‘Was this a big enough threat that they would kill her?’

‘Out here in the middle of nowhere, who knows?’ said Gabriella. ‘But here, look at this one.’ She slid a page across to Con.

Con scanned the page. ‘I’ve read it.’

‘Well then read it again. Properly.’

Con picked up the page and read aloud: ‘I found some more of the surviving descendants of the local mobs today. They live down in Hobart now, but they had stories about Kooparoona Niara. They do have some mythology about these mountains, but nothing like what Madison was blabbing on about, soul traps and whatever, the stupid bitch. Love her though.’

He looked up at Gabriella. ‘I hate how teenagers talk.’

‘Soul traps,’ she said. ‘Like portals, Con. You know what happens around portals? The Oz effect.’

Con read the rest of the page, ignoring her. ‘This is interesting.’ He read aloud: ‘Madison is obsessed with these stories. Like, actual obsessed: I’ve never seen her this excited. She wants to interview these people for a video, but they don’t want to, and I’m not going to put her in contact with them. She asked if I’d talk about it. When I told her I’d need to research it more, she said it’d be alright if I made a bit of it up. I refuse to be part of a video where she makes up fantasies about our stories. So of course, she went ahead and filmed a video where she made them up herself. She thinks she can get through by bluffing, but she doesn’t know a thing about our culture, she just wants to warp it so she can get more views . . . but her videos are getting me attention and exposure for the museum, so I think I have to put up with a bit of it. Hopefully no one in the community hates me for it.’

Con opened his laptop, bringing up a new browser tab and heading to Madison’s YouTube account. It didn’t take him long to find a recent video that looked promising: ‘DID I JUST FIND SPIRIT PORTALS IN THE MOUNTAINS?!!’

He played the video, turning the screen so Gabriella could see.

It was up in the Tiers, on the edge of a rocky cliff, the Tasmanian mountains rolling into the distance. Snow gums clung to the precipice. The camera panned around to Madison and Cierra, standing by three motorbikes. Madison in perfect make-up – green lipstick this time – and Cierra wearing a pink wig.

‘Hi guys,’ said Madison. ‘Today we’re exploring a very special place up in the Great Western Tiers, that we were told about by our very own Georgia, who as some of you would know is the driving force behind the Kooparoona Niara Aboriginal Heritage Museum. Today, however, we’re joined by the Babe of the Year, Jasmine.’