Wolf Sirens: Forbidden: Discover The Legend (9 page)

The guys swung from the ropes to rival gymnasts. It was more like
Cirque du Soleil
than a bunch
of adolescent high school boys swinging off an old
tree rope. As I emerged from the path I saw a pile
of clothes on the ground and silver necklace hung
over the twig of a pine tree, which glinted in the sun.
Sky scaled a tree and did a back flip off a branch and
Jackson swung from the rope and managed a summersault before crashing into the dark water.

“Ewe, I felt an eel!” he cried, spluttering and
laughing as he surfaced.
“There’s eels in there?” I asked, uneasy.
Reid nodded. “Yeah,” he admitted unconcerned
as he pulled his shirt over his head and joined them.
I was very glad I hadn’t been enticed in. I noted
Sam was missing. Bianca eventually showed up, out
of the bracken rimmed path, but Lily remained aloof
and sometimes present the entire afternoon and
evening. I assumed she was off by herself. I noted
her returning when she showed from the opposite
direction of the path and said nothing, undressing
hurriedly and jumping into the deep water in her bra
and boy legs, with the boys. Her skin was deathly
pale and I thought for sure she would emerge freezing, but she seemed comfortable, despite her thin
frame and blue veins. She pushed her wet fringe
back from her forehead. Unlike the boys she wasn’t
smiling at me, though. How she could bear the icy
water, which made my fingers numb, I didn’t know.
She swung from the rope like a pro. Her luminescent
green eyes glowed like fairy lights and her red hair
flowed around her in the dark water like a mermaid’s.
I felt plain, gangly and uncoordinated just watching them. Reid wasn’t scared of shouting out to me as
they dove and swam.
“Hey watch Sky…jump in the river.” His smiling
eyes squinted at me through wet lashes, as he pulled
himself out onto the muddy bank. He sat next to me
dripping water onto the granite rock, which I sat
upon. His amber eyes gave away nothing.
“Have you been around town much since you got
here?” His eyes smiled as he spoke.
“No, I’ve been occupied with school.” I shrugged.
“I’ll show you around, if you’d like?” Again he unknowingly flashed his dimples.
“Thanks, that would be nice.”
“Is this your first time at the river?”
I went to say yes, but recalled the summer we
came for a holiday and camped. “I nearly drowned in
this river.” I admitted.
“Here? When?” He sounded genuinely surprised.
“My mother used to live here, she even went to
Shade High. We spent the summer swimming and
the river was deep and I guess I got caught in the
current. My brother was meant to be watching -and
anyway a long story short, this woman saved my life.”
I recalled that it wasn’t really Tim’s fault, because I
was a handful.
“Yeah, and you’ve never been back since?” he
joked. “It does get pretty rough after the rain. It
floods some years, and all the people in the lowlands
get washed out. Who saved you?”
“Um, Tormey Hunter, she was a local.”
“Hey, I know of her, she was a real activist,” he
reminisced.
“Was?” I asked.
“Yeah, she’s passed on, now.”
“Oh,” I said, quietly nodding.
“She lived out of the valley in the next shire over.”
He didn’t tell me how she’d died. I knew she was my
mother’s age.
“I thought you didn’t seem like a city girl!” He
nudged me playfully.
In fact I was a ‘City Girl’. I told him where I had
lived with my parents in the city. I found out where
he lived and how he liked the beach and which classes he preferred. He smiled at me innocently as we
chatted about the school and the town. I wondered
aloud if country kids were tougher than city slickers
like me, because I was sure I couldn’t take the cold
water this time of year.
He, like me, was from the more modest end of
town. His father was a labourer, his mother a factory
worker. They had hit the roof when they found out
he’d quit football practice, though he’d never been
into it. He said he wasn’t his older brother, despite
what his parents thought. Reid confessed he was
a surfer and that his brother had originally introduced him to it. Apparently none of the other guys
were footballers either. Sky had never been, which
shocked me.
