by SJB Gilmour
Contents
Copyright
Title
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Epilogue
Extras
Golden Mane ©
Book One of The Adventures of Sarah Coppernick ©
By S J B Gilmour.
Amazon Edition
Copyright © 2011 by SJB Gilmour
All rights reserved.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a data retrieval system or transmitted in any form by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher and copyright holders.
All characters in this publication are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead is purely coincidental.
The moral right of the author has been asserted.
Cover art by Tom Hermann: http://tommiart.blogspot.com
2011 general retail digital release ISBN: 978-0-9871084-1-8
Golden Mane
For Anna
When she thought about monsters like werewolves and vampires, which wasn’t very often, Sarah Coppernick felt quite safe in the knowledge that such awful creatures were not real. The last thing she expected was to discover such creatures are every bit as real as you. Even more unexpected for Sarah, was the discovery that she herself was one of them…
Chapter One
It was that last punch that did it. Sarah heard the dull thud of the fist connecting with the left side of her mouth. There was a flash of hundreds of tiny pinpricks of brightly coloured light. Then pain. Then, instead of crumbling to the ground in defeat as many girls would have done, Sarah fought back in blind rage. She was so out of control that no matter how hard she tried later on, she could never remember what really happened next. It was in that foggy moment of fury, of course, that Sarah’s opponent was bitten so badly, she had been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance.
And so, Sarah was in big trouble. Again. She’d been fighting with the bullies at school. Again. This time, she was really in for it. She was certain of it. Normal schoolyard fights don’t usually result in more than the occasional black eye or fat lip. The bite on the arm of the bully Sarah had been fighting, a thoroughly nasty piece of work called Mandy Kelly, was far from normal. When Sarah and Mandy had been pulled apart by no fewer than three teachers, Mandy’s left arm was gashed and spurting blood everywhere. If one of the teachers had not immediately tied his new imitation silk tie around her arm to stop the flow of blood, Mandy may well have bled to death.
It didn’t matter that Sarah didn’t remember biting anyone. Nor did it help that the bite looked as though it had come from some kind of massive animal instead of an eleven year-old girl. Sarah had Mandy’s blood all over her and nobody, not even Sarah herself, could imagine Mandy doing it to herself.
While she was sitting in the sick bay as the school nurse wiped Sarah’s bloodied face with disinfectant, the principal Mr Dyson stormed in. Sarah had thought she’d heard Mr Dyson at his angriest and loudest. This time, he was even angrier and louder than she had ever thought possible. His face was the colour of beetroot and spittle sprayed from his mouth as he yelled at her. Finally, after making her feel more rotten than she’d ever felt before, he sent her home.
And so, Sarah walked home feeling absolutely wretched. She paused at the gate to the house she shared with her aunt and uncle. Her home, at number 6 Pepperdine Way in the quiet suburb of Oakleigh, was about fifteen minutes away from the city by car and about fifteen minutes by foot from school. Sarah often joked to herself that her home was fifteen minutes from anywhere. However, that day she didn’t feel like joking very much at all. After a long pause and a few deep breaths, she held up her chin, opened the gate and marched up to the front door.
Normally, Aunt Roberta and Uncle Robert were very relaxed. They had some odd habits, Sarah admitted to herself, but they were usually pretty cool. They both hated fashion and flatly refused to buy new clothes unless the ones they had were falling apart. They went barefoot almost everywhere, even in the winter (Sarah also hated wearing shoes so this behaviour didn’t seem as weird to her as it did to other people). They also hated using cutlery and, even in restaurants, would almost always eat with their fingers. This was often messy and usually caused raised eyebrows since Roberta and Robert had a fondness for t-bone steaks. Rare and bloody t-bone steaks.
