Darkhaven

Cecelia allowed me to stay, but she would not be distracted from her revision. I hadn’t even brought any study notes with me, but I had other research to do. I asked to borrow Nancy’s laptop and kept out of Cecelia’s reproving-glare range. Plan settled, I went to bed before she did, feeling content for the first time in a long time.

In the morning, while Cecelia was still working (had she even gone to bed? I asked her, and paid for that mistake by having my head bitten off) I took a drive and cruised past Dad’s house. He wasn’t back yet. Good. I let myself in and went to his office, rummaging around in his desk. He would notice of course, but by then it would be too late. I took what I needed and snuck back out, pausing in my bedroom to retrieve the TISC handbook from the floor and throw it in the bin. It was a token gesture, since I was pretty sure I’d missed the deadline anyway, but it felt good. I arrived at the exam with ten minutes to spare.

Somehow, I did okay with human biology, although my textbook was still sitting where I’d left it a week ago, under the clothes on my desk at Dad’s. Having my intuition back helped. So did having tossed the TISC book and all that stress in the bin. After the exam, I ushered Cecelia into the car to enact my plan. She was still going over questions.

‘Section A was fine, I mean, multiple choice, that’s not even really a test. And Section C was easy, the essay questions on the endocrine system were good. But I think there was some stuff in B, the Krebs cycle, that I missed.’

‘Cecelia.’

‘Question two was ugly, it –’

‘Cecelia!’

‘What?’

‘It’s over. The exam is over. High school is over,’ I said. ‘We need to go and celebrate.’

Cecelia pouted. ‘Well, I don’t know, I need to come up with a plan to stay sharp over the summer, uni is like, five months away, and it’s easy to forget everything.’

I suppressed my grimace. As easy as a jab with a miniature needle. ‘Well, you can start your summer revision program tomorrow. Today, we forget about school.’

She relented. ‘Milkshakes at the Shack?’

I shook my head. ‘Surprise.’

I refused to answer her questions, or talk about the exam, as I drove us across the city. Driving was easier now, with my intuition back. The day was hot and sunny.

‘Oh!’ Cecelia exclaimed as we turned down the driveway of Perth Creature Rescue.

I grinned as I searched for a car park. ‘I figured you weren’t up for drinking at the beach with the rest of our year group, so I thought you could help me choose a puppy.’

‘What?’ Cecelia exclaimed, eyes dancing. ‘You never told me you were getting a puppy! Where are you going to keep it?’

‘Dad’s place has a big enough yard. School’s over, so I have heaps of time for training and puppy classes. I’ve been thinking about it for a while, and you know I’ve wanted a dog for years. I feel like now is the time.’

Cecelia looked suspicious. ‘Do Jon and Alex know about this?’

I smirked as I switched off the engine. ‘Not exactly. But I deserve it.’ I pulled Dad’s credit card from my pocket. ‘Dad has kindly agreed to fund it.’

Cecelia’s face darkened. ‘That sounds a lot like stealing, Gabby.’

‘Oh come on, don’t be like that. He’s always felt bad about being away so much, and he said if there was anything he could do to make it up to me, I just had to ask.’

‘Yes,’ Cecelia folded her arms. ’Ask.′

‘Well, then he flew to Canberra, so I’ll ask later. He’ll say yes.’

She hesitated, uncomfortable at the edges of her well-defined ethics, but her arms unfolded and her face lit up. ‘Fine, let’s go. I’m getting cat cuddles!’

Cecelia jumped out of the car and skipped to the door. I walked. A dog had been in the back of my mind all year. Dad had never let me get one because he thought that as a kid, I couldn’t handle the responsibility of moving it between two homes, and as a teenager, I needed to focus on high school. But those two excuses were now moot. The idea of bringing a dog with me to Darkhaven made the whole move much less daunting. After ten minutes of deliberating over asking the bitch anything, I had sent Donovan a text that morning.

Do you know much about dog training?

Absolutely nothing.

I was thinking about getting a puppy.

Talk to Cat. Her parents were breeders.

