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clean I headed back to my apartment.

Chapter V

    I had never seen so many cop cars in one place at once. The block around my apartment looked like some kind of disaster zone, the entire area lit by flashing blue and red lights. Australian Federal Police soldiers swarmed all over the area.
    Without much of a clue what to do, I simply wandered into the area as though nothing was wrong. Instantly one of the officers, a tall blonde woman with her hair in a bun, noticed me. She shone her torch right at me and I held up my hand to screen my eyes.
    “Over here! Over here!”
    She ran over, her boots thumping on the concrete. “My name is Sergeant Thomas, I’m a police officer. Are you Miss Elizabeth Meda?”
    I gave a vapid laugh, casually waving my hand. “Yeah, that’s me. What’s wrong, officer?”
    She frowned with concern at my appearance as more officers arrived, their radios buzzing with reports. “Miss Meda,” she said, “Have you been harmed?”
    I shook my head. “No,” I lied, smoothly and eloquently, “I just went for a walk.”
    “A walk ? At this hour?” Thomas indicated to my blanket. “Wearing just shoes and a blanket? And without your glasses?”
    A shriek cut over my answer. From the crowd of officers Katelyn emerged, her mascara pouring down her face from crying. She sprinted up to me and nearly knocked me over, grabbing me and crushing my torso with her arms.
    “OmigodLibbyIwassofrightenedIdidn’tknowwhereyouwentand-”
    Sergeant Thomas pulled her off me with surprising strength and speed, a move which surprised me.
    “I’m sorry, Miss Evans, but we can’t touch her yet. If someone’s harmed her, we need to collect evidence.”
    I blinked in the light of a half-dozen torches, shaking my head. “Oh, no, seriously. I just went for a walk. I got freaked out by a weirdo earlier today, and I wanted some fresh air. I didn’t mean to go very far, just along the balcony, but I guess I wandered off.” I gave a sheepish smile, the perfect blend of embarrassment and awkwardness. “I’m sometimes a little doughy in the head.”
    Katelyn seemed absolutely over the moon with relief, but Sergeant Thomas didn’t seem to be as convinced. “I’m going to need you to give a statement,” she said, “and I’m going to have your word that you won’t frighten us like this again.” She gestured around to the cadre of police cars and officers who, by now, were beginning to disperse. “We’ve wasted a lot of police time if you really just ‘took a stroll’.”
    Another fake smile, perfectly executed. “It’s okay,” I reiterated, “I’m fine. I’m sorry I frightened you all.”
    Sergeant Thomas seemed sceptical of this but, eventually, nodded her head. “Very well,” she said, “I’m glad this had a happy ending. With the Champawat Tiger roaming around, we don’t get many of those these days.”
    Katelyn threw herself at me again, sobbing uncontrollably, and I wiggled a hand out of the blanket and patted her on the arm. Over her shoulder I could see Jacques waving politely to me. I gave a little wave back, then led Katelynn back towards our apartment.

    *****
    Katelyn finally stopped crying, and when she did she became angry. Angry that I had caused her so much distress, angry I had kept her up all night. Angry I had scared her.
    Normally when Katelyn became angry it was like bad weather. I couldn’t do anything about it except try to handle the damage as best I could and wait for it all to blow over.
    Not this time. This time I felt in complete control, as though she were a puppet and I was pulling the strings. I felt confident, calm and collected, even though to Katelyn I flawlessly projected my derpy, clumsy exterior.
    To her I was still Libby the Loser. On the inside, though, I was Aurora. I was more and more Aurora with every second that passed.
    “I promise, it won’t happen again,” I said for the fifteen-billionth time, giving Katelyn yet another squeeze on the knee. “I