Thyla - Kate Gordon [54]
She began walking towards me.
The phone’s ringing was like a scream within my head, it was so loud and sudden and jarring.
Ms Hindmarsh stopped her slow progression and in that moment I reached out for the doorknob.
‘Stop, Tessa,’ Ms Hindmarsh said curtly. I turned to her and did something I never imagined I would do.
I bared my teeth. My fangs. Ms Hindmarsh’s eyes widened.
‘Don’t come near me,’ I said, calmly and slowly. ‘You will regret it.’
Ms Hindmarsh nodded, her eyes wide. ‘Yes,’ she said. ‘Yes, I think I would.’
I turned the doorknob just as Ms Hindmarsh picked up the phone. As I pulled the door open, I heard her say, ‘Hello, Vinnie. I was hoping it would be you. Thank you for returning my call. Something has happened. I think we need to call him right away.’
Vinnie.
My heart thudded.
Ms Hindmarsh was talking to Vinnie about me. Vinnie knew about me.
They both did.
I slammed Ms Hindmarsh’s office door and began to run.
‘Tessa? You okay? What happened?’ Laurel called after me.
I paused, but I didn’t turn around. I couldn’t let her see me like this.
‘I’m okay,’ I replied, my fangs feeling awkward in my mouth, making my words come out muffled and half-formed.
‘Well, okey-dokey,’ she said. ‘But, you know, if you ever need us … Where are you going now?’
I didn’t even have to think about it. ‘I’m going with Rhiannah,’ I replied. ‘On the full moon walk.’
The air outside was cool and crisp, and it smelled of eucalypts and mud and fresh water and old stone and decaying flesh.
My every sense was heightened. I smelled each scent individually. I heard each lizard darting through the grass, each currawong call, each wallaby bouncing over bracken. The coolness of the air enveloped me. It reminded me of the touch of some long-forgotten companion.
I walked upright still, but my legs felt different. Tauter and stronger and yet more flexible.
I felt alive.
I heard their footsteps – not so far away, just over the wall.
And it took me one sniff to confirm it: Rhiannah, Harriet, Sara.
They were close.
All that separated us was that high stone wall. The same high stone wall I had seen them so effortlessly overcoming in three swift, powerful leaps not so long ago.
I do not like walls. I want to jump them.
If they could do it, I could. I was every bit as powerful as they were. I could feel my power.
Another memory danced into my mind, pulling me close.
A man, naked and crouched before me, his face in shadows. The only features visible were the ones reflecting light. The eyes of amber and teeth like polished knives. I could see the stripes along his back and forehead. I could see his legs bending backwards.
‘If you do this, Tessa, you will die. You know that.’
‘But I will live again.’
‘It will be different. You will not be yourself.’
He turned away from me, his head falling to his hands.
I did not let his warning make me fearful.
‘I am not myself now,’ I protested. ‘If you turn me, that is when I will be myself. I will cease to be pathetic and powerless. I will take my revenge for what they did to my mother.’
The man shook his head, looking up and away from me, towards the bush. ‘I can’t do this if I believe you will use the power for evil, Tessa. You know that. We talked about that.’
‘They killed my mother!’
‘And if I give you this power, you will be able to prevent that happening to others! That is a better gift than revenge.’
‘I want to kill them. I want to kill Hopkins. I want to kill Chassebury.’
The man snorted, mocking me. ‘If I do this, Chassebury will want to kill you. Your life will become dangerous!’
I rolled my eyes. ‘Isaac, my life is already dangerous. All of us are in danger, as long as Lord is around.’
‘But you know I have a plan to help you all. You don’t need to do this, Tessa.’
‘I want this. I want to help you.’
‘You are willing to die for this cause?’
I nodded. ‘I am willing to die.’
The memory dancer twirled away, and left me alone in the grounds of Cascade Falls.
‘I am willing to die,’ I murmured.
Then, like a