Free Lily and the Prisoner of Magic by Holly Webb Page A

she was very happy.’
    ‘So we’d have to travel to America?’ Georgie asked doubtfully.
    Lily nodded, staring out into the darkness. ‘How would we get there? Oh! Colette’s going to America! To New York, don’t you remember? She told us, the very first night we came back to the theatre. She’s going to sing on board a steam ship, a great ocean liner.’
    ‘And do you know how much a passage on one of those ships costs?’ Georgie snapped. ‘Maria told me. Pounds! Colette couldn’t afford it, that’s why she’s working her passage! We haven’t got the money, Lily, and even if we could borrow it from Daniel, you need papers to travel on a ship like that. We’re fugitives, remember?’
    Lily scowled. ‘We could find some way. Couldn’t we buy fake papers? And we could disguise ourselves, like we did when we first arrived in London. Don’t you want to get these spells lifted?’
    ‘Of course I do,’ Georgie muttered. ‘But we don’t even know if she’s still there. She might be anywhere by now – it was forty years ago.’
    ‘Even if this Rose has gone, America would still be a good place to find a magician to help you,’ Henrietta pointed out. ‘Magic is perfectly acceptable over there, and a great many of the magicians who went into exile fled to New York, or so Daniel told me. You’re sure to find someone who knows your family, someone who’d want to help rescue your father.’ She rubbed her velvety muzzle on Lily’s hand. ‘And even if you don’t, you’re safer there than here.’
    ‘I am,’ Lily murmured. ‘What would happen to Georgie?’
    ‘The further away she is from your mother the better. Your mother can’t call on the spells inside Georgie if she’s on the other side of the Atlantic, can she?’
    ‘I suppose not,’ Lily said thoughtfully. ‘What do you think?’ She found Georgie’s chilly hand and squeezed it.
    ‘I still think we’ll be lucky to find her. But I’ll try anything, if we only we can work out some way to get there.’ Georgie sighed. ‘I could feel the spells inside me, when the queen came close. They knew her. They know what they’re for.’
    Lily swallowed. They hadn’t told Princess Jane what the spells inside Georgie were meant to do, just that they were trying to control her, and hurt her, and that they had to get rid of them.
    But the princess put her hands around theirs. ‘It’s a plot, isn’t it? Your mama is a renegade magician – what else would she be fighting for? Georgie is a weapon.’ She laughed. ‘My poor dear mother. So convinced that every magician is up to no good. If they weren’t before, they certainly are now, after all her harsh treatment.’
    ‘You don’t hate me?’ Georgie whispered.
    ‘No. But I think it’s your duty to do anything you can to free yourself of these spells. You must go and search out Rose.’
     
    ‘Can we really go back the same way?’ Georgie whispered.
    ‘I hope so.’ Lily looked anxiously out into the dark gardens. It felt very late, so late that she was sure she could see the sky lightening over behind the trees. She had a feeling that the palace gardeners would be at work early, and they couldn’t risk being discovered.
    ‘What if they left guards at the theatre?’ Georgie insisted anxiously.
    ‘What if we all get lost halfway there and end up on the moon?’ Henrietta snarled. ‘Stop what-iffing! We don’t know! Do you want to stay here? Then we’ll be caught by the Queen’s Men for certain, won’t we?’
    ‘I was only trying—’ Georgie began furiously.
    ‘Be quiet!’
    Georgie and Henrietta fell silent at once, the pug’s jaws closing with a definite snap, and Lily stared at the princess admiringly. Was it a special sort of magic, to be able to command people like that? Or was it just something that princesses learned?
    ‘Lily. Take us back, please.’ The princess stood up, and took both girls’ hands. ‘We are all tired and frightened. But that is no excuse for