Six Steps Down Read online

  Bliss was as gorgeous as a super model in Aisley's opinion. She could easily take Aasha Sarin's title as hottest girl in school if she made an effort to be nice. Instead, her mouth was always down-turned and miserable and she never had a kind word to say. Bliss spent most of her time chasing after year eleven and twelve boys who didn't even give her the time of the day unless it suited them to do so.

  In that first month when Bliss was so horrible to her, Aisley had gone to some effort to diffuse the situation. She'd hoped if she made a friend out of Bliss, she'd fix the problem. However, it wasn't to be. Bliss had her little group of obedient followers. She wasn't interested in friends like Aisley.

  Aisley's dad, Grant, would've had a saying to sum it up, Aisley was sure. Grant had a saying for everything. Maybe something like, Bliss can't see the woods for the trees, or perhaps, Bliss thinks the grass is always greener on the other side. Either way, Bliss Anderson was not a happy person and Aisley was profoundly grateful on days when she could avoid her altogether.

  'She's got a face like a cat's arse that one, honestly!' hissed Freya Biddy, dropping her small body onto the seat between Aisley and Cate. 'She needs to be getting on with her own life instead of worrying about others.' She poked her tongue out at Bliss who looked appropriately shocked. She flipped her middle finger at Freya before turning abruptly away. 'Such a lady,' Freya tut-tutted. 'No manners at all.' Freya Biddy had been in Australia for less than a couple of years, so her Irish accent was still strong. It was especially pronounced when she was excited or annoyed.

  Archie Evans leaned so far back in his chair in front of them that it threatened to spill him onto the floor. 'That's because she is a cat's arse,' he commented conversationally.

  'Who is a cat's arse?' asked Lucan Bevin, a bit too loudly, as he sat down beside Archie.

  'Many people in this world,' Archie replied cryptically.

  Lucan put his pencil case neatly on the table in front of him. 'Who,' he inquired, 'is a cat's arse on this particular occasion?'

  Gerry Briskett strode purposefully into the room. 'Enough discussion about feline anuses thank you Mr Bevin,' he said briskly, walking to his desk at the front of the room. 'They're interesting, but they're not in my notes for today's lesson. Maybe we can discuss them next week.'

  The entire class burst out laughing, with the exception of Lucan, who looked confused, and Bliss Anderson, who just looked offended.

  Humming a tune, Mr Briskett turned on the electronic whiteboard and tapped his computer mouse a couple of times. 'Where is it?' he muttered. 'Don't tell me I didn't … oh, here it is!'

  A map appeared on the screen. It was recognisable to the class because it was of Seamere, their own town.

  'Seamere,' Mr Briskett threw his hands wide and stated the obvious. 'As familiar to you all as your own face.' He turned to face the room. 'I'd bet every one of you could point out five landmarks in five seconds. He looked about, beaming enthusiastically. 'Am I right?'

  Assorted nods, shrugs, and inarticulate murmurs of 'yeah,' 'I dunno,' and 'maybe,' answered his question. Aisley noticed Chandra lean across and whisper something to Archie and both boys laughed soundlessly. Archie clutched his stomach in amusement and doubled over, bonking his forehead on the table in the process.

  Chandra, still smiling, glanced up and met Aisley's gaze. Her heart sped up and she quickly looked away. When she looked at him again, he had his back to her once more.

  'We spend a great deal of lesson time learning about faraway places,' Mr Briskett continued, strolling over to the window and gazing out across the senior school oval. 'But it's also interesting to discover the origins of your own hometown. What did it look like in the past? Why did people build here?' He turned on his heel and strode through the room, plucking Drew King's iPod from his hands as he passed by.

  'Hey …' Drew objected.

  'I'll hang on to that until the end of class, thank you Mr King.'

  Drew pouted.

  'We all know that Seamere is a tourist attraction now,' Mr Briskett continued, pocketing Drew's iPod. 'Our population swells in the summertime when every man and his dog come to swim, surf, and sail. So is that the reason why the township was built here in the first place?' He peered around the room. 'Was Seamere designed to be a tourist resort?' He looked straight at Aisley when he asked his last question and so she felt compelled to answer.

