by Gwyneth Rees
He scowled. ‘Of course not! That’s still your job until Tommy starts tomorrow.’ He paused. ‘Yes . . . well . . . you’d better get on with it then!’
‘I can help too if you like,’ Ava offered.
‘What – in that outfit?’ Max said, laughing. ‘Watch out then! You don’t want to lose that tiara in a pile of elephant dung!’
‘It’s OK, Ava.’ Lexi looked like she was trying not to laugh too. ‘Why don’t you go and see how Marietta’s getting on and I’ll come and find you when I’m finished.’
6
Marietta was in the big top clipping on her red trousers, chatting to Tony as he pulled on a pair of jeans over his shorts.
As Ava entered the tent she passed Gemma and Dulcie, who were watching Marietta and Tony from the side.
‘Hey, Ava!’ Gemma said, putting out her hand to grab Ava. ‘I told you to warn your aunt to back off. This is our act, not hers.’
‘Yes – and she’s too clumsy to be a trapeze artist in any case,’ Dulcie added cattily.
‘What do you mean? Marietta isn’t clumsy!’ Ava protested, trying in vain to pull her arm away from Gemma’s grip.
‘She swings badly,’ Dulcie said. ‘And that means she’s awkward to catch. I just hope Tony doesn’t sprain his wrists trying to catch her.’
‘He might even drop her,’ Gemma said. ‘I hope she knows how to fall. Clumsy people often fall very badly, I’ve noticed . . .’
‘Ava, over here!’ Marietta called out to her, and Ava broke away from Gemma and hurried across to join her aunt, who was smiling happily. ‘Ava – say hello to Tony!’
‘So this is the niece I’ve heard so much about,’ Tony greeted Ava, grinning broadly. He was tanned and very muscular – especially his arms, which Ava guessed had to be strong to support him on the trapeze.
‘Hi, Tony,’ Ava said shyly.
‘So, how do you like our circus then, Ava?’ he asked her.
‘Oh, very much!’ she gushed.
‘Good! Has Marietta told you I’ve finally managed to persuade her to star in my act tonight?’
‘Tonight?’ Ava was shocked. ‘Is she good enough already then?’
Marietta laughed. ‘That was my point, Ava!’
‘There’s nothing for you to worry about, Ava,’ Tony teased. ‘If she makes a complete fool of herself you can always pretend you don’t know her, OK?’
‘No, it’s not that,’ Ava said as Marietta gave Tony a playful thump. Ava wanted to talk to Marietta about the twins, but she wasn’t sure if she ought to while Tony was there. ‘I’m wondering if it’s completely safe, that’s all,’ she continued. ‘I mean, what if she falls?’
‘Then she’ll fall into the net, won’t she?’ Tony said lightly.
‘Yes, but won’t it hurt?’ Ava asked, glancing up at the large rope net distrustfully.
‘Not if you know how to bounce. It’s a bit like landing on a big trampoline.’
‘A trampoline? Really?’ Ava had recently taken trampoline classes at her local sports centre. It had been really good fun and she had learned lots of great moves. In fact she had been wondering if she would be allowed to try out the circus trampoline while she was here.
Seeing her glancing over at it, Tony asked, ‘Would you like a go while there’s nobody else on it?’
‘Oh, yes please!’ she exclaimed.
Ava was soon having such a wonderful time that she decided to stay on the trampoline while Marietta and Tony went off to Tony’s caravan to get some lunch. They hadn’t been gone long when she looked up to see Lexi cartwheeling across the ring towards her.
‘Wow!’ Ava exclaimed in admiration.
‘Wow yourself!’ Lexi said when she reached her. ‘You’re really good on that thing. We’ll make an acrobat out of you yet, I reckon!’
Ava laughed as she jumped down from the trampoline and picked up the butterfly wings and her tiara, which she had taken off while she was bouncing. She lowered her voice as she asked Lexi, ‘So? Did you see it?’
Lexi nodded. ‘A V-shaped scar just like the paper said. Come on! Let’s go and find Stella!’
As Ava placed the tiara back on her head Lexi let out a sudden gasp. ‘Wow! How did you make it do that?’
‘Do what?’ Ava asked in surprise.
‘Just now . . . when you put your tiara on . . . it sort of . . . well . . . lit up!’
