigued and terrified me in equal parts (we were shown photos of ears growing on mice! And men walking on the moon walking on the moon!), but mathematics I found interminably dull.

'Something like that,' I replied, and it came out like a sigh.

'Maths,' she said, rolling her eyes. 'I would've thought that'd be enough to put anybody to sleep, not keep them awake.'

'You don't like maths either?' I asked.

'Our kind usually don't,' she said, rubbing her forehead.

'What do you mean "your kind"?' I blurted.

Her head snapped up. 'I just mean ... arty types, I guess,' she said. Her brow was furrowed and her eyes looked uneasy. 'I mean, like us. You and me. People who are more into pa.s.sion and creativity than logic. I thought you were into art and writing and stuff, too.'

'I am,' I said.

'So, that's all I meant,' she said, shrugging. 'Just "our arty arty kind". That's all.' kind". That's all.'

'How was your night?' I asked, changing the subject. 'How was your bushwalk?'

Rhiannah shrugged again. 'Okay, I guess,' she said, her voice short and tense. She breathed out shakily. 'Sorry, Tessa. I know I'm snapping. I just didn't get that much sleep last night and the bushwalk ... um, it was just long and there were, um, some other bushwalkers in our territory. They kind of got in the way. So, all in all, I'm a bit grumpy.'

'Who were the other bushwalkers?' I asked.

'Just some other people. People who are trying to, well, to do the right thing, I guess,' she said, shrugging. 'And we should probably, you know, be grateful and friendly or whatever, but it's hard because, it's like, it's our our bushwalking territory, you know?' bushwalking territory, you know?'

'But how can that bush be your your territory?' I asked. Rhiannah looked really uncomfortable. 'Sorry,' I said. I knew I was asking too many questions. I knew I was doing the exact thing I had been grateful to Rhiannah for territory?' I asked. Rhiannah looked really uncomfortable. 'Sorry,' I said. I knew I was asking too many questions. I knew I was doing the exact thing I had been grateful to Rhiannah for not not doing to me. I was prying. She had been so good in letting me tell her my secrets in my own time, and now I was trying to claw hers out of her by force. doing to me. I was prying. She had been so good in letting me tell her my secrets in my own time, and now I was trying to claw hers out of her by force.