Chapter 10

Making things with her hands always made Lizzie feel better. Back in the days when she lived in Rat’s Castle, she’d made paper flowers from coloured streamers to sell from a tray on the street. She was as quick and neat as any seamstress, with nimble fingers that would have made her an excellent pickpocket if her life had taken a different direction.

Now she sat in her caravan and threaded the shells she’d collected onto black cord. With a gimlet she’d borrowed from one of the handymen, she’d made holes in them so the cockleshells would lie flat. Two identical necklaces steadily took shape.

‘My bonnie lies over the ocean,’ she sang as she worked. ‘My bonnie lies over the sea…’ Erin and Nora would love their bracelets, she knew. Maybe, if she had a few rich clients come for readings, she’d be able to buy a couple of beads of real Whitby jet and add them as spacers between the bigger shells. It might not be a whole jet necklace, but it ought to make Nora happy.

For all you know, Nora’s got Lady Susannah’s necklace stashed somewhere, whispered a nasty voice at the back of her mind. Maybe Nora and Hari stole it together…

Lizzie chatted nonsense to herself to keep the suspicious thoughts away. ‘“She sells seashells on the sea shore.” Well, that’s daft, innit? Who’s going to buy seashells on the sea shore? There’s loads of ’em lying about. Silly moo.’

She was proudly laying out the finished bracelets on her dressing table when the distant boom of a gong rang out from the show tent.

‘That’s the parade getting ready to start!’ she said in a panic. ‘Blimey, where’d the time go?’ She set off at a run towards the show tent, where lines of circus folk were already forming. Then, thinking again, she changed direction and ran to the tea tent. The parade would take hours, and she hadn’t eaten all day.

The tea-tent door flaps were usually pegged open, but now they were hanging down, blocking her path. Surely Ma Sullivan hadn’t closed up shop already? Lizzie wrestled her way through.

Ma Sullivan was there, and so were Nora and Erin, all bending over something. The twins bounced up like jackrabbits, grinning all over their faces, while Ma Sullivan rummaged around behind the counter. Lizzie saw she was shoving something out of sight.

‘Hello, Lizzie me love,’ Ma Sullivan said, standing up and wiping her brow. All three of them were grinning like toy monkeys. ‘Here for a quick bowl of stew before we leave?’

‘Please,’ Lizzie said, eyeing them suspiciously.

Nora and Erin watched her take her seat. Neither spoke. Lizzie’s thoughts were racing now. What could possibly be going on? All the Sullivans seemed to be acting shifty. There was one explanation, and she didn’t want to dwell on it, but she couldn’t help it. It came back to her, just like it had in her caravan.

She’d seen Nora fastening a jet necklace around her neck. Her visions were never wrong. Whether she’d stolen the necklace herself or not, it seemed she must have it now. And who could Nora trust not to betray her, out of the whole circus? Her mother and sister, of course.

Were Ma Sullivan and Erin in on it too?

She banished the thought as a smiling Ma Sullivan served her up a brimming bowl of stew and a big hunk of bread to sop it up with. ‘Get that down you, dear. But don’t bolt it now. You’ve a good quarter hour before the parade sets off and I don’t want you getting indigestion.’

Lizzie tucked in, though she wasn’t feeling very hungry now. Her stomach squirmed like a live oyster being doused in lemon juice. Lately it seemed her visions were bringing her more pain than joy. If she hadn’t seen Nora putting that necklace on, she’d still be happy and trusting, with no idea anything might be wrong. Now she had no choice but to be suspicious of her friends who had become like sisters to her.

And she hated it.

The parade was nearly ready to set off for town. Fitzy, in a red spangled jacket and brandishing a golden baton, strode up and down inspecting the circus performers who were lined up on the castle courtyard. From the silk-draped elephants in front to the trapeze artists in spangles at the back, everyone was wearing their very best costumes. They all held handfuls of flyers, ready to throw out to the public.

Lizzie grinned to see all her friends in the procession. There was the band in the middle, ready to march. The clowns were going through warm-up exercises, doing star jumps and press-ups in full make-up. Leo, the circus lion, paced back and forth in his cage. All the Sullivan boys were astride their ponies, handsome in their Wild West gear, while Erin and Nora had quickly changed into their Bareback Balleta dresses. Everywhere, colours shone out more brightly than Johnson’s flowers – scarlet and gold, silver-blue and rich green.

