JESS WAS SERIOUSLY FREEZING. Her teeth chattered, she couldn’t feel her feet and her nose burned. Dodger looked miserable too, standing stiffly in the cold night air. He groaned and let himself down onto his knees, and then dropped heavily onto his side with his legs folded beneath him and his nose resting on the ground.
‘It’s freezing out here,’ said Jess.
‘Sure is,’ said Luke. He paced around with his shoulders hunched, blowing into his hands to warm them. The mare walked after him.
Jess crouched down next to Dodger and stroked his neck. ‘You’re a naughty boy for running away, Dodgey.’ She rubbed between his ears. ‘I’m so glad you didn’t hurt yourself.’ His fur was deliciously warm under his thick forelock, so she moved closer, and since he didn’t seem to mind, crawled up in a ball under his neck with the pup on her lap.
She looked out across the pebbly downs of Longwood. Billions of stars blazed above, all the way to the horizon. The moon, big and bright and beautiful, cast shadows under the gidgea trees. Beyond them, Chelpie grazed alone, glowing white in the moonlight.
It had been her all along. She’d spooked the cattle, the cattle ran through the fences, then Rocko must have hunted Diamond into the grid.
‘That’s the whitest horse I’ve ever seen,’ said Luke suddenly, snapping her from her thoughts.
‘That’s because it’s truly white,’ said Jess in a bitter, mimicking voice. ‘Not just a grey that’s faded with age.’
Luke groaned. ‘She’s a pain in the arse, that Katrina, isn’t she?’
‘I reckon.’ Jess thought of Katrina and Tegan, sitting on their horses, acting all sorry about ‘What was its name again?’ down on the flats after Diamond had been destroyed. They’d even had the hide to sneer at Dodger.
As if reading her mind, Dodger turned his nose around and nuzzled her. He lifted his tail and let out some particularly noisy air, then nickered softly.
Luke laughed. ‘Dodger doesn’t like her either.’
Dodger groaned as he let out another one.
Jess waved her hand in front of her nose. ‘Pwah, Dodgey.’ She couldn’t help laughing.
‘Don’t you think it’s weird the way the other horses don’t like that Chelpie?’ said Luke. ‘Ever notice how she always grazes on her own?’
‘Yep, it’s the same with the cattle,’ said Jess. ‘She’s horrible.’
Her mind was whirling. Katrina and Tegan must have seen Diamond in the grid when they went to catch Chelpie. Diamond was in that grid for hours and they just left her for dead.
‘She’s been made that way,’ said Luke. ‘They lock her up in a stable all the time so she doesn’t get dirty. No wonder she’s so sour. I bet she’d be a much nicer horse if she was treated better.’
Beyond a distant thicket of mulgas Jess could make out some sort of lights, hovering above the trees.
‘Looks like our ride’s here,’ she said, pushing away the pup and pulling herself up from the ground.
‘Already?’ Luke sounded puzzled. ‘That’s not where the road is.’
The three lights accelerated quickly, travelling much faster than any vehicle could move in that country. They were smooth and silent, unlike anything Jess had ever seen. Then they stopped and hovered about twenty metres from where she and Luke stood.
‘What is that thing?’ she whispered.
‘Dunno,’ said Luke. He gathered up Marnie’s rope and held her a little closer. ‘Easy, girl,’ he said, running a hand down her neck.
The three silvery lights shone intensely, illuminating the surrounding trees. They bobbed up and down, whirled around playfully, then sped off towards Chelpie, grazing in the distance.
‘What the heck?’ Luke whispered. Marnie began pulling at the rope. ‘Whoa, girl.’ The mare only pulled harder.
‘Don’t let go of her,’ said Jess. ‘Lawson’ll kill you.’
‘I know,’ said Luke, holding onto the mare’s rope with both hands. ‘But . . . I can’t hold her!’ The mare broke into a trot, pulling the rope through his hands until she jerked free. She trotted over to Chelpie and then put her head down and started grazing.
‘Stay here. Don’t go after her,’ hissed Jess. ‘Don’t go near those . . .’
What the hell are they?
‘Will they hurt her?’
‘I don’t know.’
Jess glanced down at Dodger, who just lay there with heavy eyelids, looking as though he was about to fall asleep. ‘Are you in a coma or something, Dodger? Didn’t you see that?’
The pup trotted towards the lights with its hackles up and let out something halfway between a whine and a growl. The lights began to move playfully around Marnie, who just continued grazing. They whizzed under her belly and danced around her head, circling her again and again while she calmly walked over to a mulga bush and nibbled the seedpods off a low-hanging branch. Luke walked after her as though he too were in a trance.
Then without warning the lights zoomed back towards Jess, but rather than hovering at a distance they came right up and began to circle and dance around her. A warm glow radiated from them. Jess stood with her arms outstretched and giggled. The pup yapped around her feet, jumping up and snapping at the air.
All too soon it was over. The lights whizzed back to Marnie, circled her again, and then, as if disappearing into the belly of the mare – blip – they were gone.