Lily by Webb Holly

Author:Webb, Holly [Webb, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781408316405
Publisher: Hachette Children's Books
Published: 2011-10-05T22:00:00+00:00

‘There’s a bell ringing,’ Georgie said, looking up anxiously. ‘The museum must be closing. What are we going to do?’

Lily sat down on the corner of one of the pedestals, which held an ugly gold tripod that she strongly suspected was actually just a flowerpot-stand, and not the equipment for a conjured fire as its label claimed. ‘Let’s just stay here. Look how dusty everything is. I shouldn’t think anyone will come and check. And there are lots of places to hide if they do. Then we can go and look for lodgings again tomorrow.’ She sighed. She wasn’t looking forward to it.

‘When you said before that you couldn’t manage a glamour in the middle of the street,’ Henrietta asked Georgie, ‘did that mean that in a nice private space like this you could conjure one?’

Georgie frowned. ‘I have done them. Only small ones. But I know how.’

Henrietta nodded. ‘Then I suggest that tomorrow, before we leave here to go house-hunting, you change. Make yourselves look like old ladies, perhaps. No one would accuse a pair of elderly ladies of being runaways. It might be less difficult to find a room.’

‘Won’t it be easier if I help too?’ Lily agreed eagerly. ‘The spell to tidy us up worked well, didn’t it? Teach me how to make the glamour, Georgie, please.’

‘We can try,’ Georgie said doubtfully. ‘But last time I only changed the colour of my shoes, and even that gave me the most dreadful headache. Making both of us old might kill me.’

Henrietta simply stared at her, and Georgie gave a sulky sigh. ‘Oh, very well! But if it all goes wrong, remember this was your idea!’ She grabbed Lily’s hand, and pulled her over into the corner of the gallery, sitting down on the floor with a decided flounce.

‘This is going to take a lot of our power, Lily. You need to use all your magic. Can you remember how it felt when you pulled Henrietta out of the portrait? That must be the biggest spell you’ve done so far, I think.’

Lily shook her head, looking up at Georgie worriedly. ‘I didn’t mean to do it – it happened. Henrietta did it, not me.’

‘I most certainly did not.’ Henrietta came to sit in front of them, her tongue sticking out a little. It made her look very earnest, and rather silly. ‘You called me. I don’t have any magic. I know a lot about it, from living with Arabel. But you brought me out of that picture all by yourself, and you made it so I could talk – you said that you wanted someone to talk to, didn’t you?’

‘You really didn’t mean to?’ Georgie asked, leaning forward to scan Lily’s face anxiously.

‘No!’ Lily felt like crying. She was useless after all.

‘Unconscious magic, then…’ Georgie shook her head, her eyes dark and round. ‘That’s the most powerful of all.’ Then she let out a funny, half-bitter little laugh. ‘It looks like Mama finally got what she wanted. You’re the one they were trying to breed, Lily.

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