Angels of Moirai (Book One) Read Online Free PDF Page A

out, and keyed in the code to open the gates. How times had changed from the two bedroom unit that we once lived in.
    I parked the car out the front of the house and walked towards the front entrance. Anne, our more regular housekeeper, must have already gone home for the day, as her car was nowhere in sight.
    I unlocked the huge timber door and went inside. I ran upstairs to my bedroom quickly, throwing my school bag on the ground, changing out of my school clothes, and into denim shorts and a white singlet. I then went back downstairs to the kitchen where I spotted a note on the kitchen bench from Anne, letting Hayley and I know that dinner was in the fridge and all we had to do was reheat it. Also, if we wanted anything in particular when she went grocery shopping to let her know.
    I grabbed an apple and a can of iced tea from the fridge and made my way down to the lake on the edge of our property. I walked out onto the timber jetty and sat on the edge, letting my feet skim the top of the water.
    Our house backed onto one of the biggest lakes in the area. We had a bit of property that was surrounded by trees, so we didn’t have any really close neighbours, which made me feel even more isolated sometimes.
    I turned towards the house as I heard the honking of a car horn. Hayley was home.
    I took a bite into my apple as I stared out on the lake, watching the sunlight catch the ripples of the water. Out here, I didn’t feel the weight of the world on my shoulders. I was just a girl sitting by a lake. I didn’t have to worry about Hayley, school, or my parents. It was my sanctuary.
    “I thought I’d find you out here,” Hayley said as she walked onto the jetty and sat down beside me.
    “Am I that predictable?”
    “Yeah,” she replied, picking up my can of iced tea and taking a sip.
    “Hey,” I said grabbing the can from her hand, “get your own.”
    “Ohhh,” she whinged.
    “I thought you were going shopping, anyway?”
    “I did,” Hayley cocked her head smiling.
    “But how?” I asked. I had only just gotten home not long ago. The only way she would have been able to go shopping is if... “Hayley,” I said annoyed, “did you skip school again?”
    “No, Mr Matthews went home sick at lunch, so the replacement teacher sent us to the library to catch up on any work we needed to do.”
    “So you skipped school?”
    “No,” she replied defensively. “I didn’t have anything to catch up on. I’m up to date with everything.”
    “I find that hard to believe.”
    “I’m not the deadbeat you always make me out to be, Lila. I’ve been trying so hard, you know that.”
    I closed my eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry,” I said sincerely. “I just don’t know why you don’t care about school?”
    “I do,” she admitted. “I just don’t love it the way you do.”
    “I don’t love it, Hayley, believe me. I do it because it’s a means to an end. It will mean that one day I can get a job and be able to support myself, not rely on our parents anymore.”
    “Meanwhile, you’re leaving me here. You’ll go off to some University hundreds of kilometres away and I’ll be left here alone. I wonder what Mum and Dad will do? Probably just get another nanny...” Hayley said more to herself than to me.
    I hadn’t told Hayley I was planning on going to our local West Edge University. I still hadn’t worked out all the details myself, even though I knew I would have to make my decision soon before I missed the cut-off for applications.
    “Anyway,” Hayley said light-heartedly, “I got you something.”
    She reached into her skirt pocket and held out her hand. “Hold out your hand and close your eyes,” she instructed.
    I did as I was told and felt something chained fall into my hand. I opened my eyes and found a white gold chained bracelet. Attached to one of the links was a small delicate leaf with tiny diamonds embedded in it. It was exquisite.
    “I saw you looking at it a few weeks ago. I don’t know