Thyla. Part 10

Claw.

The word reminded me of what I had seen last night, attached to Rhiannah's pale hands.

Claws.

I looked down at Rhiannah's fingers now. Her nails were chipped and there was a deep scratch on her right hand. On the left one, the knuckles were black with bruises.

'Did you fall?' I asked.

Rhiannah followed my eyes down to her hands. 'Something like that,' she said, echoing my phrase from just a few moments ago.

'Do you need to talk about it?' I asked.

She shook her head. 'No,' she said, quickly. 'No, it's fine. It's complicated. Don't worry about it.' Rhiannah bit her lip and rubbed absently at the bruises on her hand.

I swallowed hard and tried to forget what I had seen or imagined the night before, and remember the good, kind Rhiannah, who had made me feel so welcome at Cascade Falls. I tried to think of the Rhiannah who was in front of me now, looking so upset.

I decided to stop my questioning. I would show Rhiannah the same respect she had shown me. 'You can tell me anything,' I said. 'But you don't have to.'

'Thanks,' she said, forcing a small smile. 'I might take you up on that one day. Maybe you can do the same.'

I nodded. 'In the meantime ... waffles?' I asked.

Rhiannah shook her head. 'No, ma'am. Today isn't waffle day, Miss Tessa. Today is hash brown hash brown day!' day!'

I had no idea what a hash brown was, but Rhiannah seemed excited by it, just as she had been about waffles. Which could only mean that hash browns were something to look forward to. I grinned right back at her and used a phrase I had heard you and Vinnie use when you were talking about your first morning coffees. I said, 'Bring it on then, Rhiannah. Hit me up with some hash browns!'

'Ah, Rhiannah! Just the person I was after!'

Ms Hindmarsh poked her head around the door of her office as Rhiannah and I walked back from our breakfast (which was, predictably, wondrously divine, and of which I had partaken, well, at least one one too many 'browns'. I too many 'browns'. I was was going to get fat at this rate). going to get fat at this rate).

'Um, why?' Rhiannah answered, nervously.

'Nothing to worry about!' said Ms Hindmarsh, smiling. 'I just wanted a chat. Would you mind waiting here for a moment? I just need to send a quick email first. It won't take long.'

'Sure,' said Rhiannah.

'Hi, Tessa,' said Ms Hindmarsh, turning to me. 'How's everything going?'

'Really well, thank you, Ms Hindmarsh,' I said.

'Excellent,' she said, her blonde curls bobbing as she nodded. She turned back to Rhiannah. 'I won't be long, Rhiannah. I promise I won't make you late to cla.s.s.'

She stuck her head back inside the door and said, 'Perrin, thank you for your time. Rhiannah's here. I'll have a chat to her on her own in a moment, if that's okay with you.'

The boy from my first day Perrin, Rhiannah's brother moved past Ms Hindmarsh into the hallway. Immediately, his eyes found mine, and then they scanned over me like a searchlight. I felt my skin p.r.i.c.kle.

I liked the boy's eyes.

I liked his strong, broad chin too, and the way his slicked-back hair showed a hairline that lowered in the middle at the front in a sharp point. I liked the jagged angles of his face. I even liked the small, zigzagging scar beneath his left eye. It was the only thing about him that seemed less than perfectly beautiful, and I think it was the thing I liked best of all.

My thoughts shunted to my own appearance, the one I had seen earlier that morning in the washroom mirror. I remembered the messy crop of hay-coloured hair, the heavy-looking bags beneath my eyes, the pointy nose and too-wide mouth. I wanted to cover my face with my hands so the beautiful boy could not see how plain I was. I wanted for a moment to look like Charlotte Lord, with her sleek blonde hair and perfect face. A lady's face.

Out of the fog inside my mind came a reflection of a younger me, with flowing, wavy hair, and a long pretty dress. I wished I had that dress now. I wished I had that hair.

It was the first time since my accident that I had thought anything of my appearance; the first time I had minded my boyish crop and tired features. It was the first time I had remembered the way my old self looked. Now I yearned to look like a lady. I wished to be elegant and comely. All for this boy. I wanted this boy to notice me and to think me pretty.

I knew that he would not think me pretty as I was.

Still, he was kind. He reached out and took my hand in his. 'Tessa,' he said gently, and I felt proud that Rhiannah had mentioned me. Then I wondered what else she had told him. I wondered if she'd told him about my memory.

