Spliced

Lily clutched her lunch tray as she stood at the edge of the outdoor seating area. It was her first day at school. There was an indoor seating area too with lots of empty tables but Lily had been drawn out by the sun. It seemed so had everyone else. Every table had someone sitting on it so there was no option of sitting by herself. Given Lily couldn’t remember much from her old life she wasn’t even sure if it was something the old her would have done. Now she stood wondering if she should join one of the tables and if so which one?

The decision was made for her when a girl her age got up from one of the nearby tables and approached her.

“Lily!” The girl smiled at her. Lily recognised her as Ally. Ally had been sitting in the second row during her second class. She was pretty with chin length blonde hair, neatly cut with a few shorter strands around her face. She was dressed nicely in a pale blue skirt, white singlet, with a matching white lace-trimmed ballet style cropped jacket over the top. “You can come sit with us,” Ally said as she drew an arm around Lily and walked her toward their table. “You can be our friend.”

Lily didn’t object. Ally seemed nice and Lily was just happy that someone wanted to sit with her.

Ally led her to a table where four other girls were eating lunch. Ally boldly introduced her to the group. “Everybody, this is Lily, she’s new here and I’ve invited her to join our group. Lily this is Perri, Maddi, Mary, and Josephine.”

“Jojo,” said Josephine. She was lanky, dressed in dungarees and had hair a similar shade to Ally’s. She looked like she’d given herself a haircut. One side was a whole two inches longer than the other and unevenly cut.

“Hi Lily?” said Maddi, a curly brown-haired girl wearing a paint splattered t-shirt.

“Hi,” Lily replied and she took a seat next to Mary, who seemed to be dressed almost exactly like a traditional pirate, complete with plastic sword.

“Arr! Welcome aboard Sailor!” replied Mary.

Lily glanced at the others to see what they thought of this behaviour. None of them seemed to notice.

Perri was on her other side. She wore a long-sleeved jersey despite the heat and had her light brown hair in plaits. She leaned close to Lily and whispered, “Mary’s going through a pirate phase, think’s she’s like Mary Read.”

“It’s not a phase,” replied Mary having overheard but not sounding upset about it. “One day I shall have my own ship and crew and we shall plunder the seas and take whatever we please. And all the boys will fear our wrath.” She glared at a nearby table that was full of boys from their year. Then she turned back to their table. “All you girls are welcome to be a part of my crew.”

“Not me,” Ally replied. “But I shall ‘oversea’ your exploits from inside my castle. I will keep the accounts and my spies will tell me which ships you should plunder.”

The other girls all nodded in agreement and Lily had to admit that it did all sound very exciting.

“Did you do your own hair?” Lily inquired of Jojo.

Jojo nodded proudly. “Yes! It’s all the fashion at the moment. I saw in Green’s Woman’s magazine. Lots of the models have their hair cut like this for fashion week. My mum freaked out when she saw what I’d done. She’ll get used to it though.”

“Jojo is our creative one,” Ally explained matter-of-factly.”

“I thought I was the creative one.” Maddi complained.

“You’re the artistic one,” Jojo replied. “I’m the spunky outdoorsy one which requires a sense of spunky fashion to go with it.” She held a fist in the air.

“We really need to keep track of these monikers,” Ally said. She sat straight with good posture and Lily had a sudden memory of her own mum telling her to straighten up one night at the dinner table. Unconsciously she did so now.

“What’s a moniker?” Mary asked.

“It’s like a name,” Ally explained helpfully. “Like a nickname that people know you by. Like how I’m Ally but I’m also the leader.”

“And the sensible one,” added Maddi.

“Yes,” agreed Ally with a curt nod.

“You’re the leader because you’re the sensible one,” added Jo. She shared a grin with Maddi. “Because the rest of us are too crazy.”

Maddi and Jo giggled.

Mary held her plastic sword up. “Speak for yerselves. I’m not crazy. I’m just determined.”

“Quite,” agreed Ally with a nod and a smile as if Mary had said something perfectly sensible.

“The teachers do all like you,” Perri said quietly to Ally.

Ally nodded absently her focus turning to Lily. “What about you? What do you want your moniker to be?”

Lily hesitated unsure who she even was let alone what she wanted to be. The question thrilled her a little bit though. For the entire last week she’d been struggling with trying to remember her past that she hadn’t really considered that there might be a choice in what she could be. Now with clear simplicity Ally had presented her with one. She had not asked what Lily was or who Lily was. Instead she had asked what Lily wanted to be. For Lily that subtle variation in wording made all the difference.

