Wolf Sirens: Forbidden: Discover The Legend (10 page)

I pondered momentarily as we walked in the yellow
winter sun, why Cresida had hated them all so
much. Why Sky had left Sam for Cresida and then
made up with Sam? They seemed to me, like one of
those couples that were made for each other. Why
did he date Cres? Maybe Sky was to blame for her
condition.

Reid held my hand so softly in his as he lead me
back to the spot on the river bank, I wanted to believe
he couldn’t have been the one to kidnap me and he
seemed pleased when he thought I was joining the
troupe. Equally he seemed pained when we discussed
Cresida briefly. That was the last time I thought
about her that day. When we arrived back at the fire
patches, the others were collecting kindling. We ran
through the forest collecting sticks and wood from
the undergrowth. Jackson the smaller of the trio of
boys chased Lily and Bianca. They screamed and
laughed as he grabbed and tickled them. The play
was infectious and my cheeks began to hurt from
smiling, not accustomed to being used. Sky carried
a huge log into the sand clearing and threw it down
and the other boys began to bring in bigger logs.

“Hold up,” said Sam, “we want a camp fire not a
bonfire,” she ordered. The logs were dragged to the
perimeter.“We’ll use them another day,”Jackson suggested. Sky didn’t speak. I noticed he didn’t say much.

“Do other kids come here?”
“Here?”
I waited for a reply.
“No this is our spot,” Reid stated confidently as

Later I learnt a local boy had hung himself years
ago from the tree, which overhung the water hole
with the rope on it. So the rope was all theirs. Small
towns like Shade don’t forget recent tragedy and parents were reluctant to let children roam a landscape
with a history of disappearances.

That first night was like a dream. The afternoon winter clouds seeped in on the unseasonably
warm day and as the sunlight pierced the grey and
white clouds like rays from heaven, the sun began to retreat slowly and the grey turned to a soft
pink. I stopped asking questions, letting the tension out of my shoulders. We started the fire early,
before sundown, and beers were passed around. Sky
handed me one. I looked into his eyes as his hand
touched mine. It was burning warm in contrast to
the wet cold beer pulled from the ice cooler. I made
a decision not to drink too much, so I could keep a
clear head and not say anything stupid. I knew from
past experience I could get a little mouthy under the
influence. God forbid I should say something about
werewolves or Cresida again. I let the setting sun
sink away leaving the sky for the crescent moon. A
pink and grey-clouded sunset crept in as the clouds
rolled over us, and the night made the fire sparkle
fluorescent. We nibbled on cold pizza, I pulled my
hood up to keep me warm, slid down into a wedge
in the coarse sand and let the licking flames warm
me. There was little breeze and the smoke mostly
drifted up to the stars. The guys were talking equipment when a voice rang across the fire.

