Lily

by Webb, Holly

  Daniel nodded, and Lily held her breath as Mr Hope strolled down the front steps, followed by the policemen, and made his way out of the theatre. Then she turned back to Georgie, patting her hands the way she’d tried before. But someone else pulled her away.

  ‘She is under a spell! I tell you she is! Why can’t any of you see?’ Lydia seized Georgie’s face between her hands, and then slapped her cheek hard.

  ‘Don’t you dare!’ Lily yelled, reaching for her, but Sam got there first, back-handing Lydia out of the way, as if she were a fly. He did it very gently – she would have been on the other side of the stage if he’d been really trying – but even so she fell over, landing clumsily in a heap of petticoats.

  ‘Oh!’ she screamed, and weeping in angry frustration, she pushed her way angrily across the stage, blundering towards the wings.

  ‘Be careful! Miss Lydia!’ Ned started after her, but he was too late. She was already pulling at the rope she’d somehow wrapped around her ankle, pulling at it furiously, wanting to get away from the eyes and the whispers, and the angry accusations.

  The metal bar seemed to fall terribly slowly, Lily thought, watching it twirl gently, almost gracefully down to the stage, where Lydia stood gaping upwards.

  Daniel started to run forward, and so did half-a-dozen others, but none of them could possibly reach her in time. Sam swung round, reaching out one helpless arm, trailing Georgie from the other.

  And then the bar wasn’t there any more, and a shower of tiny glowing sparks fell to the stage, dying out to a fine black dust that settled on everyone’s clothes.

  Lily smiled from pure relief, the agonising strain of the magic inside her gone for the moment. Georgie, leaning against Sam’s shoulder, beamed back dazedly, woken out of her trance as Lily seized her magic too, and hurled it at the bar.

  She had no idea what they’d done, again, Lily realised, her smile dying away. And this time, there was no hiding it. The whole theatre had seen them save Lydia, and Edward Hope could be only half a street away – perhaps a little more, if they’d had a carriage outside the door. Still, it wouldn’t take five minutes to call him back.

  She turned, measuring the distance to the door, and felt Henrietta pressing against her leg, shivering. Could they run? Was there any point? Exploding the rigging bar had taken all the magic she could find. She hadn’t had a proper thought of a spell, she’d simply flung her magic and hoped, and taken Georgie’s with her. She had nothing left, not for a while.

  She glanced apologetically at Daniel, who stared back at her, white-faced and horrified.

  Alfred Sanderson, the red-headed trick cyclist, was the first to step forward, and Lily flinched. He was the one who had admired Henrietta’s timing. It seemed worse somehow, that such a nice man should be the one to condemn them.

  But Alfred looked around the silent crowd, and shook his head, as he hauled Lydia up. ‘You want to be a sight more careful, missy. You could have hurt yourself, running all over the stage. What if there’d been something on the end of that rope, hmm? Could have done yourself a damage.’

  His brothers nodded. ‘Not that it wouldn’t have served her right,’ the youngest one added. ‘Nasty spiteful little cat. I hope you’re not planning on keeping her on the bill, Mr Daniel?’

  Daniel shook his head, his mouth half-open. Then he seemed suddenly to wake up, and he turned to glare at Lydia’s mother, who was standing at the edge of the stage, white-faced and shaking. ‘I’m terminating your contract. I’ll pay you till the end of the month.’

  She shook her head as if to protest, and he advanced on her, snarling. ‘Be glad I don’t sue you for malicious slander! Get out of my theatre, and take that little brat with you!’

  A path opened up across the stage, as everyone drew themselves away from Lydia and her mother, and they scurried away, stooping and ashamed, and everyone else followed after them, patting Henrietta as they went, or pinching Lily’s cheek affectionately, till the girls were left alone on the stage with Daniel.

  Lily hugged her sister tightly. ‘I was so afraid,’ she whispered. ‘I didn’t know what you might do, when you started that spell in the middle of the act.’

  Georgie shook her head. ‘Neither did I.’ She swallowed sadly. ‘Lily, I don’t know if we can stay here. It’s too dangerous. We have to go, and try to find Father, so we can get rid of whatever Mama’s put inside me. What if I – I might hurt someone… But where can we go?’

  ‘I don’t know. I’d only just started to feel that we belonged here,’ Lily said miserably.

