by Lyn Gardner
The crowd erupted. Olivia and the others stared at each other open-mouthed. It was impossible. They couldn’t believe their own eyes. How had he made the switch without them noticing?
Suddenly, there was a commotion to the right of the circle and Olivia saw that the girl in the yellow dress had barged her way to the front, much to the annoyance of those she’d shoved aside. The small magician moved around the circle and stopped close to the girl. He leaned forward and produced a marble from each of her ears. The girl looked unimpressed. Then he asked with a grin, “Are you sure you haven’t lost something?”
The girl shook her head with a jaunty confidence, before hesitating and feeling in one pocket and then another. The boy watched her with a look of friendly amusement, but the panicked girl’s face contorted with rage as her search failed to yield the thing she was looking for.
“Give it back!” she shouted in an accent that was Scottish but with just a trace of something more exotic. “Give it back, you nasty little pickpocket!”
Unfazed and still smiling, the boy held up a sapphire necklace that caught the bright sunlight and sparkled as if it was dancing. The crowd oohed, and a small child asked, “Is it real?”
“Of course not, it’s just pretend,” said her mum, smiling.
“It looks real,” said Eel.
The girl was certainly behaving as if it was real. “You’re a thief,” she shouted at the boy, her dark eyes blazing. Her voice rose to a screech. “He sent you to steal it back, didn’t he? You’re a sneaky thief.”
Confusion crossed the boy’s face. He suddenly looked uncertain and vulnerable, and Olivia felt sorry for him. She’d seen enough magicians when she’d been with the travelling circus to know that he wasn’t a thief. Filching the necklace without the girl knowing had just been part of his magic act, done to amaze the audience and make them whoop and clap.
“No, he’s not,” she said sharply to the girl. “It’s just a trick. He’s not going to keep it.”
The boy smiled gratefully at Olivia and nodded vigorously, but the girl glared at her as if she wanted to kill her.
“Who do you think you are to interfere?” she snapped. “Keep your stuck-up nose out of it.”
“Evie…”said her older sister warningly as she appeared at her side.
“You’re the one being rude, and you seem to make a habit of it,” replied Olivia hotly. She felt Georgia’s calming hand on her sleeve. The girl’s fists clenched and her eyes sparkled dangerously.
“Please,” said the boy quietly, “I didn’t mean to upset you. Take your necklace and look after it well if it’s so precious to you.” He held it out to the angry girl. She snatched it from his hand and pushed her way out of the circle.
She was followed by her sister, who had turned scarlet with embarrassment. Olivia heard her mutter, “I thought we were trying to keep a low profile, Evie,” as they passed. The crowd tutted at them, and the boy looked crushed. He knew that the mood was fatally broken; the act ruined.
“Show over,” he said quietly and began to pack up his things. The crowd drifted away towards a young ventriloquist whose dummy was dressed like a naughty schoolboy. Aeysha pulled at Olivia’s sleeve and pointed at her watch. They had about five minutes to get to Waverley Station to meet the London train.
Olivia felt reluctant to hurry away. She felt sorry for the boy and she was fascinated by his skill. But there was something more. She had an uncanny feeling that she knew him from somewhere. She wondered what show the boy was appearing in at the Fringe. Instead of following the others, she stepped towards him.
“You were amazing,” she said shyly. The boy grinned. There was something about his manner, and in particular his grin, that was really very familiar.
“So were you; you were brave to say what you did to that girl,” said the boy and he leaned forward and plucked a ruby earring from each of her ears.
“How do you do that?” asked Olivia wonderingly.
The boy put a finger to his lips. “It’s my secret,” he said. “But things are not always what they appear. You can’t always trust your eyes.”
They both jumped as a shout came from a few metres away. “LIVY!” bawled Eel at the top of her lungs.
“We’re going to be late!” yelled Georgia.
“I’ve got to go,” said Olivia apologetically and she ran to catch up with the others. She suddenly realised that she had forgotten to ask the boy his name or which show he was in, but she didn’t have time to go back now. She would have to comb through the Fringe brochure and see if she could spot a likely show.
