Outback by Robin Stevenson Page B

for the expedition.”
    â€œExpedition?”
    She turns toward me. “I thought that was why you were here. To help out.”
    â€œUm, with his research. I never heard anything about an expedition.” I wonder if Mom told me and I wasn’t listening.
    â€œSo where’s he going?”
    â€œHasn’t he told you anything ?”
    I shake my head. “I haven’t even talked to him. He and my mom arranged this.”
    â€œYour mom ? God, how old are you?”
    â€œSixteen.” Or close enough.
    She gives an exaggerated groan and turns her attention back to the road.
    â€œWhat’s wrong?”
    â€œForget it.”
    We drive the rest of the way without a word. She drives aggressively, speeding on the highway and zigzagging past other cars in the city. Fine with me. It’s not like I care if we crash.
    The university is a collection of old brick buildings, grassy lawns, paved courtyards. Still not talking, Nat leads me through a doorway and down a long corridor. She walks like she drives: fast, impatient, expecting others to get out of her way.
    â€œJayden! So good to see you!” Mel bursts out of his office and pulls me into a bone-crushing hug. “Wonderful, wonderful. Look at you! My, my. Been way too long.”
    â€œYeah, I know.” I follow him into his office, which is small and windowless, with stacks of files and papers piled on every surface.
    â€œAnd Natalie. Thanks for picking him up.”
    â€œNo problem.”
    â€œWhy the frown, Nat?”
    She shakes her head. “Nothing.”
    Mel cocks his head to one side. He is ten years older than my mom but looks twice that. Leathery sun-browned skin, receding hairline, tobacco-stained teeth, a piercing blue-eyed gaze, which is now fixed on Nat. “Ahhh.” He gives a slow chuckle. “Did my nephew not live up to the fantasy?”
    Nat’s cheeks flame red. “Mel!”
    â€œYou had visions of trekking off with a handsome stranger, and instead you got a high-school kid, is that it?”
    â€œNo,” she protests. “But I don’t think taking someone with no experience is a great idea. Someone who isn’t even out of high school.”
    â€œI’m out of high school now, aren’t I?” I say.
    Mel roars with laughter. “You sure are! You sure are!” He slaps his leg, cracking up.
    I stare at him. It wasn’t that funny.
    Nat shakes her head. “I can tell this trip is going to be a blast.”
    I’m slowly realizing something. “Uh, Nat? Are you coming on this trip too?”
    â€œYeah,” she says. “Of course.”
    â€œMy assistants,” Mel says, nodding. “Both of you.”
    So Nat and I are stuck with each other. Just great. “And where exactly are we going?”
    Mel grabs my shoulder. “Lake Disappointment, my boy! Lake Disappointment!”
    I raise an eyebrow. Not the most promising name. Still…“A lake? Cool.”
    Nat snorts. “If you’re picturing cottages and jet skis, forget it. It’s not that kind of lake.”
    Mel turns to the computer on his desk, sweeps a pile of papers off the keyboard and clicks a picture up on the screen.
    â€œThere you go. That’s our destination.”
    I step closer. The picture is a satellite shot, or maybe an aerial view from a plane. A vastness of desert, brown dry land in every direction, and in the middle of it an irregularly shaped blotch of gray. “That’s it? Wow. Um, why…?”
    He pulls up another picture. A close-up of a bunch of pale green shrubs growing in red dirt, with a pale whitish expanse shining behind it. I assume that’s the lake, but it doesn’t look like any lake I’ve seen before.
    Mel points at the green shrubs. “That’s why. New species, my boy, just waiting to be discovered.”
    â€œOf plants?”
    He shakes his head. “ Ctenophorus nguyarna . They can’t be the only