  Daniel sighed. ‘Don’t tell me I’ve just got rid of the Silver Songbird, and now you two are walking out.’

  ‘We’ll help you train up a couple of the ballet dancers,’ Lily promised him. ‘They’ll do it now they know the act’s a success. Probably better than we did. And we’ll help you think up some more tricks first. You do see that Georgie’s right, don’t you? We have to go. We can’t risk the Queen’s Men coming back. You can’t risk it either. That Hope man was still suspicious.’

  ‘Shall we go abroad?’ Henrietta asked, sniffing a circle around the three of them excitedly. ‘I’ve always fancied the continent.’

  ‘Magic isn’t outlawed abroad,’ Daniel agreed thoughtfully. ‘You might be better off out of the country, for all I hate the thought of losing you. But how are we going to get you there? You can’t go off travelling on your own, not overseas.’

  ‘Lily!’ Georgie gasped suddenly. ‘We’ve forgotten Marten!’

  Lily stared at her for a few seconds, still so caught up in the performance and Lydia’s dramatic rescue that she hardly knew what Georgie was saying.

  Georgie leaned forward and shook her. ‘All that magic we used to save Lydia! She’ll be able to tell where we are, I’m sure she will. We have to get away. Now!’

  Lily nodded, suddenly out of ideas. ‘Where can we go? Could we hide at the museum again?’ She faltered.

  ‘Let’s just get away from here,’ Henrietta raced across the stage, and then back again to tug at Lily’s skirts. ‘Come on!’

  ‘I’ll come with you. We can go to my sister’s house,’ Daniel suggested. ‘It’s far enough away from the theatre. Or do you leave a trail?’ he asked helplessly. ‘I don’t know about these things…’

  ‘Neither do we,’ Lily gave a little half-laugh.

  They hurried out into the alleys behind the theatre, and Daniel raced ahead. ‘I’ll find a cab.’

  Lily was nodding gratefully, about to turn back to her sister to say how lucky they were to have him to help them.

  But then there was a strangled little noise behind her, and Henrietta whirled around, barking madly.

  Lily turned to see Georgie struggling against the black-gloved hand across her mouth, trying to wrench herself from the grip of the black arms.

  ‘Marten!’ Lily threw herself at her sister, but the spell-creature hissed, and Lily dropped back in horror, seeing that she had claws, piercing the black gloves, and scratching at Georgie’s throat.

  ‘Georgie, fight her!’ Lily whispered. ‘Stop her, a spell, now, you must!’

  But Georgie shook her head. Her blue eyes were round with terror over the black glove.

  Daniel had come pelting back, white-faced. ‘Why won’t she do anything?’ he asked angrily, his fists clenched. ‘Can’t she use magic on her – that thing…’

  Lily could see he was longing to fight, but had no idea how to deal with such a creature.

  ‘She can’t…’ Lily told him miserably, as she realised it herself. ‘I used all her magic, to save Lydia. She hasn’t any left. I haven’t either.’ She stretched out her arms to Georgie, and there was no glad rush of power into her fingers.

  Daniel lunged forward, but Lily seized his arm, hauling him back. ‘No! Look at the claws! We can’t fight for her, Marten will slice her to ribbons. Mama won’t care what she looks like. Georgie, find something inside! You have to,’ she screamed at her sister frantically.

  ‘I’ve o
nly got Mama’s awful spells left,’ Georgie whimpered. ‘I can’t use them. I don’t know what they’ll do.’

  ‘She’ll take you back to Mama, Georgie. Mama will be using you again. Whatever you do can’t be worse. Now!’

  Georgie’s eyes closed, and Lily let out a strangled howl of anger. She couldn’t give up.

  But she wasn’t, Lily realised then. She had only been gathering her strength. A hazy silverish cloud was forming around her and Marten, a cloud of dust from the dry road. Greyish London dust, slowly forming itself into some sort of creature. Lily dug her nails into her palms. Too slowly. ‘Hurry, Georgie…’ she whispered.

  Marten was twitching from side to side behind her veil. What instructions had she been given? Was she not allowed to kill the girl? It seemed not. Instead of digging those foul claws in deeper, she started to pull Georgie with her back down the alley, making for an eerie puddle of darkness in the shadow of an old iron staircase.