However, they were definitely less strict than the parents of other kids. They gave Sarah her own space and never talked down to her. In fact, they were all more like good friends than anything. Sarah rarely heard them raise their voices. Mostly, this was because her aunt and uncle got on so well with her, and Sarah almost never did anything to warrant being told off. She did her homework and helped around the house. She almost never stayed up late and was certainly too well-behaved to argue with them over any decisions they made. So, Sarah was especially nervous when she walked in the door. The house was silent.
‘I’m home!’ Sarah called as she dumped her bag in the hallway. She kicked off her shoes. She really hated those shoes. Then she stood with her one foot on the end of her sock to pull her foot out of it. Then she did the same with her other foot. Even when something really important might be about to happen, she couldn’t stop herself going barefoot the moment she got home.
She walked into the living room, expecting to see Robert and Roberta ready to scold her for fighting in the schoolyard. She was ready to start defending herself and to say that it wasn’t her fault that Mandy and her friends had been picking on her and calling her names. She found her aunt and uncle sitting on the couch. Their eyes were worried and their usually sunny faces were not smiling - not at all.
‘Sarah, sit down here, honey,’ said Roberta, patting the couch seat next to her.
Sarah obeyed nervously. She was confused. Her aunt and uncle didn’t seem to be angry.
‘Mr Dyson called,’ Robert said nervously, almost stammering. ‘We’ve all got to go and see him tomorrow.’
Sarah hung her head low. She knew it would happen.
‘Am I going to be expelled?’ she asked. Her voice sounded very calm and strong despite the knot that was building in her stomach.
‘That depends. Is what he says true, Sarah?’ asked Roberta. ‘Did you bite that girl?’ She nodded at the bloodstains on Sarah’s dress.
At this, Sarah felt a hot surge of anger and confusion. She didn’t like being blamed for something like this. Still, she couldn’t say for certain that she hadn’t bitten Mandy. She couldn’t remember, and that was probably the worst of all.
‘I don’t know!’ she protested. ‘I don’t think I bit anyone! I saw where she was bleeding from and it didn’t look like anything a person could have done!’
‘Mr Dyson says you did,’ began Robert seriously.
‘Don’t worry about what that fool Dyson said,’ said a new voice from the doorway. Sarah looked up to see her most favourite person in the whole world, except for Aunt Roberta and Uncle Robert, of course. Uncle Benjamin! She hadn’t seen him for months and months. Uncle Benjamin – well, he wasn’t really her uncle but had been very good friends with her parents before they disappeared – stood in the doorway wit
h a big box wrapped in shiny silver paper and tied with a large red ribbon. Sarah forgot all about being upset and leaped to her feet and ran to her uncle, who bent down and gave her a great big hug and kissed her on the forehead, the way only favourite uncles can.
‘This is for you,’ he said, handing her the present, ‘but…’ and he waved a finger at her, ‘…not until after dinner!’
Reluctantly, Sarah put the present on the table. Then she came back and gave Benjamin another hug. She stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek.
‘Now,’ Benjamin began, ‘what’s all this trouble you’re having at school?’
Sarah shrugged and sat back down on the couch next to Roberta.
‘I don’t know,’ Sarah said glumly. She fixed her eyes on her toes, which she couldn’t help curling up and flexing. ‘I just don’t fit in. I’m skinny and ugly and the other kids pick on me because of my hair, and call me names and stuff.’
Benjamin sat on the coffee table in front of her and cupped her chin in his big strong hands.
‘Now, Sarah, you know you’re not ugly,’ he chided her gently. ‘Your hair’s a bit of a mess right now, but I’m sure we can sort something out, can’t we?’
‘I don’t know, Uncle,’ Sarah challenged. ‘I’ve tried everything. Shampoos, conditioners, and all sorts of stuff but my hair won’t shine no matter how much I brush it. It always looks like a haystack, so I keep it tied back, but the other girls pull it out so it goes everywhere…’ she paused and hung her head down.
‘And?’ Benjamin asked her gently.
Sarah swallowed and mumbled; her voice scarcely above a whisper.
‘They all wear make-up,’ she told him. She looked up at him. ‘I just can’t wear it,’ she declared. ‘I’ve tried, but it just feels wrong!’