I couldn't help noticing that he had a copper bangle too. It jumped and jiggled as he shook my hand up and down, and my eyes scanned it for signs of dancing paw prints. But it moved too fast. He opened his mouth to say something else, but before he could, Rhiannah strode between us, forcing the boy's hand to slip from mine, and said angrily, 'Perrin, what are you doing here?'

Perrin shoved his hand in his trouser pocket. The bangle was gone. 'I just came in to make sure it was okay with Ms Hindmarsh for you to go on that big bushwalk,' Perrin said. 'You remember the one?'

'And I said it was fine,' said Ms Hindmarsh, returning from her office. 'You know we're very proud of how you conduct yourself on those walks. And we would never dream of keeping you chained up behind these walls. I just want to check a few things with you, though. Where you will be walking to, that sort of thing, so if anything does go wrong we'll know where to find you. Would you mind giving me a few moments now?'

'No, Ms Hindmarsh,' said Rhiannah. She turned to me. 'You okay to get to cla.s.s, mate?'

I nodded.

'Okay, well ...' Rhiannah looked from Perrin to me and said, 'Perrin, this is Tessa. Tessa, this is Perrin. Perrin, you can go home now.'

Perrin smirked and said, 'Well, I think, sadly, I'll go back to school. Maths is up first, though, so I might drag it out here for as long as possible. I have a note that says I don't need to be in until recess time.'

'Rhiannah, now please,' said Ms Hindmarsh.

'Seeya, Tess,' said Rhiannah. 'Perrin, don't be annoying, okay?'

'Yes, sir,' Perrin drawled as Rhiannah followed Ms Hindmarsh into her office.

I turned back to her brother, feeling my stomach twist. I could not identify the feeling. Embarra.s.sment? Anxiety? Shyness? I wasn't sure. I was torn between wanting to chat wittily with him to be funny and pleasing and elegant and wanting to run as quickly as I could in the opposite direction without saying a word.

Perrin just stared right back at me, the corners of his mouth turned upwards, his eyes glinting and sparkling.

He knew exactly how I was feeling.

He thought it was funny.

For some reason, this made me a little bit angry, and the anger made me forget, momentarily, about my shyness.

'What is amusing?' I asked.

'Nothing!' he said, shaking his head, his lips twitching. 'Just that ... well, you've got that look, look,' he said. The little bit of anger had now turned into a very big bit. How did this stranger know about my looks looks? How presumptuous of him! 'That "I'm mad with Perrin" look,' he added. 'It's cute but definitely not funny.'

Despite his words, his lips were now twitching uncontrollably.

'No, you're right. It's not funny,' I snapped.

'Just a little bit?' he asked.

'You know, it is the height of impoliteness to make fun of a lady in this manner!' I retorted. It felt like a phrase I had been instructed to say. Or perhaps I read it in a book. I enjoyed saying it. I felt as if I had been longing to use those words.

My pleasure gave way as the twitch in Perrin's lips escalated into a wide and unashamed grin. 'A lady?' he said. 'Right. Lady Tessa Lady Tessa. Is that what you think you are?'

I was furious now. What did he he know? I know? I might might have been a lady. have been a lady.

'Cad!' I growled.

'Fiery,' he whispered. 'Good to see you fiery.'

'What?' I asked. 'What are you talking about? I don't even know know you!' you!'

A shadow pa.s.sed over Perrin's face.

'You don't ... look, forget it, okay? Forget I said anything.' He cleared his throat. 'Hey, I don't think we got the chance to shake hands properly before, because my rude little sister got in the way.' He was smiling again now.

'I don't want to shake hands with you,' I said, but a voice in my head said, Yes you do. You want to hold his hand. You want to hold Yes you do. You want to hold his hand. You want to hold him. To shoo away the unruly, unbidden thought, I focused on being angry. 'I think him. To shoo away the unruly, unbidden thought, I focused on being angry. 'I think you're you're very rude,' I said. 'To laugh at me like that. And to very rude,' I said. 'To laugh at me like that. And to presume presume things about me.' things about me.'

Perrin shrugged. 'Maybe you just need to remember how to harden up, little girl,' he said, winking. 'Now, if you don't mind, I really do need to scram. School awaits, worst luck. I hope I'll see you again, though.'

'If you're lucky lucky,' I bit back.

I turned on my heel and began marching away. It took me a few moments to realise I was marching in completely the wrong direction.

Feeling my stomach churning and the heat blazing in my face again, I stopped and turned around.

Head down, I marched back past Perrin, who was standing, arms crossed, one eyebrow raised. His lips were doing that twitching thing again. Most ungentlemanly.

'Missed me already?' he asked.

