Part 15 (1/2)

That man killed me. I knew it. I knew it as surely as I had known those other things.

I am Tessa. I am strong. I do not cry.

And I am dead.

I looked at my reflection in the glinting metal of the school gates. My eyes were huge. Long sharp canines protruded over my bottom lip. My nose had flattened, the nostrils turned up. I felt unbearably hot so, without a thought of dignity or proper behaviour, I flung my blouse to the ground. Underneath, I was Thyla. Powerful, beautiful Thyla striped and strong. I s.h.i.+vered not from the cold, but from exhilaration. I was wondrous. I looked back at the wall.

'Well,' I whispered to myself, 'if I am dead, then what do I have to lose?'

I began to run.

Once you have flown, there is nothing else.

I only flew for a moment soaring high and mighty above the wall surrounding Cascade Falls but it was extraordinary.

I conquered the wall.

I was free. And I was changed.

Inside the walls of Cascade Falls, I was Tessa. I was a human girl. I made friends. I wore a uniform. I ate waffles. I went to science cla.s.s.

Outside of Cascade Falls, I was ...

Well, I was still not entirely sure what I was. But perhaps human was the first thing I wasn't.

After all, humans cannot fly.

There was no time to think about the wonder of it all, though.

I could still hear their footsteps, cracking through the bracken. I could still hear their voices, low and rumbling and sodden with solemnity. I knew innately, through some new sense of time and s.p.a.ce I seemed to possess along with my new, more powerful body, that they were close. And I knew now they were not on any ordinary bushwalk. I knew that their walks were part of all of this Sarcos and Thyla and Cha.s.sebury and Cat.

And so I stalked them. I padded silently, growing more confident in my new gait. It was as though I had once known how to ride a horse, and then had not done so for many years, but was beginning again. My muscles knew how to do it. My brain just needed to catch up.

The forest was full and loud and br.i.m.m.i.n.g with the lives of the night creatures. Possums larked above me in the eucalypts. Quolls, pademelons and bettongs hopped and skittered through the brush. Above me, a masked owl whooshed through the leaves, hunting, and I could hear the terrified beating of tiny marsupial hearts.

'I can do that, too,' I whispered to the owl.

The pademelons had nothing to fear from me me, though. There was only one group of beasts I was tracking. And I was closing in. I could hear their words clearly now.

'So you're sure the Diemens are on the hunt tonight?' came Rhiannah's voice.

My heart sped as I heard Perrin's voice come next. 'The Diemens are always on the hunt. That's why we're here. To stop them. And do you really think Lord donated that telescope out of the goodness of his heart? The more girls outside, the more vulnerable prey around, ripe for the picking.'

'I wonder what it's like in other places,' asked another voice. Sara. I knew she didn't need gla.s.ses in her new form. I wondered if she still wore her curls tied back with white ribbons. 'I mean, do you think there's anybody like us back in England? Is there anybody to stop them, or do they just run rampant?'

'I don't know,' said Perrin, and his voice sounded heavy and exhausted. 'I haven't heard heard of any other clans over there. Rha says that back in the convict days he heard about a tribe ' of any other clans over there. Rha says that back in the convict days he heard about a tribe '

'Perrin, we know this,' Rhiannah groaned. 'Honestly, sometimes you act like you're the only one who's been a Sarco all this time. Have you seen our hair? And our skin? We're starting to get the Sarco colouring. That means we've been doing this for a while. We're not clueless, you know. We know about the Vulpis.'

Vulpis.

The word s.n.a.t.c.hed me from the present, from the bush, and dragged me back inside my head, where there was another memory waiting for me; another voice waiting to speak.

A man's voice, gruff and low.

'I do not know if we're the only ones, Tessa,' he said. 'There are rumours some of the older Thylas talk of a master race back in England. They call them the Vulpis. ”Victoria's foxes”. They say that they are like us. They are an ancient race, as we are older probably and they, like we, now devote their lives to fighting the Diemens. To protecting the innocent.'

'Why are they called Victoria's foxes?' I asked.

'Queen Victoria, of course,' the man growled. 'She was the first monarch to attempt to combat the Diemens. Before Victoria, they ran rampant. They had free rein over the prisoners and street people. n.o.body stopped them. Then Victoria started helping the poor and sending convicts to Tasmania, and the Diemens thought their days were numbered. That's why so many of them moved out here. Can you imagine? A whole island br.i.m.m.i.n.g with convicts. A captive colony of vulnerable, reviled wretches sent thousands of miles from their families. To the Diemens, it must have seemed that Tasmania was a table, laid out for a banquet feast. I have heard no estimates of how many Diemens remain in the motherland, Tessa. I do not know if any of our brother Vulpis are keeping them controlled. Some say that the Vulpis have changed sides; that they are fighting for for the Diemens now. Whatever the case, while Victoria reigns, the Diemens are weakened. When she dies, who knows?' the Diemens now. Whatever the case, while Victoria reigns, the Diemens are weakened. When she dies, who knows?'

