My iPhone was buzzing in my pocket while I was picking up the luggage. I felt so stiff after fifteen hours in the plane. I yawned hugely then saw Alice’s number on the screen.

“Hello?”

“Hi. You must be Sophia, am I right?” a voice came out from the speaker. Her voice was much different from mum’s.

“Yes.”

“I’m quite busy at this hour. So, there will be this guy, Sam will be picking you up. I’m very sorry for not picking you up.” I could hear her noticeable Australian accent. She described Sam and again apologized for not picking me up. I hung up and found my luggage waiting for me.

I hadn’t realized how huge Australians are. No wonder most rugby players come from Australia and New Zealand. I felt like I was a doll or a child there. Mum wasn’t tall either.

It was also hot. The opposite of how cold it was in the London. I wasn’t wearing my coat anymore or I would sweat a lot. I was wearing a blouse and jeans.

I waited at McDonald’s as I was supposed to. I nearly doze off waiting until ten minutes later, a guy who looks older than me entered. He had penetrating blue eyes and brownish blond cropped hair was sticking out in every direction. He wore a Polo Haus brand t-shirt and a three-quarter pants just like Alice described. His blue eyes stopped searching as he found me leaning on the glass, half asleep. He was as huge as I guessed.

“Are you Sophia?” he asked. I nodded and stood up, nearly lost my balance because I was sleepy. “Did you have anything for lunch?” I listened to his deep voice. It was familiar. Have I met him before? There was a strange strong feeling of déjà vu. He woke me from my reverie after snapping his fingers.

“No.”

He smiled and patted his pocket. “It will be my treat then.”

“Thanks.”

Sam got me a burger and Coke. He sat opposite of me and studying me eating, which made me uncomfortable. No one had ever examined me eating or he had never seen anyone eat before.

“What?” I asked when he kept staring at me for the last five minutes. I felt irritated. I put down the half-eaten burger and sipped some Coke while waiting for his answer. The Coke helped me fight my heavy lids.

“I have never seen anyone eaten a burger as fast as you.”

I snorted. “Impossible. I am not the biggest loser.” I continued eating. “How did you recognize me quickly in the restaurant?”

His hand reached over and showed me my front layer of my hair that turned white. “It runs in your family.”

I didn’t understand what he meant by that. Mum’s hair didn’t change and neither do dad’s. I jerked away and his hands automatically retreated. He stared at something on the table. I saw nothing interesting there so I took another bite on my burger. Silence occurred between us for a moment. I asked, “Are you my cousin or something?”

He suddenly burst into laughter. I looked around to see if anyone stared at us after hearing his too loud laughter. To my surprise, no one did. It must be common among them. “I work for Alice actually.”

“Oh . . .” I didn’t know what to say. Alice must be very rich to hire Sam to pick me up from the airport. “How old are you, Sam?” I asked to pull his attention away from another silence around us other than the screaming children at the playground. Sam looked like he was a little too young to work for Alice, but I had to ask to feed my curiosity.

“Nineteen. Do I look old for my age?”

“No. You look young for your age,” I corrected.

He rolled his eyes. “Okay then, how old are you? You couldn’t be that old with your hair like that.”

“Don’t bring up the topic about my hair and a grandmother. I’m sixteen, seventeen exactly in two months time. Today is February 11th, right?”

“No offence, okay? I’m just curious. Are you done so we could get on the road?”

I sipped the last drop of Coke before answering him, “Yeah, I’m done.” Sam helped me carry my luggage and led me to the parking lot. Sam stopped by a Toyota Hilux. I sat on the front seat and he put my luggage in the boot. He started the engine and I couldn’t fight my heavy lids any longer.

When I woke up, we were still in the car. I shifted my position to face the road. A small part of me hoped that I didn’t snore just now.

“Are we there yet?” I asked.

“Not yet. We are not far though,” Sam replied. I leaned my head on the window, waiting for sleep to find me again but I was restless. “What are you looking forward to when you are in Australia?” Sam asked to break the silence in the car.