Slowly they gathered their towels, Sky took the
necklace off the branch and slipped it over his dripping wet head and we made our way back to the
sandy edges of the river and I wondered if other kids
came here.
The plan for the late afternoon was to light a fire
over the ash spot of the last. “Let’s collect some wood
for tonight,” Sky suggested in an authoritative manner, towelling his chest and shaking his wet hair.
They all stood around in wet and damp clothes,
spotted with water. I was glad they hadn’t asked me
to swim as a cloud swept over the sun; evidently
they were going easy on me. A breeze blew up and I
shivered and my arms goose bumped, though I was
fully dressed and dry. I bit my tongue softly, thinking about how in books werewolves constantly run a
temperature. The water was icy. I had noted this with
Giny, running my hand in the small rapids; the water
ran directly from the Snowy Mountains.
I had to tried not to stare at each of them in some
sort of admiration and at Sky in particular. I had to
make an effort to not let my eyes rest on him - instead
looking at Reid. Him, it seemed, I was allowed to
glance at, and he glanced at me with his light honey
coloured eyes and it made me nervous.

After the swimming the guys threw around a ball for
a while and then Reid asked me if I wanted to go
for a walk. I shrugged not believing this hot popular
guy could possibly like me. With an approving nod
from Giny, I agreed. I doubted he had a nasty bone in
his body. His presence was so jovial, especially when
compared to the rest of the gang, who always seemed
to have a worried expression, like they knew something bad would happen. He nodded at me and he
didn’t say anything to the others because they had
heard him ask me. No one spoke as he did.They were
quiet as even the ball stood still for the moment before I answered. I felt their gazes as he guided me
off the rock and across the river. I looked back as we
crossed, the only eyes still on us were Sky’s. I turned
when I met his gaze and I continued up the embankment, opposite his view from the boulder he leant on.
When I looked again he was gone. Reid asked me
about my mother, why she and I moved here, as he
parted branches for me allowing me to walk through
the willows. I smirked at this; teenage boys in the city
didn’t have quite the same touch, especially not the
ones I’d known.

I told him about my fights with my olds, my suspension, the divorce, my best friend dumping me
for a guy in college, my brother moving away, even
my dad’s new girl friend - all of it except the tattoo and the teasing I had suffered at Saint Agatha’s
All Girls School. He was easy to open up to and he
didn’t judge me when I mentioned the suspension.
When I shivered from the afternoon temperature
drop, Reid offered me his arm and he was warm. He
rubbed my arms, and noticing my tattoo he pulled
my sleeve back exposing it. The sun had re-emerged,
shinning through the shade of a tree and reflected
dappled light over my pale skin. He held it up to better inspect the art work. I let him gently twist it up
to the light. “Cool,” he said finally in admiration. “It’s
finely detailed.”

And for once I didn’t have the urge to be as defensive about it, because I liked him.
I brushed his hand off smoothly and covered it
again with my sleeve.
He watched me, bemusement across his expression.“Gangster!”he teased, smiling wide and nudging
me, “How old were you when you got that?”
“Too young,” I huffed sitting on the granite rock
we had stopped at, which was surrounded by leaves.
“Why?”
“That’s the best part I don’t know, I was just crazy I guess.” I shrugged though I knew why, but it
sounded even more stupid. Peer pressure, I lost a bet;
I wanted to impress a guy. It made me sound weak
and naïve. I did it for a boy. It sounded so desperate
I almost cringed.
“You’re a rebel then,” he offered, still teasing.
“Mmm, yeah, something like that,” I added sarcastically. “It was something to do.”
“So, it’s not only kids in the country who get
bored then, and do crazy shit.”
“Yeah, sorry to break it to you but it’s all more or
less the same.”
“Hmm, yeah,” he agreed casually.
“Can I ask you about somebody?” I questioned
hesitantly.
“Sure, who?” He invited himself to sit next to me
so close our arms touched, but I felt our close proximity was nature to him, so I resisted shifting from it.
I gathered my thoughts. “Cresida.”