The girls ran down into the station just as the London train pulled in.
“Phew, lucky it’s a bit late,” said Aeysha.
“That magician was totally ace,” said Georgia, “even if that girl was incredibly rude.”
“He was mega,” said Eel. “I wish he could be in our show. He’d fit in so well, and be a real draw. We could do with some real magic in a show called Enchantment. Maybe we should tell Jack and Gran about him?”
“But he’s not a Swan,” said Aeysha.
“I’m not sure that would matter,” said Olivia. “And Eel’s right, a show about magic ought to have some in it.”
“I just meant it seems odd to have somebody we don’t know and who isn’t connected with the Swan in the Swan Circus,” said Aeysha.
“Yes,” said Georgia. “Being a Swan is like being part of a real family.” She said it quite fiercely. Eighteen months ago, Georgia’s dad had left her mum and, although she loved her mum, she missed her dad and still hadn’t got used to being a family of two rather than three. Aeysha recognised something wistful in Georgia’s voice and smiled sympathetically at her friend, but Olivia wasn’t really listening. She was trying to think who it was the boy had reminded her of. It wasn’t so much how he looked but the way he moved, his mannerisms and his smile.
People were starting to get off the train and walk up the platform.
“Come on, Livy. I can see Gran and Kylie and Will,” said Eel. “And there’s your mum, Georgia!”
Eel started waving madly and almost knocked over a placard for the Edinburgh Evening News. Olivia was struck by the headline: Serial Jewel Thief Foiled. Police now have fingerprint lead. She thought it sounded like an Enid Blyton novel.
Olivia watched as Eel shook her chestnut curls like a dog, before running towards her friends and flinging herself into her grandmother’s arms, grinning broadly. In that instant Olivia realised who the boy reminded her of: Eel. And if he looked like Eel then he looked like Jack, too. Everybody always said how similar Eel and Jack were, whereas Olivia took after her mother, Toni. She remembered seeing a photograph of Jack that had been taken when he was about ten. Maybe her mind was playing tricks on her, but she’d swear that Jack and the boy were like two peas in a pod. She suddenly felt very strange and she didn’t hear her dad come up and touch her on the shoulder.
“Can you hurry everyone up, Liv? Pablo’s parked the bus on a yellow line and is fending off traffic wardens with charm and a pretend lack of English. We can’t afford to get a parking ticket.”
Olivia turned towards her father.
“Are you all right, chick?” he asked, seeing how pensive she was. “You look as if you’ve seen a ghost.”
“I’m fine,” insisted Olivia. She peered at her dad. He looked pale and vulnerable, as if he hadn’t slept well. She suddenly remembered the date. If her mum hadn’t died in a plane crash when Olivia was five and Eel just a baby, it would have been her birthday today. In all the excitement of being in Edinburgh, she had completely forgotten. She knew that Jack wouldn’t want her to make a big deal out of it, but she also knew that he still missed Toni more than he could say. She reached for his hand and squeezed it.
“You’re the best dad in the whole world,” she said, “and I love you loads.”
Chapter Three
“It must be around here somewhere,” said Jack. His voice was tight with frustration.
“Maybe you’re not reading the map right, Dad,” said Eel helpfully. “Shall I do it? I’m very good at map-reading.”
“I think your father knows how to read a map, Eel,” said Alicia. “He managed to navigate his way out of the Idaho wilderness without your help,” she added. What she didn’t say was that the days after his light aircraft had crashed and he’d been missing, presumed dead, had been some of the worst of their lives.
Alicia sat behind Pablo, who was driving the old bus that Jack had hired for the summer. Dressed in her trademark dark-green velvet skirt, Alicia still looked as crisp as an apple even after the long journey from London to Edinburgh and even though she was suffering badly from the arthritis that had prematurely ended her stage career.