“The city. I want to see the famous Sydney Oprah House and then see kangaroos and dingo. There’s so much that I want to see including the ones that I didn’t even know that exist.”

“I will bring you there someday,” he promised.

I smiled and looked at the view outside. There were lesser buildings and more lands. I could nearly smell the fresh air from Mother Nature. The smells smell like home. And then pancake scent entered my mind. I remembered mum making pancakes for breakfast. Dad came down and announced we were going to visit my favorite and only cousins in Liverpool. My cousin who was a year older than me, Stephanie invited me going shopping. Eventhough she was older than me, she was very childish. Philip would talk the whole day with my other cousin who was around his age. Boys. They will talk about things girls shouldn’t know so I didn’t bother to ask but he couldn’t mind his own business. He just had to ask whatever I talked to Stephanie about but I didn’t tell him anything.

“Ooh… look at what’s playing, Sophie. Vampires! Want to watch?” she asked me. We were almost the same as we both love to watch fantasy and romantic movies. I didn’t mind nicknames. If anyone calls me Sophie, I knew instantly it was Stephanie because she was the only one who calls me with nicknames.

“Here we are,” Sam announced. My thoughts came back to the present. I missed Stephanie. I missed everyone at home including mum. Sam turned the Hilux into a narrow road. I saw a huge mansion and a barnyard half hidden behind the mansion.

“Wow.” That was all I could say. Mum could have gotten all this, except that she didn’t. She refused all the land Gran offered to her.

Sam parked the Hilux and came out of the truck. I followed him. He put down my luggage on the front door.

“Okay. I have got to go to work. I’ll see ya around, Sophia,” Sam said.

“See ya,” I tried to say in an Australian accent unsuccessfully. Sam laughed at my attempt and left.

I knocked on the door twice. A girl younger than me opened the door. As she opened, I got the shock of my life. So that was what Sam meant by running in my family. The girl had white front layer of her hair. She reminded me of the younger me. She was exactly like me. I swore that I just saw her eye colour changed! Just like mine.

The girl smiled at my shocked reactions. “You must be Cousin Sophia.”

I felt like I was going to get a heart attack now but I was in control of myself. “Cousin?” I repeated. Why didn’t mum tell me that I had a cousin in Australia too? I must have looked dumb to stare at her if she was real.

The girl nodded and said, “I’m Valerie. You look like an older version of me!” Valerie amazed me like she could read my mind.

“You are Alice’s daughter?” I asked to make sure there are no misunderstandings like she was my past and came to the future or she was my long lost sister. One brother was enough for me to handle.

“Yeah, I’m sure mum told Aunt Anne about me but Aunt Anne wouldn’t listen as usual. She wouldn’t listen to whatever mum said,” Valerie explained. I pictured mum as the bad guy now. Why didn’t she want to visit Gran and Alice for, who knows how long?

“What about Gran then? Where is she?”

It took her awhile for her to answer me. “You don’t know? Gran is dead for ten years.” Mum didn’t even know that Gran died. A decade ago? How could she not know? Her very own mother passed away. “Come in. I will show your room.” She led the way in the huge mansion. The house looked bigger in the inside from the outside. The living room wall was crowded with portraits of different people. I was mystified over most of the picture of the women who had almost the same features as me and Valerie. The kitchen was near the living room. My room was on the first floor next to Valerie’s room.

“Call me if you need anything.” Valerie left me in my room. I opened the window and sat on the bed. I have a lot to do. I changed my clothes into my short pants and an ‘I Love London’ t-shirt. I put the iPhone earplugs into my ears and tap on the music icon. While unpacking my clothes, I received a message from Victoria. I told her about Sam and Valerie. Victoria said Sam must be hot and she would like to meet him someday. I giggled and sent her that he is working for Alice and not attracted to me. As I texted, I remembered the way he stared at me in the restaurant. It was so weird. It was like he was expecting something. After I was done unpacking and Victoria was bored of texting me, I felt oddly tired so I brushed my teeth and washed my face. I lay down on the bed, not bothering to check the time.

