Lily (5 page)

‘Oh, Lily…’ Georgie murmured. Then she laughed. ‘That pug is going to have a fit if we leave her there much longer.’

Henrietta whined crossly. ‘I shall stick here if I put my head any further through these bars,’ she pointed out. ‘You are most unkind, talking so quietly, and on the other balcony. Come back here!’ She wriggled herself back out of the bars with an almost audible pop.

‘Come back to my room?’ Lily pleaded. ‘We could curl up on my bed. We haven’t done that for so long. Please, Georgie.’

Georgie nodded, stepping back in through her window, and holding her hand out to Lily to follow her.

Lily looked around curiously as her sister crept to the door. Georgie’s room had changed in the last year or so, since she had last been allowed to play in there with her sister. The pretty furniture was pushed out of the way, leaving room for swaying towers of books and papers. Odd vessels were dotted here and there, most of them with strange crusts of old spells staining the glass, as though Georgie had been desperately practising between her lessons. Georgie hardly seemed to notice, simply weaving her way between the piles to the door. Lily caught her breath as she saw that there was a scarlet thread tied around the white porcelain door handle, but Georgie untangled it so easily, how could it be a spell? Then the door swung open as soon as she pulled the thread away, and Lily caught her arm.

‘You see, you can still do some things!’

Georgie shrugged. ‘It’s just a trick – a silly little charm. Anyone could do it, if they were taught. You too, now, Lily.’ She shook her head, her eyes stricken again. ‘Come on, we have to talk. I’m so stupid, I should have thought it all out properly before.’

‘What?’ Lily murmured, following Georgie along the passage to her own room. Her sister pushed her inside, and leaned against the door for a second, as though she finally felt safe. Then she ran her fingertips around the door frame, hauling over a stool so she could reach to the very top. The dim line of shadow around the door glowed silvery for a second as she did it, and then it was just a door again.

‘Silence spell,’ Georgie muttered. ‘Shut the window. Oh!’ In spite of herself she sputtered with laughter as she saw Henrietta bound and scrabble back over the windowsill.

The little black dog landed in a clumsy tangle of paws, but then she stood up, and stalked delicately across the room to Lily, glaring at Georgie with her enormous eyes. ‘You look a sight,’ she pointed out, disapprovingly. ‘Your hair is dirty.’

Georgie stroked one hand down her lank blonde hair, flushed pink, and nodded. ‘I haven’t had time…’ she murmured.

Henrietta snorted. ‘What exactly is it they’re making you do, that gives you no time to wash?’

Georgie frowned. ‘I don’t know, exactly… I think Mama put some sort of…binding on me. Most of the time, I hardly think of anything except work – practising spells, over and over, trying to make them perfect. I don’t seem to care about anything else.’ She shivered. ‘Sometimes it’s as though I’m watching myself, as if I were floating on the ceiling, looking down, and then I just think,
Poor Georgie
…
Still not good enough
. I think she’s getting desperate. I should be better. Perhaps she thought you were distracting me from working.’ She rubbed a hand over her eyes, wearily. ‘I’m not sure how long it’s been that way.’

Lily frowned. ‘I’ve hardly seen you since last summer, Georgie. That’s when Mama started teaching you all the time, not just in the mornings. It was like you lived in the library, all of a sudden. When did you last go outside?’

Georgie shook her head, looking dazed.

‘And if I did see you, it would be like today on the stairs – you’d just brush past me, as if I didn’t exist.’

‘Last summer?’ Georgie whispered. The pink faded suddenly out of her cheeks. She was so pale now that the red rims around her eyes were startling. ‘Then it’s been a whole year, and I haven’t improved at all. And I hardly remember any of it…’ She swayed on her feet, and Lily hauled her across the room to the bed, forcing her to sit down. Henrietta jumped up, scratching at the bedcovers and glaring, until Lily lifted her up too. Then she padded over to Georgie, and sat down with her paws in the girl’s lap, staring up at her anxiously.

‘What happened today to make you see your sister?’ she demanded.