“Yeah?” He looked down.
“Is she unhinged?” I asked. He laughed
uncomfortably.
I ignored his chuckle. “Reid, why does everyone
say Cresida’s parent’s aren’t around or present?”
He looked stunned for a moment and then answered, “They aren’t,” his voice cracked quietly.
“Where’d they go?” I asked replicating his tone.
He pointed up; I looked at the blue sky. I knew
instantly what he meant by the gesture.
“How did it happen?” I asked quietly, but before
he answered I blurted, “Is that where she got the
huge scars?”
He looked at my arms and breathed in before
he spoke. “They had an accident driving…it wasn’t
long ago.” His brow furrowed. I’d thought they had
abandoned her. I felt a horrid wave of sorrow in my
stomach.
Judging by his expression I felt it was still too
soon to be casual conversation and too close to home.
I assumed she was in the car, what else could have
caused that kind of mark?
“Do people make fun of her?”
“What?”
“It’s just she seems so crazy, I wondered if maybe
people were cruel to her, you know, take advantage of
her condition?” I frowned softly.
“Her condition?”
“Yeah, I mean, something’s obviously up with
her.” I was certain.
“What makes you say that?”
“Is she getting help?”
“She’s been talking to you?” His voice was calm.
“Yes, well some…” I wasn’t sure now whether she
was nuts.
“What did she say?” he enquired. His black eye
lashes jutted at me.
“Crazy stuff that doesn’t make any sense.” I
laughed a little, uncomfortably. “She said some weird
stuff to me, as though she lives in a make-believe
world - where you guys are the enemy?” I was definitely paraphrasing, and maybe that made it sound
more ridiculous.
“Yeah, well she’s a little confused,” he said
annoyed.
“Since her accident?” I offered.
“Yes, and she took some bad drugs after it and
she’s screwed up.” He shook his head and pursed
his lips.
He didn’t speak again so in the silence I reaffirmed, “She needs help, Reid,” my voice full of
sympathy.
“She’s had help…look don’t get into her business,
okay, its being handled.” Now finally defence coated
his tone. “There’s not a lot that can be done, stay clear
of her,” he warned sympathetically.
“But-”
“Hey, if it were you, would you want to be dragged
off to a nut house. She doesn’t hurt anyone, her aunt’s
looking after her,” he argued.
But I wondered if she had hurt me. “Does she
have any friends?” I was suspicious of an accomplice,
one who had helped her lock me up: a male one.
“No,” he shrugged. “Everyone just leaves her
alone.” I got that he thought that this was an example
I should follow.
“But I saw her with so much food…in the canteen?” I scowled.
“Oh, that. She takes lunches to the…office for
the teachers…or maybe she has imaginary friends
she feeds? Ha.” He tried to laugh.
“It’s just she’s tried to warn me away from you.”
I frowned.
“Really? What did she say?” He sounded curious.
“She…said, this sounds weird, but she said you
were dangerous…for me?” I squinted.
“That’s funny. Me, personally, or all of us?”
“Are you?” I recalled she had then suggested Reid
and Sky would help her keep me from harm. I felt a
little better being alone with him, as I remembered
this remark amongst her ramblings.
“Right now? Not to you.” He shook his head and
smiled reassuringly.
“And I think she sort of kidnapped me,” I stated
tentatively.
“Really?” He looked amazed. “When?”
“Yesterday,” I admitted.
“What did she say? Why?” he said, suddenly intently interested.
“Nothing, one minute I was in the hall on my
way back from the loo, and the next I was gagged and
bound and locked in a store room.” My words came
out flat, but he could see in my eyes I was serious.
He was quiet. “Did you tell anyone?” he asked
concerned.
“I know it sounds nuts, but I was grabbed and
locked in a store room by someone strong, in last period.” My eyes were wide, I knew it wasn’t believable
and that’s partly why I hadn’t told; that and mum
couldn’t cope.
“You didn’t see them?”
“No.”
“It could have been anyone,” he suggested too
quickly.