‘Oh!’ Ava frowned, because she had forgotten about the tiara reacting whenever a person with the travelling gift put it on.
Lexi was still looking at her for an explanation.
‘It must have been a trick of the light,’ Ava muttered, and she flushed bright red because she had never been very good at lying.
Stella was frowning as she read the newspaper article about the missing baby elephant. They were inside her caravan, seated in the small dining booth with the blue leather seats and cheerful spotty cushions. A white wooden screen with a bright yellow abstract flower design on it had been placed between the living space and the sleeping area where the magic mirror was situated.
‘You do believe us now, don’t you?’ Lexi said urgently as Stella looked up. ‘The scar is definitely there because I’ve just been to check.’
Stella nodded grimly. ‘Max is not only completely heartless but he’s a total fool. Your grandfather gave your dad overall control of the circus when he retired because he didn’t trust Max, and now I can see why!’ She shook her head in disbelief. ‘Max must think this zoo is so far away from here that no one will put two and two together. Goodness knows how he arranged it.’
‘Now we know Sukey’s stolen, can’t we just call the police and tell them she’s here?’ Ava suggested. ‘We can do it anonymously so no one will know it was us.’
‘We can’t involve the police,’ Stella said at once. ‘It would cause too much trouble for the circus. No . . . we’ll take her back to the zoo ourselves. I’ve driven circus lorries plenty of times before. Let’s have a look at the map.’ She got out a large dog-eared road atlas and started to search through it. ‘OK,’ she murmured when she eventually found the small town where the zoo was located. ‘It’s a long way, but I should be able to easily get there and back in time for tomorrow’s show. The two of you will need to come with me and help with Sukey though.’
‘You mean Bonnie,’ Lexi corrected her quietly. ‘That’s her real name so we have to start calling her that now.’
Their conversation was interrupted by a sharp rap at the door.
It was Val. ‘Ah, Lexi . . .’ she said, stepping inside uninvited as Stella quickly shoved the newspaper under the table. ‘Tony said you might be here. I’m off to the village to place a call to your mother. Do you want to come?’
‘Oh, yes please, Aunt Val,’ Lexi said, jumping up.
Val was looking at Ava curiously. ‘So you’re Marietta’s niece, are you?’ Her gaze shifted rapidly from Ava’s face to her tiara, where it stayed for what seemed like forever. Ava felt very uncomfortable.
As soon as they’d gone Stella turned to Ava and said, ‘Luckily my act is one of the first in the show, so as soon as I’m finished we can drive off with Bonnie in the lorry. Hopefully everyone else will be too busy with the show to notice we’ve gone. We’ll leave a note for Marietta in my caravan so she doesn’t get too worried about you.’
Ava frowned. ‘Stella, what do you think Max will do when he finds out?’
‘Oh, he’ll fire me for sure, but then I wouldn’t want to keep working here with him as the boss anyway.’
‘And what about Lexi?’
‘Max will be angry, but he won’t hurt her. Don’t worry about that.’ She paused. ‘I just hope we’re doing the right thing. I mean zoos don’t exactly make the most wonderful homes for elephants either, do they?’
Ava thought about how her mum had never liked zoos, disapproving of wild animals being kept in captivity. But Ava also knew that zoos did a lot of valuable conservation work – at least, they did in the time she lived in . . .
‘This sounds like a pretty good zoo,’ she pointed out. ‘And besides, I’m sure Sukey – Bonnie, I mean – would rather be in a zoo with her mum than all alone in a circus where she hasn’t even got any other elephants to keep her company.’
‘That’s true of course,’ Stella agreed, sounding more determined as she added, ‘Anyway, I’m sure it’s what Lexi’s dad would want us to do and as far as I’m concerned he’s still the boss, not Max!’ She stood up. ‘Right then, I’m getting hungry. Shall I make us both a sandwich?’
‘Oh, yes please!’ Ava said gratefully, for she was starting to regret missing lunch.
‘Potted beef or fish paste?’ Stella offered cheerfully as she reached up into a small food cupboard.
‘Er . . .’ Ava did her best not to pull a face, but it was difficult to hide her relief when Stella remembered that she had a pot of strawberry jam as well.
7
Ava had never been to a circus performance of any kind before and she felt excited along with the rest of the audience as she sat in her seat that evening waiting for the show to begin. The atmosphere was a bit like the kind you got at a Christmas pantomime, Ava thought.