  'I don't know, Mr Briskett.'

  'Ah!' Mr Briskett cried, loudly enough to make half the class jump. 'That's just it Aisley Brannon. Precisely! You don't know. Neither do you, Archibald Evans.'

  Archie cringed at the use of his full and much-detested name.

  'Or you, Brice Daly. Or any of you.'

  'Um, I do know a bit, sir,' ventured Aisley, in her own defence.

  'Share your knowledge,' prompted Mr Briskett, waving his hand grandly at her.

  'Well,' Aisley said. 'I know that there's a beach at the bottom of the cliff my house sits on and nobody can get down there because the cliff is so steep. There are rocks under the water, so boats can't get through either.'

  'Bravo, Miss Brannon,' Mr Briskett smiled. 'This is what I want to hear. Local knowledge. Tell me Aisley, do you know the name of that hidden beach?'

  Aisley hesitated and then plunged on. 'It's Carrad Beach or something like that, I think.' She shrugged, 'My dad told me about it.'

  Mr Briskett nodded happily. 'Well done, you're very close. It's actually called Cariad Lili Bay.' He turned back to gaze at the map and folded his arms. 'I have a mission for you all, should you choose to accept it?' he said, in what he obviously fancied was his best British secret agent voice.

  A few people smiled. Then Freya snorted loudly, which caused most of the class to fall about with laughter. Mr Briskett ignored it all. That was another reason Aisley liked him. He liked them to have fun.

  'I'd like you to get together and work in groups,' he said, still gazing at the map. 'I would like your group to research the local history of Seamere. I'm asking you to pick a specific area or subject to make your findings more interesting.' He turned back and looked at his class, leaning his knuckles on his desk. 'I'll give you until the end of term so there's no rush. You've got almost three weeks to prepare. In the final week of term, each group can present their findings to the rest of us.'

  Everyone was quiet for a moment.

  'Can I research the surf beach?' asked Chandra hopefully.

  'You seem to spend an inordinate amount of time doing that already, Mr Sarin,' Mr Briskett said mildly.

  A few people laughed and Chandra grinned, his shoulders shrugging easily. The man spoke the truth.

  Mr Briskett pointed at him. 'Nevertheless, if you can find an interesting story in its history and your group agrees, then yes, you can.'

  Chandra sat back, looking pleased.

  'Bliss and Megan want to research the shopping centre,' chuckled Stewart Thomas.

  Bliss, and Megan Davies, who was one of her followers, shot dagger-eyed looks at Stewart.

  Mr Briskett just beamed. 'Well the modern mall might not be very interesting,' he said. 'But Main Street is extremely historical, so … yeah, go for it girls! Why not, I say. Why not, indeed!'

  The class started to chatter amongst themselves.

  Mr Briskett clapped his hands together, all business. 'Right, let's do it people,' he barked. 'It's time to choose your groups. I'm thinking maybe teams of five or six. Let's get organised!'

  Chapter Two

  Century-Old House

  That same afternoon

  There was a brilliant café on the corner of Main Street and Peach Drive called "Melba". The thing that made Melba brilliant was the speciality of the café — chocolate. Because their chocolate dishes and beverages were so good, Melba was always a popular place to be. It was common knowledge that Joseph Whitby, the owner, was a world-class chocolatier and Seamere felt quite proud that he'd decided to set up business in their little village.

  The corner had a panoramic view of
the Seamere Botanical Gardens too, which made it an extra nice place to sit and watch the world go by. Aisley, Cate, and Freya sat at an outdoor table after school that day. They were waiting for the rest of their Humanities team to join them, the idea being that they would all brainstorm together and come up with an aspect of Seamere to research that nobody else had thought of yet. Aisley stared in amazement as tiny Freya pigged out on an enormous chocolate croissant.

  'Lordy, lordy, Freya!' she gasped. 'That croissant is almost bigger than you. Where are you putting it all?'

  Freya grinned broadly and noisily slurped her milkshake; her frizzy, blonde curls standing out like a halo around her head. 'I've had nothing to eat since lunch, have I?'

  'Well, neither have I,' replied Aisley, delicately nibbling her hundreds and thousands-sprinkled cupcake with her little finger sticking up into the air. 'What difference does that make?'