Suddenly, I couldn’t sleep. I kept on staring at the ceiling. The biggest question in my head that I was dying to know was Sam’s familiar voice. Every time he said my name, I felt like screaming to shake away the dream. That’s it! He was in my nightmare and the . . . sabre-toothed tiger. It’s impossible for him to enter my dream and ruined my life. Except that if we were in the movies, of course.

There was a knock on the door that made me jump a little. I dragged myself to the door.

It was Alice. I recognized her instantly from the photograph mum showed me on the other day. She was as short as mum. She was like mum. They must be twins or something. The brunette hair, brown eyes and the smile are similar. They scared me to death. It was like I had two mothers instead. I could tell that she was excited to see me.

“You have no idea how long I was waiting for you, Sophia,” she said.

I stood awkwardly by the door.

“You look like your mother when she was younger. How is she?”

“Healthy and well back home. So are dad and Philip,” I told her.

She was suddenly confused. “Philip?”

“Philip is my brother.” Alice didn’t know that I have a brother? Mum mustn’t have told her about Philip just because of what she argued with dad. The legend. It seemed ridiculous of her to believe it. Alice nodded as her confusing expression on her face disappeared. She still looked surprised.

“I almost forgot. Let’s get down to business so follow me outside.”

“Why?” I questioned. She didn’t answer and left my room.

I followed Alice out of the house just like she requested. We reached a race track. It was bigger than what I thought it would be.

I could see something coming towards us. At first it was blurry because of the hot sun burning my eyes then it was human sitting on a beautiful animal. The human was Sam. I recognized the same clothes he wore to pick me up from the airport. The animal was something I couldn’t believe it was one. It was a horse.

My hands reached out to touch it. His fur was soft and meant to be stroked. His heart was thumping furiously after his run and his breathing were uneven. I just absolutely love it.

The horse looked at me. It looked like it was smiling at me.

“His name is Red,” Sam told me. He got down from Red and went to my side. “He’s the fastest horse around here. He is yours.”

My eyes widen and my mouth opened with a pop. Sam smiled at my reaction. I turned to face Alice. “He is mine?” I asked her. Why would she give me one of her most valuable horse to me than sell him for millions?

She smiled too and nodded. Her face went blank straight away when she turned to face Sam. His smile vanished. “We need to talk,” she said to Sam. I paid less attention to them. They left me with Red. I looked at them walking further away from me. I wondered what they were talking about. Alice’s face was so similar to mum’s moody face back home.

I continued stroking Red. “What are they talking about, Red?” I asked Red. What’s the use of speaking to an animal that didn’t understand a word I was saying to him?

Alice was back with Sam within a few minutes. That was quick. Sam stopped walking meters away from me and Alice. “What do you think of Red?” she asked.

“He’s unimaginable! Thank you,” I told her.

Alice smiled in reply. “You have to do something for me next week.”

“What?”

She leaned on the fence and sighed. “I registered you in Val’s school and …”

“What?” I interrupted. “Me? You want me to go to school next week?”

“I’m sorry but it’s your mother’s condition and this is for your own good.” I snorted softly when she used the same phrase as mum used. This is for your own good. Why did mum arrange all this without my knowledge and her excuse was it is for my own good?

“School?” I repeated. I don’t want to go to school. Let alone Australian school. I just wanted to meet Gran and learn the Australia traditions. “Why didn’t she tell me that she applied me to school? I don’t want to go to school here.”

Alice looked so pitiful and innocent. She had already lost her husband and Gran ten years ago. Val was her only chance. I felt so guilty suddenly.

“Alright! Fine, I will go to school,” I surrendered at last. She turned cheerful instantly and I groaned, already regretting the words I said. Puppy face techniques work on me after all. But she did had a point about sending me to a school here, what would I do for the next six months? “You said earlier, about mum’s condition. What do you mean by that? Did you two make some kind of pact?”

“To let you stay here with us. When she was younger, she was never this demanding before,” Alice blurted out the truth. “I already bought you your school books, stationary and a motorbike so it won’t go to waste.”

