Lovers and Liars Trilogy by Sally Beauman

Author:Sally Beauman [Beauman, Sally]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-4476-8
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-08-22T15:05:00+00:00

PART TWO

Europe

Chapter 9

THE CHURCH BELLS WOKE Mina. They made their way into the dream she was having. At first, still inside the dream, she thought they were cowbells, and she was high in the mountains somewhere. Then they became sleigh bells, and she was flying across the snow under a fur rug, with Star by her side. Then the dream began to slip away, and she understood they were church bells, somewhere outside this Paris room. She stirred, opened her eyes, and began to remember. She remembered the room, the mattress on which she was lying, and the clean patchwork quilt that covered her, a quilt covered with navy-blue stars and scarlet hexagons.

She sat up, rubbed her eyes, then smiled: Star had said he was going out, that was it, and she should rest: well, now he had returned.

He was sitting opposite her on a small wooden chair, and he was watching her wake.

“What time is it, Star?”

“Time for the second Mass. Eight o’clock.”

“Mass? You mean it’s Sunday?”

“It’s Sunday. You were exhausted. It was a long drive. We had to find this place. You’ve been sleeping for hours and hours. You want some breakfast? There’s a café I know near here.”

“I am hungry. Maybe the pink jewel made me extra sleepy. I would like breakfast.”

“There’s a bathroom on the landing. You can use that. Look—I bought you a present while I was out. It’s a scarf. A blue scarf. It matches your eyes.”

He magicked the scarf out of his pocket; he magicked it into his hand. Mina saw that it was silk, and a most beautiful color, the color of a kingfisher’s wing. She gave a small cry of delight. Star rose and put it gently in her hand.

“Cover your hair with it,” he said. “Just for now. We have to be careful, Mina. Even here.”

Mina looked at him hesitantly.

“I will be able to call them soon, won’t I, Star? I don’t want them to worry. My mother—Star, if it’s Sunday now—she’ll just be frantic. I have to tell her I’m safe. It’s all right—I won’t say where we are…”

“Sure you can call them.” He smiled, and the room lit with his smile. “If you hadn’t been sleeping—you can call them from the café. It has a phone booth. Come on, little Mina.” He took her hands in his. “This is an adventure, remember? Our adventure. Later this morning—” He broke off, and Mina saw his face change.

“Later this morning, what?” she said, watching his eyes alter and darken.

“Later this morning I have an appointment, that’s all. I have to go out to the airport. Charles de Gaulle. While we’re there—you can decide. There’s hundreds of flights to London. One every hour—more. If you want, I’ll put you straight on a plane. You can be back home this afternoon.”

“I could?” Mina looked at him uncertainly. “Star, I don’t have any money for airfare. I don’t have any money at all. I gave all the money I had to Cassandra.”

“No problem.” He gave another of his conjuror’s movements, and there was money, fistfuls of it, in his hands.

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.