by Lyn Gardner
“What’s wrong, Dad?” asked Olivia, seeing his face fall as he read the message.
“It’s Jon. He and Jasper and the producers want a meeting. If you’re all right for a while I’d better go to the theatre and face the music. I’ll come straight back.”
The ward sister came in saying that Olivia needed to rest, so after much hugging and kissing Jack and Eel went off together. Olivia hated to see her dad look so crushed.
She wasn’t sure how long she dozed. But she was dreaming of lagoons and pirates, and Jasper Wood dressed as Captain Hook making her walk the plank off the edge of the stage and into the auditorium where a giant ticking crocodile was waiting for her in the orchestra pit with its jaws wide open, when she heard the door open. She looked up drowsily.
“Hello, Livy,” said Katie Wilkes-Cox. She had a huge envelope under her arm.
“Katie?” said Olivia, surprised. “How did you know I was here?”
“I knew you were involved with Peter Pan so I went to the theatre and met Tom coming out the stage door. He told me, rather reluctantly, that there had been an accident and you were in here. He clearly wanted to protect you, and I don’t really blame him.” She sighed. “Are you all right?”
“Just a little bang to the head,” said Olivia, shifting herself upright. “Thanks for not giving me away the other night. I’m really grateful.”
Katie smiled. “I would’ve been in touch before but Dad’s been keeping a close eye on me. Nice work, unplugging all the equipment.” Olivia grinned. “Dad was completely furious. He couldn’t work out how somebody had got in and out of the building through a locked door. He’d put on a padlock when we were leaving. He thought it must be some particularly ingenious hooligans or a ghost. But of course he couldn’t complain to the police because they’d want to know what he was using the sound equipment for and he could hardly admit that he was trying to harass Miss Swan into selling the school to him at a cut price. Has it been quieter?”
“Yes, much,” said Olivia. “But I don’t think he’s given up. Gran sometimes still looks really frightened. I don’t think the threatening phone calls have stopped.”
“They won’t. Dad’ll never give up,” said Katie. “And I’m afraid the noise will be starting again soon because he’s actually going to start work converting the building into luxury flats for real. What happened with the equipment really put the wind up him and he’s in a real hurry to get the job done. That means he’ll be more determined than ever to try and make Miss Swan sell, and as quickly as possible because he’ll want to work on both buildings at the same time. It’ll be much cheaper for him that way.”
Olivia sighed.
“I wish there was something we could do to stop him,” she said. “I was going to talk to Dad about it, but he’s got enough on his plate. But, Katie, why are you here?”
“I’ve found out something I think you should know. I’m afraid I didn’t bring you any grapes but I did bring you a present of sorts.”
“What is it?” asked Olivia.
Katie sat down in the chair next to Olivia’s bed, took some papers out of the envelope and spread them out over the blanket. Olivia stared at them but they didn’t make much sense to her.
“Is it some kind of floor plan?” she asked.
“Yes,” said Katie triumphantly. “Of the derelict building. And look at this!” She pointed to where the plan covered the land between the back of the Swan and the river. “Can you spot what’s missing?” Olivia stared at the plans till her brain hurt, then shook her head.
“The trees!” said Katie. “Somehow Dad’s managed to get permission to cut down all those beautiful trees so that the people who buy his flats have a river view. Apparently being able to see the river immediately adds thousands of pounds to the price of each flat. The trees wouldn’t be a problem for the penthouse suites at the top, but everyone in the flats below would have their view blocked. You can’t sell a river-view flat where there’s no view of the river.”
“But some of those trees have been there for over two hundred years! It would be vandalism to cut them down.”
“Exactly,” said Katie. “And if you feel like that, other people will too, I’m sure. Nobody is going to get upset about someone building luxury flats, but they will get upset about the trees being destroyed for no reason but profit. Provided they get to hear about it before he’s done the deed. We need to save the trees because it’s the trees that’ll save the Swan.”
