Marked By The Hunt

Chapter One

Chapter One

Quinn could think of no way to change her mum’s mind. That didn’t mean she was about to give up. “But Mum-”

“I told you last week your father and I are going out tonight. If you don’t take your sister with you, then you can’t go.” Her mum half turned away.

“It’s the school holidays. Of course I want to spend them with my friends. I’ve been looking forward to this all week.” She’d made plans with Daisy when she’d stayed with her during the first three days of the school holidays.

“You knew before you went to Daisy’s grandparents that we needed you to babysit.” She held up her hand when Quinn opened her mouth to speak. “Enough. I need to finish getting ready or we’ll be late.” She strode from the lounge room.

Recognising the finality of her mum’s tone Quinn didn’t bother following, sending a glare in Marley’s direction instead. At fifteen, her sister was two years younger than her, but nearly as tall. Where she had murky green eyes, her sister’s were the clearest green. Her sister’s brown hair also had perfect auburn highlights. When she’d recently tried to do something similar to her own brown hair, it had ended up making all her hair a dark plum colour. It didn’t look bad, but it hadn’t been what she’d planned to do.

Marley rose from the lounge chair. “Are we going to the dam, or staying home?” She had a hopeful expression on her face.

Quinn wanted to say no, but who knew when she’d next get the chance to go swimming in the dam during a full moon. Daisy had mentioned several times when she’d stayed with her Saturday, Sunday and Monday that she had to go swimming in her grandparents dam during a full moon. That it was like swimming in a pool of silver. It probably wasn’t, because Daisy had a tendency to exaggerate, but she wanted to find out for herself.

Marley’s hopeful expression faded. “Please, Quinn.”

“I should say no since you nearly killed Buddy.”

“How was I supposed to know he’d eat the biscuits, plastic bag and all? I didn’t even give them to him. He got them off the kitchen bench himself. It’s not my fault he’s not very smart. You should have got a cat. They’re smarter than dogs.”

She opened her mouth to defend her dog. He wasn’t very pretty, she had no idea what breed he was, he had a boring name, but she hadn’t been able to resist his sad eyes when she’d seen an ad for him. His last owner had died and he’d needed a new home in a hurry. His deep brown eyes had stared at her out of the photo, begging to be loved.

There was no time to argue. Not if she wanted to go to the farm with Daisy, Ted and Scout. “Don’t you dare hassle Scout.”

“I never hassle him. He’s the one who always talks to me.”

“That’s because he’s being polite. You’re the one that rambles.”

“Did he say something?”

“Of course he didn’t. He’s too polite for that. But I know him.” In fact, she’d known him nearly her entire life. As well as Daisy and her twin brother Ted. The four of them had been best friends since they were toddlers, all living in the same street, only several houses separating them.

“Can we go?”

She paused a moment before nodding. “But if you annoy anyone…” She let her words trail off rather than trying to figure out a threat.

“I won’t. Promise.” The last word was flung over Marley’s shoulder as she hurried from the room. “I won’t be long. Don’t leave without me.”

She stared after her sister, sighing. How was she ever going to get Scout’s attention when Marley was hanging around monopolising him? She had no idea, but guessed she better get ready and send a text to Daisy so they could pick her up.

It didn’t take long to put on swimmers, pulling a pair of jeans and a t-shirt over them. After shoving a few things in an overnight bag she spent a few minutes with Buddy, who still hadn’t bounced back from his vet trip. Since it was only Sunday she supposed it hadn’t been that long. He was sure to be fully recovered in another few days.

By the time Ted hit the horn out the front, Marley was waiting in the lounge room for her. She wore a skirt and far too much make up, her overnight bag at her feet. Before Quinn had the chance to warn her sister away from Scout again, her parents entered the room.

“I want you both home by lunch tomorrow.” Her mum kissed first her cheek, then Marley’s.

Quinn nodded. There wasn’t any point in staying longer since she’d have Marley with her. “Sure.” She returned her dad’s hug as he said goodbye.

“See you, Mum, Dad.” Marley picked up her bag and headed for the door. Opening it, she grinned at Scout who had his hand raised to knock. “Hi, Scout.”

Quinn wanted to push Marley out of the way so she could be the one to receive Scout’s smile. Instead, she said goodbye to her parents and headed for the door, her grip tightening on the handle of her overnight bag. It was so unfair. Marley had barely spoken to Scout until this year. “Are we going or standing around all night?” She slid her feet into the sneakers she’d left by the front door.

Scout turned his grin towards Quinn. “Going.” He looked past Quinn to her parents. “See you.”

Quinn trailed behind Scout and Marley, enough light cast from the streetlight for her gaze to roam across his narrow frame. Ted had called him Scout back when they’d first started school and his favourite phrase had been ‘we should check that out’. Nothing had changed. He still liked to ‘scout’ out new places and explore. There were times when she envied his tendency to go off for days at a time exploring. Most times she remembered the disaster her own attempt at exploring had been and her envy soon died.

