by Webb, Holly
But when she looked into Georgie’s eyes, there was nothing there – no life, no sight.
‘See?’ Henrietta said grimly. ‘She’s still asleep. Or unconscious. Whatever you want to call it.’
‘She’s trying to get out,’ Lily said quietly. ‘Where does she want to go?’
Henrietta peered up at Georgie, who now had both her hands pressed against the keyhole. She seemed to be trying to understand what it was. ‘It isn’t her, is it? It’s those spells. Where do they want to go, that’s the question.’
‘It’s starting, then,’ Lily whispered. She didn’t want to say it out loud – they were talking about treason, she had to whisper, even though there was no one else around. ‘The plot. The spells are making her do things.’ She patted the door miserably. ‘They’ve got a purpose and they’re steering her.’
‘Don’t talk about me like that,’ Georgie said grumpily, and Lily gasped, swinging round to stare at her.
‘You’re awake!’
‘Why am I out here in my nightdress?’ Georgie had suddenly realised that they weren’t in their room, and she looked about her in horror. ‘Lily, what’s going on?’ Her eyes widened. ‘Mama! Mama is here! She’s coming, isn’t she? We have to hide. Or fight. I don’t think I can fight her, Lily!’ Her eyes began to roll back in her head, eerily showing the whites, and Lily shook her.
‘Stop it! You’ve forgotten.’ Lily swallowed a deep breath. ‘Georgie, you’ve been unconscious ever since yesterday morning. When Mama was coming, you couldn’t control her spells, and I helped you sleep, so you couldn’t hurt us, or help Mama.’
Georgie stared at her fearfully, then she clutched Lily’s arms. ‘So you’re all right? You’re safe? What happened?’
‘Show her,’ Henrietta grunted. ‘She won’t believe you otherwise.’
Lily nodded, and took Georgie’s hand. ‘Come and see. Father and Rose were hurt – struck down by Mama. She had these great bursts of magic, they were incredible. She kept taunting Father, saying he’d never hurt her, and at first he couldn’t bring himself to. I think he was about to in the end, but she got him first. And then she put a spell around me that pulled all Rose’s power out of her, when she tried to protect me. Mama’s magic – it was sneaky. Mean, I suppose. Strong as well, but she used how we felt to help her. And we let her do it.’
‘Was?’ Georgie asked, in a small, hopeful voice. ‘You mean, it isn’t any more? Lily, did you win? How could you have done?’
Lily shrugged. ‘We’ve got a dragon, haven’t we? We had to fight without him at first, because the space was so tight – he was too close to grab at her without hurting us. But when she attacked Rose and me, he got so angry, and Mama had pushed us both away with the strength of her spell. So he caught her.’
Georgie went even paler, if that were possible, and her eyes glittered. ‘Did he eat her?’ she whispered, with a sort of horrified fascination.
‘No, because little Miss Soft-hearted here wouldn’t let him,’ Henrietta muttered. ‘We’re stuck with her for ever, look.’ She trotted between the stacked flats, and Georgie followed her, wide-eyed.
‘This is your magic, isn’t it?’ she murmured, as she stared at the painted figure. ‘It smells of you, Lily. I can feel you in it. This is amazing. It’s so strong.’
‘It was my spell, but Argent helped,’ Lily admitted. ‘It wasn’t all me.’
‘Still...’ Georgie stepped back putting an arm round her shoulders. ‘You’re so much stronger than I ever was.’
‘That’s why your mother was going to pull the spells out of you and put them in Lily.’ Henrietta’s voice echoed from between the flats, and Georgie went rigid.
‘Is that what she said?’
‘Mmm.’ Lily glanced anxiously at Georgie, wondering how upset she would be.
‘Even though she knew it would probably kill me?’ Georgie demanded.
‘She thought it might kill Lily too. She said she didn’t have a lot of time.’ Henrietta poked her head around the painted canvas. ‘So that’s why you’re starting to go a bit crazed, I should think. It’s all happening. The spells are working up to what it is they have to do.’
Lily glared at Henrietta. She really had no sense of tact at all. Lily was never sure how much she was doing it on purpose.
