Free Rose 3: Rose and the Magician's Mask by Holly Webb Page A

strange, cruel purpose. The madmen who’d rather like it to help them do away with their little Rose.
    Rose pushed thoughts of the mask away, and tried toremember the eager excitement she had woken with that morning. She waved again to Miss Bridges, noting her troubled expression. She wasn’t sure the housekeeper believed the vague story Mr Fountain had told. Susan was standing behind the housekeeper, staring coldly after Rose. And Bill was nowhere to be seen. Rose sighed miserably. He hadn’t spoken to her since their fight yesterday, and this morning she hadn’t had even a glimpse of him. She wished he would have come to say goodbye at least. Perhaps if she had told him the truth? But then he would have been evenangrier about her going.
    Gus gave a morose little hiss. ‘Here we go. Cats shouldn’t go journeying,’ he muttered. The wheels ground slowly over the frosted road, and the carriage gathered speed. The grey horses made a fine show as they drove out of the square and set off through London, heading for the Dover road.

SEVEN
    Freddie spent the first part of the journey trying to teach Rose chess. She didn’t really want to learn, she would have preferred just to look out of the window. Already they had reached a part of London she had never seen before. Unfortunately, Freddie had been on plenty of coach journeys, and he wanted to be entertained.
    After a few minutes Rose was sure that Freddie must be cheating, perhaps making up the rules as he went along. ‘But why does the horse one move like that? Horses don’t go sideways, do they? It doesn’t make sense!’
    ‘It’s called a knight, Rose, and just because you’re losing…’ Freddie said smugly.
    ‘Play with Gus, instead,’ Rose snapped. Which was much better, as now she could hear Freddie moaning that he was sure that wasn’t allowed, and that moving the pieces with one’s whiskers was most improper.
    Rose pressed her cheek against the chill glass, feeling the swing and bounce of the well-sprung carriage, and hungrily watched the road flowing away behind them. She wondered when they would see the sea.
    The journey took a whole long, muddy day. Rose had never seen so much space before, so much empty ground, dark and frosted, and edged with stands of lonely-looking trees. She had thought she would love to see the countryside, but she found herself missing buildings, and wondering where all the people were.
    Mr Fountain was anxious to reach Dover that day, so he allowed only the briefest stops to change the horses, with no lingering at the inns. Mrs Jones’s hamper was disposed of at midday, and the smell of fishpaste lingered unpleasantly afterwards, so that Rose was glad to be allowed out for a few minutes to gulp at a cup of bitter coffee at the next change. She and Bella and Gus huddled by the coffee-room fire. The hot bricks on the carriage floor had long since lost theirwarmth, and the day was only getting colder. The afternoon was drawing in already, with pinkish streaks of cloud flooding the sky.
    Bella fell asleep on Rose’s shoulder on that last stage, and Rose was grateful for the warmth of the smaller girl. She lay back against the velvet seat, wondering how Bella could possibly sleep, and how the beautifully sprung carriage that had left London had turned into a wood-wheeled cart.
    She woke to find Freddie shaking her, and the carriage stopped at last.
    ‘Are we here?’ She nudged Bella gently, shivering as she pushed the fur rug away.
    ‘Yes, yes, come on!’ Freddie told her excitedly. ‘Come and see!’
    Bella was still half-asleep, and leaning on Rose, so Rose climbed out of the carriage sideways, concentrating on not letting her fall. It wasn’t until they were both standing on the stone dock that Rose took any notice of where they were. She stared up at the black thing towering above her, and swallowed. It looked so fast, so made for cutting through the water that it seemed to be charging down upon her, eventhough she