“Brilliant! You’re so clever,” said Olivia, throwing her arms around Katie, who looked very surprised and pleased.
“Yes, well, I’ve always been clever,” she said ruefully. “I’ve just not always been very nice.”
“We’ll have to start a campaign.”
“You’ll have to do that, Livy. I can’t be seen to be involved. I’ve got to keep Dad trusting me so I can get you all the information you need. I’ve done my bit for the time being; the rest is up to you and whoever you can get to help. You’ve got great friends like Tom and Aeysha and Georgia. I know they won’t let you down.”
Katie’s phone bleeped. She looked at the message. “That’s Dad, wondering where I am. I’ve got to go.” She gathered up the plans and stuffed them back into the envelope.
A few minutes after she’d gone, the door opened again and Cosi appeared holding a very large plant.
“Oh, Livy, I’m so sorry. Are you feeling better?” she said.
“I’m fine, just fine,” said Olivia soothingly. “Stop worrying, Cosi.”
“But I feel so awful. It should have been me who was up there, not you.”
“Lucky it was me. I’m much more experienced. If it had been you, you might have done yourself some serious harm.”
“I really want to make it up to you.”
“Really, Cosi, you’ve nothing to make up to me,” said Olivia, who was beginning to feel a bit irritated by Cosi’s abject apologies. “Though you could do me a favour?”
“Anything, Livy!”
“Well,” said Olivia. “You know you’re always talking about how we must look after the trees and how much you want to stop talking about the environment and start doing something about it instead?”
Cosi nodded.
“Well, I’ve got the perfect opportunity for you,” said Olivia, and she started to explain to Cosi about Mr Wilkes-Cox’s plan to cut down the trees.
Cosi listened in horrified silence, before crying, “We must stop him!”
“We must, and we’ll be saving the Swan at the same time.”
Cosi lifted her chin. “Then let’s get started immediately.”
Chapter Sixteen
A meeting was taking place in the Green Room of the Imperial Theatre. The atmosphere was tense.
“It’s not the first time there’s been a problem with the flying, Jack,” said Jon. “There was the problem with Cosima’s safety harness.”
“Yes, it’s all here,” said Jack, pointing to the incident book. “I’ve kept meticulous notes about everything that’s happened. I haven’t hidden anything.”
Jon sighed. Jack had been so scrupulous about recording every tiny little incident, from a frayed rope to a broken weight or counterweight, that there was now an entire dossier that could be used against him.
Jasper Wood certainly seemed to be very keen to do just that. “I can’t believe this has happened,” he said. “What kind of two-bit operation are you running here, Jon? It could have been Cosima who was up there. She might have been killed! And you’d have been to blame, Jack Marvell. I’ve heard about you and your stunts. You’re a reckless madman. I don’t care if you want to put your own life in danger but you’re not putting my daughter’s life on the line. She’s too valuable to me.”
“And you think Liv isn’t precious to me?” asked Jack between gritted teeth. “I think you’re forgetting that it was my daughter who was up there and it’s Liv who’s now lying in a hospital bed. I’d never do anything to put her at risk, or any other child ei
ther. It doesn’t matter whose daughter or son it is. Don’t you understand how wretched I feel about the whole thing?”
“I could sue you for negligence,” said Jasper nastily.
“You could,” said Jack. “But you’d be wasting your money because I haven’t got any. In any case, Cosima is fine; she hasn’t come to any harm. Neither have you or Cosmo. The only person who’s been hurt is Liv, and she’s already insisting that she’ll be back at rehearsals the day after tomorrow.”
“It’s not good enough,” said Jasper.
“No,” said Jack. “It’s not, and that’s why I won’t be back at rehearsals myself. I’m resigning. It’s the only honourable thing to do. If I can’t keep the children safe then somebody who can must take over the flying operation.” He stood up and pressed a letter into Jon’s hand.
“Jack, let’s talk about this—” said Jon.