“You bought a . . . Did you just say you bought a motorbike?” I asked in disbelief. She nodded and her smile returned.

“I’m sure you have already had your driving license. Let’s take a look at it, shall we?” She led the way as I followed her from behind. I gave a look at Sam who was still standing at the same spot. We went into the barnyard. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Alice wasn’t kidding. She actually bought me a black, shiny motorbike. For a second, I wished Victoria was here so she could be jealous of my bike. “You will have to send Val to school since you are old enough to ride one.”

I heard the door cracked open and Val came in. “Mum, I finished my homework. Can I go?” she told her mum. I gasped quietly so neither of them would notice. Val wore a red cloak and boots. She actually looked like little red riding hood. The little red riding hood that were haunting me in my dreams for the last few weeks.

“Okay. Be careful.” Alice gave her something that looked like a . . . like a gun. I stared at Alice in disbelief when she gave Val a gun. How could she leave a gun with Val? Did she know that she was responsible for Val? For Christ’s sake, she’s her mother! The legend must be related to Val. I must answer this unsolved riddle. All this are connected to everything I was suspicious of. Why can’t Alice tell me what was going on? I was dying to know!

“Can’t you tell me what’s going on with Val, the gun and my dreams? Everything! I know all this are related with something. Tell me! I can’t stand mum with her face like that. I can’t stand my nightmares any longer,” I yelled at Alice. I burst like a balloon. Every word from me hurt Alice. Her face looked like I made her upset. Good. She deserved it anyway as an irresponsible mother to Val. As I yelled, angry tears began to well. I didn’t care about anything anymore. I ran out of the barn and found my way to the stable.

I suddenly felt guilty for shouting at Alice. She tried her best to make everything in place but it wasn’t working. I curled myself into a tight ball and hid my face. I heard footsteps coming towards me. It was Sam.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

I nodded and wiped my nose with my sleeves. I smiled unsuccessfully. He helped me stand up.

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I shook my head at him. Sam sighed and let me sit again. This time, he sat next to me.

He stared at the grass, sitting next to me. “I was a spoilt child a long time ago. My dad was an alcoholic and useless father. I hated my dad for leaving my mum. Whenever he tried to see me, I would spit in his face to show how rotten he was. I was raised by a single mum. I loved my mum so much.” I remained silent trying to imagine Sam as a young boy. “When I was . . . in my early teens, I was involved in negative things. I had no choice. I couldn’t control myself and . . . Jesus, I killed my own mother. I didn’t mean it but I did. I felt like committing suicide. So yeah, a spoilt boy with a life he wasn’t supposed to get.

“Until I met Alice and Adam. Adam taught me another way to live. I owe Alice my life. She offered me a place to stay and a job. The spoilt boy was now no where to be found in me.” I was speechless, out of words to describe the moment. I thought of Alice as the good guy. I remembered the way I yelled at her just now. I planned to apologized Alice during the dinner.

“I’m sorry . . .” I mumbled. I felt guilty for him to let him assure me using his dark personal life.

“Don’t worry. I’m used to it.” Sam interrupted. “Okay, your turn. Tell me about yourself.”

“You can already imagine my family like we were in the television series except that there weren’t comedy in it. A happy family. Until the day I told mum about going to Melbourne. She became moody and tried to make me change my mind.” I remembered mum smiling at me every morning, trying to cheer me up when I was sad. I missed mum.

“Why?”

“I don’t know. I asked her why but she kept on telling me to not listen to Alice about . . . stories.” I shrugged. 

“Oh that.” I stared at him. He looked up at the thick clouds.

“You know about the stories? Tell me. I’m desperate to know!”

“I couldn’t believe you don’t know. No wonder Alice told me not to . . . Anyway, your family hunt. Hunt . . . wolves.”

Something in his sentence caught my attention. “Alice told you not to what?”

“Never mind, it doesn’t matter,” Sam said. I leaned back and crossed my arms across my chest. “I’m sorry. I’m boring, am I?”

