Lily (18 page)

‘It mentions the Sandersons though. And it says the Flying Vandinis are remarkable.’ Lily skimmed the rest of the article, which was mostly favourable, although it dropped heavy hints that the Queen’s Men might be interested in what was going on at the Queen’s. ‘Will everyone be angry that it’s all about us?’

Sam looked thoughtful. ‘Not likely, I’d say. It’s all publicity for the theatre, and everyone wants the show to do well, they’ll only be out of work if it runs at a loss. No one wants the law turning up though. We might have got away with it for a bit longer without this. Still… We’ll be full tonight. And the Queen’s Men can’t prove any of it was real magic.’

Lily looked at him sideways. She had a feeling Sam knew more than he let on.

‘Because of course it wasn’t,’ he added. Then there was a hopeful little silence, but Lily only nodded.

‘Lily! Sam! Look at this!’ Daniel erupted into the tiny room, waving the newspaper and grinning so widely that Lily thought she could see every tooth in his head. ‘Isn’t it lucky I’ve thought up an encore!’

‘Have you?’ Lily asked wearily. ‘Do I have to get squished again?’

Daniel shook his head apologetically. ‘No, I’m very sorry, Lily, but I think Georgie would be better for this one. I’m going to have to pretend to enchant her, and Georgie looks more…more…’

‘Dazed?’ Lily suggested.

‘Well, yes. I think she’d be better at looking as though she were in a trance.’

Henrietta snorted, which sounded very like a laugh. She couldn’t talk in front of Sam, but she rolled her eyes at Lily.

‘Do you think you could build me a lifting apparatus by tonight?’ Daniel asked Sam hopefully.

‘No.’

‘Oh… Tomorrow?’ Daniel looked hopefully at him, and Sam sighed. ‘Maybe. What’s it for?’

‘I’m going to levitate her – lift her up in the air, like she’s floating! Here, look!’ He tucked the newspaper under his arm and pulled out a sheaf of drawings, unrolling them and practically filling the room.

‘Well, that’s not going to work, Mr Daniel, I can tell you that for sure…’

Lily slipped out of the door, and neither of them noticed she was gone. She went out into the alley behind the theatre, heading for one of the newspaper boys. Perhaps she should find a book, like an album, to stick their cuttings in? But that only made her think of Mama’s photograph album, and a sudden wave of shadow and fear rose up around her so quickly that she had to stop, and lean against the wall, swallowing hard so as not to be sick.

Georgie had had no more strange trances, and Lily had managed to put Merrythought out of her mind for most of the last week. But all of a sudden it was as though she was back there again. Lily shivered, and wiped a hand over her damp forehead, pulling herself away from the wall with an effort.

She hurried on, hardly noticing where she was going, Henrietta trotting anxiously at her heels. Eventually Henrietta scurried forward a little faster, circling round in front of Lily, and snapping at her, so that she almost tripped over.

‘Oh!’ Lily glanced around fearfully, suddenly realising that she had no idea where they were – except that she was in the middle of a street full of smart shops. But at least the horrible sick feeling had gone. She gulped, and whispered, ‘Thank you…’ to Henrietta, who gave her a disapproving look, and stared round meaningfully at the people striding past.

Lily crouched down and picked her up. She was so warm and solid, and she smelled comfortingly of dog. ‘Do you know where we are?’ she breathed.

‘Of course. We’re a long way from the theatre, though. Turn down this road.’ Henrietta hissed the words into Lily’s hair.

Lily nodded, thinking suddenly how lucky it was that Aunt Arabel had chosen a pug for a pet, and quite a small one at that. It would have been much harder to disguise a talking wolfhound.

Suddenly Henrietta tensed, her claws digging into Lily’s shoulder. ‘Something’s coming,’ she hissed. ‘Something bad is coming. Lily, hide.’

Lily looked around the street wildly. Where on earth should she go? And what was she hiding from?

And then she saw. Gliding through the crowd of passers-by, a black, veiled figure.

Her heart thudding, Lily reached behind her to open the door of the shop they were passing, her fingers slipping and trembling. She slid inside, and clicked it shut, watching wide-eyed as Marten swept past, her veiled head turning slowly from side to side. For a moment, Lily couldn’t tell what the spell-creature was doing. But then she realised, Marten was sniffing. Hunting them out, her and Georgie.

Lily pressed her hand across her mouth, suddenly certain that she really would be sick this time. Marten paused, staring around, for a horribly long time – and then she set off again, with that strange gliding walk that suggested something other than feet under her long black skirts.