  ‘She’s taking her to Mama,’ Lily whispered, creeping after them. ‘Georgie, quickly!’

  The greyish form grew softly pink, and Lily retched suddenly, realising that Georgie’s spell was stealing her own blood to make itself stronger.

  ‘What is that thing?’ Daniel muttered.

  ‘A monster,’ Henrietta snarled.

  But the monster was working. It was a wolf, Lily saw now. A huge, greyish-pink wolf, with Georgie’s blood dripping from its jaws, and it was snapping eagerly at Marten, pulling at her veil, so that Lily caught a sickening glimpse of greenish spell-flesh underneath, horribly torn, and leaking foul enchantments.

  ‘Yes!’ Lily hissed, as the wolf hurled itself against Marten again, worrying at the black wrappings that were suddenly all that was left. Marten had been torn away to nothing.

  ‘Has she really gone?’ Daniel asked, staring at the limp pile of cloth.

  Henrietta nodded. ‘Yes. But that hasn’t.’

  Georgie had fallen when Marten let go of her, and now she was a crumpled little heap on the cobbles, her pretty flowered hat crushed beside her.

  The dust-wolf was standing over her. It was redder still, and it was sniffing at her throat.

  ‘Her spell’s going to eat her!’ Daniel yelled.

  ‘She didn’t want to…’ Lily muttered. ‘I made her, I shouldn’t have.’

  But the wolf was looking up at them now, growling angrily. Its prey had disappeared, and now there were others, circling its next meal. It lunged forward, snapping at Henrietta, who skittered back to hide shivering in Lily’s skirts.

  ‘What do we do with it?’ she whined.

  Lily shook her head. ‘I don’t know. We have to do something, and we can’t just chase it away. If it runs off – it could eat a child in one gulp.’

  Daniel moved forward cautiously, and Lily grabbed his arm. ‘What are you doing?’ she hissed.

  ‘Shh, I’ve got a plan.’ He shook her off. ‘Stay back.’

  The wolf growled lower, deep in its throat. It was fading a little, Lily realised, as the wind blew down the alleyway. It needed Georgie’s blood to keep it together. Or someone’s blood. It probably didn’t care.

  ‘Get it away from her!’ she whispered. ‘I think it’ll fall apart if it doesn’t…you know…feed…’

  ‘Right.’ Daniel waved his arms in front of the wolf, which watched him with hungry reddish eyes. He flicked a red handkerchief out of the hidden place in his shirt cuff, and wafted it about.

  The wolf gazed hungrily at the blood-red fabric, and snarled, taking a step away from Georgie. It gathered itself on its dusty haunches, ready to spring, and Daniel threw himself back against the wall, the handkerchief fluttering down onto the stones. The wolf turned in midair to snap at it, and landed awkwardly, worrying at the scrap of red with insubstantial teeth.

  Lily huddled next to Georgie, holding her tightly, and looked up at the huge grey creature as it paced back towards them, spitting scarlet threads.

  ‘It’s going,’ Lily whispered. Henrietta stood in front of them, barking defiantly. ‘Not fast enough,’ she snapped. ‘And if eats me, it’ll be stronger again – strong enough to eat you too. Do something!’

  Lily glanced about desperately. Daniel was pressed against the wall, scrabbling for a rock, a stick, anything to use as a weapon.

  Lily had nothing. Only her magic, which she hardly knew how to use. What settles dust? she thought frantically.

  ‘Weather magic!’ Henrietta barked sharply. ‘Like Arabel. You can do it, Lily, you’re a Powers, all of them could call the weather!’

  Lily looked up at the sky, at the clear, bright blueness, and all of a sudden, the growling of the dust-wolf took on a deeper, angrier note.

  ‘That’s it!’ Henrietta howled, and Lily gasped.

  It was thunder growling, and the raindrops were already falling, fat hot heavy ones, splashing on the cobbles. Splashing, and stabbing little holes in the thick dust, darkening it.

  The wolf twisted with fury, and its growls joined in the crash of thunder, as the rain ate away its dust-grey coat.

  Then Daniel stood up, staggering, and he and Lily stared at the reddish stream running between the cobblestones, running away to nothing.

  Behind them, Georgie stirred, putting her hand to her neck and wincing. ‘Did it work?’ she murmured vaguely. ‘Did I get rid of her?’