‘I’m not crazed,’ Georgie said, but she didn’t sound very sure. She glanced at Lily. ‘Do you think I am?’
‘You were wandering around in your nightie, trying to open a locked door with your fingers,’ Henrietta pointed out. ‘And your eyes were all wrong. You looked quite crazed to me.’
‘You’re awake!’ Daniel was standing at the edge of the stage, with his arms full of handbills. ‘Are you all right?’ he added shyly, realising what Georgie was wearing, or not wearing, and staring very firmly at his feet.
Georgie blushed scarlet. ‘I must go and get properly dressed.’
‘Oh, no one cares!’ Lily rolled her eyes. ‘We found Georgie sleepwalking,’ she explained anxiously to Daniel. ‘We think the spells have had some sort of signal, something that makes them start controlling what Georgie does. They’ve been woken, and they’re working now. The plot’s getting under way. Unless it was just Mama being close again.’
‘It doesn’t feel like that,’ Georgie murmured. ‘I almost remember what I was doing. I had to get somewhere. A house. Not far from the river.’
Lily turned to her eagerly. ‘But if you can remember where, then we can find the other people in the conspiracy! We can stop them!’
‘A whole gang of magicians, all probably as powerful as your mother?’ Daniel asked doubtfully. ‘How are you going to do that? Without flying that dragon through London again?’
‘I can’t remember where it is...’ Georgie said slowly. ‘A tall, white house. Lots of other children. I knew, when I was asleep.’ She shivered. ‘Maybe I shouldn’t sleep now. I can’t risk it.’
‘Or you should, so we can follow you,’ Lily pointed out, and Georgie shuddered convulsively.
‘Hang on.’ Daniel stared down at the stack of handbills he was carrying, looking at them as if he were seeing them for the first time. ‘Look.’ He held one out to Georgie and Lily.
‘What?’ Lily asked, reading it, and frowning. Special Jubilee Performances. Patriotic Display. Live horses on stage! Dramatic Tableaux! ‘Where are you getting horses from? We don’t have any horses.’
Daniel looked slightly shamefaced. ‘A mate of Sam’s has a pony, and he says it’ll be all right to borrow it. We’ll just have to keep it away from him over there.’ He nodded over at Argent. ‘Anyway, that wasn’t what I meant. It’s the jubilee. Don’t you see? Queen Sophia’s Golden Jubilee. Parades. Special appearances. That pageant thing on the river. She’s got to be there, hasn’t she? They can’t palm that off on that mad old mother of hers, even if the queen is ill. She’s got to be on show.’
‘Oh...’ Lily gazed at him, her eyes widening. ‘And so everyone knows where and when the queen will be outside the palace.’
‘Exactly.’ Daniel nodded. ‘Thousands and thousands of people. The perfect cover for an assassination attempt, I’d say.’ He looked over at Georgie, went scarlet and stared at his shoes again. ‘Three days’ time. That’s when it is. We just have to keep you safe for three days, that’s all. And it’ll all be over.’
Georgie smiled tremulously, but Lily shook her head. ‘No! We can’t just leave them to get on with it! It’s all very well protecting Georgie, and protecting other people from her, but it’s not enough! We have to stop the others too, if we want any chance of bringing magic back to the country.’ She caught Georgie’s hands. ‘We have to, don’t you see? If we save Queen Sophia, she’ll listen to us, she couldn’t not listen.’
‘What if she doesn’t?’ Henrietta asked, very seriously for once.
Lily sighed. �
��Then we’d have to go and live somewhere else. America, maybe.’
Henrietta sniffed. ‘I suppose. But not in that disgusting lodging house again, Lily.’
‘If we don’t save her,’ Lily added quietly, ‘I think we’ll have to go to America anyway. I don’t want to live here, with people like Mama and Jonathan Dysart in charge. Magicians who think they can do whatever they like, to whoever they like. Jonathan Dysart’s spent his whole life pretending not to have magic, just to get himself made one of the queen’s closest councillors, so he can turn on her. He’d do anything.’
‘Even turn his daughters into weapons, like me,’ Georgie muttered. ‘I wish I knew what it was I was going to do. I feel like if I knew, I could at least try not to do it.’
