Thyla - Kate Gordon [68]
Cat sighed. ‘I know, Tessa. It’s tough,’ she said. ‘They’re your friends, but your instinct tells you you’re supposed to hate them. Trust me, it never gets easier.’
Isaac, who had moved away to talk to one of the other Thylas, was now walking back towards us. ‘Cat. Tessa. We have to go,’ he said, abruptly.
‘What’s up, Isaac?’ asked Cat.
‘I was talking to Delphi,’ he said, gesturing towards a short, stocky female with a shaved head and nose stud. She smiled at me tentatively and I smiled back. I couldn’t remember her being there during the fight. ‘She was up at Cascade Falls,’ Isaac said, confirming my thoughts.
‘I was keeping watch,’ she said sheepishly. ‘I have no idea how they got in.’
‘How who got in?’ I asked.
‘A couple of Diemens,’ she said, her chin wobbling. She ran her hand nervously over her bald scalp. ‘A couple of Diemens got in,’ she repeated, ‘and they took one. I couldn’t stop them. They took a girl. I heard some other girls talking about it. It was during some astronomy lesson. They said they saw her sneak away, heading back towards the dorms. They saw two men, in silver masks, come out from behind the trees …’
‘Did they say what her name was?’ I croaked, a sick feeling twisting my stomach.
‘Laurel,’ said Delphi. ‘Her name was Laurel.’
‘No!’ I cried. ‘Why would they take Laurel?’
Delphi shrugged. ‘They knew most of us would be here. I suppose they thought it would be a good opportunity to feed.’
I turned to Isaac. ‘Isaac, I need to go to Cascade Falls.’
‘There’s no point! It’s too late,’ said Delphi. ‘The Diemens are long gone. I tried to track them, but their smell had already faded and that was half an hour ago. Isaac, tell her. We need to get back to camp and –’
I cut her off. ‘No, Delphi! I need to go to the school. I know it’s too late to find the Diemens, and there’s probably nothing I can do at the school either. I just want to be there.’
Isaac nodded. He understood. ‘Let’s go,’ he said.
When we got back to Cascade Falls, you were already there. Someone had called you.
Cat had been walking with me, but I felt her pull back when she saw the police car. I turned around to face her. She shook her head. ‘I can’t do it,’ she said. ‘I just can’t. I can’t go back to that life.’
‘Maybe you won’t have to,’ I replied. ‘Maybe Connolly will understand. She loves you, you know.’
‘I know,’ Cat sighed.
‘And it’s killing her not knowing what’s happened to you,’ I countered, my voice coming out harsher than I intended.
Tears puddled in Cat’s eyes. ‘Okay,’ she said shakily. ‘I’ll tell her. I promise. But after this, all right? You go ahead. She needs to do her police stuff. Once it’s all over, I’ll come out. Okay?’
I nodded. ‘Okay.’
When Cat left, disappearing back into the shadows, I turned to Isaac. ‘We can’t go up there like this,’ I whispered, gesturing with my clawed hands at my bent-back legs and my stripes.
He shook his head. ‘Of course we can’t, Tessa. That’s why we have these.’ He pulled from his pocket two shiny bangles. ‘This one’s yours. It snapped on the day of your accident. I only just got it back from the jewellers. Good timing.’
‘That’s a copper bangle like Rhiannah has,’ I stammered.
‘It is a cuff like Rhiannah has,’ said Isaac. ‘But it’s not copper. It’s bronze. An alloy. Made from natural materials, but created by man. It gives us the ability to shift between our natural state and our human one. Without it, there is the risk of us changing at any time, though shifters who have been changed for longer have a higher degree of control. Not at the full moon, though. None of us have control at the full moon without one of these. Here. It’s for you.’
He passed me the cuff and I hesitated, remembering the jolt Rhiannah’s cuff had given me.
‘Don’t worry, it won’t bite,’ said Isaac, laughing.
When I still refused to take it, his forehead creased. ‘You’ve touched one since your accident, haven’t you? A Sarco one? Rhiannah’s one?’
I nodded. I felt very ashamed.
‘Sometimes we put protections on them,’ Isaac explained. ‘Natural bush magic to make sure