Beginner's Luck by Alyssa Brugman

straight into
someone's back yard. Then I can ring home and everything
will be fine.'
    She was starving now – tummy grumbling, even
hurting a little bit, as though there were a set of teeth
in there. Shelby wondered what her mother had
cooked for dinner. She hoped it was lasagne. She
would even eat the salad that her mother always
served with it.
    Shelby gave him one last squeeze and then headed
back to the opening of the trail they had found in the
afternoon. The gloom made it harder to see now and
she tripped over several roots and broken branches,
making her expedition much louder than she wanted
it to be. She really didn't think the person was here
anymore. She'd been in The Pocket for ages now.
Surely she would have seen some sign of him.
    Unless he was hiding, waiting for the dark.
    'I'm not going to think about that,' Shelby
muttered crossly. But Shelby was thinking about it
anyway, somewhere in the back of her mind.
    In the sky above, a cloud floated across the moon.
She stumbled over another log and sighed. She was so
tired and hungry. She just wanted this day to be over.
    Soon she was at the rock wall. Shelby tugged at the
vines that were snaking over its face. They seemed
firm enough. She started to climb. It would have been
much easier if she had been wearing sneakers instead
of her riding boots with their smooth soles. She found
they didn't slip as much if she stepped on the thick
tufts where ferns sprouted from the rock face, and the
vines helped her keep her balance when her boots
slipped.
    When she reached the top she sat on the edge for a
moment, getting her breath back and winding her sore
wrist. Shelby could feel a grinding sensation inside.
She was pretty sure wrists weren't supposed to do
that. She twisted around so that she was facing the
path. There was much less undergrowth in this part of
the bush. It was possible that this area had been back-burnt
in preparation for the fire season. She could see
the narrow, pale trunks of young scribbly gums, as
bare and straight as poles.
    Her eyes had adjusted to the dark, but it was still
going to be difficult to figure out what was path, and
what was just a bare part of the scrub. She could get
lost in this bush, especially since she had no idea
where she was headed, or what to expect at the other
end.
    Maybe this was a bad idea? At least in the doll's
house there was shelter, water and food. Shelby
wondered whether she might not be better off hanging
around in The Pocket until the morning. She shuddered
again. Morning was hours and hours away.
    Up ahead through the trees Shelby saw a light. She
frowned, straining her eyes. It disappeared. It could
have been one of those automatic sensor lights. Maybe
she was close to somebody's house? She knelt on one
knee. A moment later it was there again, but further
to the right. It had moved. It dimmed again, but this
time she could see that it didn't disappear entirely –
whoever was holding it had pointed it in a different
direction. A torch.
    Shelby got to her feet and felt a tiny surge of
adrenalin in her stomach. What to do? It could be a
rescue team, but then there would be more lights, and
they would be calling her name. That's what they did
on the television.
    It's the bad man. Hide! said the little voice in her
head.
    There was a shaggy tree near the edge of the rock
face with thick lower branches. She moved towards it
and started climbing. When she reached the third
branch, about two metres above the ground, she
stopped. What about Blue? He was in The Pocket by
himself. If the bad man went down there then he
would know she'd been there. He might hurt Blue.
    Shelby started to climb back down again, but
stopped halfway. The torchlight was closer now –
definitely heading this way. At the moment he didn't
know she was there. She remembered how loud she
had been coming along the path. If she went down
there now he would hear her. She climbed back up the
tree again, higher than before. Shelby sat astride one
of the