Catherine had agreed to help me train a puppy. Of course Cecelia didn’t know about Darkhaven or the other people in my life. She hadn’t asked about Alex or how I was feeling, and I suspected Donovan might have gotten to her too, although it was entirely possible that exam stress and study had simply pushed all other information and events out of her brain.

We visited the cat section first. Rows of boxes lined the walls, Perspex panels allowing the cats to watch the activity outside, and cat-sized doors in one side of the box led to private burrows the cats could hide in. The boxes had their own central ventilation system. At least half of the Cat Hotel was occupied: cats that had been found on the street, or given up, or seized by animal welfare officers. Cecelia found a big fluffy calico with ginger patches and asked to pet him. He smooched and purred, rubbing his head against her hand.

‘He likes you,’ the girl showing them around observed. ‘I can get some forms for you if you like.’

Cecelia sighed. ‘Oh, I’m sorry, I can’t, my dad is allergic.’

I reached towards the Perspex front of a box containing a short-haired black cat, whose name was Thunder. The cat shrank back, hissing, then disappeared through its escape hatch into its private box, where I could just see a glint of green eyes.

Some of the dogs were friendlier, but a lot of them were timid and cowered away from a group of approaching humans. There weren’t many in the Dog Resort. Apparently they’d had a big adoption drive last week, so most of the dogs who were ready to move to new homes had gone.

‘What sort of environment are you bringing the dog to?’ the girl asked. ‘Will it be noisy, quiet, have kids, other pets, lots of space?’

‘Um, no kids,’ I said, glancing around. Cecelia was still in the cat area. ‘A cat, a few people and, um, possibly noisy activity. So I guess it has to be good with that.’

The girl gave me a puzzled look. I regarded the dogs one at a time, feeling into my intuition. Some of the faces were cute, but I sensed that none of them were a good fit for me. I had no idea what I would be doing at Darkhaven next year, but I suspected it wasn’t going to be entirely quiet and peaceful. ‘I probably need something pretty resilient,’ I admitted.

‘You’re best with a puppy then, so you can socialise it,’ the girl said. ‘We don’t have puppies around for long, they’re popular. But we did have a litter of Maltese/Shih-Tzu’s come in yesterday. You could select one and pick it up next week.’

‘They’re tiny, right?’ I asked, to be polite. No way was I having a yipping pom-pom for a dog. That was almost as bad as a cat.

She nodded. ‘Small dogs. Quite fluffy, very cute.’

I stared at the fearful brown eyes of a brindle bitza huddled into her bed. My heart ached, and I although I didn’t know exactly what my future held, I sensed she wouldn’t cope with it.

‘Oh, I know,’ the girl’s eyes widened. She reached into her pocket for her phone. ‘I have a friend who picked up a puppy last week and found out this morning that her husband is getting transferred interstate and they can’t keep him. He’ll be a handful. And big. Do you have experience training dogs?’

‘My housemate used to train huskies,’ I told her. Close enough.

‘Perfect! I can fix you up with everything you need,’ she said, already bouncing back to the front shop where she started to fill a basket with food supplies and poop bags.

‘This is great, she was worried she wouldn’t find a home for him. Malamutes get dumped all the time.’

‘What gets dumped all the time?’ Cecelia asked, wandering back in from the Cat Hotel, her blue blouse covered in white fur. I just grinned.

Salt was a ten-week-old German Shepherd/Alaskan Malamute cross with a fluffy white coat, a wolfish head and what would eventually be a plumed tail arching over his back. I’d heard malamutes were difficult and hoped he had a good dose of shepherd obedience or whatever it was that made them ideal police dogs.

Despite my concerns, I sensed that we would be friends for a long time. I was free to name him however I liked, but Salt – a nickname from his breeder, not because of his white coat, but because he’d snuck into their kitchen and smashed the salt shaker on the floor, twice – suited him. He had slightly darker fur around his ears and eyes, humongous paws and a cute little grin. The previous owners agreed to give him to me for a donation to the animal shelter, happy just to have found him a home. I was generous with Dad’s credit card.

I took the twenty-page instruction booklet that the breeder had provided and loaded the car with the crate, puppy pen and a box of toys, food and other paraphernalia, grateful that I had a hatchback. Salt sat on Cecelia’s lap on the way home, sticking his little black nose out the gap in the window and leaving slobber all over the glass.