Before she could answer however, Maddi leaned across the table and whispered, “Those boys are up to something.”

The girls on this side turned to watch. The boys at the table next to them had finished their lunch and were heading out across the field toward the treeline.

“I know where they’re going,” Mary said. “They’re going to look at that haunted house.”

“Let’s follow them and give them a scare,” suggested Ally.

The others nodded and eagerly focused on finishing their lunches so they could go after them.

Once done they returned their trays and then followed after where the boys had gone. Jojo and Mary raced on ahead. Ally strode along in a determined confident fashion. Perri and Maddi, trailed along behind her. When they got to the bushes at the edge of school grounds they glanced around to check if any teachers were watching before sneaking through and jumping the low fence that ringed the school.

Lily and Perri both hesitated. Lily didn’t want to get in trouble on her first day. But Maddi turned to them as Ally disappeared between two bushes behind her. “Don’t worry, it’s not far, and no one gets in trouble when they’re with Ally. She’s a mindwalker and the teachers are too stupid to notice when she’s manipulating them.” With that Maddi spun and followed Ally into the bushes.

Not wanting to be left behind Lily followed. She paused between the two bushes and looked back to check if Perri was following. Perri was balanced delicately on the fence, seemingly still hestitating.

Lily gave her a friendly smile. Sneaking off in a group like this made her feel a grand sense of belonging.

“My stepdad will be mad if I get in trouble.” Perri said but after another moment’s hesitation she leaped down off the fence and followed Lily into the bushes.

They crossed a small stream at the bottom of a gully and then climbed up the bank on the other side.

They gathered in a group below the lip of the bank. Lily peered over. Ahead near a group of bushes Lily could make out the group of boys.

“Let’s go this way.” Ally instructed and they all sidled along the bank until they were hidden by their own string of bushes and could climb up without being seen.

“Where’s the haunted house?” Lily asked.

“Just through those trees on the other side of the boys.” Mary answered. “There’s a high fence around it. Some kids went missing inside it recently.”

“They went missing?” Lily asked.

“Yeah.” added Jojo in a hush. “There was a rumour that they went in on dare and none came out.”

“We don’t actually know that,” Maddi answered.

“Do you think the boys are going to go inside?” Perri asked. “We’re not going to stay too long right?”

“No, just long enough to scare them.” Ally replied. “We have time before next class still. They won’t even know we were gone. I doubt the boys will have the balls to go inside, if they could even get over the wall. Maddi, do you have the masks?”

Lily wasn’t sure what Ally was asking for. Maddi obviously wasn’t holding anything mask sized, but a moment later a set of five masks appeared in Maddi’s hand. So she was a summoner Lily thought, and Ally was a mindwalker. Lily had spent much of the last week relearning about magic. Whatever had happened to her had wiped a lot of things from her mind. Lily glanced at Ally. If the girl was reading her mind right now she showed no sign of it. Lily found it comforting, if the girl had read her mind and still decided to be friends well then that was great. She seemed nice and Lily liked all the girls here so far. She smiled.

“You can have my mask Lily.” Jojo said as Maddi handed her one. Jojo bent down, ran her finger through the dirt and smeared two dark streaks across her cheeks.

“What are you going to tell the teachers Jojo?” Ally asked.

Jojo grinned “I’ll tell them that the army look is in at the moment. It is you know. I saw a whole spread on it.”

Lily took the mask. It was hand decorated. They all were, each had obviously been done by each girl at some point. The act of kindness from Jojo made Lily’s insides feel warm.

“Alright, now we spread around and make spooky sounds.” Ally instructed. “When they come to investigate we run at them.”

The girls all nodded and all but Ally took off through the thick undergrowth to find a spot around the small clearing. Lily followed finding her own small group of shrubs. From where she was she couldn’t see the other girls but she could make out the boys about thirty metres away and gathered in a huddle. She watched as one of them playfully shoved another.

As she watched them she felt the hair of the back of her neck rise and an icy cool feeling like something was watching her. She spun afraid of something unknown. What she did see confused her more than frightened her. A lone woman stood only a few metres away. She was small, not as short as Amanda, but petite none-the-less, and slimmer, almost doll-like. It was her clothes that really made her presence strange. She had layered blonde hair and silver dangly earrings. Red lipstick and a black halter neck dress that reached just above knee height. The footwear was completely inappropriate for bush walking. Strappy high heels, the kind adults wore to parties. Another memory flashed through Lily’s mid of her mother wearing very similar shoes.