‘Your father might have an idea,’ Daniel suggested. ‘Peter said he was awake.’
‘Wouldn’t he have told us already, if he knew?’ Lily said, sounding surprised.
Daniel shrugged. ‘It depends. He’s your father – he might not want to tell you something that would frighten you.’
‘Exactly.’ Their father’s voice was threadlike, as he stumbled out onto the stage, leaning on Peter’s arm. ‘I could feel you thinking about me.’ He smiled at Lily’s round eyes. ‘Yes, it’s a useful little charm.’ Then the smile faded as he looked at Georgie. ‘I didn’t want to tell you what I suspected. I couldn’t... But you’re right. It’s better to know.’
‘To know what?’ Georgie demanded sharply.
‘The spells will kill you, as well as Queen Sophia,’ her father told her simply. ‘It would make the magic much, much stronger. You would be a sacrifice, you and all the other children.’
‘They’ll all die?’ Lily asked, feeling suddenly sick.
Her father nodded. ‘I suspect so. I’m not absolutely certain, of course. There may be some other edge to the spell.’
‘Then all those magicians have been bringing up their children, teaching them the spells, just knowing that they’re going to die at the end of it...’ Lily shivered. ‘That’s horrible. But I suppose it isn’t so different from the other spells you’ve used,’ she added slowly to Georgie. ‘They all feed off you. The wolf spell stole your blood. And so did the spell you started to do yesterday – the one that was supposed to make me do everything you wanted.’
Georgie nodded. ‘Oh. Yes, I do almost remember... Do you think Cora and Penelope know what they’re doing?’ she asked, frowning. ‘Unless their spells aren’t the same as mine. I can’t see those two agreeing to be sacrificed. When we met them at Aunt Clara’s house, I didn’t think they were like that at all.’
Lily shook her head. ‘No. They’d want to be part of the new state of things afterwards. Magicians lording it over everyone else.’
‘Exactly,’ Georgie agreed.
Peyton Powers sighed. ‘The spell would be stronger if they actually chose to die themselves, for love of the cause, but that’s hard to teach.’ He smiled at Lily, but his eyes were shiny with tears. ‘Not everyone is as brave as you. I don’t think those children know what’s going to happen. They’ve only been told that they’re part of something wonderful.’
‘Like you were,’ Lily said sadly to her sister.
Georgie looked at her thoughtfully. ‘Maybe we ought to tell them?’
Lily blinked at her. ‘Cora and Penelope? They betrayed us, Georgie! They betrayed us to the Queen’s Men! It was those two little demons that got us sent to Fell Hall.’
‘Well, to be fair, we did want to go there anyway,’ Georgie pointed out. ‘We wanted to find out about the magicians’ prison. And we had to rescue Peter.’
‘They didn’t know that, though,’ Lily said stubbornly. ‘And it was their own plot that they were betraying too. They were so desperate to be the special ones who brought the magic back, they couldn’t bear the thought that it might be you that killed the queen instead.’
‘He didn’t want to send you there, you know. Their father,’ Henrietta put in. ‘I heard him telling them so, while the officers of the Queen’s Men were taking you away. I was still knocked out by those deadening spells they were throwing around, but I could hear, even if I couldn’t move. He was furious. He said it was a waste of your magic, and you were too valuable to send away to Fell Hall, but now he had to, because it would be too obvious to let you off.’
‘You never told us that!’
Henrietta shrugged irritably. ‘There was quite a lot going on, Lily. I had to chase a carriage all the way out of London, remember? It didn’t seem all that important at the time.’
Lily stroked Henrietta gently, remembering her bleeding paws. ‘Sorry.’
‘So, he knows how the magic will be used...’ their father murmured. ‘All of you together. He didn’t want to waste you.’
‘They probably wouldn’t believe us, anyway,’ Georgie said thoughtfully. ‘I wouldn’t believe me either. The way they spoke about their father, I think they loved him. Imagine how it would feel, to find out what he was going to do...’
‘Maybe they won’t ever have to know,’ Lily said uncomfortably. But she wasn’t sure how that could be true.