Once the overnight bags were in the boot, Quinn got in the front seat, wishing it wasn’t her turn. Marley was likely to take sitting next to Scout as an invitation to talk to him the entire drive. After buckling up, she faced Daisy who was seated behind Ted, unusually silent. “What’s wrong?”

Daisy gestured towards her brother. “He’s the reason Paul won’t date me. Actually, both of them are.” She looked past Marley to include Scout in her glare.

Quinn frowned. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“He heard about the last one.” Scout grinned.

“Oh.” Quinn shared a sympathetic look with Daisy. Although she did understand why they’d gone after the last one. He’d cheated on Daisy and Ted was as protective of his sister as she was of him.

“What could he expect?” Scout asked. “You and Quinn are like sisters. Of course I’m going to look out for you.”

“Exactly,” Ted said.

Quinn’s heart plummeted. Sister was the last thing she wanted to be.

“What about me?” Marley asked.

“Did you want me to think of you as a sister?” Scout asked.

Marley giggled.

Quinn interrupted before her sister could come up with a more sickening reply. “Will we get to the farm early enough to see the moon reflected in the dam?”

“Yep. We’ll arrive exactly on time. The moon will be directly overhead. We calculated it to make sure,” Daisy said.

“I calculated it,” Ted corrected.

“I helped,” Daisy argued.

“Do you think you and Ted can go back to your stony silence, Daisy? I’m going to have a sleep. Might as well since we’ve got an hour to kill,” Scout said. “Ouch. No need to hit me.”

Quinn grinned at her friend, who looked like she was having a difficult time not returning the grin. Facing forward, she got more comfortable. Maybe Scout had the right idea. If she slept through the hour it took to get to Daisy and Ted’s grandparent’s farm, she’d manage to stay up a lot later once they arrived.

It didn’t work. She tried to sleep, but thoughts of Scout sitting in the back with Marley kept interrupting. Did he really think of her as a sister? Closing her eyes, she tried not to think about it. The thought kept intruding. What made him prefer Marley? And after his last comment to her sister, it was pretty obvious he did. She tended to giggle around him. An annoying giggle that managed to sound not only fake, but nervous. How could he prefer that?

Still trying to figure it out, she fell asleep, not waking until the engine was silent. Blinking sleepily, she looked towards Ted, who chose that moment to open his door. Squeezing her eyes shut she reached for the overhead light, turning it off while mentally agreeing with the grumbles coming from the back seat.

“I don’t see what you lot have to complain about.” Ted got out of the car. “You didn’t have to stay awake.” He peered back into the car. “And all of you snore.”

Daisy flung her door open. “I do not.”

Quinn got out of the car more slowly, smiling as she listened to Daisy and Ted’s good-natured arguing. The smile faded when she glanced in the back to see Marley half sprawled over Scout, who was gently waking her. She hurried after Daisy and Ted. Nothing was the same when Marley was with them. Normally it would have been the four of them walking together, joking.

Trying to take her mind off Marley and Scout, who she could now hear following her, she looked around at her surroundings. Ted had parked in the paddock near the dam. There was only a short distance to the side of the dam that rose up high enough to make a good jumping platform.

Reaching the top, she stood beside Daisy and Ted, staring at the moon reflected in the still water below. It looked amazing. Daisy had been right. This was something she needed to do. They’d gone swimming each night she’d stayed at the start of the holidays, but those nights were lame in comparison. Although they hadn’t seemed so at the time.

Marley came to a stop beside Quinn, Scout on her other side. “Are we planning to go in, or are we going to stand and stare all night?”

Quinn fought the urge to push her sister in. Her hands curled into fists as she barely managed to control them.

“I don’t see you rushing to get in,” Scout teased Marley.

Marley tugged off her skirt and top, tossing them to the side as she kicked off her sneakers. “I guess I’m going first.” Raising her hands above her head, she dived into the water. Her body slid through the centre of the reflection of the moon, barely making a ripple.

Quinn waited for her sister to surface. The water remained still. She took a step forward, nearly at the edge. Marley better not be playing a joke on them.

“Where is she?” Scout’s voice reflected the worry Quinn felt.

“Is it possible to hold your breath that long?” Ted asked.

Daisy grabbed Quinn’s arm. “I’m going to throttle your sister when she surfaces. This isn’t funny.”

When the water remained smooth, fear curled through her stomach. She tugged her arm from Daisy, ignoring her comment to let someone else go. Not bothering to remove her shoes or clothes, she dived off the bank. Aiming for the reflection of the moon, she slid through it, the water colder than she’d expected. Is that what had happened to Marley? Had the cold caused her to cramp? Her hands brushed the bottom of the dam, the depth of the water making it impossible for her to see.

Twisting and turning in the water she tried to find her sister. When her breath burned in her lungs, she swam to the surface, hoping to find her there. Breaking the surface, she tread water as she wiped the drips from her eyes. Her mouth dropped open and she wiped at her eyes again. The scene before her remained the same.