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‘It was a stupid website,’ agreed Ami. ‘But sometimes the illogical answer is the only one. She’s
dangerous
, Olive. She admitted she slipped something into Miss
Falippi’s drink and then got everyone believing our hippy home-room teacher was some kind of addict. Now she’s trying to kill Katie.’

Kill Katie
. I shivered. Was it really as serious as that?

Ami’s eyes were narrowed. ‘And don’t tell me you haven’t noticed how she now looks exactly like Katie. Or at least, like Katie used to look. It’s
just
like
the website said. Miranda is draining her.’

‘But we’re the only ones who think there’s something weird about Miranda,’ I said desperately. ‘So why would we be right?’

‘Because we’re special, Olive,’ said Ami darkly. ‘That’s why we can see what’s going on when everyone else is blind to it. You aren’t affected by her
the way everyone else is.’

What about Lachlan?
He didn’t seem affected by her either. Did he think there was something weird about her too? I wished I could just bowl up to him and ask, without caring how
insane I sounded. I swallowed. ‘I don’t know, Ames. It seems so unbelievable.’

Ami was silent for a while. And then she said in a low voice, ‘You know about parasitic wasps, don’t you?’

‘Well, yeah,’ I said. ‘I’ve only been sitting next to those insect posters for six months. Why?’

‘Remember how the mother wasp doesn’t lay her eggs in a nest or a hive? She lays them directly into the body of another insect – you know, like into a caterpillar.’

‘Right, so the eggs hatch in a dead caterpillar,’ I said, pulling a face. ‘Gross.’

‘Not dead,’ corrected Ami. ‘
Alive
. The wasp larvae stay inside the living caterpillar as they grow, feeding on its blood and flesh until they’re big and strong
enough to bite their way through its skin.’

‘That’s disgusting.’ My own skin was tingling, like there were things crawling over me.

‘There’s more,’ said Ami. ‘The baby wasps release this chemical that messes with the caterpillar’s brain, so it doesn’t realise what’s going on.
It’ll even try to protect the infant wasps as they’re eating their way out through its skin because it thinks they’re part of its own body. Then once the baby wasps are gone, the
caterpillar is left to die.’

‘Ami!’ I said, feeling nauseous. ‘What has this got to do with Miranda?’

‘Well, I just wonder if that’s what shifters are like,’ said Ami. ‘Not like elves or goblins or whatever magical creatures people think of when they hear the word
shifter. Freaky disturbing stuff happens in the natural world all the time. We just don’t think of it as happening in the human world. But why shouldn’t it?’

I felt unsteady. Ami was watching me very carefully. She nodded at me. ‘You know it’s the truth,’ she said quietly. ‘Katie is the juicy little protective caterpillar. But
she’s almost completely dried up.’

The corridor was full of people but somehow I could hear the rhythm of my heart, beating loudly.

‘If we’re wrong, Miranda’s just a bitch,’ Ami said, her voice soft but steady. ‘But if we’re right, Katie’s in danger.’

I slammed my locker door, just as the second bell went. ‘I’m going to see her,’ I said. ‘Right now.’

‘You better hurry,’ said Ami. ‘In case Miranda gets there first.’

The clinic was one of those ugly, boxy buildings – the sort that made your heart sink as you approached it. This I could say from personal experience, as it was the same
clinic I’d spent time at myself after the Incident. Inside, someone had attempted to make it look a little friendlier. Paintings had been stuck up on the walls, mostly done by patients. One
wall was covered with paper honeybees inscribed with positive messages.
Bee confident. Bee kind. Bee a friend
. Out the back was a garden.

The panic that had propelled me there had worn off a little by the time I arrived. I felt my confidence slip further as I pushed through the front door and smelled that familiar smell of
overcooked vegetables. It was unlikely that Katie would be thrilled to see me – I’d probably just be a reminder of how far she’d fallen. But I was here now and it felt stupid just
to turn around. I took a deep breath.
Bee brave,
I told myself.
All you have to do is go in and just warn her to stay away from Miranda.
That seemed reasonable, and do-able.

The woman at reception smiled as I approached. ‘Hello,’ she said. ‘We haven’t seen you for a while.’

‘I’m here to visit Katie Clarke,’ I said quickly.

The woman looked at the visitors list and shook her head. ‘Sorry. It’s relatives only at the moment.’

Patients at this clinic were able to indicate people they did and didn’t want to see. You couldn’t forbid the doctors or nurses from coming, of course, but just about anyone else
could be on the ‘no visits’ list. When I was here, I’d made it clear that I didn’t want to see anyone from school.

‘She’s my cousin,’ I lied.

The nurse scrutinised my face. People used to say we looked alike. ‘She’s in Room 12,’ she said finally. ‘Don’t stay too long. And keep things calm,
please.’

My shoes made mouse-like noises on the polished corridor tiles.
Room 8, Room 9.
I tried to work out what to say to Katie that sounded halfway believable.
You know your
supposed best friend Miranda? I think she’s draining you of your personality and spirit.
It was going to be tricky.

I stopped outside Room 12. I could see my distorted reflection in the glass. Even stretched out long and thin like that, it looked anxious.
This could be such a mistake.

But I went in anyway. It was air-conditioner quiet in there and for a minute I thought I’d got the wrong room. This one was unoccupied. Then there was a noise from the bed and I saw Katie
lying there, asleep. She barely made a lump under the sheets.

