Free Dragon Seeker by Anne Forbes Page A

well.”

10. Circus Days
    “Well, you can go and have a quick look round, I suppose,” Mrs MacLean said, looking at her watch. “I’ll be about an hour at the hairdresser’s, maybe a bit longer if she’s really busy. You’ve got your mobiles on you, haven’t you?”
    Neil and Clara nodded. They’d intended to do a bit of shopping while they were in Kelso but on the way in had spotted a series of brightly-coloured posters pinned to trees announcing the arrival of the circus; the same circus that was due to appear in Edinburgh for the Festival the following week. Although they’d no intention of going to see the show, the fairground looked like a lot of fun.
    Kelso was, in fact, heaving with people; men and women, old and young, many with young children in tow, were heading for the broad, grassy banks of the river where fluttering flags atop the circus tents, flew in the breeze.
    The circus was busy and the fairground remarkably big. It seemed to have everything — from swings and roundabouts, a helter-skelter and a coconut shy to a ghost train, a fortune-teller ’s tent, dodgems and, of course, the Big Top itself.
    Clara relaxed as the tinkling music of the fairground raised her spirits. It wasn’t long before they were totally absorbed in the sights and sounds of the circus as they wended their way among the various stalls and booths. Clowns on stilts, a fire-eater and jugglers mixed with the sellers of ice cream, popcorn and candy floss, all of whom seemed to be doing a roaring trade given the number of families out for the day armed withpushchairs and hordes of children.
    “Tell your fortune?” A pretty young girl, her dark hair tied up in a colourful gypsy scarf, beckoned to them as they passed. “Tell your fortune, Milady?”
    Clara laughed and hesitated. “My pocket money’s nearly all gone,” she confessed.
    “I’ll do it for your pretty face,” the gypsy girl smiled, grasping her hand and pulling her forward. “Business is slow, you see,” she whispered. “Folks are shy when it comes to fortune-tellers but others will come if they see you sitting in front of my crystal ball with a smile on your face.”
    Clara looked doubtful but she’d always wanted to have her fortune told and although she didn’t believe in it …
    “Go on,” Neil said, looking at the crystal ball with a grin, “I won’t be far away. I just want to have a quick look at that rifle range over there.”
    Clara sat down on the somewhat rickety chair and pulled it in towards the little table that held the crystal ball. It rested on a black cloth, spangled in the silver and gold signs of the zodiac. She waved as Neil moved off and, looking at the crystal ball with interest, hid a smile. It looked exactly like the MacArthur’s, even down to the swirling mist that clouded it.
    “Just put your hands on the ball, Milady, and we’ll see what it shows us.”
    Clara put her hands round the crystal and sensed its magic at once, for it tingled straight through her. Her mind screamed danger and she wanted to get up and find Neil but, by then, it was too late to cry out, too late to run away, too late to let go; the crystal had her in its power and it was only as she turned round, trying to free herself, that she saw the strangely distorted face of the gypsy and realized with a gasp of horror that somehow she had been hexed into the crystal and that thegypsy girl was looking at her from the outside. Huge fingers grasped the ball, clouding her view as she was tossed around in the crystal’s interior … then everything became suddenly dark.
    Neil turned round before he reached the rifle range as it suddenly crossed his mind that it really wasn’t a good idea to leave Clara on her own. He turned round and blinked. He was quite sure that he’d walked in a fairly straight line towards the rifle range and yet there was no sign of the fortune-teller or her tent. Nor of Clara! He looked round frantically and a terrible fear gripped him