Of course, she had known that Marten would have followed them to London. It was why she’d wanted to stay so close to the theatre all this time. But now she knew for certain, it was different. She felt like a helpless little rabbit, like Bella, lost and waiting for a ravenous fox.

Mama’s servant-creature was quartering the city, tracking them by scent.

‘It was,’ Lily said stubbornly. ‘You weren’t there, Georgie. I know it was her.’ She’d decided she had to tell her sister now. It wasn’t safe to keep her in the dark, as they had back at Lacefield station.

‘But how could Mama have found us so quickly?’ Georgie asked, her voice doubtful. When Lily dashed back into the theatre, she had been admiring the drawing of herself in the newspaper, which one of the contortionists had given her. Now she was pleating it anxiously between her fingers.

‘She hasn’t!’ Lily sighed crossly. ‘I told you, we were miles away from the theatre. Although, I suppose she might have followed me from here… No. She went on – perhaps she caught the scent, but she couldn’t work out where I was. Henrietta’s sure she didn’t follow us back.’ She looked over Georgie’s shoulder. ‘Thank goodness that drawing doesn’t look in the least like us. Even if Mama is here with Marten, she wouldn’t recognise us from that.’

‘You drew a lot of attention last night,’ Henrietta muttered. They were tucked away behind some bits of scenery in the wings, where Lily had dragged them to hide. No one could see Henrietta to realise she was talking.

‘So did you!’ Georgie snapped. ‘We all agreed to this. I was the one who said it was too dangerous, if you remember, and you two persuaded me!’ She patted the painted canvas next to her, running her fingers over a foolish-looking sheep from the set for Lydia’s shepherdess song. ‘I don’t want to run again,’ she whispered. ‘We can’t. We haven’t anywhere else to go! We were so lucky to find the theatre—’

‘Luck had nothing to do with it,’ Henrietta snapped.

Georgie nodded. ‘I know that really. But all the same, I can’t bear to start all over again. We’ll just have to be watchful. It’s like you said, Lily, it might be coincidence that she was so close. If we see her again, then we’ll – we’ll do something.’

Lily nodded. She didn’t want to leave the theatre either. But she was frowning.
Something
didn’t sound like a very good plan to her. Whatever they had to do, she was almost sure that Georgie would need to use her magic again, and that meant anything might happen.

Lily smiled to herself grimly. At least they could make sure it happened to Marten.

‘Whatever are you lot doing hiding behind here?’ Daniel peered around the scenery, staring at them.

Lily jumped. ‘Don’t creep up on people like that! I nearly died.’

Daniel looked horrified. ‘I didn’t mean to – whatever’s the matter, Lily? You’ve gone white. I can’t have scared you that much, surely?’

‘Sorry,’ Lily muttered. ‘I had a shock. Before…’ She swallowed. ‘I saw Mama’s servant, Marten. In the street, not close – but she was looking for us. Mama wants us back… We knew she would, but we felt so safe here. We lost her,’ she added. ‘She didn’t come anywhere near the theatre.’

Daniel nodded, but he was frowning. ‘Just a coincidence then?’ he asked.

‘I really hope so. She must have been searching all over the city.’ Lily shivered, thinking of Marten’s horrid sniffing.

Daniel stared down at Georgie, as though he hadn’t looked at her properly before. ‘You two can’t stay hidden here all the time, though. It’s not good for you. You haven’t been out since you arrived, have you?’ he demanded, putting his hand under Georgie’s chin, and turning her face this way and that. ‘You’re as pale as milk. Watered milk, even.’

‘She hasn’t been anywhere,’ Lily agreed, and Georgie scowled at her.

‘Right. Then today, I’m taking you all to watch the parade. There’ll be thousands of people lining the streets, no servant of your mother’s will spot you.’ Daniel gave a determined nod. ‘You girls deserve a treat, after the work you’ve been putting in.’

‘What parade?’ Henrietta nosed him curiously.

‘Coronation Day. Every year, Queen Sophia rides in a carriage from the palace to the cathedral, for a service of thanksgiving.’

‘Queen Sophia? We could
see
her?’ Lily asked, only half believing him.

‘Of course.’

Lily stared blankly at the canvas of the scenery in front of them. The queen. It had been on the queen’s orders that their father had been taken, imprisoned, they didn’t even know where. It was the queen that Georgie had been supposed to kill, with dreadful spells that she’d spent years learning. Queen Sophia was bound into their lives with magic they did not understand – but they had never seen her.