Then, without warning, the castle doors boomed open and a figure came striding out, every bit as colourful as the parade. It was Gurinder Bhatti, wearing a traditional silk outfit and a splendid turban. Lizzie felt a jolt of excitement as she saw the Heart of Durga gleaming from the turban’s front.

‘Look at you all!’ cried the Maharaja. ‘You are magnificent. Oh, happy day when I invited you to visit us in Whitby.’

‘The honour is all ours,’ Fitzy said with a polite bow. ‘I take it you’ll be watching the parade with the Lord Mayor and his wife?’

‘Watch it?’ the Maharaja said in horror. ‘My dear man, I wish to be in the parade!’

Fitzy coughed into his fist. ‘Naturally. Perhaps you would like to lead it alongside me?’

‘I shall ride on one of the elephants,’ Gurinder Bhatti announced. ‘That one.’ He was pointing at Akula.

Hari held her guiding rope and glanced up at his uncle. ‘I’m afraid that would not be a good idea,’ Zezete said smoothly. ‘The elephants do not know you, sir. A parade can be a noisy business and they need to know their rider for such an occasion. Their trust has to be earned.’

‘Pah,’ the Maharaja snorted. ‘I have ridden elephants countless times. Probably more than you, in fact. There’s nothing to it.’ He walked to Akula’s side and tugged on the ropes holding her howdah secure. Lizzie remembered that word from when Hari had first helped her climb aboard Akula – a howdah was a sort of padded seat that perched on an elephant’s back.

Fitzy tried to protest, but the Maharaja waved him away. ‘I insist. Please don’t fuss. I do know what I’m doing.’

He was going to get his own way, Lizzie knew. For some reason, that made her feel nervous. She didn’t like the way Zezete and Hari were glaring at him, and she knew that the elephants got upset when people argued and shouted. Like many animals, they could pick up on a mood, and it could make them touchy.

Then, sudden as a bullet through her head, it came: a vision. She clenched her eyes shut and stood with her fists balled, shaking as if she were having a fit.

She saw the Maharaja on top of an elephant, smiling and waving. The girl leading the elephant through the crowded Whitby streets was Lizzie herself! The next moment, the elephant trumpeted and reared up. Screams rang out and people began to panic.

‘Don’t!’ she cried out at the top of her voice.

The Maharaja was already perched on Akula’s back. Silence fell. Everyone stared at Lizzie. She stood, shaking and breathless, the centre of attention.

‘I beg your pardon?’ the Maharaja said.

‘Don’t ride on Akula,’ Lizzie begged. But even as she spoke, she struggled to find the right words. How could she possibly convince him? If she said she’d had a vision, he’d probably laugh in her face. A superstitious local girl like Elsie might take her visions seriously, but surely not someone as rich and powerful as Gurinder Bhatti.

‘It’s … such a long way down,’ she stammered. ‘What if you fell off? What if Akula threw you? You could be hurt – hurt terrible.’

The Maharaja wasn’t angry. ‘Dear girl, you do not know elephants as I do. This elephant is as gentle as any lamb.’

Hari shrugged and offered Lizzie Akula’s guiding rope. ‘Want to lead her?’ he said quietly, so nobody else could hear. ‘She trusts you.’

Lizzie thought quickly. If I’m not leading her, then the vision can’t come true! All I have to do is lead a different elephant and the Maharaja will be safe!

‘No, you take Akula,’ she said. ‘She loves you more than any of us. I’ll lead Sashi.’

‘Suit yourself,’ Hari said, looking at her oddly.

Lizzie felt clever that she’d thought of a way to avert disaster as the procession began to move off.

* * *

The plan was for the parade to head along the coast road, down the zigzag pathways into town and across the swing bridge over the River Esk. The acrobats and jugglers would put on a little show, then everyone would troop back across the bridge and up the coast towards Dunsley Castle again.

Lizzie led Sashi the elephant towards the end of the bridge, where a huge crowd had gathered. ‘Brilliant idea to cross the river,’ Malachy said, keeping pace with her. ‘Nice and high up, no buildings in the way to block the view. They’ll be able to see us for miles around.’

‘This bridge will take an elephant’s weight, won’t it?’ Lizzie wondered.

‘We’ll soon find out,’ Malachy said, grinning. He jumped up and down on the spot. ‘Seems sturdy enough to me.’

‘Here they come!’ Lizzie heard a child shout.