Georgie shook her head slowly. ‘I don’t know. She was there, on the stairs. Nothing seemed different – I was surprised to see her, I thought how long it was since we’d talked. But I was supposed to go and find a book, one that I’d left downstairs. And then she hissed at me…’

Lily’s tightened her arm around her sister’s shoulder. ‘I was cross. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to upset you – or not very much…’

Henrietta shook her ears briskly. ‘Don’t apologise to her, Lily. You broke her out of a spell. She should be thanking
you
.’

Georgie wound her fingers in her hair, pulling it so tightly that it had to hurt. ‘It must be because your own magic’s working now. That’s why I saw you all of a sudden, and you broke Mama’s binding.’

Henrietta flashed her startlingly white teeth. ‘She’s had a busy day.’

‘You have to hide it!’ Georgie suddenly twisted round to grab at Lily, making her gasp and pull back, wriggling away and squirming into the pillows. She’d never seen Georgie look so strange. Her eyes had darkened so that they were almost black now.

Henrietta had backed away, growling on a low, disturbing note, her paws catching on the bedcovers.

‘Why?’ Lily faltered. Was Georgie jealous? Lily swallowed tears. She’d hoped her big sister would be proud of her. Ever since Georgie had stopped talking to her, Lily had told herself that she hated her sister. Georgie had abandoned her, after all. But secretly – so secretly she hadn’t even known it herself – she had wanted to show Georgie that she could be special too.

Georgie let go of her, sighing. ‘I frightened you.’ She smoothed Lily’s crumpled sleeve apologetically. ‘Lily, don’t you see? I’ve always done what she’s told me. I went along with it, like a good, dutiful daughter. I wouldn’t dare do anything else. But until you asked me, I’ve never thought about
why
. Or what I’m actually supposed to do! And that’s just stupid.’ She laughed. ‘I can tell you think so. You’re both trying not to look disgusted, but the dog isn’t very good at keeping a straight face.’

Lily glanced down at Henrietta, who did indeed look very disapproving. She could tell that the pug wanted to leap up and down, and pound Georgie with questions – just as she did.

‘You really don’t know what it is she’s training you for?’ she asked, her voice a little disbelieving. ‘But you always told me… About how terrible the queen is, and that the Decree was wrong, and one day all the magicians will stand together and prove it. You’re the one who’s going to put everything back the way it should be.’

Georgie nodded. ‘I only told you that because it’s what Mama told me! She’s been telling me it for ever, Lily! Since I was too little to read a book of spells, even. It’s always the prophecy, and my destiny, and our heritage. But what does that mean? How am I actually supposed to
do
it?’

‘Why haven’t you just asked her?’ Henrietta demanded. Her wrinkles were still arranged in a disapproving stare.

Georgie took a breath, as though she was about to speak, but then she sighed, sinking her chin in her hands, and staring down at the bedspread. When she looked up at last, her eyes were their usual blue, but her face was still distinctly miserable. ‘I suppose partly I was scared to. But I think the binding spell stopped me asking that too. She doesn’t want me to know. So it must be something awful.’

‘What sort of thing?’ Lily frowned. ‘I always thought it meant you were going to be so good at magic that no one could stop you doing it, and you’d be able to persuade the queen that magic was a good thing. All the magicians would be allowed to come out of hiding at last, and you would lead them. Father would be pardoned, and everyone would be happy again…’ Lily was smiling as she said it, her voice slow and dreamy. It was her favourite daydream, after all. But then she trailed off, realising how silly the words sounded in a dark, grubby room, with her frightened sister and a talking dog.

Henrietta sniffed. ‘That sounds like a fairy tale to me.’

Lily swallowed, feeling her fantasy world slip away. ‘I suppose it isn’t very likely, after all… But Mama’s always said Georgie would save us. How else is she going to do it? Especially if she doesn’t even know what she’s doing.’

There was silence in the bedroom, as everyone considered this, worriedly.

‘Perhaps Mama doesn’t know how you’re going to do it either?’ Lily suggested. ‘Maybe she’s just hoping that if she trains you well enough, you’ll manage somehow.’

Georgie shook her head. ‘No, from the way she talks about it, I’m sure there’s something particular she wants me to do. Something strange, and – and dangerous.’ She frowned. ‘I just remember little glimpses. Odd words. But I can’t put them all together, even now Lily’s undone me.’

