Chapter SixteenI awoke with a rock sticking into my back in the exact same spot where the edge of my corset had rubbed against me the previous day. The flickering firelight no longer shone through the c****s in the tent, and Matilda was gone from my side. Perhaps she and Patrick were together. The thought made me rather uncomfortable, but at least they were distracted.
I crawled out of the tent and stood up. The night was full of the ominous rustle of eucalyptus leaves. For a moment I thought it was raining, but of course it wasn’t. I spotted a lump of man-shaped darkness where I’d last seen Patrick, and I didn’t risk waking him—or them—by going closer.
The ground underfoot snapped and crunched as I stepped on tinder-dry sticks and weeds. Something howled from the nearby forest, and some
