the car. Something in the hessian sack she was carrying shifted. Whatever it was, it was the size of a large cat.
Kite shivered and rubbed her fingers over her St Christopher. Maybe her sleep-deprived mind was playing tricks on her, conjuring up all these strange images in its attempt to make sense of what
had happened to Dawn. For the first time in her life she wished that she believed in something. She wished that Ruby had forced her to accompany her to church every week to sing in the choir and
pray. Maybe if Kite could believe that Dawn had gone to a better place, then she would find a way to accept what Dawn had done, forgive her even. She would love to believe that Dawn’s spirit
was now set free into a peaceful haven, beautiful beyond human understanding. But the vision of Dawn’s pitiful grave kept returning to her. Out of all the feelings she had about Dawn, it was
the guilt that she hadn’t been able to help her best friend that was eating her up, feeding off her so that she felt all shrivelled up inside.
Mirror Falls
‘Come on! You can make it!’ urged Seth as their car spluttered up the hill. ‘Good job we’re all stocked up on food! I would have liked to see the place
in the light though,’ he complained as they bumped along the final stretch of track. The light was fading fast as the courtyard and Mirror Falls came into view. The place was bathed in an
eerie pink light, making the surrounding trees and the outline of the single-storey glass building resemble an etching. It appeared to Kite like an enormous glass barge jutting off the landscape,
or perhaps a giant icicle.
‘I’m feeling the pressure now,’ gasped Seth. ‘Sid’s obviously expecting me to produce something completely original, sending me here!’
The sound of the waterfall was deafening. Kite vaguely remembered Seth saying something about it being directly under the building, but she’d had no idea what to expect. She opened the car
window all the way down to let in the thunderous noise that seemed powerful enough to block out her thoughts. She felt as if she had entered some sort of parallel reality.
‘I’ll get out here!’ she announced.
‘I knew you’d be excited,’ Seth called after her, as he drove off the dirt path and pulled into the sloping courtyard. It was made of large sandstone slabs, flattening out at
the entrance – an imposing-looking sliding glass door. To its left was a giant earthenware pot containing a Japanese tree with spindly acid-green arms. Kite pressed her face against the cold
glass and peered inside. There was a clear view from the entrance into the whole house. Through the kitchen she could see a wide corridor that opened out on to another huge room, with a spiral
staircase to one side. Beyond that the room expanded further, ending in another mammoth window that mirrored the entrance. So they had come to an open-plan, see-through house! Unsettled, Kite began
to wish that they were staying somewhere more normal, like the stone cottages with little protected windows and wild-flower gardens they’d passed on the way.
‘The key is under the loose brick next to the acer!’ Seth read the instructions out loud and wandered over to the huge pot. ‘I wouldn’t have thought this plant was
indigenous to the area!’ he commented as he lifted the brick and took out an electronic key. ‘Mind you, neither is this house! Open sesame!’ he laughed as he swiped the key-card
across a metal sensor panel.
Not for the first time, Kite felt like running away from Seth.
‘I’m just going to see the waterfall.’ She walked back out into the courtyard.
‘Don’t be long,’ Seth called after her.
She discovered a narrow path that fell away steeply below her. From somewhere under the building a great jet of water spurted out of a hole in the rock and dropped away into a chasm below. Kite
walked on a few paces and froze. On a jagged ledge, just beyond reaching distance, lay the skeleton
Kite shivered and rubbed her fingers over her St Christopher. Maybe her sleep-deprived mind was playing tricks on her, conjuring up all these strange images in its attempt to make sense of what
had happened to Dawn. For the first time in her life she wished that she believed in something. She wished that Ruby had forced her to accompany her to church every week to sing in the choir and
pray. Maybe if Kite could believe that Dawn had gone to a better place, then she would find a way to accept what Dawn had done, forgive her even. She would love to believe that Dawn’s spirit
was now set free into a peaceful haven, beautiful beyond human understanding. But the vision of Dawn’s pitiful grave kept returning to her. Out of all the feelings she had about Dawn, it was
the guilt that she hadn’t been able to help her best friend that was eating her up, feeding off her so that she felt all shrivelled up inside.
Mirror Falls
‘Come on! You can make it!’ urged Seth as their car spluttered up the hill. ‘Good job we’re all stocked up on food! I would have liked to see the place
in the light though,’ he complained as they bumped along the final stretch of track. The light was fading fast as the courtyard and Mirror Falls came into view. The place was bathed in an
eerie pink light, making the surrounding trees and the outline of the single-storey glass building resemble an etching. It appeared to Kite like an enormous glass barge jutting off the landscape,
or perhaps a giant icicle.
‘I’m feeling the pressure now,’ gasped Seth. ‘Sid’s obviously expecting me to produce something completely original, sending me here!’
The sound of the waterfall was deafening. Kite vaguely remembered Seth saying something about it being directly under the building, but she’d had no idea what to expect. She opened the car
window all the way down to let in the thunderous noise that seemed powerful enough to block out her thoughts. She felt as if she had entered some sort of parallel reality.
‘I’ll get out here!’ she announced.
‘I knew you’d be excited,’ Seth called after her, as he drove off the dirt path and pulled into the sloping courtyard. It was made of large sandstone slabs, flattening out at
the entrance – an imposing-looking sliding glass door. To its left was a giant earthenware pot containing a Japanese tree with spindly acid-green arms. Kite pressed her face against the cold
glass and peered inside. There was a clear view from the entrance into the whole house. Through the kitchen she could see a wide corridor that opened out on to another huge room, with a spiral
staircase to one side. Beyond that the room expanded further, ending in another mammoth window that mirrored the entrance. So they had come to an open-plan, see-through house! Unsettled, Kite began
to wish that they were staying somewhere more normal, like the stone cottages with little protected windows and wild-flower gardens they’d passed on the way.
‘The key is under the loose brick next to the acer!’ Seth read the instructions out loud and wandered over to the huge pot. ‘I wouldn’t have thought this plant was
indigenous to the area!’ he commented as he lifted the brick and took out an electronic key. ‘Mind you, neither is this house! Open sesame!’ he laughed as he swiped the key-card
across a metal sensor panel.
Not for the first time, Kite felt like running away from Seth.
‘I’m just going to see the waterfall.’ She walked back out into the courtyard.
‘Don’t be long,’ Seth called after her.
She discovered a narrow path that fell away steeply below her. From somewhere under the building a great jet of water spurted out of a hole in the rock and dropped away into a chasm below. Kite
walked on a few paces and froze. On a jagged ledge, just beyond reaching distance, lay the skeleton
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