The Lightning Bolt

Kate Forsyth is a bestselling author across several genres. Her titles include the Witches of Eileanan series,
The Gypsy Crown, The Silver Horse, The Herb of Grace
and
The Cat's Eye Shell
, the first four books in the Chain of Charms series,
The Starthorn Tree, Wishing for Trouble
and
Dragon Gold
. Kate lives with her husband, three children and a black cat called Shadow in Sydney.

ALSO BY KATE FORSYTH

The Chain of Charms series:

The Gypsy Crown
The Silver Horse
The Herb of Grace
The Cat's Eye Shell

The Starthorn Tree

ALSO BY KATE FORSYTH
AND ILLUSTRATED BY MITCH VANE

Ben and Tim's Magical Misadventures:
Wishing for Trouble
Dragon Gold

T
HE

L
IGHTNING
B
OLT

First published 2007 in Macmillan by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Limited
1 Market Street, Sydney

Text copyright © Kate Forsyth 2007
Illustrations copyright © Jeremy Reston 2007

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means, person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, scanning or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher.

National Library of Australia cataloguing-in-publication data:

Forsyth, Kate, 1966– .
The lightning bolt.

For primary school children.
ISBN 978 1 4050 3784 6

1. Gypsies – Juvenile fiction. I. Title. (Series: Forsyth, Kate, 1966– Chain of charms; 5)

A823.3

Internal text design by Seymour Designs
Typeset in 11/17 pt Janson Text by Post Pre-press Group
Printed in Australia by McPherson's Printing Group

The characters in this book are fictitious and any resemblance to real persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Papers used by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd are natural, recyclable products made from wood grown in sustainable forests. The manufacturing processes conform to the environmental regulations of the country of origin.

These electronic editions published in 2008 by Pan Macmillan Australia Pty Ltd
1 Market Street, Sydney 2000

The moral right of the author has been asserted.

All rights reserved. This publication (or any part of it) may not be reproduced or transmitted, copied, stored, distributed or otherwise made available by any person or entity (including Google, Amazon or similar organisations), in any form (electronic, digital, optical, mechanical) or by any means (photocopying, recording, scanning or otherwise) without prior written permission from the publisher.

The Lightning Bolt

Kate Forsyth

Adobe eReader format 978-1-74197-840-7

Microsoft Reader format 978-1-74197-881-0

Mobipocket format 978-1-74197-922-0

Online format 978-1-74197-963-3

Epub format 978-1-74262-540-9

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THE
L
IGHTNING
B
LT

KATE FORSYTH

ILLUSTRATED BY JEREMY RESTON

C H A R A C T E R S

T
HE
F
INCH
T
RIBE

Luka Finch (13)

Emilia Finch (13) – his cousin

Maggie Finch, called Queen of the Gypsies – their
grandmother

Jacob – Luka's father

Silvia – Luka's mother

Lena (14) and Mimi (9) – Luka's sisters

Beatrice (15) – Emilia's sister

Noah (9) – Emilia's brother

Ruben – Luka and Emilia's uncle

Sabina (10) – Ruben's daughter

Alida – a grey Arab pony

Zizi – a monkey

Rollo – a dog

Sweetheart – a brown bear

T
HE
S
MITH
T
RIBE

Fairnette Smith (12)

Van Smith (10)

Old Man Smith – their father

Stevo Smith – their eldest brother

Bean-Pole, Potato-Head, Pea-Brain, Scar-Face,
and Lazy-Eye – their other brothers

T
HE
H
EARNE
T
RIBE

Janka Hearne – the tribe's grandmother

Felipe Hearne – her eldest son

Julisa – Felipe's wife

Sebastien (15) – Felipe's son

Cosmo Hearne – Janka's second son

Nadine (15) – Cosmo's daughter

G
ORGIOS

Pastor Spurgeon – the Puritan minister of the
Kingston-Upon-Thames parish church

Coldham – a thief-taker for Cromwell

I
n 1658, England is a dangerous place to live
.

For eleven years, Oliver Cromwell has ruled the land with an iron fist, determined to bring the people to a more godly way of life. Under his Puritan regime, football and horseracing are banned, dancing and singing and feasting are frowned upon, and everyone is expected to lead a quiet, sombre life, without Christmas or Easter to break the monotony
.

But now Old Ironsides is getting old and weak. He has been struck down with a violent and mysterious illness that some suspect is caused by poison, or witchcraft. Those who have remained faithful to the monarchy gather secretly to plot for the return of the
young king, Charles II, who lives hand-to-mouth on the Continent, relying on charity. Others dream of a new society, where noble and commoner have equal rights and everyone has the freedom to choose their own religion
.

To maintain order, Cromwell's men have clamped down on anyone they suspect of such treasonous thoughts. Old friends of the king's have been thrown in the Tower, several high-profile men have been executed, and everywhere Quakers, Levellers, Catholics and other radicals are persecuted and imprisoned
.

Luka and Emilia Finch are thirteen-year-old gypsy children whose family has been imprisoned in Kingston-Upon-Thames, facing death by hanging if Luka and Emilia cannot find some way of saving them before the end of the month
.

Their grandmother Maggie has charged them with an urgent and dangerous task – they must travel to each of the gypsy tribes and beg them for their help. Once, Maggie tells Emilia, there was a gypsy witch who
wore on her wrist a chain of six lucky charms. The witch gave each of her six children one of the charms as their lucky talisman, but ever since the chain of charms was broken, the gypsies have been dogged with misfortune
.

Maggie gives Emilia the first of the charms – a golden coin – and tells her to search for the other five. So far, they have found three – a silver horse, a sprig of rue, and a cat's eye shell – but time is beginning to run out for their family in prison. Now they must try to find the charm that belongs to the Smith family – a lightning bolt forged from the heart of a falling star . . .