‘What are you reading?’ Lily asked, peering over Peter’s shoulder.
Peter sighed and passed her the newspaper, and went on munching the doorstep of bread and cheese that was his lunch. He had gone out and bought it himself, Lily knew. He quite often fetched something for Daniel and Sam and some of the stagehands as well – most of the shopkeepers close by knew him, and they were happy enough to read a note. Lily was pretty sure that Peter couldn’t care less what people said, anyway. It was easier for him to ignore stupid comments, he could just look away, instead of having to try not to listen. But even if he understood what they said, he was still spending his own money, his wages, from a job that he’d chosen and he loved.
Whatever happened, Lily thought ruefully, at least she’d rescued Peter. Only a few months ago, she’d thought he would live and die at Merrythought – as she would.
‘Oh... A jubilee pageant.’ Lily sighed. ‘The jubilee’s only two days away now, and we still don’t know anything about the plot.’ Georgie hadn’t had another sleepwalking episode. Lily wasn’t sure if she was trying to hold the spells back – maybe without even knowing she was doing it. But she had slept quietly the previous night – after Lily had lain next to her for more than an hour, feeling her wriggle, and turn this way and that, too scared to close her eyes. After Georgie had finally given in to sleep, Lily watched her in the darkness for what felt like half the night. She wasn’t sure if she wanted Georgie to walk, or not.
Lily rubbed her hands across her eyes wearily. ‘I don’t know what to do. I was even wondering if we should try and go to the palace, and talk to someone. We could warn her...’
Peter stared at her, his eyes wide and dark. He shook his head sharply.
‘Oh, I know.’ Lily sighed. ‘But we have to do something. I hate waiting like this. I feel as if I’ve got ants pattering about all over me. And inside too.’ She shuddered. ‘My magic’s crawling with them.’ She flapped the newspaper at her face irritably. Then she held it out in front of her and squeaked, her eyes widening. ‘Look!’
Peter took the paper, and stared at the picture Lily was stabbing her finger at. A group scene, very carefully staged, of six girls, mostly about Lily’s age, although one was older than Georgie, she thought. About the age her sister Prudence would have been, if she’d lived.
But it was the two girls in the centre, staring seriously at the photographer, who’d made Lily cry out. Their long dark curls were beautifully arranged to cascade over their shoulders, and even in the smudgy, feeble print of the newspaper, their eyes looked glassily strange.
They were green, those eyes, when one saw them for real. Eerily green, shining out of their creamy-pale faces like lamps. Cora and Penelope Dysart, Jonathan Dysart’
s twin magician daughters.
Henrietta growled at the picture, baring her teeth.
‘Those are the girls who got us sent to Fell Hall,’ Lily explained to Peter. ‘The Dysarts. Daniel was right, the jubilee procession is the perfect chance. If Cora and Penelope are part of the pageant, that must be when it’s all going to happen. This proves it, don’t you see? The pageant is just to get them close to the queen. I should think all of these girls are magicians.’ She scanned the article quickly. A masque to glorify Queen Sophia – one of the many wonderful scenes and spectacles designed to celebrate the fifty years of her reign. Children of prominent citizens. Lily gave a little snort of bitter laughter. Prominent secret magicians, more like. Jonathan Dysart must have taken it on himself to choose the children.
‘Perhaps we should go back to their house – they live next door to Aunt Clara and her family, you see,’ Lily explained to Peter. ‘We might be able to find out something...’ But it seemed a very thin sort of plan, and Peter shook his head doubtfully.
Your aunt would hand you over to the Queen’s Men if she saw you, though, wouldn’t she? he wrote.
Lily nodded. ‘I could borrow your spare jacket,’ she suggested hopefully. ‘Dress as a boy. I bet they wouldn’t notice me then, just loafing about. I could hold horses for people,’ she added.
You wouldn’t know which end of a horse to hold, Peter scrawled, smirking at her.
Lily elbowed him, but it was unfortunately true. She didn’t know anything about horses. Except that they were big, and had very big teeth.
‘It’s the only way we’re going to get close enough to find out anything,’ she argued. ‘I could follow them. There must be rehearsals for this masque thing.’
