Brightling (24 page)

44

‘Where has he gone?' Miss Minter said, staring at where Tapper had been. ‘Everybody leaves me. He was a nuisance.
You
are a nuisance,' she said, glaring at Sparrow. ‘You are just money. You are a walking gold mine. And an interfering nuisance.'

Sparrow ignored her rambling. She was staring up into the sky. She patted little Hettie, whose arms were so tightly wrapped around her that she couldn't move. ‘Don't listen to her, Hettie. Look at the lovely spitfyres,' Sparrow said, as the flying horses came swooping closer and closer. The riders on their backs waved and Sparrow waved back. ‘Look, Hettie, they're coming to save us. Aren't they wonderful?'

The two spitfyres landed gently on the roof with a mild clatter of hooves and a rush of warm air and sparks. ‘That's Kopernicus and Seraphina,' she told Hettie. Her heart lifted and swelled with happiness. ‘They've come back! They'll save us!'

The sky-riders immediately dismounted, threw off their goggles and ran towards them. It was Maud and Stormy from the Academy. They were both dressed in soft, dark, tight-fitting costumes with long boots.

Maud shook out her hair. She ran to Sparrow and anxiously gathered her and Hettie into her arms.

‘Are you all right?' she asked Sparrow, then turned to Hettie. ‘And the little one?'

Sparrow nodded. ‘We're fine. Fine.' She had never been so glad to see someone, ever. ‘It's her, you need to get her!' She pointed to Miss Minter.

Miss Minter had made no effort to escape. She was tottering backwards and forwards as if she were drunk.

‘My name is Miss Minter,' she said. Her eyes flashed dangerously. ‘Where is de Whitt? We had a meeting. All arranged. Out to sea we go! My name is Miss Minter. I am a lady!'

Stormy advanced on Miss Minter.

‘De Whitt has sailed,' Stormy told her. He winked at Sparrow. ‘He's gone. Bruno saw him off. Your plan to sell Sparrow to him is done with,' he went on. ‘De Whitt is lucky he didn't end up in prison.'

Sparrow was confused. Who would want to
buy
her? But then, she thought, if Bruno had seen this de Whitt character off, then Bruno knew what was going on. The Butterworths had helped and there was every chance she'd see them again. That was good. Very good. She squeezed Hettie gently. ‘It's going to be OK,' she said.

‘Meow!'

They turned as Scaramouch appeared and bounded over the roof to them.

‘There he is!' Hettie cried. ‘He's all right!'

Sparrow scooped him up in her arms and hugged him.

‘What a clever cat!' she crooned to him. ‘You made it back all on your own!'

Meanwhile, the spitfyres were walking in tight, menacing circles around Miss Minter, puffing and blowing out hot, ashy blue smoke.

Miss Minter swayed on her high heels and watched the flying horses warily.

‘They don't like you, Miss Minter,' Stormy said. He was very close to her, ready to grab her if she tried to run. ‘I wonder why?'

‘She locked them up, that's why,' Sparrow said. ‘She stole their Brightling.'

Miss Minter laughed. She turned to the Director. ‘You're so stupid, Stormy, you don't even realise what riches you're sitting on up there at the Academy. You have all that Brightling, and you don't take any yourself. You could. It's worth a fortune.'

Stormy was looking puzzled. ‘Who are you?' he asked her. ‘I think I know you. Do I know you?'

Miss Minter cackled. ‘Make these animals leave me alone. I hate animals. I hate spitfyres and cats. Loathsome. Why are they looking at me like that? I don't like it.'

‘They know what you did to them,' Maud said. ‘They don't trust you.'

‘You don't know who I am either, do you? You pasty-faced little maid-of-all-work,
Cousin
Maud!'

Cousin Maud?

Sparrow saw recognition dawning in Stormy and Mauds' faces; they couldn't believe what they thought they saw. She'd never seen such expressions of amazement and  …  horror!

‘Oh my  …  it's
you!
' Maud said quietly, looking intently at Miss Minter. ‘You've dyed your hair. It has to be ten years since we last saw you  … '

‘
Araminta!
' Stormy said. ‘It's Araminta! The Director's daughter,' he added, for Sparrow's sake. ‘When he went to prison she disappeared – along with a couple of the Academy spitfyres.'