Lexi had found her an unsold seat near the front and as she handed her a carton of popcorn she told Ava she would see her at the lorry.
‘Aren’t you going to stay and watch the show?’ Ava asked her.
Lexi shook her head. ‘The only bit I haven’t seen a million times before is Marietta on the trapeze and we’ll have to leave before that in any case.’
At the mention of Marietta Ava felt her stomach start to churn and as she watched Lexi slip out through the nearest exit she found that she couldn’t eat her popcorn. If only she had managed to talk to Marietta about Gemma and Dulcie – but she hadn’t even seen her aunt since lunchtime.
The band were seated in a balcony over the performers’ entrance and it was the conductor who signalled the start of the show by raising his baton for the music to begin. A massive spotlight immediately shone down on to the ring as the ringmaster emerged through the performers’ entrance to greet the audience.
‘LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS . . .’ he called out grandly through his handheld megaphone, ‘WITHOUT FURTHER ADO . . . LET THE SHOW BEGIN!’
Everything happened in quick succession after that. The first act was a troupe of acrobats – a mass of colour in their bright, shiny costumes. Next came a sword-swallower – whose performance Ava could hardly bear to watch. Some light relief was provided by a very funny, hat-juggling clown. Then it was Stella’s turn.
Stella looked amazing as she entered the ring in a pink-and-gold-sequinned catsuit. First she did a floor display showing off a selection of incredible poses involving back-bends, front-bends and leg-splits. Then she folded herself up inside a small leather suitcase and was wheeled around the ring on a porter’s luggage trolley before bursting free from the case in one dramatic leap. The audience loved it and the clapping and cheering seemed like it would never stop.
For her finale Stella took up the same position Ava had seen her rehearse outside, balanced on her hands on top of a T-shaped pole in the middle of the ring. It was hard to believe that her body was made of anything other than rubber as she performed the amazing back-bend, this time with a wooden crossbow gripped between her feet, which she aimed at a target on the other side of the ring.
‘LADIES AND GENTLEMEN,’ came the ringmaster’s playful voice, ‘PRINCESS STELLA HAS NEVER YET HIT A MEMBER OF OUR AUDIENCE, BUT OF COURSE THERE IS ALWAYS A FIRST TIME . . .’ As the audience laughed, he made a request for complete silence so as not to ‘tempt fate’, as he put it.
‘HURRAH!’ came the massive cheer from the crowd as Stella hit the target right in the middle – and Ava cheered louder than anyone.
As Stella left the stage amidst thunderous applause Ava knew it was time for her to go too. She quickly slipped out of her seat and started to make for the same exit Lexi had taken earlier.
But just before she reached it a sharp voice called out her name and she turned to see Gemma wearing a silky silver robe. She was clutching a large leather drawstring pouch and she looked unusually anxious.
As Ava looked past Gemma she felt her stomach flip over as she saw Marietta prancing into the ring arm in arm with Tony. They both looked very regal in their long shiny trapeze capes, and Marietta’s red hair was glittering magically under the spotlight, almost as if it had been sprinkled with tiny diamonds before being fastened into its bun. Marietta ripped off her silk trousers with a flourish at the foot of the ladder and Tony turned her round to wave to the audience before an assistant came to relieve them of their capes. Then as the orchestra struck up the music for their act Marietta began to climb the rope ladder to the fliers’ platform while Tony shimmied up a rope to the catcher’s swing.
‘LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, BOYS AND GIRLS,’ the ringmaster was announcing. ‘IN ADDITION TO OUR VERY OWN HIGH-FLYING ACROBATS TONY AND THE TRAPEZE TWINS, WE HAVE A SURPRISE IN OUR PROGRAMME . . . OVERCOMING HER FEAR OF HEIGHTS IN THIS, HER DEBUT PERFORMANCE, LADIES AND GENTLEMEN . . . MAY I PRESENT . . . THE BEAUTIFUL . . . THE BRAVE . . . MISS MARIETTA!’
‘Marietta hasn’t got a fear of heights,’ Ava murmured, frowning.
‘Of course not, but the audience don’t know that, do they?’ Gemma said impatiently. ‘Listen, Ava, we have to get this to Marietta as quickly as possible.’