Georgie smiled wearily. ‘I can wear my hat.’

Lily blinked. ‘What?’

‘My hat. Maria gave it to me – and some silk flowers, she showed me how to fasten them on. There’s one for you too, Lily, but I haven’t anything to decorate it with yet.’

‘I don’t mind,’ Lily said impatiently. ‘You’ll come then?’

‘It would be nice to go out. If we’re sure it’s safe…’ Georgie nodded, looking around at the dusty sets.

There was very little light anywhere in the theatre, Lily realised suddenly. No daylight. No wonder Georgie was miserable, she told herself crossly.

‘Marten doesn’t know where we are. It was luck that she was close, that’s all.’

‘Come on then!’ Daniel clapped his hands. ‘Five minutes. I’ll put my best waistcoat on.’

They gathered at the front of the theatre, a strange feeling of excitement making Lily and Georgie giggle, and Henrietta chase her tail, and snap at imaginary flies. They were off on a jaunt, in their nicest clothes.

‘I know a good place, not too busy,’ Daniel explained, hurrying them along the street. ‘But we haven’t got long, they’ll leave the palace at ten.’

As they came towards the broader, grander streets that were on the route of the procession, crowds were gathering all around them. ‘People sleep on the pavement, to get the very best places,’ Daniel explained. ‘Not as many as there used to be, though.’ He noticed Lily’s confused look. ‘She’s popular, Queen Sophia, but her mother isn’t. Old Queen Adelaide. The Dowager.’

‘She’s the one who was married to King Albert? The king who was killed by Marius Grange?’ Lily asked, wanting to make sure.

‘That’s it. And she’s the one who hates magic. She always did, even before the king was assassinated. She’s the one who controls the Queen’s Men, people say. She’s nearly ninety, the old queen, and her wits are going. Ah, listen!’

Dimly, in the distance, they could hear the sound of cheering, and a jingling, and a thudding of hooves.

‘They’re coming.’ Daniel grabbed their hands, and hurried them on. ‘Up here, look.’ He caught Lily round the waist, and boosted her and Henrietta up onto the plinth of a statue, a tall dark stone figure of a disapproving man. Lily was almost sure his frowning brows furrowed even more as she and Georgie helped to haul Daniel up after them, just in time to see a troop of horse guards trot around the bend in the road.

Cheering erupted all around the girls, so that they seemed to be floating on a cloud of sound, and a golden carriage rolled towards them. Lily clutched at the stone boot of the statue, and leaned forward, desperate to see. The carriage shone, its windows glittering like jewels in a golden setting, and she hissed crossly. Then as the carriage drew level with them, a cloud passed across the sun, and for a moment, the glare died away. Lily stared across the crowd below, into the carriage itself.

She wasn’t sure how she’d expected a queen to look. Bigger, perhaps? Haughtier? More like Mama, she realised suddenly, a surprised smile twitching the corner of her mouth. Certainly not this thin-faced, worried-looking lady, waving graciously at her well-wishers. She was dressed in a rich, old-fashioned dark velvet cloak, with a fur collar, and a little tiara sat on her faded hair. None of it suited her.

‘She was pretty, once…’ Daniel murmured to her. ‘Like a fairy princess, so they say. You wouldn’t think so now, would you?’

Lily shook her head. It was confusing. Queen Sophia had broken her family, but Lily couldn’t hate her. There was something familiar about her too, but Lily couldn’t pin down what it was.

As the carriage rolled past, the queen leaned sideways a little, to wave at the crowd on the other side of the road, and the other occupant of the carriage was revealed.

‘That’s the Dowager,’ Daniel muttered. ‘Mad as a coot, she is.’

Lily gasped. Queen Adelaide was very old, very thin, and had a nose like the beak of an eagle. Her eyes had something of the ferocity of a bird of prey, as well. Even though she looked nothing like her, she reminded Lily strongly of her mother. It was the determination, Lily decided, huddling back against the statue’s legs, the cold-blooded certainty that she was right, shining out of those dark, glinting eyes.

All of a sudden, Lily knew why she’d felt she recognised the younger queen. Sophia had such a look of Georgie – worn out from trying for years to please an impossible mother.

As the carriage went on past, and another company of glittering horsemen trotted after it, the crowd began to disperse, leaving a litter of trampled flags and coloured bunting.

Daniel jumped down, and lifted Lily and Georgie after him. They began to stroll back towards the theatre through the maze of back alleys, Lily questioning Daniel about the queen.