“Didn’t you say you had to be home by 3.30?”
Sam said through the flames.
I’d wondered where she’d been as she had frequently disappeared, for more than just a few
minutes.I remembered what I had said then, but I
didn’t care tonight and my mum hadn’t called regardless. I didn’t want to offer an explanation. I felt silly
for thinking they would haze me.
“Oh, no, don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” I assured her
yawning. “She hasn’t called.” I sighed calmly, watching the licking flames that heated my face.“Unless
you want me to go?” I looked up at her from where
I lay on the coarse sand, the heat of the fire like a
furnace on my skin.
Reid intervened. “I can take you home, when
you’re ready,”he said with a friendly grin, in the darkness. After a moment a panic suddenly wrenched
through my gut - the curfew. I looked about at them.
They all seemed calm, relaxed, even, unconcerned
with the terror which made my heart pulse. How
could I forget? I felt a hand on my back.“Are you
okay, Lila?” a voice asked. I looked up at Reid’s calm
eyes and soft face. “What is it?” he smiled, concerned.
“What about the curfew?” I squeaked.
“What? Oh.” He laughed and the rest of the
group joined him. I felt silly and I started to relax as
their collective ease and various postures of complete
relaxation surrounded the firelight. I glanced at all of
them.
“We don’t worry about the wolves,” he offered.
The rest of the group chuckled. I thought how everyone had warned me. Was it all a lie? “I thought…”
“No, hey look, don’t worry, you’re with us.” He
rubbed my back as reassurance. I must have looked
confused. “We’ll look after you, don’t worry, okay?”
Jackson chuckled and then covered his mouth
after Bianca nudged him with her hand and continued to chat with Sky and Lily.
“It’s just, my mother will be worried.” She had
warned me repeatedly about the curfew and here I
was lying out in the woods past dark.
“We’re in a group, it’s okay,” Sky’s calm voice assured me through the dark. They had been talking
about netting for prawns when the moon disappeared and he had stopped mid sentence to address
my concern. I listened as their conversation resumed.
Some of the inlets along the coast yielded some good
size prawns on a dark night. Reid was sitting on the
sand, his legs bent, no doubt more than a few beers in
his belly, and his eyes seemed to be squinted, his eyelashes jutted out. He still wore the black shirt, damp
from being splashed by Jackson. His muscles bulged
below the sleeves, his arms glinted a delicious warm
russet colour in the firelight. I gazed at him dreamily.
“She’s drunk,” someone laughed - one of the girls.
“She’s only had one,” a male voice said in the dark.
I ignored them.
“Reid,” I said, crawling over to where he sat. “Tell
me something,” I slurred and my eyes closed. I lay
down in the sand near him. “Did you lock me in the
closet?”
He looked puzzled. He turned to face my direction, his free hand stroked my back. It was hot and
the contact warmed through my clothes.
“Mmmm,” I hummed drowsily. “This has been a
really good day.” And it had been despite the earlier
run-in with Cres. If only I had ignored her form the
beginning, or known her tragic story.
I could hear giggles across the fire and I felt a
flutter of self-consciousness in my chest. I opened
my eyes and Reid leant in and slowly but confidently
laid a soft warm kiss on my lips. My eyes remained
open to watch him as he did. He pulled away and
gazed into my eyes, his face burningly close as he assessed my reaction. His eyes wavered from side to
side, reading my expression. He smiled slightly and I
must have done the same. He put his hot fingertips
gently against my chin between his forefinger and
thumb, leaning in to kiss me again, more passionately
but just as gentle. We lay looking across at each other
and he shuffled over, closing the gap of sand between
us but not pressing himself against me and wrapped
his arm around me lightly. I felt warm and calm. My
heart beat nervously. My side and neck stung a bit
from the gravel and the muscle-ache from being assaulted and locked in the closet but I felt better than
I had in many months.

We started with stretching. I realized quickly I
wasn’t very flexible. A routine run-down followed
when the other girls turned up. I was instructed to
watch.

“There’s a lot of things to be afraid of, this isn’t
one of them Lila.” Sam put her manicured hand on
my shoulder. I watched their performance. Discipline
wasn’t one of my strong points. I considered if I
should get up and leave now.

“Shoulders down - stay with her stop- stop, stop,
stop! – Look, position! - Use your stomach and your
back!” Sam shouted. They were machines, in time
and athletic. The run of abuse continued – “Don’t
loosen your body up. Loose! Tighten up! Keep your
eyes up!” she screamed. “Arms…fix your arms!” I felt
someone’s hand push me.

Sam saw Lily rough me. She glared angrily at
her as we continued to move. So this was ‘Coach
Samantha’ in action. I breathed heavily, and I knew
that most of the yelling was because of me, and not
the people around me. I began to realize how unfit I
was. I took note of their behaviour. I stood stiff like
them and moved when they did, or so I thought. I
nearly bumped into someone, Giny narrowly avoided
my arm but managed to smile at me and we bounded
and sweated, or at least I did. I turned out of time and
gave up as the end came and I missed my position.
“Good!” Sam shouted, “Again!” I had no idea what I
was doing or what they saw in me.

Afterwards Sam handed me a towel and threw
her arm around me on the way out of the hall, rubbing my shoulder in comfort and I learnt she always
left her coach voice in the hall. Pats softly tapped on
my back from the rest of the group, all except Lily
who marched to the side of us.

After four days of practice, morning and night, I
began to get better and I actually picked up the steps.
I didn’t fall over my own feet or hit anyone though
Lily developed a habit of bumping me. I guessed
that it was not out of clumsiness. But I knew I wasn’t
good, not after I saw them in action. They were like
elite gymnasts - each member ate power shakes for
breakfast and pasta at lunch. They were strong and
flexible. They were rhythmic, precise and beautiful,
like a real pod of dolphins powering through the surf
in unison, I imagined. This was my new life and I
was in practice to become one. However I was still a
flapping fish not yet transformed to their impeccable standard, not to mention my thigh and stomach
muscles ached.

“I won’t be good enough in time, Sam,” I admitted. She only patted my back and asked if I would
just learn it, then the style part would follow.