But Jasper cut him off. “Of course he has to resign, otherwise he would have had to be fired. We can’t have a reckless daredevil like him looking after something like this. He’s a menace.” And with that, Jasper stormed dramatically from the room.
“I’m sorry, Jack,” said Jon, clapping him on the shoulder.
“So am I,” said Jack. “But maybe he’s right. Maybe I am too reckless for this kind of work. After all, I was nearly responsible for killing my own daughter.”
“No,” said Olivia tearfully. “I won’t do it! If you can resign, I’ll resign too.”
“Liv, chick, it’s not the same,” said Jack, stroking her cheek. “If I hadn’t resigned I’d have been sacked. Jasper doesn’t want me anywhere near the production or his kids.”
“Well, I don’t want to be anywhere near him,” said Olivia passionately. “They’ll have to find somebody else to double for Cosi in the flying scenes. I’m not going to do it, not when they’ve done this to you, Dad.” She felt outraged on his behalf. She knew that lots of people thought Jack must be a daredevil who loved to take outlandish risks, but in reality all his stunts and walks were meticulously planned. Since she had been little and had started to walk the wire he had drummed into her the importance of always assessing the situation and the skills needed to deal with it. “I’m not in the business of risk taking, but of risk avoidance, and you should be too,” he had once told her after she had been showing off on the wire one day when she was only eight and fallen. She only avoided hurting herself and some of the other circus people standing below through sheer luck.
Olivia knew that people were talking about Jack. There was intense interest surrounding every aspect of Peter Pan, and already lots of gossip was spreading on the Internet. What was going on in rehearsals, could the twins actually act, and might Jasper Wood be the greatest Captain Hook ever? After a statement had been put out by the theatre saying that Jack was leaving the production “by mutual consent”, there had been some snide little diary items in the press and one paper had run a story with the headline “Not so Marvellous Now”, calling Jack a “fallen hero” and saying he’d been sacked for almost killing the Wood twins. The thought of people thinking badly of her dad pierced Olivia’s heart. It made her hate the people responsible, and instead Jack was asking her to carry on working with them as if nothing had happened. She couldn’t understand how he could be so forgiving, and Alicia didn’t help when she tried very gently to explain that Jack had signed a contract on Olivia’s behalf and it would be unprofessional of her to break it.
“That’s all you ever worry about, Gran – being professional!” shouted Olivia. “I don’t want to be professional, I want to scream and shout and behave very badly, because they’ve all behaved very badly to my dad.”
Alicia bit her lip. There had been an accident and Jack had taken full responsibility for it. He clearly didn’t see himself as blameless. But there was a horrible little voice in her head that was questioning whether it had been an accident at all. The threatening phone calls hadn’t stopped, and the voice at the other end of the phone seemed alarmingly well informed about Alicia’s family’s involvement in Peter Pan. Alicia would do anything to keep them safe, and she was beginning to think that if that meant signing the Swan away, then that’s what she would do.
In the end it was Jack who persuaded Olivia to return. He was going to take over Pablo’s teaching at the Swan for a few weeks while Pablo took over his old job on Peter Pan.
“I came to an agreement with Jon, and he cleared it with the producers without involving Jasper. It means I can keep an eye on things from a distance but Pablo will need all the help he can get. So you really would be helping me in the best way possible if you returned, because perhaps you and Pablo will find out what went wrong with the flying system and help clear my name.”
There was another reason too. On the morning she had returned from the hospital Olivia had picked up Alicia’s mobile because it kept on ringing and her grandmother was nowhere to be seen.
She was about to ask if she could take a message when a voice said, “Sell up or you’ll be sorry. You time is running out.” Then the phone went dead.
Straightaway her own phone rang. It was Cosi.
“I’m so sorry about Jack, Livy. I feel so bad. Cosmo and I are furious with Dad. But when are you coming back? Tom and I have been making plans about how to stop the trees being cut down and save the Swan. He’s got Georgia and Aeysha involved too, and Eel, and all the Swan kids in the cast. Even Cosmo is fired up. We need you. We can’t do it without you.”