  'Well, you see,' said Cate mysteriously, wrapping her hands around her latte glass, 'Freya must be fed every two hours or she is in danger of reverting back into her original form.'

  Aisley pulled a face at her. 'What does that even mean?' she laughed.

  'Oh, it's not a pretty sight,' warned Cate, shaking her head.

  Aisley stared at Freya scoffing her food. 'This is not a pretty sight!' she remarked.

  Freya grinned, revealing chocolate-covered teeth, making Aisley feel a bit ill.

  'Where are they?' Cate demanded, slumping forward on the table with her chin on her hand. 'For goodness sake! Do we have to wait all night?'

  As it happened, Aisley was watching the boys who made up the rest of their team approach. There was Archie, tall and gangly, with his curly brown hair even more messy than usual and his school shirt hanging out. He was sort of bouncing, rather than walking, down the street.

  Lucan was strolling along beside Archie, head down and hands in his pockets. In Aisley's opinion, Lucan looked like he was permanently worried about something. He was always so serious; almost emo-like with his dark hair and big eyes.

  Chandra was meandering along behind Lucan, trying to step on the back of Lucan's ankles just to annoy him. His gait was long and graceful and an easy smile played across his face, making something flutter in Aisley's chest.

  The thought that she had a serious crush on Chandra Sarin made Aisley so annoyed with herself that she completely overreacted to Cate's question about waiting all night. 'What the hell, Cate! Of course we won't be!' she scolded. 'If you'd just open your eyes and look, you'd see they're already here.' She immediately regretted snapping at Cate and gave her a hug.

  'You're so weird, Ais,' muttered Cate, allowing Aisley to hug her.

  The boys arrived and pulled up chairs with a great deal more noise than necessary, letting their backpacks clatter to the concrete as they all sat down.

  'Make this quick,' barked Archie, slouching back in his chair and rubbing his eyes with balled fists. 'Time is money. Places to go, things to do.'

  Cate whacked him on one skinny arm. 'Yeah right. Places like home … and things like your PlayStation maybe?'

  Archie held his hands wide and looked hurt. 'What's wrong with that?'

  A waitress approached. Lucan shook his head, no. Chandra ordered a coke and Archie asked for a large mochaccino.

  'The largest you have,' he emphasised. I'm talking bucket-size, in a really big mug. A really, really big mug.'

  'You're a big mug!' said Chandra, causing general laughter.

  The waitress gently reassured Archie that she understood he wanted a very large mochaccino indeed before disappearing back inside the café.

  Cate pulled a notebook and pen from her bag, all business. 'So,' she said, looking around the table. 'Let's get inspired, people.'

  Chandra reiterated his desire to research the beach, but was generally shouted down by the fact that, to their knowledge, nothing really historical had ever happened on the Seamere Surf Beach.

  'You can't be sure about that,' argued Chandra, leaning forward earnestly. 'I bet if we Google it, we'll discover that a ship sank just off the coast there.' He pointed in the general direction of the ocean, warming to his theme. 'Maybe there were only two survivors … a guy and a girl of course … and they hooked up, had some kids, and became the first family in the town. A regular romance!' He threw an intense look at Aisley, catching her off-guard. Then he grinned cheerfully, white teeth bright against his brown skin, 'It'd make a great movie.'

  'It's been done.' Freya rolled her eyes. 'This is not Titanic! I'm sure if something that dramatic had occurred, we'd all be aware of it.'

  'She's right,' Aisley agreed. 'There'd be memorials … and a maritime museum.'

  'And, all the tourists would come to see it,' added Cate, 'Like Loch Ard Gorge on the Great Ocean Road.'

  'Alright, alright!' Chandra raised his hands in defeat, 'I tried. I know when to give up.'

  Aisley threw him a sympathetic smile.

  'What about the ...' Archie began, and then paused as the waitress came back with the drinks. He slurped his enormous mochaccino and then burped the words 'coal mine?'

  'Eww!' said Aisley and Cate in unison.

  'Seriously though,' Archie was not to be put off, 'The coal mine is one of the things the tourists do come to see. And you can go in it … on a tour.' He emphasised his last point by jabbing his finger at Cate.