Everybody else looked wrecked. William Todd had spilled cranberry juice all down his shirt and looked as if he had had a sticky encounter with a vampire; Kylie had eaten so much chocolate on the train that she now felt both sick and homesick. Emmy Lovedale had just discovered that she had left her beloved teddy bear, Mr Bossyboots, on the train and began to wail. Georgia’s mum, Lydia, who was there as chaperone, tried to soothe her by saying she would call Lost Property as soon as they had settled into the house. The huge pile of rucksacks and sleeping bags on the floor of the bus made them look like a group of refugees.
Not that anyone minded. Alicia, or Miss Swan as the children called her, liked the Swans always to look neat and professional, but although the children would be representing the school in Edinburgh they were also on their summer holidays and Alicia knew that they needed to relax. During term-time the Swans’ lives were highly pressured: not only did they have to do all their school work and take the public exams that all children took, but they also took part in daily vocational classes, including acting, dancing and singing, and often worked professionally too, both in the West End and in movies and on TV.
The rest of the Swans began the final part of their journey in high spirits. Jack and Pablo took everyone up Calton Hill and they were all hugely impressed by the big top. They met up with Kasha and his band, who would be providing live music for the show as well as helping Pablo and Jack with the rigging. Kasha, who was sixteen, had just left the Swan. He’d already signed to a record label and would start work on his first album in the autumn. He and his friends, Ryan and Jazz, had been in Edinburgh for a couple of days helping Jack and Pablo erect the tent. They were sleeping in the living room of Kasha’s aunt’s little flat in the New Town.
Next, Jack suggested that the Swans go and settle into the rented house, have a bowl of pasta and all gather later at the tent for the technical rehearsal.
The children piled back on to the bus, laughing and jostling. Georgia and Will led a riotous singalong of “We’re all going on a summer holiday”. They squealed when they spotted a poster for their own show in a sweet-shop window, making Alicia put her hands over her ears, saying that they sounded like overexcited piglets.
“It just looks so lovely,” said Kylie dreamily, who had quickly forgotten about feeling sick.
“I’d go and see us,” said Eel.
“Let’s hope other people feel the same,” said Alicia. “We need to sell lots of tickets. It’s a big risk doing a show at the Fringe, so many companies lose a great deal of money.”
Soon they found themselves stuck in traffic on the Lothian Road just outside one of the big hotels.
Georgia nudged Olivia. “Look, it’s that collie dog again. I wonder where his mistress is.” The dog was sitting patiently down a side passage near the front of the hotel.
“Maybe she’s in the hotel?” said Olivia. “Anyway, how do you know it’s the same dog? One collie looks much like another to me.”
“From the markings, silly,” said Georgia, who had a very lively Jack Russell at home and knew about dogs.
“I wonder what she’s doing in a grand hotel like that,” said Olivia curiously.
The bus inched forward and as it did, the girl in the yellow dress and her sister came flying out of the hotel and into the road, dodging the traffic, followed by the dog. The younger girl barged into a man carrying a can of drink, which spilled all over her, but she didn’t break stride, simply disappeared with her sister and the dog down a street by a clock tower.
Everyone on the bus was tired and hungry, and couldn’t wait to get to the house, but Jack accidentally directed Pablo into a maze of back streets, where they got hopelessly lost for quite a long time. The map Jack had been sent by the landlord was lacking in detail. Then to everyone’s relief, after several false turns and getting out to ask directions, they found Jekyll Street at last.
“Right,” said Jack. “Everyone look out for number 13.”
“Unlucky for some,” said Aeysha.
“Not for us,” said Eel confidently. “I’ve seen the photos of the house online. And done a virtual tour. I’ve even chosen my bedroom. Well, the one I’m going to share with four of you lot. It looks mint.”
They drove slowly down the street, looking at all the numbers on the doors. The houses in Jekyll Street were large but mostly run-down and many were divided into flats and bedsits with several bells on the side of peeling front doors. Most of the front gardens were unkempt, and some were littered with rubbish, broken bicycles and old fridges. The windows were grimy and hung with net curtains more grey than white.