“I’m not fit enough.” But my feeble complaints
fell on deaf ears.
My legs pained as I trudged to class, every muscle
ached. I felt less like a dolphin and more like a jellyfish. Reid came up behind me. I sagged under the
weight of his arm as he casually threw it over my
shoulder, joining me on my way to class. I swayed and
he squeezed me close and almost carried me to visual
art. His warm shirt pulsed with the warmth his body
emitted like steam.
“Has Sam been brutal?”
“You have no idea,” I sighed.
“Don’t worry babe,” he cooed.
“What’s up, L?” asked Jackson.
It began to dawn on me that this group liked me
and so I quickly and easily became one of them. It
was as natural as breathing, and I had become an organic fixture of the ‘in’ crowd.
“God, don’t even ask.”
Reid intervened. “Practice is killing her muscles,”
he offered.
“No, it’s killing me literally,” I moaned.
We entered class and all the other students
stopped talking as we sauntered past to our seats. And
just like that, I was part of the clique, but more than
that. The feeling, which crept up on me, engulfed me
and the tiny desire to be near them grew and fed on
their presence - a feeling I wasn’t familiar with and
perhaps back then I thought it was just happiness.

The whole clique took me out to some unused fields
on the outskirts of town, the grass was dry and in a
clear paddock rimmed with run down fencing. Sky’s
blue ute pulled up. It was loaded with two dirt bikes,
and Bianca and Jackson jumped down from the back.
Sam rode a quad bike and met us. Sky arrived on a
road bike. It looked expensive as he rolled up slowly
and shut off the engine. I couldn’t help but admire
the sleek shiny lines.

The aim of the day was to ride around and take
a few jumps. Sky joined Jackson with a shovel and
they piled a small mountain of dirt. He compacted
the earth with a few beats from the flat side of a large
spade. It was cold and I wore a black quilted jacket.
Whilst I watched, Jackson and Reid rode the squealing dirt bikes through the mud. I viewed them from a
vantage point behind the old fence posts. Sky pulled
a beer from the back of the pickup and came to stand
by me, leaning on the rusted wire. He wasn’t close
enough to allow conversation so we stared out at the
boys taking ridiculous risks, sailing over the mud
jumps and when they almost collided I gasped audibly. Sky laughed. “Shit!” Our eyes met and I wasn’t
sure what to say as I rested my hand over my heart.
Sky offered me a sip of the beer. We each stepped
closer so I could reach it and I tasted the warm wet
saliva from the top as I took a sip of foam. I made out
the line under his shirt of the chain around his neck.

“Are they normally this reckless?” I asked wiping
the foam from my mouth.
Sky took a sip without wiping the rim of the bottle and nodded as he swallowed.
Cold, I dug my hands into my pockets. Sky was
wearing a T shirt and jeans. I noted what it was about
him which was so captivating. He was handsome,
classically so, but his manner wasn’t intimidating.
There was something wounded about him and I
could see it now.
“Do you ride too?” I asked.
“Yeah,” he said, eyes on the track.
I recalled with a cringe his bike, parked behind
me. “I mean obviously you ride, I just mean do you do
that?” I watched Jackson go past and propel from the
mound they had made as he landed. Sky answered,
“I’ll let them have a bit of fun first.” The comment
sounded almost fatherly. Over the roar of the engine
we heard Reid’s nefarious laugh.
“Do you like it?”
“Riding?” he questioned.
I nodded in reply.
“Yeah?” I could see a smile at the corner of his
lips.
“Do you hit the jumps?”
“I try.” He smiled self assuredly. “Do you want a
go?”He raised his eyebrows in a show of genuineness.
“Me, no,” I said unsure. “I’ll have a ride on the
back or something but not over the jumps.” I flushed
with embarrassment. Of course I wouldn’t go over
the jumps.
He laughed a little but resisted the urge to make
fun of me, I guessed.
Later, rain started to drizzle so we packed up as
the clouds rumbled above. Sky offered to let Jackson
ride his bike and Jackson swooped up the keys with
enthusiasm. Bianca and Sam took the four-wheeler,
Sky ended up sandwiched in the front of the Pickup
with Reid in the driver’s seat. I swallowed uncomfortably as his tanned hand brushed mine, the gear stick
separated Reid and me, but I could feel Sky’s warm
thigh against mine even through my jeans. I wished
he hadn’t ridden with us. And perhaps he would have
jumped on the back of the ute with the bikes had it
not started to rain. I began to realize a sweeping feeling. It was unidentifiable but it was there.