‘What is it?’ Ava asked, looking suspiciously at the drawstring pouch Gemma was holding out.
‘Chalk. When you’re on the trapeze your hands get sweaty and you need this to absorb the moisture. Otherwise your hands get so slippy you can lose your grip on the bar. Marietta’s forgotten to take it with her.’
‘Oh no . . .’ Ava frowned because that didn’t sound good.
‘I’d take it up to her myself, but I’ve still got to finish getting changed and by then it might be too late. That’s why you’ll have to do it, Ava.’
‘Me?’ Ava felt her stomach starting to churn. ‘But . . . but can’t Dulcie—’
‘I can’t find Dulcie.’ Gemma cut her off briskly. ‘Come on . . . We’ll have to be quick . . .’ She led Ava out of the big top, round the outside a short way and in again through a back entrance. There Ava found herself in a changing area amidst a bustle of performers getting themselves ready. Gemma took hold of Ava’s arm and led her through the performers’ entrance into the ring. The circus spotlight was trained upward to illuminate the trapeze act, leaving the ring in relative darkness.
‘Come on, Ava,’ Gemma instructed, leading her over to the bottom of the rope ladder, where she unhooked Ava’s butterfly wings.
Ava gulped. She had climbed rope ladders before in the gym at school, though never one as high as this. Nervously she put one foot on the first rung.
Nobody in the audience seemed to notice that anything out of the ordinary was happening as Ava pulled herself up on to the next rung – and the next. She guessed they must just assume she was part of the act. Maybe it was the adrenaline or maybe it was the magic in her trapeze costume – but she hardly felt any fear as she climbed upwards.
As she swung herself up on to the trapeze platform – which was little more than a broad plank of wood suspended by some cables from the roof – she was taken aback to find Dulcie elegantly poised at one end of it, wearing a sparkly silver trapeze costume.
‘Oh, look!’ Dulcie sneered. ‘If it isn’t Little Miss Butterfly . . . You’d better be careful. It’s quite dangerous up here without your wings, you know!’
Ava said nothing, aware of her pulse thumping loudly inside her ears. She watched Marietta do an impressive flip off the trapeze swing to be caught in mid-air by Tony. The crowd clapped and then clapped again as Marietta did a simple but neat twist back to the empty bar.
‘Ava!’ Marietta exclaimed, getting a huge shock as she swung back to the platform and found her there. She nearly lost her balance as Dulcie snatched the bar very roughly from her hands and swung off
expertly towards Tony.
‘I came to give you this,’ Ava told Marietta breathlessly, holding out the bag of chalk. ‘Gemma said you need it to stop you slipping off the bar.’
‘What are you talking about?’ Marietta looked puzzled as she pointed to a much larger drawstring leather bag attached to one of the side ropes. It was open at the top and full of a white powder, which Ava realized was also chalk.
‘I don’t understand,’ Ava mumbled.
Just then Gemma climbed up on to the platform from below. She had discarded her silver robe to reveal a silver trapeze costume identical to her sister’s. ‘Yes, Ava, what are you talking about?’ she sneered. She turned to Marietta. ‘We warned you that things might get nasty up here if you tried to push in on our act. You wouldn’t listen before, but now Ava’s here maybe you will!’
Ava stared from Gemma to Marietta, still not understanding.
‘Ava, I think we’d better both climb back down right now,’ Marietta said, sounding very wary all of a sudden. ‘Come on. I’ll help you.’
Ava nodded, satisfied that at least Marietta was coming off the trapeze with her, but when she looked down at the ladder it was as if a giant dose of reality suddenly met her head-on. All at once she felt dizzy, her legs felt wobbly and she was certain she was going to fall. ‘I don’t . . . think . . . I can . . .’ she stammered, and suddenly all she could think about was holding on for dear life as the big top seemed to be rotating around her.
‘Ava, sit down and take some deep breaths,’ Marietta instructed her, sounding tense. ‘I’ll help you . . . that’s it . . . it’s just like sitting on a swing . . . now, sit there and hold on tight . . . it’s going to be all right.’
But Marietta had reckoned without Dulcie, who was swinging back towards them, hanging upside down by her knees. Quick as lightning Dulcie reached out and grabbed Ava’s dangling ankles. ‘Gotcha!’
