The Thirteen Secrets by Michelle Harrison

Author:Michelle Harrison [Harrison, Michelle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy & Magic
ISBN: 9780857070906
Google: KVImAAAAQBAJ
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Published: 2011-02-03T00:00:00+00:00

16

uki’s caravan was one of the smallest, and furthest from the performance area of the circus, a few doors down from Tino’s. A deep sea-green, adorned with silver engravings and patterns, it stood surrounded by the circus community’s tethered horses, accompanied by a pleasant munching noise as they grazed.

Suki opened the door and beckoned – then squealed and backed into Sparrow before anyone else was even through the door.

‘What’s the matter?’ Sparrow barged past her, into the living area. ‘Oh, it’s you.’ He turned to Suki in surprise. ‘Did you know he was going to be here?’

Tanya clambered up the steps, Fabian and Rowan close behind. Suki’s face was clouded with anger when they got inside.

‘No, I didn’t.’ She grabbed a cushion from a nearby chair and hurled it across the caravan. Crooks was sprawled out on Suki’s tiny bed, his boots resting on a patchwork blanket. The cushion caught him on the side of his face, but failed to remove the smirk from it.

‘How many times have I told you not to keep letting yourself in?’ she yelled, hands on her hips. ‘Just knock, like everyone else!’

Crooks gave a lazy shrug, a bunch of keys hooked around his finger. ‘You weren’t here,’ he drawled, swinging the keys in a circle. ‘So I thought I’d come in and wait for you.’

‘Well, don’t. You made me jump.’

‘Clearly.’ Crooks pushed past the velvet curtains either side of the bed. He straightened his striped trousers and flicked his black hair back off his face. ‘I can see you’ve got guests, so I’ll come back later.’

‘You might as well stay,’ said Sparrow, with a grudging glance at him.

‘Fair enough.’ Crooks plopped back down on the bed, grinning.

Suki sighed and sat down next to him. ‘Close the door,’ she told Fabian, who was the last in. ‘You’ll have to take a seat anywhere you can find one. I’m sorry it’s so small, it’s only designed for one person.’ She seemed lost all of a sudden. ‘It was Cassandra’s before it was mine.’

Sparrow perched on a wooden window seat close to the bed. Tanya, Fabian and Rowan squeezed in and sat on a woollen rug on the floor. It was cosy in the caravan, and more homely than Tino’s, with intriguing items dotted around the place, a little like Mad Morag’s. Yet there were no items that gave any indication of Suki’s past beyond the circus; no family photographs or trinkets, nothing that was without function. Tanya wondered if she found reminders of her family too painful.

‘So, what’s going on?’ Crooks inquired.

No one answered at first. Eventually Sparrow broke the silence.

‘That job we did today – there was a . . . something unexpected happened.’

‘The one with the changeling mother?’ asked Crooks, still spinning his bunch of keys. ‘Did something go wrong?’

‘Not exactly. We got rid of the changeling . . . found the real mother and brought her back, but . . .’

‘It was all a ruse,’ Rowan put in. It was the first time

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