The War of Wind and Moon (Season One)

Chapter One

Floating to the ceiling of Mia's bedroom, its dangling belly swollen after a feast of rage and fear, the Gossip enjoyed a dessert of contempt and defiance. Through bulging, yellow eyes the creature watched Mia uncurl from the ball she habitually formed whenever her mother's fists began flying. The girl turned her ear to the door she was forbidden to shut and stilled her ragged breathing, listening for her mother's movements in the tiny flat.

The Gossip had been bound to Mia since the girl was three years old and, after fourteen years, it knew as well as she did that the danger wasn't over. Mia would have to return to the kitchen to clean up the food she had overcooked and her mother had cast to the floor. The timing had to be just right: too soon and the very sight of the girl would have her mother spitting insults as Mia cleaned; too late and the rage would flare all over again.

Ordinarily, the Gossip would hunger for the latter because it would provide the larger meal, but its belly was almost full and the need to report what it had witnessed was already painful. An insult or two would be enough.

***

Green. Mia had worn a lot of school uniforms but she'd never had to wear green before. It didn't suit her, it brought out all the red in her complexion. It wasn't even a nice green. There were so many they could have chosen – an elegant bottle or a happy leaf green – but no, someone had chosen the mud green of bruised avocado flesh. Which, now she thought about it, was appropriate, considering the state of her back this morning.

"Mia!" Her mother's voice from down the hall. "Where are my glasses?"

Mia rolled her eyes but made sure to put a smile in her voice. "Are they beside your bed?"

"Don't you think I've already-" Silence as she no doubt looked beside her bed. "Found them. Are you going to come and wish me good luck before I go?"

Mia corrected her expression in the mirror then met her mother at the front door.

"Good luck with your presentation."

Her mother beamed. "You did remember!" She pulled Mia into a hug, stretching the bruised skin across her shoulder blades. "Mia. Mia. Mia. Light of my life. See you tonight!"

Mia smiled until the door closed, then let herself shudder. She'd resisted hugging her mother once. Just once. Now she put up with it, like the ranting and the hitting and then the pretense that none of it happened.

"Six more months," she muttered, making her way into the kitchen to clean up the breakfast dishes and make herself a salad sandwich for lunch. Four months to exams. Then two months waiting for Uni offers. Everything depended on getting that offer in January. The moment it arrived she could apply for Youth Allowance, find some student housing and be free to start her own life. Six more months and it would all be worth it.

Starting a new school four months before final exams wasn't ideal, but it was done now and she'd be damned if she was going to let her mother's chaos ruin her plan. The only real difference she had to get her head around were the novels St. Kilda High was studying for English. Biology, Japanese and French didn't change from school to school. Still, she wasn't going to even try to make new friends this time. For four months they could think what they wanted to, call her whatever names they liked. She had no time for anything but study.

At the front door she slipped her lunch into the new green backpack on top of the stack of books destined for her new locker and hoisted it on to her right shoulder. "Ow!"

She let the bag thud to the floor and closed her eyes until the pain dissipated. She'd have to lug it in her hand. Probably dislocate her shoulder before she got to school. With a sigh, she reached for the door and startled as the bell shrieked beside her ear.