'Why did they not just kill Victoria?' I asked. 'They are powerful, are they not? And they do not seem to think murdering women is wrong. Would it not have been easier for them?'

'Perhaps. Perhaps Victoria is stronger than we imagine stronger even than they. I have heard tell that they offered her immortality in return for turning a blind eye to their activities, and she refused. She is a formidable foe. A woman to be truly admired.'

'I will be formidable also,' I replied. 'I will be a foe to be reckoned with.'

'Do you regret your change?' asked the man, his voice even more rough now.

'No. Never. I am like Queen Victoria. I am like this for a reason. I know my duty. I will never surrender.'

Sara's voice pulled me away from the voices inside my head, and seemed, strangely, to echo them. 'Do you regret what you've become? Would you go back and refuse it? If you could? If it meant you got a normal life a family maybe? I mean, we've nearly finished school and when we do ... years years after we've finished, we'll still look the same age. What will we do then? It scares me. We'll look sixteen forever, but we can't keep going to school and ' after we've finished, we'll still look the same age. What will we do then? It scares me. We'll look sixteen forever, but we can't keep going to school and '

'Sara, shush,' said Harriet. 'Now isn't the time for worrying about that stuff.'

'When is is the time, then?' asked Sara. 'I get that I have maybe hundreds of years ahead of me, but sometimes I just want to know stuff the time, then?' asked Sara. 'I get that I have maybe hundreds of years ahead of me, but sometimes I just want to know stuff now.' now.'

I was very close to the Sarcos now. I walked more quietly, crouched low in the scrub. I hid behind trees. I knew how to stalk. I had done it before.

'Maybe none of us really have the answers, Sara,' said Perrin slowly, his voice gentle. 'Maybe even Rha doesn't have the answers. You know he's had to spend years in hiding to keep his secret. Maybe that's what we do we just emerge into human society every once in a while ...'

Perrin trailed off. From my hiding place, I saw his eyes swing around. I crouched lower. His nose twitched.

Oh, h.e.l.l.

'What is it, Perrin?' asked Rhiannah. 'If you're worried about that Thyla smell, don't be. It's always like that around here.'

Perrin froze. He flicked his eyes away from my direction, back towards his sister. 'The Thyla smell lingers,' he said, simply, but I could hear the tremble of his voice. He knew I was there. Why wasn't he saying anything?

'Why do we have to do it at all?' asked Rhiannah, going back to their previous conversation. 'I mean, couldn't we just stay out here? In the wild?'

'Some Sarcos do. And ... Thylas.' Again, his eyes flicked in my direction, and away. 'But we're all half-human. We're still connected to the human world. I know I would miss it.'

Perrin went silent for a moment, before continuing, 'To answer your question, Sara: No. I wouldn't go back. Not knowing what I do about the Diemens. I could probably try to fight them as a mortal, but they're just so powerful and the b.a.s.t.a.r.ds are getting more more powerful as if I'd have a chance! We're meant to do this. Maybe it's what we were always meant to do. It's the one thing we have in common with the Thylas. We both have a responsibility and I wouldn't turn my back on that. But, you know, I'm only a baby by Sarco standards! Ask me when I'm Rha's age. Ask me in another hundred years.' powerful as if I'd have a chance! We're meant to do this. Maybe it's what we were always meant to do. It's the one thing we have in common with the Thylas. We both have a responsibility and I wouldn't turn my back on that. But, you know, I'm only a baby by Sarco standards! Ask me when I'm Rha's age. Ask me in another hundred years.'

'Sometimes I wish the Sarcos hadn't come to our house that night,' Rhiannah said softly. 'I wish I could be normal again, and not have to spend my whole life out here, hunting those creeps. I wish we'd never moved down from Wynyard. Then this would never have happened. I wish I could go back to Mum and Dad; help them with their veggies and their market stall. I wish it was simple like that. Sometimes I even wish Mum and Dad had been there that night, so they could be Sarcos too. So we wouldn't be so alone. I wish we hadn't been changed. I wish we didn't have to do this. But then I think, if we we don't do it, who will? I still don't think we should unite with the Thylas, though. They're our en' don't do it, who will? I still don't think we should unite with the Thylas, though. They're our en'