“Not until you tell me what’s going on with the stories.” I heard Sam sighed. I wish I could listen to what he was thinking. His voice was familiar. I wondered if I have met him before. How did I recognize him? “Have you gone to the UK before?”

His expression was confused. “No. Why?”

“Your voice. It’s like I heard it before.”

“You have crazy imagination,” Sam commented. He actually thinks I am crazy.

“I’m serious! You are the most mysterious guy I have ever met,” I groaned.

“Do I get an award for that?” Sam teased.

“As if there were. You are making me more confuse than before.”

“That is something like what I’m supposed to do.”

“Excuse me?”

“Alice instructed me to give you tips on who you are. She will tell you the rest when you are ready.”

“Who am I? Ready for what?”

“See, I am doing my job already.”

I finally gave up. What’s the use of him making me more confuse than I already am? I looked up at the clouds and thought it through. My family hunts wolves. It only happens to girls. My hair that changed colour and Sam said that it runs in my family. Sam’s voice. Mum’s behavior ever since I told her about Australia. All this things must be related to my dream. The question was what is it? Mum knew, Alice knew and Sam knew. I was sure Gran knew it too.

“Are you mad at me?” Sam asked quietly.

“No. I’m mad at mum.”

“She is only trying to protect you.”

I laughed a forced laugh. “Protect me from what? From Alice? From you? It doesn’t make any sense!”

“It will when you know what is going on,” I heard Sam muttered under his breath.

Sam left me after saying a goodbye. Val and Alice weren’t home when I got home. I wandered around the kitchen. As I was about to open the fridge to see what was for dinner, I found a note from Alice saying that they were out and my dinner was in the fridge. I heat up the leftover lasagna and ate.

When I was done, I went up to my room and take a bath. I read a book to keep myself entertained. An hour later, I heard someone unlocked the door. At first, I thought it was a thief. I relaxed when I recognized Val’s voice.

“She had a dream about what was going to happen?” Val asked and she stopped by her bedroom door.

“I don’t know. If I remember clearly, she could hunt down every single wolf in the planet by her dreams. It’s rare and only exist once in a century,” Alice explained to her daughter. “They were called Dreamers. It is easier for her to hunt. You have to protect her when she is ready to hunt. I am planning to tell her … soon.” I heard Val entered her room and Alice walked down the staircase. I jumped when my iPhone rang. I quickly declined Victoria’s call and looked over at the door, to see whether Alice or Val knew that I was listening to their conversation. I relaxed instantly as nobody approached my room.

I want to know how soon was ‘soon’ like Alice said. Were they talking about me? Does this mean I’m special or something? She wants me to hunt wolves. Val needs to risk her life for me? Are wolves that dangerous? I should tell someone to help me. Who could I trust? It certainly wouldn’t be Sam or Alice. I could ask Val what was happening. I shook my head to myself. She was almost as bad as them. I could tell Victoria but she would think I’m crazy. Plus, I just declined her call so she will give me a lecture on why I shouldn’t do the same thing twice. I must look for people who remembered old stories.

I remembered Val this late afternoon when Val wore a cloak just like little red riding hood. Childhood stories such as Little Red Riding Hood. I remembered my nightmare of me wearing a black cloak just like Little Red Riding Hood. The bad guy in the story was a big bad wolf.

Sam said my family hunts wolves. Val must have hunted wolves just now with the gun Alice gave her. Was Alice mad? How could she leave her daughter to hunt wolves and may get her killed? Could that be the big bad wolf in the story little red riding hood? What about the sabre-toothed tiger? There are no stories of them. Could the stories be a prank? To scare me or something? Why would mum scare me now because of her moody expression stuck on her face for two weeks? I even saw her drinking wine and drunk. She was serious. Maybe Gran was giving her stories that were supposed to be a prank when she was young. I could ask Alice straight but Sam said I should be patient. That’s the problem, I couldn’t.

Maybe Alice was purposely trying to make me find it out myself. Would Valerie tell me? I think she knows based on her hair and eyes and features that were similar to me.