Alicia shifted uncomfortably in her seat. She wasn’t sure this was quite what the Swans’ parents would have envisaged from the letter she’d sent home with pupils, with its description of the prospective accommodation as “secure, spacious and in a good part of the city close to the centre”.
“We must be very close,” said Olivia, pointing to number 29. The children started counting down the numbers of the houses as they passed them.
“27…25…23…21…” Everyone shouted louder as they got closer. “…19…17…15…” Then there was a stunned silence. There was no number 13. The house numbers jumped from 15 to number 11. In the space where number 13 should have been was a short grit drive with grass growing up the middle leading down to some old garages.
Pablo stopped the bus, and Jack leapt out. “I’m going to take a look down there,” he said, pointing at the drive that led between two dark houses. “Number 13 must be somewhere out the back behind one of the other houses.”
Most people got out and followed him. They couldn’t wait to see where they would be staying. But when they got to the end of the driveway, there was nothing but a row of six garages with battered, padlocked doors. The garage at the end of the row had a small dirty window high up in its pebble-dashed walls. Olivia noticed that someone had placed a small vase of fresh wild flowers on the inside sill. How odd. Who put flowers inside a garage?
“This isn’t right. We must be in the wrong place,” said Georgia.
“But this is definitely Jekyll Street,” said Aeysha.
“Dad, you must have got the house number wrong,” said Eel.
Jack shook his head. His face was tense. Pablo came to join them and the two men talked together in low tones. Jack felt for his phone and punched in a number. Olivia could see that he was clenching the phone so hard that his knuckles had gone white. He waited for a moment, his face expectant.
“The number’s not recognised. It says please check and try again,” he said, running his hand distractedly through his hair. “I must have misdialled. I’m sure it’s all going to be fine. I only spoke to the owner, Mitch, yesterday when I arranged the final money transfer.”
The words “money transfer” hung in the air ominously. The children looked at each other, and Alicia pursed her lips. There was a steely glint in her eye. She had always thought that her son-in-law veered towards the reckless and irresponsible. Since Olivia and Eel had come to live with her at the Swan Academy, Jack and Alicia had begun to get to know each other better and their relationship had become increasingly warm. But they were like chalk and cheese – Alicia was organised, careful and cautious, while Jack was impetuous,
romantic and worked almost entirely on instinct.
“Listen,” said Jack. “Let’s get back on the bus and I’ll e-mail Mitch. I’m sure it’s just a silly mix-up.”
They all piled back on to the bus, and Jack got out his laptop and sent an e-mail. Everyone was so quiet that the almost instant ping of the e-mail being boomeranged back was clear for all to hear, and those looking over Jack’s shoulder could see that the message had been returned to sender.
Jack gave a low sigh. He’d always intended to come and check out the house before he paid over the bulk of the money, but once they’d arrived in Edinburgh he’d been so busy setting up the big top, it just hadn’t seemed like a priority. In any case, the man had seemed so friendly in e-mails and on the phone. He’d even said how pleased he was to be renting to a circus troupe because he had family connections with the circus and loved it so much.
“Will we have to go back to London?” asked Eel, with a quiver in her voice.
“No,” said Jack. “It’s all going to be all right. I promise.” But he knew that he had been foolishly naive and was increasingly certain he had fallen victim to an Internet scam.
“I’m sure it will all be fine,” said Alicia. But her voice was tight. “I’m confident Jack made all the necessary checks to make sure that the deal was bona fide.”
Olivia felt furious with her. Pablo turned on the engine as if suddenly eager to be away from Jekyll Road.
“Wait,” said Jack. “I’m just going to take one more look.” He opened the door and started walking, alone, down the drive.
The tension in the bus was so high it felt to Olivia as if you could reach out with your hand and snap the air in two. Everyone was watching Jack’s hunched back as if willing him to suddenly turn back and say that number 13 was there after all and they had just failed to notice it. To Olivia, her dad looked like the loneliest man in the entire world. She scrambled out of the bus and ran after him, before taking his hand and squeezing it tight.
