CHAPTER ONE
“Sorry I’m late,” Abigail Rormton said, her bag flying behind her as she hurried to the park bench. “Mum wanted me to give you this.”
Sharon, Abigail’s older sister, pulled a face. “This is exactly why I’m not working for our parents—they always have something to say about my life. If they can’t say it to my face, they say it through you.”
Abby handed over the shopping bag. Sharon opened it and grimaced as she produced a purse with the periodic table printed on it. “See what I mean? They can’t accept that I don’t want to be a scientist—like everyone else in the family—and want to work in fashion instead.”
“Well … Mum can’t accept it, Shaz.” Abby inspected the purse, thinking it looked pretty cool. “At least it’s not a mini test tube set like last time. It means she’s trying.”
Sharon quirked an eyebrow. “Really?”
Abby averted her eyes, but not before she’d spotted the bag of takeaway sitting beside Sharon. “Bring that food over here. I’m hungry.”
“You’re not avoiding the subject at all,” Sharon replied sarcastically.
Abby and Sharon had a Friday night dinner tradition. Tonight, given their proximity to the beach, they were having fish and chips. Sharon handed her sister the food.
They caught up on their week as they ate and then decided to go for a walk on the beach. It was almost midnight by the time they reached the sand.
The warm breeze tasted of salt. The waves rushed towards them in the moonlight.
Abby took a deep breath as she gazed at the water. “It’s so beautiful.”
“There’s a reason Sunrise Beach is the holiday capital of Australia,” Sharon replied. “And it’s not because of the Disease Control and Prevention Centre, despite what Dad says.”
Abby snorted. When she and Sharon were kids, their father had convinced them both that people holidayed here just to visit their family-owned laboratory.
They walked on in the darkness, the path familiar to both of them. They soon reached a copse of mangrove trees.
“Remember when we used to play in here?” Sharon asked, entering the darkened forest.
Abby followed her. The moment they wandered into the canopy of trees, the water no longer visible, an oppressive silence fell. Goosebumps rose on Abby’s skin and she looked over her shoulder. “Yeah, but maybe we can come back during the day? Like tomorrow?”
“Come on, Abby, it’s not like there’s anyone here. And besides, I’m busy tomorrow—I have a hot date.”
Abby rolled her eyes. “I’m sure you can make some time for your sister, Shaz.”
Sharon giggled but didn’t say anything. She only went further into the trees.
Sweat trickled down Abby’s back. At least on the beach, the strong wind drove off the tropical weather. But in this dense jungle, the humidity clung to Abby’s skin and flushed her cheeks. “Okay, so I understand why you wanted to come at night. If it’s this hot now, imagine what it’ll be like during the day.”
“Exactly!” Sharon strode confidently ahead, pointing to their left. “Over there is where I broke my wrist. Down that track is a shortcut to the carpark. Ah, I remember this place so well I feel like I can navigate with my eyes closed!” Just then, she tripped over a root.
Abby chuckled. “What were you just saying—”
“Shut it, Abby.”
Hiding her grin, Abby helped her sister up.
But Sharon gasped. “Ouch.”
“What?”
“My ankle hurts. And I scraped my elbow.”
Abby threw Sharon’s arm over her shoulders. “Then I think it’s time to end this adventure, especially since you know this place so well.”
“Abby,” Sharon grumbled.
Abby turned her snicker into a cough and hauled her sister over a strangler vine. At last, they got back to the beach, the sand moving gently underfoot.
Abby smiled out at the water, instantly relaxing as she heard the rushing waves, then shivering as her sweat turned the warm breeze cold.
Sharon tensed up, her eyes downwind: a woman was illuminated by the street lights, her hair in a severe bun. “She wasn’t there a moment ago.”
Abby frowned.
The woman walked towards them, gaze intent.
“Her eyes are … I don’t like them,” Sharon whispered.
“What do you mean, you don’t like them. And how can you even see them?”
“My eyesight is better than yours.” Sharon pulled them back into the trees.
“Shaz, what are you do—”
“Shh! I’ve got a bad feeling.”
“It’s just a woman. Calm down.”
A cackle rang out from the beach.
The sisters froze and met each other’s eyes.
“Okay, let’s go your way,” Abby said and moved with her sister farther into the forest, remembering the paths they’d run as children.
“Oh, I do love a chase,” said a feminine voice from behind them.
Abby’s heart picked up speed. Sharon hobbled next to her, gritting her teeth in pain.
“Run, rabbit, run, rabbit,” the woman sang behind them, “run, run, run. Go give the farmer his fun, fun, fun.”
Sweat trickled down Abby’s back. What was going on? Were they being followed by a crazy lady? Well, she was cackling and stalking them, so … maybe.
They were so close to the carpark.
Suddenly, Sharon’s arm was ripped violently from Abby’s grasp.
Abby spun around in the dark, but there was only blackness behind her. Sharon was gone.
Chills went up Abby’s spine. “Shaz!” she shouted.
“Just go!” came Sharon’s reply, sounding from deep within the forest.
Abby followed the voice back along the dark path. “Shaz!” Where was she? How could she have disappeared so quickly? And where was that woman? It didn’t make sense. “SHAZ!”
Silence.
Abby’s limbs shook.
“Get out of here, Abby! It’s a trap! GO! NOW!”
Abby stopped. Trap? Why? For her? “What?”
“NOW!” The scream was desperate.
And it made Abby obey.
She turned and shot along the path towards the carpark. The moment she cleared the forest, she grabbed her keys and jumped into her car.
Starting her engine, she turned on her lights and looked in the rear-view mirror, preparing to reverse.
Then she froze. Directly behind her car, a set of clothes hung suspended in the air as if clinging to an invisible mannequin.
“What?” Abby whispered and looked over her shoulder.
It was the crazy lady, her form illuminated in red by the glow of tail lights, standing in the exact same clothes which had been empty a moment ago.
Goosebumps prickled Abby’s skin.
The woman stepped towards the car.
And then Abby saw her eyes—pinpointed, fierce and focused directly on Abby. “Predator,” she whispered, understanding why Sharon hadn’t like those eyes. Everything about this woman screamed that she would kill Abby.
The crazy lady smirked as if she’d heard Abby. She curled her finger, gesturing for Abby to get out of the car. “Come out of there and follow me,” the woman called out, her voice silky.
And for a brief moment, Abby felt the urge to do exactly as she was being told. To turn off the engine. To get out of the car. To follow this menacing stranger back into the dark forest.
She was just a woman, after all. Abby was probably just overreacting. She took her foot off the brake pedal—
Pain burst on Abby’s heel—she’d popped a blister.
What the hell had she just been thinking? Almost getting out of the car to follow this woman to certain death?
Abby slammed her foot on the accelerator and reversed before she could change her mind.
The car bounced twice as it rolled over the woman.
Gasping, Abby hit the brakes.
Her headlights shone over a prone body lying on the bitumen, its limbs at awkward angles.
Abby covered her mouth—she’d just intentionally run someone over. Her hands shook and she reached for her phone, dialling the emergency services.
“Fire, ambulance or police?”
“Ambula—”
But she didn’t get to finish—the broken woman on the ground snapped her head up and glared at Abby.
Abby screamed. “Police! The police!”