  She slapped the offending finger away. 'A good idea Archibald, but taken. I heard Bria and Drew's group discussing the coal mine with Mr Briskett at the end of the session.'

  Archie looked crestfallen and slumped back to sip morosely at his enormous mochaccino, pondering the huge injustice in the world.

  The group bantered back and forth for a while producing and discarding ideas without much success, until finally a bit of a gloom descended on them all. What had started out as quite an interesting project, as far as school projects went, was quickly in danger of becoming just more hard slog. Just another piece of homework with a deadline.

  Aisley looked at the time on her phone. Reluctantly, she pushed back her chair and got to her feet. 'I'm sorry you guys, I have to go.'

  'Already?' Chandra demanded.

  'Well,' Cate barked, 'If you guys had got here a bit sooner, we'd have had more time.'

  'We weren't late,' Archie said firmly, peering at her over the brim of his huge mug.

  'No?' Cate glared at him.

  'No.'

  'Says you,' Cate sniffed, flicking her silky hair back.

  'Settle, you two,' Aisley said gently. 'It's cool. We're just going to have to continue another time. I really have to get home. Mum will be texting me to ask where I am soon. Coming Cate?'

  Cate picked up her bag and went to get up as well when Lucan, who had been silent and looking mildly concerned ever since arriving, suddenly grabbed her sleeve. 'No, wait,' he said sharply.

  They all looked at him expectantly. His dark hair had fallen across his face, but he hastily pushed it aside, brown eyes wide.

  Chandra laughed. 'Settle, man! You look like you're having an …'

  Everybody looked at him and Aisley saw Chandra blush for the first time since she'd known him, '… an epiphany,' he finished, unconvincingly, making everyone laugh.

  'What about your house?' Lucan asked Aisley. 'Isn't your house supposed to be historical? It's listed with the heritage people, right? Unless I'm mistaken, there aren't any other houses like Sheldon's Seat in Seamere.'

  Aisley thought it over. 'I dunno … it's just a house,' she said slowly. But there was more to it than that really. She knew a rich man had built the house a hundred years ago. She rubbed her brow, trying to recall what her parents had told her about the house back when they'd first bought it.

  'Mum and dad told my brother and me all about the house, because we really did not want to move here and they were desperate to convince us,' she remembered. 'I mean, why would you want to move from an ultra-modern townhouse in the heart of the city to a dirty, disgusting, falling-down haunted house in the middle of
nowhere, right?'

  'Is it really haunted?' asked Chandra, sounded quite subdued.

  Aisley spread her hands. 'Look, I don't know,' she admitted. 'I've haven't seen any ghosts yet and, believe me, I have looked.' She sank gracefully back into her seat, clutching her bag on her lap. 'The history is a bit sad actually,' she told them. 'A rich man built it for his wife. I think they'd emigrated from England or Europe. She felt homesick, so he built her a house just like the one they'd left behind. It was really romantic. The house used to be much bigger than it is now. My dad says a lot of it must have just rotted away over the years.'

  'What's the sad bit?' asked Freya.

  'Well she died, you see,' continued Aisley. 'The wife, that is. When she was very young. The husband was so heartbroken that he couldn't bear to stay and he went back to where he'd come from.'

  Cate and Freya both let out very girlie sighs.

  Practical Lucan spoke up again, 'How did he come to be so rich in the first place?'

  'He must've come from an aristocratic family,' guessed Cate. 'Old money. Isn't that what they call it?'

  'If he was an English aristocrat, why did he bother to leave the life of luxury and come to colonial Australia?' asked Archie. 'It must've been a real culture shock for him.'

  'It was the coal mine, Archie.' Aisley was remembering it all now. 'He owned the coal mine, so he probably had to come over to supervise it or something.'

  'That makes sense,' said Freya. 'Lucan's right. If we can find enough information about the history of Sheldon's Seat, it would make a really good presentation about local history.'

  They all nodded in agreement. It was a good idea. The gloom lifted and the sun came out.

  'And there's an extra bonus about us researching your house, you know,' said Cate five minutes later as the two girls walked home together.