Miss Minter shrieked with laughter. ‘That's right. Took all their Brightling too! Lovely stuff. Stormy was a stupid, interfering boy. And you,
Maud!
' she added, pointing a finger at Maud. ‘How dare you even look at me! You are my maid! My underling. I wipe my feet on the likes of you!' She laughed again and her laugh turned into a shiver so violent that it rocked her from side to side so she nearly fell over. ‘I never had a cousin called Maud. Never!'

‘You've taken Brightling, haven't you?' Stormy said. ‘How much? It's dangerous, it –'

‘Ha!' Miss Minter interrupted. ‘You would say that. Lies. Lies. Lies.'

‘It destroys,' Maud said. ‘That's why we came to the circus, to try and warn people. It affects the brain. The tears of one sad creature can only cause tears in another  … '

Miss Minter quickly took a bottle of Brightling from her pocket. She held it up to the spitfyres defiantly. ‘I love it!' she said and before Stormy could reach her, she had drained the bottle dry.

‘Don't look!' Maud cried and swung Hettie round so she couldn't see the horrible effects of such a large dose of Brightling. Sparrow knew she should turn away too, but could not.

Miss Minter's hand remained poised with the small bottle at her lips. Now, slowly, her arm dropped and hung loosely at her side. Nothing happened for a whole minute, and then the top of her head began to smoke. Her blonde hair snapped off her head as if it were made of glass. It splintered at her feet.

Miss Minter yelped and put her hands to her throat as orange fire burst out of her mouth. She roared and spat out more flames and clouds of smoke. She began to twist and turn, faster and faster until, like a Catherine wheel, she was just a blaze of sparkling lights and brilliant flashes of colour.

When she stopped she had gone. There was nothing left but a heap of grey ash.

That night, Sparrow lay again in her rose-patterned bedroom at the Butterworths' house, feeling secure and happy. Her left hand lay gently on Scaramouch's warm back.

Now she knew who it was in the portrait that she loved so much: it was Mayra, her mother. She could stare and stare at her to her heart's content. She knew too that Cosmo, the circus owner, had been her father. Otto had given her an old circus pamphlet with a picture of the Great Cosmo in it that she would always treasure.

Sleep didn't come easily that night.

Miss Minter had died a terrible death  …  How would she ever get rid of that awful image? She would try very hard to wipe it out of her mind but it would be hard.

No one knew exactly what had happened to Tapper but a body had been found on the street – a man who'd fallen a great height, and Bruno said it sounded as if it were him.

Where was Glori? Had she run away, like the other match-girls? She had heard how Glori had gone to Hilda and done all she could to rescue Sparrow, and she wanted to thank her. Sweet Glori. She hoped she was happy, wherever she was.

It turned out that as soon as Bruno heard the details of Miss Minter's plan he'd gone with the guards and challenged de Whitt. De Whitt was a coward, and had escaped onboard a ship and sailed away.

Scaramouch was snoring – so was Hettie, who was sleeping peacefully in the spare bedroom. Everything was settled. Well, almost  …  because she still felt unfinished. Even knowing about her family, that she was Sparrow Butterworth, hadn't brought the total happiness she'd hoped for. Actually, she supposed she was Sparrow de Whitt – Cosmo's name. But since he'd never married her mother, she would happily stick to Butterworth.

Stormy had told her that he was an orphan too. ‘I used to think that when I found my parents,' he'd said, ‘if I ever found out who my parents were, I'd be happy because then I'd know exactly who I was and what I was.'

‘Yes, yes. Me too,' Sparrow had replied.

‘But, d'you know,' Stormy had said, grinning, ‘it wasn't like that at all. I never did find them. I haven't a clue who my real family is, but I've found Maud and the spitfyres and I love the Academy. All those things make me who I am. I am Stormy, without knowing all that other stuff.'

‘That's enough?' Sparrow had asked him, amazed.

‘Yes, it really is. Listen, Sparrow, you are a strong and brave person. You saved my spitfyres – they would certainly have died if you hadn't set them free. You survived the Knip and Pynch Home. You don't
need
a family to make you into a whole person. You never needed to know who your parents were to be you. You are whole. A whole Sparrow!'

Sparrow smiled as she remembered his words. Stormy was right.