At this, dear Uncle Benjamin broke into a broad grin. He stroked her hair gently.
‘I wouldn’t worry about that,’ he told her. ‘It’s good that you don’t feel right wearing make-up.’
‘It is?’
‘Look at your Aunt Roberta here,’ he suggested.
‘He’s right Sarah,’ Roberta told her.
Sarah studied her aunt for a moment. Of course, her aunt never wore make-up either. Her skin was clear and clean, and her brown hair was straight and simple. Sarah had not considered her aunt like this before. She was quite pretty really. It was as if she had no need of make-up at all and the fact that she was confident enough to go about without it only made her even more attractive.
‘Every society has its flaws,’ Benjamin conceded. ‘There are huge cosmetics companies spending billions every day trying to convince young girls gullible enough to listen that their natural faces aren’t good enough to be seen in.’ He rolled his eyes and shook his head. ‘Silliness,’ he muttered. ‘Just silliness. Just one of the many misguided ideas this society seems to have adopted.’ His eyes grew distant for a moment.
Sarah wasn’t quite sure he was just talking about cosmetics. Something else, something more serious seemed to be bothering him as he spoke.
Then he brightened and cupped Sarah’s chin under one hand and brought her face up so that he could look her right in the eyes.
‘Sarah, you’re probably not feeling so right now, but trust me, you’re actually quite pretty. The beauty within always shines through if you have the confidence to let it. Besides,’ he added, nodding at Sarah’s bare feet, ‘wearing make-up and fashionable shoes isn’t natural.’
Sarah felt sure that her uncle was just saying this to make her feel better, which of course, it did. She smiled at him and hugged him again.
‘Thanks Uncle,’ she said with her face pressed against his chest. Then she looked up at him. ‘But what about my hair?’
‘Well, don’t worry about your hair for now, Sarah,’ Benjamin said, gently stroking her hair out of her face. ‘Your uncle here’s got a few tricks up his sleeve. We’ll sort it out. What names do the girls call you?’
Sarah blushed and hung her head again. She knew it would sound silly when she tried to explain how it was at school. Sarah’s last name, Coppernick, she knew was converted from the old Polish name Kopernik, which was the name of the historic scientist Copernicus. Of course, the kids at school didn’t know or care who Copernicus was. All they saw was Sarah’s shaggy blonde hair, funny light-coloured eyes and of course, her name could easily be turned into something to tease her about. Sarah was often called things like ‘Copperhead’ or even worse, ‘Copperbottom’. This led to other taunts that, like most girls her age, Sarah took very personally.
Sarah’s archenemy Mandy Kelly was a lot of things that Sarah wasn’t. Mandy Kelly’s parents didn’t disappear when she was six. Mandy Kelly had long straight blonde hair that always shined as if she had just stepped out of a hairdresser’s salon. Mandy Kelly had been wearing a bra since the start of school that year. And, unlike many girls who also wore bras in Sarah’s year, Mandy Kelly needed to. Sarah didn’t need to at all.
So, thanks to her looks, Mandy Kelly was popular. Very popular. So popular that Mandy Kelly was top dog of a group of the most popular girls at school – known collectively as The Kelly Gang. Nobody teased Mandy Kelly. It was Mandy Kelly and her gang who did the teasing. Skinny, shaggy-haired, funny-eyed, flat-chested Sarah Coppernick was the kid to tease.
After her parents disappeared when she was just six years old, Sarah was moved to the other side of the world to live with her Uncle Robert and Aunt Roberta. Sarah hardly remembered her home in Romania.
Long before Sarah was born, her parents, Henry and Jozefa had left Poland and moved southeast through Czechoslovakia to Romania where they eventually settled in a small town in the shadow of the Carpathian mountain range. Her parents had told her they were foresters and spent a great deal of time outdoors. Other than that, all she knew was that her parents had lived in Romania quite happily and when Sarah came along, the family was even happier. That all changed when, one winter when Sarah was six, her parents disappeared out in the forest.
