Lily and the Shining Dragons Read Online Free PDF Page A

something almost invisible away in her teeth, the way she gathered up the strings of handkerchiefs, only this time she gulped, and wriggled, and coughed a little, and then stalked over to sit smugly at Lily’s feet. Lily nodded at her, pleased. They hadn’t known Henrietta could eat spells.
    ‘My dear child, what?’ The magician was still smiling, although her lips had thinned a little. ‘I really don’t know what you mean. And I do hope the dear dog is not fierce. I really cannot have a savage dog in my house.’
    Lily could feel Henrietta pressed against her feet, growling. She wanted to talk, Lily could tell, but she wasn’t sure if she ought to. Lily wasn’t either. It was obvious now that the woman had been casting a spell on them as she walked down the corridor, one that made them feel dirty, and ashamed of their faded old room. But there was something strange about her. Lily had expected her to retaliate after they had torn away her spell, but she’d done nothing but smile. It was almost as if she hadn’t noticed. And what was she talking about her house for?
    ‘We seem to have missed out our introductions,’ the woman purred sweetly. ‘I am Lady Clara Fishe.’ She looked at them expectantly, and Georgie wriggled off the bed, and bobbed a little curtsey. Ungraciously, Lily bent her knees very slightly. She could curtsey properly, of course, but she simply didn’t want to. She wasn’t used to people trying to put spells on her. Mama had hardly ever bothered even to see Lily, and Georgie had grown out of practising on her little sister years ago.
    ‘Fishe with an e,’ Lady Clara added, as though this made a great deal of difference.
    Lily and Georgie only stared at her.
    Lady Clara sighed, politely irritated by their stupidity. ‘I am your aunt .’
    Lily and Georgie exchanged a surprised glance, and then Georgie shook her head. ‘We don’t have an aunt. My lady.’
    ‘Of course you do!’ Lady Clara stared at them, her pale eyes bulging a little. She had a glamour on, Lily realised. Her eyes weren’t as beautifully blue as they looked at first. The glamour had slipped, just a little, now that she was surprised. ‘You are my sister Nerissa’s children, aren’t you?’
    Lily swallowed, looking at the golden hair and pale eyes more closely. Mama. A taller, thinner, prettier Mama was glaring at them irritably. Lily’s heart seemed to beat more slowly, as the blood went suddenly cold inside her. Why had they never known they had an aunt? Their mother’s sister. What if Mama had sent her?
    ‘I had thought you were older, but you look just like her. You, particularly.’ She gestured at Georgie. ‘Lucy? And – oh, what did they name the other one? Prudence?’ She sniffed angrily. ‘Such a ridiculous name! As if a child of Nerissa’s would ever be prudent! After the way they behaved.’
    She didn’t know that their sisters were dead, Lily realised. That Mama had killed them, or so Lily and Georgie suspected. So she and Mama weren’t close. The ice inside her melted a little, and she began to see more clearly.
    She was suddenly quite a plain woman, Lily noticed, the glamour lost for a moment in her fury and disgust. Then it was as if a hand smoothed over her features, and they were sweetly regular again. But in that moment of forgetfulness, she had looked just like Mama. ‘And clearly you aren’t prudent at all. Showing off in some dreadful illusionist’s act. With the cream of London society in attendance. Sooner or later, someone will notice the resemblance.’ This time she kept hold of the glamour, but her pearly teeth were grinding.
    ‘We aren’t Lucy and Prudence,’ Lily said slowly. There seemed no point in denying it. ‘They’re dead.’
    Their aunt blinked. ‘Indeed. How sad,’ she added, not sounding sad in the least. ‘Then you are?’
    ‘Lily. And this is Georgiana.’
    Lady Clara sniffed. ‘Better than Prudence, I suppose. And where is my sister?’ She glanced around