I knew that it was Cresida but the momentary
thought that it was an unknown terrified me, more.
But at least he seemed to take me seriously.
“Yeah, but they let me out after practice!”
“So you suspect her?”
“She said she didn’t want me to go.” I neglected to mention the video - I wanted to hear what he
would say.
“Oh, were you hurt?” He glanced into my eyes as
if to check.
“No just bruised and frightened, well, I don’t
know, I am a little freaked out. I mean what if she
does it again.” I now had claustrophobia.
“Hey, it’s okay, you’re with us now, and I’ll make
sure you’re okay. Look, please don’t tell anyone what
she did?” he asked. “They’ll drag her off to a mental
hospital.”
I knew he believed me and it wasn’t him who had
helped her; otherwise he was the world’s best actor.
He seemed too honest for that.
“Maybe she would be better off?” I suggested
gritting my teeth.
“No, it’s just more trouble. She’s been through
hell. It’s a miracle she even functions after all the shit
she’s been through, just leave it, I promise I’ve got
your back, she won’t touch you again.” I marvelled at
the fact that he was certain she had been my assailant
and that he was sad rather than angered.
“It was her, wasn’t it?” I confirmed.
“Yeah, I’d say.” He glanced at me and trailed off
thinking.
“I mean, you said she doesn’t have any friends,
anyone to help her?”
“Yeah it was her.”
Alone
, he meant. “She won’t do
it again, I’ll see to it,” he said quietly. I doubted making trouble over it would help.
“Don’t approach her about it,” I said, feeling suddenly sympathetic. “I wasn’t hurt, just scared, and
afterward she said I should hang with you.” I swallowed. “She said I could hang out with you now, she
said she would be watching,” I added worried.
“That’s Cres, alright,” he said looking about. “She
won’t do it again,” he said calmly; probably glad he
wouldn’t have to engage her.
“She wouldn’t…like, come into my house and do
anything scary would she?” As if what she had done
wasn’t frightening enough - “or try it again?”
“No.” He sounded sure, but I wasn’t convinced. I
pulled out the creased note.
He read it.
“She was really strong. She bound my hands, my
face, she gagged me,” I divulged, glad to be able to say
the things that had been swirling in my head. “It’s so
surreal, but that’s what happened.” My lip quivered.
He hugged me. “I’m glad you didn’t tell, you were
really brave.” He reminded me of a soothing parent.
He didn’t ask why I hadn’t told. “I didn’t think
anyone would believe me,” I offered. I was emotional
but I didn’t cry. I now realized it probably was Cresida
by herself, who had kidnapped me. I wiped the single
tear, which welled. “Does she work out?”
“Yeah, a bit, I suppose. It’s good for her…stress
and all.”
“And you?”
“Me? My muscles are all natural.” He nudged me.
I ignored the jest.
“You guys have never toyed with her, have you?”
“No,” he answered soundly and he shook his head
as if to confirm it.
“You haven’t taken part in hazing?”
He continued to shake his head. “Hazing? No,
we’re good kids. Cres became how she is maybe ‘cos
of Sam, but mostly she just had fate deal her a bad
card.” He looked agitated.
“How did Sam cause her to go nuts?”
“She didn’t. I don’t want to get into it, but it’s
nothing. I guess there was a conflict between them
when Cres took Sky away from her and when he went
back to Sam and Cres’s olds died she was changed,
she got more into drugs – she’s damaged.” He was
right, it sounded like she’d been through a lot.
It occurred to me to ask if she was right, if they
were werewolves, but I felt silly asking if they were
monsters, so I asked, “Were you close?”
He pinched up his mouth. “No, just her and Sky.
Do me a favour and don’t mention her, especially
when he’s around, please?” I could see he was bothered himself and he was glad I hadn’t implicated her
in assaulting me.