Stories were usually spread by books. I could go to the library and find for books that are related to legends and belief. Looking for one particular book will waste my time. I need something faster to find information.

The song ended and I tap on another song to keep me thinking. I stared at my iPhone. What was I thinking? I was in the twenty first century! Technologies were modern. Books are now better known as e-books.

I took out my laptop and explored the internet. I went to Google and typed: Little Red Riding Hood. I clicked on search. There were many suggestions on the screen. They were not what I was looking for. I typed again: Sabre-toothed tiger. There was only a description of what it is in Wikipedia. In Wikipedia, I typed: Wolf. Information of wolves appeared and again, they were not what I was looking for. Something caught my eye. Werewolf. Mythical creatures that were not suppose to exist. I clicked on the werewolf suggestion. Man shifts into a wolf after bitten. Stories related to wolves are the boy cried wolf, the three little pigs and … the little red riding hood. This wasn’t what I was looking for. Werewolves didn’t exist. I typed: Hunting wolves and clicked search. There were pictures of hunters with guns and traps. Humongous wolves lied dead and eyes were lifeless. Was this what I was supposed to do? Hunt huge wolves?

I closed the website and switched off the laptop. I thought so much that I didn’t notice a mountain of Australian schoolbooks were on the study table. On top of the books, there was a timetable.

My first day in Australia was the worst nightmare I had ever been through. I dreamt of dying, sacrificing for the ones I love. I was lowered into a very deep grave that I wondered whether it was the way to hell. Halfway, I saw people and I recognized a few. Val, Alice, mum and Gran. Their faces were so similar to each other. I felt myself tore apart and couldn’t move. I screamed my way to the real world and awake by my own voice.

In the morning, I apologized to Alice for shouting and agreed to go to school tomorrow. She accepted my apology generously and I guessed everything went back to normal.

“Up you go.” Sam helped me to sit on Red. I never did know how hard it was to stay on Red. I even fall off when he started to walk.

“Are you okay? Did you hit your head or something?” Sam asked worriedly, offering his hands to help me stand up.

I laughed. “I think I see two Reds.”

“You must have hit yourself very hard.” Sam smiled while helping me to stand up.

“Who is Adam?” I asked Sam when we had a break from riding Red. I remembered he mentioned Adam yesterday.

“He was my mentor. He thought me all the things he knew to me. Now he is dead.” I stayed silent. “Anyway, I was lucky to have him as my mentor.”

“Oh. Why did Alice hate you even though she helped you a lot?”

“I couldn’t explain it. I’m sorry but it is very hard to explain.”

I surf the internet almost the whole day to look for more information of wolves and sabre-toothed tiger and wrote down every single detail into my notebook. Normal wolves’ and sabre-toothed tigers’ eyes didn’t change colors but the ones in my dream did. Hunter’s eyes didn’t turn other colors too. Mine did, the dreams did. I wanted to know without cracking my head into millions of pieces.

Once I tried following Val without her knowledge. She moved so fast that I wasn’t able to follow her anymore. I spied her in the barn sometimes in the evening. There were targets and Val shot in the bulls’ eye just like me when I went for the archery competition but Val used a gun. Next, she used a knife. She used a dummy of a person bigger than herself. At first she was blurry. Was it my eyes playing games? I rubbed my eyes. No, it was her moving at incredible speed. She chopped off the legs that made the dummy fall on his knees then she jumped up and cut off the head. I felt like vomiting so I quickly left her. Why was she doing this? Martial arts? Defending skills?

“Sophia! Are you ready for school?” Val entered my room and pulled me off bed on a Monday morning. I landed on my back and jolted awake. Val danced around the room as my eyes followed her until I was dizzy. She stopped dancing in front of me. I chose the same type of clothes I used to go to school in London that was a red blouse and jeans. Val must be very excited for me to go to her school. Poor Val. She doesn’t have anyone to talk to since she was the only child. Val held my hand and guided me to the kitchen for breakfast.