The crowds chatted excitedly and pointed as they heard the blast of trumpets and the booming of a big bass drum. The parade rounded the curve of the street, with the Maharaja in the front, riding on Akula and waving. By the look of it, the whole town had turned out to see them. Children rode on shoulders and fishermen stood on the decks of their boats.

‘There’s Elsie!’ Lizzie waved frantically. The fishergirl was watching with her entire family from their little boat. She caught Lizzie’s eye and waved back.

‘And there’s Lady Susannah,’ Malachy said. Fan in hand, the lady was watching the parade approach from the near end of the bridge, where some other posh-looking people were standing. ‘Shame there’s no royal box, eh?’

‘There’s the Mayor and Mayoress too. Look at his big gold chain. It don’t look like much next to the Maharaja’s ruby, though, does it? And there’s … Billy?’

Lizzie stared as the seaside con man came sidling up to the group of toffs. He must be getting ready to pick a pocket, she thought. And he’d probably be successful too, as they were all watching the circus parade and acting as if he wasn’t there. Posh people always did that, Lizzie knew – anything common or vulgar, they just pretended they couldn’t see it.

Now Billy was moving in on Lady Susannah. Lizzie stiffened to see him strut up to her like that, his hands in his pockets, as if he were the king of the whole town.

Her ladyship produced her big black feathery fan and held it in front of her face, like a barrier. It didn’t stop Billy. He leaned in and began to whisper in her ear. There was something sickening about his oily grin. Lady Susannah looked trapped, fluttering her fan nervously.

‘Malachy, look!’

‘I see him. What a bloomin’ liberty. We can’t let that weasel mess about with the Maharaja’s lady friend!’

As they approached the group of dignitaries, Lizzie bellowed, ‘Oi! Leave the lady alone!’

Billy jumped, as if he’d been caught robbing a safe. Lady Susannah was startled, but looked grateful to see them, and gave the children a smile and a little wave.

‘I don’t think the lady appreciates your attention,’ Malachy yelled to Billy.

‘Sling yer hook!’ Lizzie snapped, jerking her thumb.

Billy shrugged. ‘Can’t blame me for trying,’ he called, giving them a wink. Whistling a jaunty tune, he slipped off into the crowd without a backward glance.

Lady Susannah’s cheeks were flushed as she fanned herself. ‘You are heroes, the pair of you,’ she called. ‘Thank you for rescuing me from that dreadful man.’

By now, the front of the parade was moving out over the bridge. Lizzie watched nervously as the two elephants lumbered through the crowd, with the Maharaja flinging pamphlets like confetti to the left and right. ‘Roll up, roll up,’ he shouted. ‘Spectacular circus tomorrow night! Bring the family!’

‘He looks like he’s wanted to do this all his life,’ Lizzie said to Malachy.

In the midst of the noise and chaos, Hari beckoned Lizzie over. She gave Malachy Sashi’s lead to hold and walked to the head of the procession.

‘I need a favour,’ he muttered. ‘Take Akula’s rope and lead her for a moment, would you? I’ll be right back.’

‘What?’ Cold panic took hold of her. If she was leading Akula, then the vision could come true after all. ‘I can’t!’

‘It’s only for a moment,’ Hari insisted. ‘I have a quick errand I need to do in town. Please, Lizzie? It’s really important and I might not get another chance.’

Lizzie reluctantly took Akula’s rope. ‘You’d better come straight back,’ she warned.

Hari ran off immediately. He weaved in and out of the bystanders, making for the rows of shops beyond the harbour. ‘Some bloomin’ errand,’ Lizzie muttered to herself. ‘Looks more like a shopping trip to me.’

Lizzie walked at the very front of the procession, leading Akula and feeling more and more nervous. At least the elephant was peaceful and content. Lizzie stroked her cheek as they walked. ‘Good girl,’ she whispered.

The Maharaja, high above, waved wildly to the crowd. ‘Ladies and gentlemen! Come one, come all, to Fitzy’s Circus of Wonders and Marvels!’

Just then, a harsh voice from the crowd yelled out, ‘Go home! You don’t belong here!’

Lizzie glanced around to see who had spoken. Then from out of the crowd a rock came hurtling through the air, arching over the tops of people’s heads. It struck Akula’s side with a thud. Lizzie screamed and Akula trumpeted in pain. The elephant flung her head to the left and right and Lizzie fought to hold onto her rope, but it was no use. Her vision was coming true and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

More screams rang out from the crowd and people ran for cover as the maddened elephant reared up…