Chapter Seventeen
Alicia looked out of her office window, which gave her a good view of the back of the Swan. It was lunchtime, and almost the entire school appeared to be having some kind of meeting by the trees near the river. What were they doing? She was really intrigued. She could see that Olivia, Tom, Aeysha and Cosmo were busy handing out something that looked like bundles of leaflets to the other children. Some of the older pupils such as Kasha and Jazz were helping them. What on earth was going on?
Even more astonishingly, she could see that Cosi was standing on an upturned recycling box and was talking to the crowd passionately. She kept pointing at the derelict building and then at the trees. Alicia couldn’t hear what Cosi was saying but she didn’t need to: it was clear from her body language and the way she was moving her hands that her speech was making a real impression on all the other children. She had them in the palm of her hand.
Alicia frowned and wished Cosi could act with the same conviction when she was playing Wendy. If she could keep the Swan children enraptured just by talking to them, she could certainly do the same with an audience in the theatre. But so far there was no sign of it.
The day after tomorrow would bring the first preview of Peter Pan. Everyone was worried about Cosi, who got more and more nervous as her debut in front of a paying audience approached. She had actually got to grips with the dialogue now and there were moments when she was more than competent as Wendy, particularly in her scenes with the Lost Boys, although whenever she had to act anywhere in the vicinity of her dad she tended to become flustered. But instead of gaining confidence, she seemed to be losing it. There had even been a couple of rehearsals recently when either Olivia or Cosi’s understudy, a girl called Petal who was at another stage school, had had to take over.
Olivia, thought Alicia, was much the best of all of them. She would have taken great delight in watching her granddaughter blossom as an actor, if she wasn’t so concerned about how Cosi was going to cope when the previews began. At least Cosmo was doing much better. He really enjoyed having Tom around, and Alicia had worked hard with him on his accent. There were times, particularly when she had seen him playing opposite Olivia, when he really captured all the heartless charm of Peter Pan. She reckoned that by the time press night arrived, Cosmo would have the measure of Peter and get good reviews. She also had to admit that although she didn’t like him and deplored the careless way he treated his children, Jasper Wood was very good too. Perhaps a little too much the pantomime villain for her taste but she wa
s certain Peter Pan was going to revive his career. He was very charismatic in a shivery sort of way.
She glanced again out of the window. Cosi had clearly reached the climax of her speech. She raised her arm with a gesture that suggested she was rousing them to action and all the children cheered and stamped. Cosi was clearly an inspiring public speaker. As she watched the children start to disperse, Alicia wondered what it was that had made Cosi feel so impassioned. But she didn’t have too long to think about it because Sebastian Shaw was knocking on her office door.
“I think you’d better come and see this, Alicia.” He led her down the stairs and out into the street. Several bulldozers and mechanical diggers were being driven up the road and on to the site next door.
“I don’t know what all that noise was about before,” he said, “but I think the real disruption to the Swan is about to begin.”
It was very late that night. It was dark and nobody was around outside the back of the Imperial Theatre, except for Jack and Olivia, who were walking quietly towards the scenery dock.
“What are we doing here, Liv?” whispered Jack. “I feel as if I’m in some kind of thriller movie creeping around in the dark like this. We should be in bed. It’s a big day for you tomorrow. It’s the first preview.”
“Trust me,” Olivia whispered back.
“I do, Liv, chick,” he said and squeezed her hand. Olivia got out her mobile and pressed a button.
“We’re here,” she whispered into it and immediately ended the call. For a few seconds there was silence but for the yowl of a cat and the sound of a car passing, and then the scene-dock door creaked. This opened on to the vast backstage and was the route by which scenery was brought in and out of the theatre. It slid open a few centimetres and Pablo beckoned them in, closing the door behind them.
“What’s this all about? Why all the cloak and dagger stuff?” asked Jack.
