over to their house.
Which was where, apparently, Luke had spent the first twelve months of his life.
Jacquie and her boyfriend, wrote Dr Pettinger, had a significant substance abuse problem. When Welfare got around to actually investigating the welfare of their three children, they’d discovered that there were in fact four people not old enough to vote living beneath their roof.
Jacquie, said Dr Pettinger, had eventually explained how she’d come to be in possession of him, and had apparently wondered whether she might, perhaps, be due any back-payments from the government for her tender loving care for the first year of his life. Not really, Luke gathered she’d been informed. Along with: we will spare you gaol time, though, if you hand over anything else the baby had on him when you found him.
And that’s where his birth certificate had come in.
On the next page, actually. It was a photocopy, of course, but still, it was a piece of him, a piece of him declaring who he was before he learned how to make the world believe he was whoever he wanted to be.
It took a great deal for Luke’s heart to make itself known in his chest. In fact, he’d spent many years wondering whether he actually had one at all. Right now, he finally understood the phrase
His mother’s name was Morgan Moreau – his father’s name wasn’t listed.
His mother had christened him Lucifer Black Moreau.
And he had a twin sister.
‘Luke, you’d better come sit back here.’
Luke tucked his Dwight file back into his jeans and made his way to Zac’s seat at the back of the carriage.
‘What?’ he said, dropping into the seat next to him.
‘We’re coming into Blacktown station,’ said Zac.
‘And?’ said Luke.
‘I don’t know,’ said Zac.
Me neither, thought Luke, but he could sense something wasn’t right. Something bad was waiting. The train crawled into Blacktown station. Eight uniformed officers stood clustered on the platform.
‘Cops,’ said Zac.
‘Transit cops, actually,’ said Luke. ‘But bad enough.’
‘What are the chances they’re not here to find us?’ said Zac.
‘Around zero to none,’ said Luke. ‘We need a plan.’
‘We’re going to wait right here,’ said Zac.
‘You need to brush up on what making a plan means,’ said Luke.
‘You’re just gonna have to trust me, Black.’
‘How about this, then,’ said Luke. ‘I’ll sit here until I think we’re gonna get busted, and then it’s every man for himself.’
‘Deal.’
Ordinarily, Luke would have taken off already, bolted through the carriages and skipped out a door at the last minute. It would mean another chase when the officers saw him run, but it was better than just sitting here, waiting to get caught. But he’d seen enough in the past few days to know that Zac wasn’t ordinary, and to be honest, he was kinda curious to see what this kid would come up with next.
The transits spread out. Four boarded the train up front and the rest at the rear. They were going to be sandwiched in by them. The minutes ticked away. The train didn’t move.
‘Find anything in your file?’ said Zac.
‘You could say that,’ said Luke.
‘Like?’
‘Like I have a twin sister.’
Zac sat bolt upright. ‘Anything else?’ he said.
Luke half smiled, bemused by Nguyen’s intensity. ‘What do you want to know?’
‘Something good,’ said Zac.
‘Well, I learned that
‘Goddess Gaia!’ said Zac, his pale face now even paler, his dark eyes huge.
‘Who?’ said Luke.
‘Never mind. They’re coming.’
Right about now, Luke really wished he had that cap. He felt completely exposed as two transit cops stomped down the stairs into their carriage. He almost closed his eyes, pretending to be asleep, but every muscle screamed at him to spring from the seat and run up the stairs behind him.
Any moment now, he knew he’d have to do just that. The transits passed the two men at the front of the carriage, giving them cursory glances. The short one swept his eyes over the rest of the seats, passing blankly straight over them, then turned to his mate, a huge Islander.
‘Well, they’re not down here,’ said Shorty.
‘They’re probably not even on the train, bro,’ said the Islander, walking straight past them.
Luke could have reached out and taken his radio if he’d liked. Stunned, not daring to even breathe, he listened to the two men meeting their partners at the top of the stairs and watched them step off the train.
‘What was that?’ said Luke. ‘What happened?’
‘There are still four to go,’ said Zac. He was trembling and sweat was beaded on his upper lip. ‘It’ll be harder this time. Just be quiet.’
Right then, they heard doors above them whoosh open.
‘That’s the other doors,’ whispered Luke. ‘The ones that lead to the tracks. What are they doing?’
Zac said nothing. His eyes were closed, his skin tinged faintly green.
Now, from behind him, Luke heard the connecting doors open and the boots of the other transit cops entering the carriage above.
‘Are you looking for two boys?’ he heard a girl ask.
It has to be that punk chick, he thought. She’s gonna give us away!
‘Get ready, Zac,’ he said, primed to run.
He listened to the transit cop’s answer. ‘Yes, we are. Have you seen two males, aged around fifteen?’
‘They just pushed the emergency button,’ Luke heard the girl say. ‘And they jumped down onto the tracks. They took off that way.’
What the hell?
Luke met Zac’s eyes. He looked just as surprised.
They heard the transit cops clatter out of the train, yelling into their radios.
Moments later, the train pulled away from Blacktown station. Luke let his head fall back against the seat.
What a freakin’ night.
A carnivale in Pantelimon, Bucharest, Romania
As usual whenever they went anywhere together, the boys took off as soon as they reached their destination. After paying for them all to get into the Carnivale, Hanzi and Luca began jogging towards the rodeo.
Samantha and Mirela grinned at one another; the whole Carnivale was open to them. Now, where to go first?
‘Rides,’ said Mirela.
‘Animal farm,’ said Shofranka.