There were portraits of Val’s dad, Gran and a few unrecognizable faces hung in the living room. I felt cold and shivered a little when I also saw old fashion guns hung in the stair way that reminded me of the nightmare.

Alice was in the kitchen, waiting for us. There were two plates of buns in front of us. I nibbled the cheese bun while looking at Alice who was staring at me just like Sam did yesterday.

“What?” I asked, trying not to leave a sign of irritation in my voice.

“Nothing. Sam is sending you to school today and you can ride your bike when you know the way.”

I nodded and looked at Val. She patiently waited for me to finish my bun so we could go to school. Sam was already in front of the house with his Hilux.

On our way to school, Val told me about her friends and teachers. I just listened to her story just like I did to Victoria back in London. We finally entered a city. The streets were crowded with cars. I caught a sight of a building, a school.

“Welcome to the School of Melbourne,” Val introduced. I felt a little excited. I imagined of my school in London. My friend Sabrina, Victoria and Beth were here. My thoughts of hunting and everything related to it forgotten. Sam left us by the main gate and left after he flashed me a smile that looked like a ‘good luck’ smile.

Val showed me the library and the canteen we passed by until we paused in front of a classroom.

“Here’s your class. I’ll see you after school. Bye!” Val was out of my sight after she entered a big group of students. I stood awkwardly by the door until the teacher noticed me.

“Hello! You must be a new student. Sophia, right?” she asked. I saw her name tag and her name was Miss Jane. I nodded and smiled. “Come in. You must have come from London. There’s a place next to Jamie.”

I walked into the classroom and many students were staring at me as if I was the only dodo bird alive or they have never seen a human in their lives. I sat next to the brunette girl without a partner. She looked athletic and friendly. I was glad at least somebody in this class thinks that I’m normal and human. She smiled warmly when I sat next to her.

“Hello. Welcome to Australia. My name is Jamie Fitzgerald,” the girl next to me said.

“I’m Sophia Rhys-Deaux. Nice to meet you.”

“You could join me for lunch later, if you want to. Or maybe you . . . have some other plans.”

I raised my eyebrows in confusion and my forehead creased. “What do you mean?”

“Didn’t you see the way boys stared at you? I’m sure all of them want you to join them for lunch but you have to beware for the girls. They would flash deadly looks.”

“What about you, then?” I asked her.

She laughed quietly so Miss Jane couldn’t hear her. “I’m single. Don’t worry; I can help you find one in fact.”

I chuckled. “Like you, I’m still single. So no thanks, too much stress for me to handle.”

“Can I ask you one question?” Her voice was low and curious.

“Sure, what is it?”

“Did you dye your hair? Just like Valerie?” She cocked her head to one side as her eyes were examining my hair.

I wanted to know the answer as well. If I tell her the truth, I was sure she wanted me to see a doctor and I already know will be useless because I don’t think I was sick. There was no such disease that your hair will turn colour at a young age naturally except if I was stressed up. I couldn’t think of an answer so I lied. “Yes. She’s my cousin. It is a family tradition to dye our hair.”

“Oh.”

Jamie reminded me of Victoria. In fact, Jamie was better than Victoria. She was kind and friendly. She was also pretty and good in making choices. I wondered why nobody goes out with her. Victoria kept talking to me about fashion and TV dramas. I would fall asleep listening to her. Jamie doesn’t talk about fashion all the time. She would sometimes try to bring up a conversation when I was bored like friends, boyfriends or families. She told me that her dad left her mum when Jamie was very little. She never met him ever since. Now her mum married another guy who was now her step dad. The way she talked about her step dad was like she really loves him as if he was her biological father. I wanted to tell her about mine. About mum these days and something related to me, Gran, my dreams and the legend. But I didn’t because it was too personal. Miss Jane was nice but she gave us a bag full of home works. I noticed a brunette guy sitting in front of the class was very quiet and not talkative.

“Who is he?” I asked Jamie before the bell rang for lunch.

