The Girl of Glass by Holly Webb

Author:Holly Webb [Webb, Holly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781408327692
Publisher: Hachette
Published: 2017-01-15T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SEVEN

‘CAN’T WE GO BACK?’ ELIZA asked, a faint whine coming into her pretty voice. ‘We sat still for so long at the studio, I want to go home.’

Mariana huddled the hood of Eliza’s cloak up around her shining glass curls, looking sideways at the passers-by. She didn’t want a crowd – it frightened Eliza when people jostled around her. Besides, Mariana was too tired to fight off another auction. On their way to the studio, two court nobles had seen Eliza throw back her hood to watch the seagulls, and they had both demanded the right to buy her, bidding absurd amount of gold against each other, and ignoring Mariana when she tried to explain that the glass girl was not for sale. In the end, it had taken Eliza herself, shrieking like one of the sea-birds, to make them listen. Mariana had told them shakily that her sister was not for sale, that the duchess had forbidden it. That wasn’t entirely true, but Mariana didn’t think the duchess would mind.

She pressed Eliza close against her side, stepping in the shadows. She still wasn’t sure how fragile her little glass sister really was, either. Would she break if she were knocked over? What would happen then? Mariana wasn’t sure if Eliza could be mended, like her old doll.

‘We’re just going to visit a friend,’ she explained to Eliza. ‘It won’t take long. I want to ask him about what happened.’ She leaned down to whisper in Eliza’s ear. ‘With the flowers. Look, I brought one with me, wrapped in my handkerchief.’ She showed Eliza the little bundle, tucked away safely in the basket Lena had given them. She had packed up some bread and a little glass-stoppered jar of honey, so Mariana had something to keep her going through the portrait sitting. Eliza had stuck a finger in the honey – she could taste its sweetness, even if she didn’t really eat.

‘Oh!’ Eliza brightened. ‘Who is he? Is it Leo?’ She liked the fisherboy – especially since he had told her about the giant squid that had apparently wrapped its tentacles around his boat and attempted to strangle him, last winter. Mariana had heard about the squid before, but knowing Leo she reckoned it might have been a middle-sized octopus, nothing more.

‘No, silly. Leo lives on the island, like us. This is Signor Nesso. He’s a magician, with a shop in Piazza San Marco. He made your little silver fish – do you remember, I told you about him? How he made the fish from my thoughts? That little fish is the closest thing I’ve ever seen to you, a living magic. I think he might be able to tell me what happened with the drawing. And we have to ask him for a present for Mama, too.’

Eliza nodded, now quite resigned to another expedition. ‘The shop with the little golden birds?’ she asked hopefully. ‘Will we see them?’

‘Maybe. I’m sure there’ll be something to see. It’s this way.’

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