Thyla - Kate Gordon [66]
‘How could you?’ I asked, suddenly furious. This was all too much – the fight and the death and the pain, and now this? Now Cat coming back and seeming so uncaring about it all. About you. ‘She’s so worried! You’re letting her worry! It’s not fair.’
Cat crossed her arms defensively but her eyes were troubled. ‘I know, Tess. But if she knew I was still alive, she’d send me right back to Cascade Falls. And I can’t just go back there. I was a loser there. I’m not saying I’ve got it all figured out now but, well, at least there’s no Charlotte Lord here. She still rules the school, I bet.’
I nodded. Then another thought struck me. ‘Is she one of them? I remember her chasing you. I remember her calling out to her dad that she’d found you.’
Cat shook her head. ‘I can’t be sure, obviously, but I don’t think she’s in on it. I think she knew her dad needed to find me, and she was helping him, but I don’t think she knew why he was looking for me. You know this, but you’ve forgotten: I was in trouble at school that day. It wasn’t my fault. It was Laurel and Erin. We were on the bushwalk, and we were practising lighting fires from scratch. I got put in their group because I had no partner, and they cheated and used deodorant or body spray or something. Even though it wasn’t my fault, we all got in trouble. Anyway, Lord was on the bushwalk with us. It was some big “tour of the school” thing he was doing, letting everybody see what a great big philanthropist he is. Charlotte and her friends were making fun of me for getting in trouble. I couldn’t handle it, so I nicked off. Lord chased after me. Charlotte did, too. I guess she thought I was just going to get in trouble. She’s a nightmare. She used to treat me like dirt at school. But I’m pretty sure she’s just a bitch, not a Diemen. For one thing, there aren’t any female Diemens. They’re all men. As far as we know, Diemens have only ever been men. Men of a certain age. Charlotte doesn’t fit the Diemen mould. Plus, I used to go to school with her, remember? And I sneaked out a lot. I never once saw her leave campus, and she would’ve had to. To hunt. Unless she only hunted Cascade girls, in which case there would’ve been a lot fewer of us. Lord’s already taken enough of us, but he’s careful. He only takes the bad girls. Like those Scottsdale chicks. Most people at Cascade Falls thought I was just as bad as they were. If you hadn’t rescued me from them I would have been next. You saved me.’
‘I don’t remember that yet,’ I admitted, still thinking about Charlotte. Cat might think she wasn’t involved in all of this but I wasn’t so certain.
‘Well, I have to take some of the credit,’ said Cat, smiling. ‘The Diemens had me. They were running through the forest with me. One of them was holding me by the neck, as if I was a rag doll. I kicked him in the balls and he dropped me and I ran. But the Diemen bastard had ripped a chunk out of my throat. I was all woozy and bleeding everywhere. I reckon I would have passed out, but you burst through the forest and grabbed me. We hid in a burrow for ages until they gave up. You were Thyla and you expected it to freak me out, but it didn’t. I loved it. I wanted it. I begged you to change me too. I don’t reckon you would’ve if I hadn’t been bleeding everywhere. You thought I was dying. You were probably right. You saved me. You made me this.’
Cat gestured down at her body. At her Thyla body. I felt like I was going to faint.
‘I did that?’ I whispered. ‘I killed you?’
Cat shook her head. ‘You didn’t kill me, Tess. You gave me a second chance at life.’
A strong scent filled my nose. Sarco.
I turned around quickly, my heart in my throat.
‘Rha,’ said Isaac, nodding at the Sarco walking towards us. It sounded like he was talking through clenched teeth. Clenched fangs.
‘Isaac,’ the Sarco echoed, and his voice was just as tense. Having to speak civilly to