'No, Perrin,' I growled as I walked past. 'I just wanted to make sure I remembered your face, so I could run the other way next time I saw it.'

I knew it sounded spiteful and unladylike, but I also knew that I should not put up with his rudeness. He should know better than that. He needed to be reprimanded.

'That's it, little girl. That's what I mean by hardening up. Go, Tessa!'

My face flamed. I hid it and kept walking. 'Goodbye Perrin,' I muttered.

What sort of a name was 'Perrin', anyway? It sounded like a kind of baby bird, not a name for a strapping youth.

It was only when I was had walked a hundred steps away from Perrin, into the hallway that led to Mr Beagle's history cla.s.sroom, that I remembered what Rhiannah had said the night before.

'Now, you know it's going to be difficult tonight,' she said. she said. 'Perrin told me. They've upped their night-time patrols of the grounds. Obviously they think the same as Perrin does. They must think it's important to increase their forces. There are Thylas everywhere tonight.' 'Perrin told me. They've upped their night-time patrols of the grounds. Obviously they think the same as Perrin does. They must think it's important to increase their forces. There are Thylas everywhere tonight.'

Perrin told her. told her.

That's what she said.

Perrin was involved in the same strangeness that Rhiannah and her friends had talked of and created created last night in the moonlight. Yet again, the image of Rhiannah with claws and fangs burst into my mind. But it had been a dream. Just a dream. There were no strange creatures. Perrin wasn't one of them. last night in the moonlight. Yet again, the image of Rhiannah with claws and fangs burst into my mind. But it had been a dream. Just a dream. There were no strange creatures. Perrin wasn't one of them.

You're just tired, I told myself, as I slid into my usual seat, ignoring the words written in blood-red ink on the lip of my desk. 'Tessa is a freak' they said. 'You're probably right,' I whispered at the desk. Certainly, n.o.body normal would have such queer imaginings.

'Good morning, cla.s.s,' said Mr Beagle. 'Today, we will be learning all about Sir John and Lady Jane Franklin, two of the early pioneers of Tasmania ...'

I let his voice mute slightly in my head. I already knew all about Sir John and Lady Jane (though, as with most of the people, places and dates I already knew before Mr Beagle told us, I didn't know why), so I allowed my mind to drift away.

Back to last night.

Back to what Rhiannah had said.

Back to when she mentioned Perrin.

And back to that word she used: Thyla Thyla.

As I thought of it again, my scars p.r.i.c.kled and tw.a.n.ged and the pain was so great, I felt I might cry out.

But I didn't. I held it all inside as tears burned my eyes, and I wondered again on that word. I felt as though it was the key to some mystery. The key to Cat's disappearance, perhaps.

Or the key to my past.

The person I least wanted to see my scars was the one who saw them first.

I was in the washroom at recess time, after a science lesson where I had listened to perhaps one half of what our teacher, Mrs Bush, had told us.

We were learning about the phases of the moon, in preparation for an upcoming cla.s.s astronomy session. At first, I was enthralled by her words. As Mrs Bush talked about the orbits of the sun and earth, and illuminations and eclipses, my skin itched and tingled with excitement. When she told us that the astronomy session would involve a viewing of the full moon the most famous and magical of the lunar phases my ears began to buzz.

As she said, 'It will be an excellent opportunity for us to observe the full moon, in all its glory, with our new telescope, which was kindly provided to us by Mr Lord ...' my scars began to throb.

It was my scars that drew my attention away from what Mrs Bush was saying. Though I was still intrigued by this talk of the moon and its powers, the pain in my scars overwhelmed me. They ached and burned and pounded it felt as though they were coming alive and raising up even more beneath my school shirt. I was very glad I had decided to wear my thick blazer again that day.

I dimly heard the discussion turn to werewolves and contacting spirits. I wanted to listen but my scars hurt so much now it was impossible to concentrate. I closed my eyes and allowed my mind to drift away to other things.

Like Perrin.

I could see his face in my mind, with its strong angles, its white skin, its huge, dark eyes and the jagged scar that slashed across his cheek. I could see his wide, wicked grin, and his sleek, slicked-back hair. I could see the tenseness of his muscles beneath his shirt, and his strong, pale hands.

And I felt quite embarra.s.sed about how I had acted. He wasn't really that that rude to me, and rude to me, and I I had behaved like a banshee. had behaved like a banshee.

I wished I could take it back. I wished I had taken his hand. Though I did not know why, I believed that holding Perrin's hand would be ... thrilling. thrilling.