Harper and the Fire Star by Cerrie Burnell

Author:Cerrie Burnell
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Published: 2018-10-08T16:00:00+00:00

Something on the ashen floor caught her eye. It was a poster that had been badly burned. The only word Harper could read on it was STAR in shimmering gold. “Perhaps there was some sort of fire here,” Harper said, scooping Midnight up and giving him a kiss. He held a scroll of singed paper in his jaws. Harper pried it out, and discovered that it was sheet music. The paper itself was very old and frail, and in the dark of the abandoned tent she couldn’t read the tune, but she rolled it up and slipped it into her pocket all the same.

The strange mystery of the place was beginning to fascinate Harper, and she explored a little further, stumbling over a huge wooden trunk. The lid was heavy but, with a sharp tug, it lifted. A cloud of dusk-colored moths filled the air, tickling Midnight’s nose and making Harper laugh. But as the moths cleared, she felt her mouth fall open, for folded carefully at the bottom of the trunk was the most glorious costume she had ever set eyes on. Harper couldn’t help but touch it, lifting it delicately out of the trunk so she could admire its dazzling beauty. It was a cross between a ballerina’s tutu and a firework, embroidered with flame-colored stars so that even in the half darkness, it seemed to move like fire.

“Who does this belong to?” Harper gasped, running her fingers over each diamond-cut star. Midnight suddenly arched his back and gave a hissing meow. Harper clutched the costume and froze. Ever so softly came the sound of footsteps. There was someone else in the abandoned tent.

Almost without thinking, Harper grabbed Midnight and ran. As she shot out of the entrance, she popped the Scarlet Umbrella open and willed it to fly. It rose uncertainly, but not fast enough. Harper felt the danger before she saw it—the gleam of bright eyes watching her. She glanced down to see a lone figure standing in the doorway of the tent. The figure was draped in robes of black and seemed to shimmer like smoke. Her hair was the same brilliant red as the Scarlet Umbrella, and it fell around her face like the flattened points of a star. But the most striking thing about her was her eyes. For though she had an ice-queen beauty, her eyes glowed like embers. She was not like anyone else in the circus. She was not like anyone else in the world. A woman trapped in a dream of winter, with a heart as fierce as fire.

She began to stalk toward the drifting umbrella. Harper tried to be brave, tried to look into the woman’s ember eyes, but she found herself shaking. The woman reached out a hand toward Harper’s foot as if to pluck her from the air.

Then a note of music cut through the cloud, startling them both. It was soft and bright and magical. A song of dark forests and moonlight wings. A song played on an instrument sewn from silver-lined cloud.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.