Dad called while we were driving back to the city. ‘Hey Gabby, how are you?’

‘Driving,’ I replied.

‘Hands-free?’

Nope. ‘Yep.’

Cecelia rolled her eyes.

‘Are you coming home tonight? You know you still have to stay with a legal guardian.’

‘There’s no law about that,’ I said. Or maybe there was. ‘Anyway, I’m coming home. I have a surprise to show you.’

‘Does this have anything to do with my missing credit card?’

I gave him a cheeky ‘maybe’ and hung up. Grinning like a maniac.

‘Will he be mad?’ Cecelia asked, now holding up Salt’s head because he wanted to snooze but also have his nose on the window ledge.

‘Nah. Dad is pretty good with this stuff.’

‘You know you’re going back to school next year? Uni is school.’

‘I’m not going to uni,’ I said, not looking at my friend.

‘Of course you are! You can take a gap year – I’ll let you do that – but then you’ll have to get a job, and you’ll have even less time.’

I elbowed her, causing me to jolt the steering wheel. ‘You’ll let me take a gap year? How generous.’

‘Stay on the road!’ she cried, clasping Salt a little tighter, but she laughed. We fooled around all the way home. Salt melted Dad in about thirty seconds, and a minute later had Dad whipping up a homemade puppy treat in the kitchen.

Cecelia and I flopped on the couch. I finally let her vent about all the injustices in the exams, which she had no doubt passed with high nineties anyway, and considered how grateful I was that I had a friend who would trust me, and not pressure me. Well, except for my studies. That one wasn’t going to let up. She looked tired though. Dad noticed that too and, after Salt had been set up with gourmet treats for a week, made his apparently famous world’s-most-nourishing chicken soup for dinner, with crusty bread.

After dinner, Cecelia crashed in the spare bedroom. Salt was asleep in his bed, which had come with him so something would be familiar, arranged on the living room floor with a bunch of toys in his new pen. Dad and I stayed up, sitting on the rug next to the pen.

‘Exam stress hasn’t hit you so much?’ he asked, sipping at a mug of peppermint tea.

I shrugged. ’They weren’t great. But I had other stuff going on, Jan.′ I let that hang. He was quiet, looking at the carpet. I gave him time.

‘I have to keep up appearances,’ he said. ‘I’m sorry I couldn’t help you more at Darkhaven. But if I stay in Luci’s inner circle, I can help you now. I’ll find out where she is.’

I nodded. I didn’t like it, but it made sense. I suspected he was withholding something, but my intuition suggested that he was genuinely on my side of things. In his mind, at least.

‘What does Alex know?’ he asked.

‘Nothing,’ I said, voice flat.

‘What’s the cover story?’

‘There isn’t one.’

‘Oh.’ I knew he knew what I meant, despite my not being able to say it. ‘Well, that’s good.’

‘Is it?’ I met his gaze, desperate, anguished.

‘You did the right thing. It’s always hard when it’s family.’ He drained his tea. ‘I’m off to bed. Goodnight, Gabby.’

He left me staring at my hands as they absently rolled a puppy toy around and wondering which family members’ memories he’d modified. Finally, I went to bed, even though the evening hadn’t cooled and it was too hot to sleep.

Salt started crying the moment I left, so I pulled the sheet off my bed and stretched out on the couch. He settled, but I lay awake. What kind of world was I in, now, where that conversation could even happen? However nice Dad was being, there was a distance between us that hadn’t been there before. But I’d made it through the school year, I still had my friends and I’d made a decision about Darkhaven. I could only hope that Donovan would honour Stephen’s offer for me to keep my friends and family, but I had to follow through regardless. Luci was still out there. And now Zenna was tangled up in something connected to my Event, even if she didn’t know. I turned over, trying to get comfortable, and stared out the window. There was no moon tonight, and the stars seemed brighter than usual, sparkling across the sky like magic dust. Despite my grief and worries and questions, I still tingled with my earlier sense of optimism. High school was over. TISC decisions were done. I was joining Darkhaven, discovering more about human potential than I’d ever imagined.

And it was quite possibly magic.