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a cold swimming pool. I take a step forward. The night sucks me across the halfway mark and folds me into its arms. Chills.
    I jump back out.
    The sun prickles my skin. In the warmth I feel ashamed of my weakness in coming here. I don’t care what Ortolan said: Wolfboy has forgotten me. I peel myself away from Shyness, and head towards the things I know.

six

    Although Lupe complains, I
    insist on walking her to her van. Grey Street is as quiet as it ever gets. The trail of blue people has disappeared.
    We don’t talk much as we walk. Lupe has a calm, pleasant look on her face, as if we’re walking through a lovely garden, rather than the decaying street. The supermarket on the Panwood side throws a determined patch of light over the border, but its glow doesn’t brighten my mood. I trust Lupe’s opinion. If she’s this worried about Paul, then I should be too.
    Old Jim, one of the Diabetic regulars, shambles past us on Saturnalia Avenue. Jim survived lung cancer five years ago, but I’m not surprised to see him with a cigaretteclutched in his clawed hand.
    Lupe’s van, when it comes into sight, rocks back and forth as if the ground is moving underneath it. But it’s not an earthquake causing the commotion.
    ‘Those little shits!’ I break into a sprint, leaving Lupe behind. The hazy circle that always envelops her van is gone. She won’t be able to see them yet, but there are people-shaped silhouettes standing on the van roof, jumping up and down. Kidds.
    Even though I haven’t needed to run in months, my legs and arms oblige immediately. My feet whip the ground. As I get closer to the old petrol station where Lupe’s van is permanently stationed, I see more Kidds at the base of the van, pushing on the sides. They’re trying to topple it off its brick foundations.
    I let rip a battle cry that’s half-howl, half-swear word. A Kidd on the roof hurls a spray can at my head. I duck, and retrieve it without breaking my stride. I throw it back, hitting the Kidd square in the shoulder.
    I’m pleased to see that the Kidds on top of the van look scared and slide to the ground to join the others. What I’m not prepared for is that one or two faces are streaky with tears. The tears almost derail my anger, but then I see the van. The awning droops and there are huge dints in the walls. Spray paint drips over the scarred metal.
    ‘What the fuck are you guys doing?’ Lupe’s van hasalways been off-limits. While almost everything else in Shyness gets tagged and raided, Lupe has always been safe.
    There are nine Kidds in total. The strange thing about this group is they all seem the same age, around ten, and no one steps forward as their leader. They haven’t moved into fighting formation. It dawns on me that they’re not a unit that usually works together. Eventually a snivelling girl in a flannelette shirt speaks up.
    ‘She’s a witch,’ she says, pointing behind me.
    I turn to see Lupe, a smear of colour in the darkness. She’s too far away to hear, even though I’m sure she’s heard it all before.
    ‘Why do you say that?’
    ‘She cursed us. She cursed all of us.’
    Her friends nod their agreement.
    ‘Have you guys been on the post-mix this arvo?’ They must be delusional on syrup. I try to imagine Blake in this state, when she was with the Kidds, but I can’t. ‘Don’t give me this curse shit. What’s really going on?’
    ‘Look,’ says the girl. And she pulls one of the other Kidds forwards. He cradles a still tarsier in his hands. I stifle my surprise at seeing another dead one. It smells ripe, as if it’s already been hoarded for a few days.
    ‘It’s not asleep,’ says the girl, unnecessarily.
    ‘What has this got to do with Lupe?’
    She wipes her nose. Her fingernails are ripped and dirty.‘It’s not just the furries. All the big Kidds left Orphanville and they wouldn’t tell us why. Someone stole all our bikes. There’s no food, and the sugar stash is all gone. Building Six caught