“I’m sorry…I’ll stay away from her, as long as
you’ve got my back I won’t tell.” I didn’t want trouble
either, with anybody. I was glad to have their confidence and I believed him when he said he would
protect me. And I believed Cresida when she gave
me permission to join them, so she wouldn’t try and
stop me again. Though I had no idea why she had
this sudden change of heart, perhaps she regretted
what she had done to me.
“Thanks.” He threw an arm around me and gave
a gentle squeeze.
“Heavy stuff, huh?” I offered, attempting to lighten the mood. He slipped the paper in his pocket and
I pretended not to notice.
“You have no idea, beautiful.” He still didn’t ask
why I hadn’t told when she let me out, but I felt I had
said too much and left it. I knew the reason I hadn’t
told was that I had no one to tell.
I touched his arm, sympathetically. He winced at
the coldness of my fingertips on his skin and then
wrapped his huge hot fingers in mine to remedy the
problem with a reassuring smirk.
He hugged me then and I gladly let him, and I
melted into his taught warm body and inhaled the
smell of his t- shirt, the smell of warm washing powder and that odour that a well-used iron steams into
cotton. My mother had never ironed my clothes
but I knew the smell, I knew this meant his mother
lovingly toiled over his shirts.
No one wanted to talk about Cresida’s parents or
her for long. Under the new feelings Reid induced
in me I didn’t feel the urge to prod for any more answers. I wondered deep inside me if it was still part
of a hazing prank, that Cresida’s stunt was part of it
that had gone wrong, somehow. But I didn’t want to
go home or be cautious any longer, not when I could
be with Reid.
Was Cresida lurking around spying somewhere?
I believed Reid, they weren’t friends with her now,
but she had once been in with them, until her parents
were killed and she was traumatized, maybe damaged. I felt sorry for her. I agreed to stay away from
her from now on, though I didn’t need Reid to tell
me that was a good idea. But she haunted me, as she
had when we first met outside my house.
I felt Reid was more emotionally involved than
the group made him seem over the circumstances
surrounding Cresida. I wasn’t sure about the others.
“You’ll be fine, you’re with us now,” he soothed.
He held me. God knows I needed someone to hold
me. He smelt of deodorant and I nuzzled my face
into his chest.
After a while I asked him what had been puzzling me, since Sam said he liked me this morning.
“Did you notice me, the first day of school?” I
teased nudging him back softly.
“Yeah, I noticed you, everyone did.”
“Why? Was it because I was new? No one spoke
to me?” I said amazed.
I wondered if I was pretty but didn’t ask, as I
knew he would tease me. If I was, it wasn’t the obvious gleaming beauty he and his friends obtained.
I was decidedly more like Giny, maybe slightly better looking than her I supposed, otherwise he would
date her, although he wasn’t with Lily or Bianca either, and as far as I could tell they weren’t otherwise
taken. Perhaps I’d underestimated myself and I liked
that thought.
“They’re shy.” He smirked offering an excuse for
the other students at school.
“They are, or you are?” I retorted.
“Both,” he decided.
“So new girls with hoodies intimidate you?” I
teased back.
“Huh?” He smirked. “Yeah and baggy jeans.” He
tugged on my pant leg raising his eyebrows.
“Oh, well, I’ll wear my Calisthenics uniform on
Monday,” I joked.
“So you’ll join?” he asked, suddenly curious.
“I don’t know,” I breathed looking into his eyes.
I wanted to ask him a million things from ‘why me?’
to whether he noticed how the entire student body
ignored me, to crazy things like whether he was a
freaky half animal – I decided it was too weird and
the other things I felt he would avoid answering.
He smiled wide and deep then and helped me up
off the rock with two hot hands, which he reached
out to pull me up gently. I winced.
“Sorry,” he blurted, “too rough?”
“What, no, I just have a few bruises from
moving…and…”
“What?” he asked and as I looked into his gentle
waiting amber eyes, I realized I didn’t want to mention it again, so I pretended “It’s just your hands were
so warm?”
“Men are physically warmer than women.”
“So you’re just naturally hot then?” I teased.
“Yeah,” he laughed, “I’m very warm.” And I knew
he was.