After that, Robert and Roberta came and packed everything up and moved her to Australia to live with them. So, being an orphan, with eyes so light brown they were almost yellow and shaggy blonde hair that just wouldn’t behave, Sarah was the perfect victim for the bullies at school.
Sarah explained to Benjamin how she fought with Mandy Kelly and how Mr Dyson had yelled at her. While she did this, he kept stroking her hair and looking intently at her with his big grey eyes.
When Benjamin heard that Mandy had been bitten, he raised an eyebrow briefly and glanced at Roberta and Robert. Something seemed to pass unsaid between them. Then he focused his attention back on Sarah.
‘So I thought I was in trouble again,’ Sarah told them. ‘Mr Dyson said he wasn’t going to have a biter at his school. But I don’t remember biting anyone!’
‘Well, we’ll go and see Mr Dyson tomorrow,’ promised Robert, ‘and then we’ll sort this out.’
Sarah was miserable again. They didn’t seem to understand how important it was that people believe that she didn’t do this terrible thing.
‘But I can’t have!’ she all but wailed. ‘I saw the bite! It looked like a dog bite. My teeth don’t look like that!’
‘It’s okay, Sarah,’ said Benjamin gently. ‘I believe you. Now, why don’t you go and clean up for dinner while I have a quick chat with your aunt and uncle for a few minutes.’
And so, Sarah went upstairs and changed into her favourite clothes. Her jeans hadn’t been washed for a week so they were all soft and loose. Over a clean t-shirt, she put on one of her favourite checked shirts (two sizes too big for her) which also hadn’t been washed for a while so it was soft and comfy too. It wasn’t until she checked herself in the mirror that she noticed her hair. For once, it was shiny and flat! It wasn’t in the least bit frizzy, and instead of looking like messy straw, it was a nice shiny blonde colour.
Whoa, cool, she thought to herself, turning this way and that to admire her reflection. A movement
caught her eye. She looked out her window to see a great big yellow tomcat with green eyes and a bent tail curled up on her neighbour’s front porch. The cat belonged to the owner of that porch, a Mr Jamieson. Mr Jamieson was old and always seemed to be angry with everything. His cat was no nicer. Sarah didn’t like that cat. In fact, she wasn’t fond of any cats, but Mr Jamieson’s cat was especially awful. Sarah had often woken up to find short yellow hairs in her bed and around her room, and was convinced that the pesky cat somehow got into her room and worse, had been sleeping in her bed.
Her aunt and uncle didn’t like cats either, which was both unfortunate for the local cats, of which there were three, and annoying for Sarah’s aunt and uncle. Of those three, there was Mr Jamieson’s horrid orange tom, a fat grey one that yowled a lot and a sneaky black one that always seemed like it was running from something. Whenever Aunt Roberta or Uncle Robert saw any of these cats, they would shout and throw whatever was closest at them. Often, this happened to be a coffee mug or drinking glass. Aunt Roberta and Uncle Robert had to buy a lot of coffee mugs and drinking glasses to replace the ones that got smashed when they threw them at cats.
It felt stupid, but she raised her middle finger at the cat and poked out her tongue. Then she drew her curtains closed and turned back to her reflection in the mirror. She heard a snippet of a muffled conversation from downstairs. Feeling a trifle guilty but too curious not to eavesdrop, she put her ear to her door.
‘I’m certain of it,’ Benjamin was declaring, sounding very convinced. ‘She’s the one.’
‘But,’ Roberta interrupted, ‘she’s just a girl. Puberty’s tough enough for an ordinary girl…’ She left it hanging.
Wasn’t she ordinary, Sarah wondered? What did she mean by that?
‘Add that to the usual family traits…’ added Robert.
There were a few chuckles.
‘She’s not one to back down from a fight, is she?’ Benjamin observed in a happy voice. He actually sounded proud about that.