“Hi Lily.” The woman spoke softly.

Somewhere to the side Lily heard her new friends start up with some spooky wailing. She was sure it had grabbed the attention of the boys and part of her wondered how they would react but she was too mystified by the presence of this woman to look anywhere else.

“Who are you?” Lily asked.

“My name’s Stella,” the woman replied.

Lily wondered if she should be afraid. This woman didn’t look like someone to fear though. Her eyes were a deep blue and she had a pretty face.

“I’m a friend of your parents,” Stella told her.

Lily’s heart stopped for a second at hearing that. For an entire moment it felt as if time had frozen. Afraid the woman might disappear as fast as she had appeared Lily quickly blurted out “Do you know where they are?”

Stella shook her head sadly. “I’m sorry.” She cocked her head curiously. “Do you remember much of what happened?”

Lily shook her head. She tried not to cry. That brief moment of hope that she might find something out and then having it taken away again had shaken her up.

The woman smiled at her. “Don’t worry, it will be alright.”

There was something about the way the woman said it that made Lily feel like she wasn’t just being reassuring but like it was a promise.

A scream caught Lily’s attention and she turned away. It was blood-curdling. Not the sound one child makes to scare another but a sound of anguish, of pain. When Lily looked back again the woman was gone. She didn’t know why but she was sure that she would not be able to find the woman if she looked for her and so she turned and ran in the direction of the scream.

As Lily appeared from the bushes she saw Perri on the ground clutching her arm, her long-sleeved jersey was singed as if it had been burnt. When she looked in the direction of the boys she saw they had all turned tail and run. The other girls were all emerging from their own bushes but Lily was the closest. She ran to Perri.

“What happened?” she asked as she knelt next to her new friend.

“I scared him and he set me on fire,” Perri replied.

“Let me see.” Lily reached for Perri’s arm, even though she wasn’t sure what she could do.

Perri pulled it away. “NO! It’s okay. I... I put it out. I’m an elemental too, w...water based. He just got my clothing.”

But just before Perri hid her arm Lily caught sign of burn marks. She was about to tell Perri not to be so brave when it registered to her that the marks she saw did not match the singe marks on Perri’s clothing. No, the marks on her arm were more circular and tiny and they looked older, more like scars that had healed. Perri had twisted her sleeve around so it covered them now but Lily was sure of what she had seen.

The other girls joined them. Perri got to her feet.

“Perri are you alright?” Ally asked.

“I’m fine. He just got my clothing.” She spoke more bravely now, more convincing.

“Are you sure?” asked Maddi.

Perri nodded and she smiled a smile that did not reach her eyes.

It suddenly occurred to Lily that as a mindwalker Ally must know what was on Perri’s arm. She looked at Ally. Ally met her eyes. Neither spoke but in that moment Lily decided she wouldn’t tell the others and as she thought it she saw Ally smile. Then Ally turned her attention back to Perri. She slipped her arm around the girl’s waist. “Don’t worry, I’m sure we can fix that sleeve. I know a mender in the grade above.”

They all began their walk back to the school.

Jojo evaluated their recent escapade out loud as they walked. “You know in hindsight, that was pretty dangerous. It kind of makes sense that if you scare someone who’s a firestarter that they’ll likely set you on fire. We’re probably lucky he didn’t do more damage.”

“I don’t think it makes that much sense,” objected Mary. “We’re taught to always identify our targets before any magical casting, never just to react.”

“Yes,” agreed Ally “But he was pretty scared. He probably thought she was a monster or a ghost or something. I should have thought of it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault,” replied Jojo.

“Yeah,” agreed Mary. “What kind of idiot thinks ghosts are real!?”

“Do you think they recognised us?” asked Maddi.

“If they did, they won’t tell, they’d get in just as much trouble for it,” replied Ally.

“Let’s not do that again,” said Jojo.

“Agreed,” replied a chorus of voices.

“At least not without a fake dummy and some distance, and a video camera,” Jojo added mischievously.

“Jojo!” exclaimed Mary and Maddi together.

As they reached the edge of the field, dark clouds formed up above, covering the previously clear blue. They managed to sneak back on to school grounds without being seen. Lily stared in fascination at the gathering clouds. As she looked up, a large drop fell right on the tip of her nose causing her to blink. The end of lunch bell rang just as the downpour began.