I stood by the door, awkward and awful. This was all so wrong. If Katie had been in hospital just a couple of months ago, it would have been overflowing with flowers, teddies, giant cards.
People would’ve camped in here around the clock, and Katie would’ve been propped up in bed, behaving like royalty. I could picture Justine and Paige fussing around, arranging all the
flowers in vases, and Cameron lying on the bed next to Katie, joking that this hotel was so good he was going to stay too.

But apart from a few things probably brought in by her family – some magazines, a single bunch of flowers – the room was totally bare. It was just Katie. And me.

I started backing out. There was no point hanging around if Katie was asleep. Maybe I could call her, or email even. That would be better, probably.

As I was reaching for the door handle, there was another noise from the bed. Katie’s eyes were open, watching me.

‘What are you doing here?’ Her voice gave no clue as to what she thought about finding me in her room. There was this strange
blankness
about it and I couldn’t tell if
she was cross or surprised.
Maybe she’s pleased to see me,
I thought, although I knew that was unlikely.

‘Just dropping by to say howdy. I’ve never known anyone who’s been rushed to hospital in an ambulance before. I was wondering what it was like.’ My voice sounded high and
fake, my words like they’d been scripted by someone else. A moron.

Katie grimaced. The bed covers rippled as she shifted her legs beneath it. ‘I wouldn’t recommend it,’ she said.

‘At least you get some time off school,’ I said stupidly. That was a mistake. Being reminded of school was probably the last thing Katie wanted.

She twitched the corner of her sheet. ‘How
is
school?’

My mouth was apparently out of control. ‘You’re the hot topic of conversation, of course. You even made it to the front page of the paper.’ Another mistake. The article
hadn’t exactly been the sort you’d cut out and keep for your scrapbook.

Katie wasn’t listening anyway. ‘Everyone hates me,’ she said. ‘All my friends. Cam. Everyone.’

‘No, they don’t.’ I went and sat on the chair beside her bed. ‘They feel terrible about what happened. They … told me to send you their love.’ It’s OK to
lie, isn’t it, when the person you’re lying to looks so sad and sick? It’s not so much lying as making up a story.

Katie must have known it wasn’t true, but I could see she desperately wanted to believe it all the same. She fell back on her pillows and let my fairytale wash over her. ‘How
sweet,’ she murmured.

‘How long are you going to be in here?’

Katie shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t know,’ she said. ‘They want me to “fill out” a bit.’ She gave a hollow laugh. ‘But there’s no way
that’s going to happen if they keep serving me up plates of disgusting gunk.’

‘What do you feel like eating?’ I asked.

‘A choc-top.’ When Katie grinned I saw a flash of how she used to be – that spark in her eye.

‘I’ll bring you one,’ I said. ‘Next time I visit.’

‘Do you remember when we tried to make our own?’ said Katie suddenly. ‘Back before –’ her eyes flicked away for a moment. ‘Well, back when we were
friends?’

Funny. I’d forgotten about doing that. ‘I still don’t know how they get the chocolate to stick on properly,’ I said. ‘Ours just fell off in big globs everywhere.
But they were still pretty awesome.’

Katie looked awake now – properly awake. ‘Olive, do you think I’ve got an eating disorder?’

Her question took me by surprise. Katie
had
always worried about her weight. And there was no denying that she was scarily thin. I remembered what I’d come here to do.

‘Yeah,’ I said. ‘I do.’

Katie’s face fell. She squashed back down into the pillows.

‘But I don’t think you have anorexia or bulimia or anything,’ I added quickly. ‘Your disorder is that you’re
being
eaten. From the inside out
.
And not
just your body. Your mind too.’

From the corridor came the sound of someone pushing a trolley with squeaky wheels. I remembered that squeak from when I was here.

Katie’s eyes were fixed on me. ‘What do you mean?’

‘That stuff you said to Miranda at the formal. You’re right. She
is
stealing from you. She’s trying to steal your whole life.’

Katie was trembling now and I knew that I had to choose my words carefully. If I suddenly launched into a description of shapeshifters, with a bit of wasp stuff thrown in, Katie would reach
straight for the call button and have me ejected. I needed to say the things Katie probably already suspected.

‘She wants to take everything from you,’ I said.

For a moment Katie didn’t respond. Then she nodded.

I leant forward. ‘She makes herself stronger by making you weaker.’

‘Yes.’

‘You can’t trust her, Katie. She’s not your friend, no matter what she says.’

Katie’s face screwed up. I’d gone too far. ‘No, it’s
you
who’s not my friend. You
dumped
me, remember? Without ever telling me why. I came to the
clinic to visit you. I was
worried
. But they said you didn’t want to see me. Then when you came back to school you acted like you didn’t even know who I –’

‘Hang on a minute,’ I said angrily. ‘Don’t put that all on me. It was as much your fault as it was mine.’

‘What the hell are you talking about?’ Katie’s voice cracked.

‘It’s not like we could still be friends after what you did,’ I said, my temper fizzing. ‘You told everyone about my dad leaving. And about my …
Incident
. So
excuse me for not wanting to be friends anymore.’

Katie was speechless, and I felt a small surge of triumph. She’d obviously thought she could get away with betraying her
best friend
and that everything would be fine. And then she
said something that floored me.

‘Ollie,’ she said, looking me right in the eye, ‘I never told anyone
anything
. I mean, I wrote about it in my diary – I had to, to cope with everything – but
you know that’s completely locked and hidden. Anyway, we’ve been friends since primary school. How could you think I’d actually blab all that personal stuff?’

‘But everyone acts like they know,’ I said, finding my voice. ‘Like I’m a leper who’s going to –’