Lily giggled. It sounded like she’d unlaced Georgie’s petticoats. But the urge to laugh didn’t last long. ‘Will Mama be able to tell I’ve done it?’ she asked suddenly, her heart thudding into a frightened little rush. ‘When you have another lesson, will she see her spell has gone? What will she say?’

Georgie nibbled the end of her hair, despite Henrietta’s disapproving growl. ‘I have to, it helps me to think!’ At last she shook her head. ‘I don’t think so, Lily. Not if I’m careful to act the way I always do, and not ask any questions.’ She smiled, but not happily. ‘Most of the time Mama is so angry with me, she wouldn’t notice if I turned blue. And if she does notice, Lily, I won’t tell her you’ve done it. She mustn’t know. You must keep your magic a secret, I’m certain of it. Perhaps that was partly what woke me out of the spell? Knowing that I had to protect you?’

‘I approve of secrets, generally,’ Henrietta announced, ‘provided
I
know them, of course. But why is it so important that Lily hides her magic?’

Georgie sighed. ‘My magic isn’t working the way it’s supposed to. Mama’s furious. Don’t you see? If I’m no good, Lily, they’ll take you instead.’

Lily nodded slowly. She felt strangely torn inside. It was what she’d always wanted – to be as special and important as Georgie. But suddenly it seemed better to stay ordinary.

‘Moving on to the next one…’ Henrietta said thoughtfully. She lay down on the bed, stretching her paws out in front of her like a little Chinese lion. Lily lay down next to her, propping herself on her elbows to look at her sister, curled on the other side of the dog.

‘It isn’t as if I’m the first,’ Georgie murmured, stroking Henrietta’s soft black head.

Lily stared at her. ‘What do you mean?’

Georgie blinked, and shook her head, almost as if she were shaking something loose. ‘Something Mama said, I think. Since the spell’s gone, odd wisps of things just keep swirling around in my head. She’s angry because she’s done this all before.’

Lily wriggled upright again, her words falling all over each other in her excitement. ‘Yes! Yes, she said so. Just now, to Marten, don’t you remember? She said something about
the others
.’ She shivered, and put her hand on Henrietta’s back for comfort. The little dog shuddered and half snapped, as though Lily’s fingers were icy. ‘In the chapel, Georgie. The stones, with the names. Lucy. And – and…’

‘Prudence,’ Georgie added in a whisper. ‘But they were babies.’

‘There aren’t any dates on the stones, Georgie.’

‘Wouldn’t you remember them, if they were old enough to be learning magic, when they…went?’ Henrietta asked.

Georgie shook her head. ‘The stones have been there as long as I can remember. Perhaps Mama was very young when she had them? Oh, this is stupid – we’re making it up out of nothing. She was young, and they died. They’re just babies who died, Lily, that’s all. It happens all the time!’

Lily nodded gratefully. Just now, she would have given anything to believe that Georgie was right. All she wanted to do was curl up and lie next to her sister, and pet the dog, and not have to think. But her thoughts were betraying her, whirling around free and refusing to be called back.

The sweet, soft-furred little dog was the result of a spell. Her magic was growing inside her, and sooner or later, her mother was going to find out.

However much Georgie had disappointed Mama, her sister’s skin still hummed with magic when Lily touched her. She could feel it now, shimmering between them. There was something inside her, some strange, dangerous magic, underlain with Georgie’s own gentler power.

Lily couldn’t hide away in the orangery any longer.

‘A
hem!’

Lily jumped, as a chill nose nudged her wrist. ‘What is it?’

Henrietta sighed, and even though Lily had known her only a few hours, it was clear that this was the sigh of a put-upon dog.

‘You mentioned biscuits?’

‘Sorry…’ Lily sat up, and rummaged on the little table beside her bed for matches to light the oil lamp. Then she pulled out the tarnished old silver biscuit barrel.

Henrietta stood up eagerly, her tail whirring from side to side, as it was too tightly curled to wag like any other dog’s. ‘Oh, with raisins! I adore raisins.’ She took the biscuit Lily gave her delicately in her teeth, and crunched it happily, then licked the bedcover to clear up any crumbs. Then she sat hopefully in front of Lily, staring up at her, huge eyes shining with love and starvation.