“He? His name is Henry Chausette. He moved here from the UK two years ago. You were staring at him all this time, didn’t you? Forget it because he doesn’t date. Nobody interest him around here.” Henry turned around and met my gaze. His eyes were mesmerizing light brown and he has a mysterious face when he turned towards my direction. His brunette hair was cropped recently, I could tell. He quickly turned to face the teacher the second he met my gaze. “Wow,” Jamie whispered in amazement.

“What?”

“He never did that before. You made a connection with him!”

Jamie introduced me to Bibiana and Maryanne from other classes. Bibiana was a very nice girl. She volunteered community work so she could write about her day in her blog. Maryanne was a writer for the school editorial board. She told me to meet Miss Jane who was the teacher for the editorial board so I could be a photographer just like I did in London. I had my very own gang. Jamie was quiet in the class but she was popular in the school! Jamie had a talent for basketball. I challenged her to play basketball during Physical Education but in the end, she won. She was so tall that I couldn’t even stop her from throwing the ball into the hoop.

I was alone in the library hoping to find books of mythical creatures like werewolves. I was about to leave the library when the bell rang. Henry opened the door for me.

“Thank you,” I told him. He didn’t say anything and left. He didn’t even smile. What was wrong with that guy?

“You two are so cute together!” Jamie commented. She saw Henry opening the door for me. She mistook my reactions in a very different way. “Fate brought you together.” She kept telling me about Henry and me. I didn’t know why I blushed but I did.

One teacher didn’t attend so we had half an hour to ourselves. I wrote notes of ancient stories of wolves that I found in the library in my notebook. The stories weren’t what I was looking for. Jamie nearly opened it and I snatched it from her just in time. I warned her to not read it. Most of the boys in our class introduce themselves and tried to talk to me. Jamie was my bodyguard. She saved me from them.

“You know, most of the girls in this class are jealous of you. Have any of them showed their fangs and drink your blood so you cannot touch their boyfriends?” Jamie asked when I scribbled in my notebook.

“No.”

“Not yet,” she corrected.

“Don’t worry. I have a protector who stops them from killing me.”

“Can I know who could that be?”

“You,” I answered. She smiled in satisfaction.

I continued scribbling and writing when Jamie was humming her favorite songs, drawing Japanese comic strips. I had to admit she was very good at drawing that I dared her to draw a picture of me.

The first day of school ended quickly. Bibiana and Maryanne were waiting for Jamie and I after the dismissal bell rang. I saw Val was waiting for Sam at the bus stop. I waved Jamie goodbye after I saw Sam’s Hilux waiting for us. Sam was staring at something outside when I entered the car. All I could see was Henry. Val was quiet too. The journey in the car was short and silent.

Sam stopped by the mansion. Val was in a hurry to leave the car.

“What’s wrong, Sam? You have been very quiet,” I asked.

When he turned towards me, he looked exhausted and sickly like a cancer patient. His tiring blue eyes had many red vessels by the sides.

“Oh my God! What happened to you?” I was shocked to see his face like that. What happened to him? Got into a fight?

“What time do you want to ride Red today?”

Who cares about that now? He was exhausted and he wanted to talk about training with Red? Something must have messed his mind. “Have some rest, please.” I didn’t like the way he talked, like he was forced to. Just before I left the car, I noticed an unexpected. Sam’s eyes turned red in color just like mine. How was that possible? His hair didn’t change. He was a boy. My eyes must have gotten wild to find out what was happening. I slammed the car door closed and entered the house without a word out of my mouth.

Sam couldn’t be a Hunter. I remembered mum said it only happens to girls. What was he? Someone dangerous because Alice argued with him on the day I was given Red as a present?

All this was related to the legend. The only question I wanted to answer was what was the legend about? I tossed my bag on the bed and walked around my room furiously, forcing myself to find the possible answer. I lay on the bed and stared at the ceiling.

I took out the notebook and turned the page one by one faster ever second passed. So fast that it might tear anytime soon. I felt like tearing the pages off and shred them into a million pieces so I didn’t have to see them again for the rest of my life.