  Lily pulled her upright, and stood with her arm around her sister’s waist. ‘Yes. But Georgie, next time…’ She tailed off, and sighed.

  Georgie shivered. ‘Was it bad? I almost remember – a wolf? I shouldn’t have tried, Lily, I knew it!’

  ‘It wasn’t as bad as whatever Mama would have made you do, if Marten had dragged you back to her.’ Lily shrugged. ‘Georgie, don’t you remember? It tore Marten to bits!’ She wrapped her arms more tightly round her sister, leaning her head against Georgie’s shoulder. ‘You got rid of her. You actually did it. I can’t believe she’s gone.’

  ‘Your mother will be furious.’ Henrietta licked her chops smugly. ‘A good day’s work, I think.’

  Georgie scowled at her. ‘You’re an inhuman creature, do you know that?’

  Henrietta only sniffed.

  ‘But we still have to leave,’ Lily said suddenly, a little of the triumph leaking away. ‘Even though Marten’s gone.’

  ‘No one at the theatre would give you away,’ Daniel said pleadingly. ‘Why don’t you just stay? If that was your mother’s best shot.’

  ‘No. We have to find our father.’ Lily traced the evil-looking scratches on her sister’s neck with a delicate finger. ‘He’ll be able to help Georgie, I’m sure he will. We have to break that spell. It’ll still be with us, otherwise. Wherever we are.’

  Georgie sat up a little, stretching out her fingers, and stared at them, almost hatefully. ‘I know. I can feel it inside me now. Waiting.’

  ‘What for?’ Henrietta looked up at her, the glint gone from her round black eyes.

  ‘I simply don’t know.’ Georgie clenched her fingers tightly.

  ‘We’ll break it,’ Lily told her, seizing Georgie’s stone-like fists. ‘We’ll find him, and he’ll know how. Then you’ll be free, and you can do whatever you want with your magic. Nothing, if you like! You can come back and help Maria in the wardrobe instead, and forget all about it. Couldn’t she?’ she asked Daniel fiercely, and he nodded, smiling, even though he still looked sad.

  ‘What will you do?’ Georgie whispered, squeezing Lily’s hand gratefully. ‘When we’re free?’

  Lily looked at Henrietta, silenced for once. She had no idea.

  Henrietta sniffed. ‘Break the spell first. Then we’ll decide.’

  Lily nodded. ‘Exactly.’ She took a deep breath, and brushed the last of the pinkish mud from the skirts of her costume. She knew she had to free her sister.

  Nothing else mattered.

  Questions and Answers with Holly Webb

  Where did the idea for Lily come from?

  Lily started as a sequel to my Rose books. I loved the
world that had grown through the four books, and I didn’t want to leave it. But I wanted to change it – so that magic wasn’t special and amazing any more, but something that people were ashamed of instead.

  Did you set out to write a historical novel?

  Yes. I loved historical novels as a child and still do. My favourites were A Traveller in Time by Alison Uttley, and A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. Rose and Lily – who both have very hard childhoods, even though they’re so different – owe a lot to Sara, the main character from A Little Princess. I loved her story.

  Characters from your earlier series Rose appear in Lily – did you intend to do this from the start?

  Yes – a main character from the Rose books (I won’t tell you the name because it might spoil it!) will appear in the second Lily book, and Rose herself will be in the third – but she will be fifty years older! I didn’t want any of the Rose characters to take over the Lily books, but I really like the idea of the passing of time within that world.

  Which idea came first: the animals or the magic?

  The magic. The editor I originally discussed the Rose books with, when I was planning the first book, asked for ‘no talking cats please.’ But Gus was unstoppable…

  www.orchardbooks.co.uk

  Read on for an exclusive sneak preview of

  Lily and the Shining Dragons…

  ‘Someone’s watching you two.’

  Lily looked up at Sam, panting a little. He’d caught her as she hurried offstage. They’d had three curtain calls, and she’d had to race back to the front of the stage and bow again and again before they could go, and let the trick cyclist troupe come on. The illusionist act seemed to be more popular every night.

  ‘They’re supposed to watch us, Sam. Everyone’s supposed to be watching!’

  ‘You know what I mean, missy. Don’t be smart.’