And she was so happy to be here with the Butterworths again. She was going to wallow in their kindness. Being loved properly, like this, was a new and wonderful experience and she was going to get as much of it as she possibly could – as much as they could give. She felt as if she was blossoming right now, like one of the roses on the wall, getting rounder and richer and, somehow, more rosy! And she'd give love back too. She knew she could, with practice.

She remembered Zippo's circus and the performing cats – that was what she wanted, to join the circus and have her own act with Scaramouch. She wanted to be with spitfyres and become a sky-rider too. She wanted  …  everything. She wanted to try everything, go everywhere, see everything  …  and now, perhaps, it would be possible.

Hettie was flourishing too. Straight away, something had sparked between Hilda and Hettie and they had hugged and Hettie wanted Hilda to be her mother. She'd even thrown her arms around Gerta and sworn undying adoration for her.

The next morning, Gerta received a letter from Mr Pynch at the Knip and Pynch Home for Waifs and Strays. She read it at the breakfast table.

‘Oh how dreadful!' Gerta said, after she'd glanced at the letter's contents. ‘Listen to this. That woman, that Miss Knip, has vanished, believed dead! It says she never reached the Home after she visited us. The cart-driver said she vanished into thin air as they were travelling through the swamplands  …  She must have fallen out or something – how awful!'

It was on the tip of Sparrow's tongue to say
Serves her right
, but she held it back.

‘And Mr Pynch is leaving the Home too!' Gerta continued. ‘He's just writing to me to see if I know anything about Miss Knip's disappearance, as we were the last to see her.
What was her mental state?
he asks. Oh dear. I hope they don't think we were responsible?'

‘But that's amazing!' Sparrow said, grabbing Hilda's hand. ‘Because now
you
can take over the Home!'

Gerta let out a little shriek. ‘
What?
'

‘Yes, all of you! You, Hilda and Bruno,' Sparrow said. ‘You've all got so much to give and those girls need loving care so badly. It's a perfect solution. Just think, Hilda, not one new daughter, but forty-four of them – at least, that's how many there were at the last count. It will be forty-six with me and Hettie, and forty-seven when we find Glori, if she wants to come. You could include boys too, if you wanted! Oh do say you will! It could be a
real
home. And think, Bruno, Tapper isn't going to be making any more spitfyres, so you'd have to reconsider the shop and the stock anyway and  …  It's a perfect, perfect plan.'

‘It's an amazing idea,' Hilda said, grinning. ‘Of course I'd still want to continue with my work on the committee. We must stop all Brightling production and sales. It's imperative!' She paused. ‘But I do like the idea of running the Home. I like it very much.'

‘We'll think about it,' Bruno said. ‘My shop –'

‘The shop! The shop's not important,' Hilda said. ‘Oh yes, we will think about it,' she went on. ‘Forty-four, did you say? Poor little things – no parents, no good food, no warmth.' She rubbed her hands together. ‘Oh Bruno, what fine girls we could help make there!'

The doorbell sounded shrilly, making them all jump. Gerta went to answer it. She came back a moment later and ushered in a thin, short young woman, wearing a too-small black coat and a long green skirt. The girl's dark hair was plaited in a long rope that hung down her back to her waist. Spotting Sparrow, she licked her small, round teeth and broke into an enormous smile.

‘Sparrow!' she cried, rushing to her. ‘My little
Birdie!
'

‘
Glori?
' Sparrow ran to her and they hugged and rocked from side to side. ‘What happened to you? You smell of
oysters!
I'm so glad you've come. Why are you wearing these funny clothes?'

‘Let Glori sit down,' Bruno said, vacating a chair. ‘Let her have some space, dear girl. Then she can explain.'

Glori sat down and told them everything.

‘After I left you, Miss Hilda,' Glori said, ‘I met Tapper. He'd followed me. He took me to the river. Tapper meant to drown me,' she said.

‘The rogue!' Hilda cried.

‘Ah, you mustn't mind him,' Glori said. ‘He couldn't help it. I mean, he was hurt bad when I let him down. I
did
let him down. Betrayed him. So he rowed me out into the river, only this old oyster-catching boat was coming and I'd seen it. So I let myself fall in before he could push me. I did think, I did wonder if he'd help me and, when he didn't, I knew for certain. Knew he didn't love me, not really; he couldn't. Or he loved me the best he could love anyone, and it were no good.