The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Mysterious Phantom (7 page)

Collette looked at him from under her lashes. “Right,” she muttered sulkily.

“Go and get on with your practice.” Fitzy shooed Collette away and fixed his gaze on Lizzie. “I've got a special job for you.”

Lizzie straightened. Did someone need her to fix their stage or iron their costume? “I'm ready.”

Fitzy smiled at her. “Good.” He glanced down at her dress — the same shabby gray frock she'd been wearing since she'd arrived. “Erin!” he called over his shoulder. “You're about the same size as Lizzie. Can she borrow your Sunday dress?”

“Of course.” Erin nodded. “Why? Is she going to church?”

“Not quite.” Fitzy started to lead Lizzie out of the tent. “Madame Aurora needs an assistant.”

* * *

As visitors started streaming toward the circus, Lizzie stood beside the Sullivans' caravan in Erin's Sunday best with her chestnut brown hair stiffly braided. She felt as trussed up as a Christmas goose.

“Mercy, Lizzie,” Nora said with a giggle. She handed her Ma Sullivan's ivory-back mirror. The black taffeta made Lizzie look white as a ghost.

Lizzie scowled. “I look like I'm off to a funeral.”

“You might as well be,” Erin told her gravely.

Nora grasped her hand. “Be good,” she warned. “Madame Aurora can be an awful banshee.”

“She's a bit cranky,” Fitzy explained as he led Lizzie toward Madame Aurora's tent. “But do as you're told, and you'll be right as rain. Just stand there and look mournful while she's doing her readings.” He stopped outside a tent and lifted the flap. “She does palms and cards and the old crystal ball. You know the kind of thing. She just needs you looking sad and serious to help add a little solemnity to proceedings. Madame Aurora,” he called inside, “your new assistant is here.”

Lizzie peered into the shadows. Exotic perfume filled her nose. An oil lamp, turned low, barely lit the luxurious drapes that swathed the inside of the tent.

“Send her in.” A sultry voice sounded in the dim light.

As Lizzie stepped inside, she could just barely make out a figure seated at a table. Madame Aurora stood up regally, shimmering with sequins and jingling with jewelery. A blood-red veil covered her face. She lifted it, and Lizzie saw the strong features of a handsome woman, caked with heavy makeup.

“Not much of a girl.” Madame Aurora poked Lizzie's shoulder with a bony finger. The nail dug deep beneath Lizzie's shoulder bone.

Lizzie flinched but held her tongue. She wasn't going to risk losing her first proper job in the circus.

Madame Aurora lifted one of Lizzie's braids and let it fall from her fingers like a dead mouse. “Couldn't you find anyone more exotic?” she asked stonily. “This one looks like she's fresh from the workhouse.”

Fitzy put his hand gently on Lizzie's shoulder. “She's a good worker, and she's bright. Her looks will improve once we've fed her up a bit.”

Lizzie dug her nails into her palms.
Why do grown-ups have to be so rude? Like kids don't have proper feelings.

Madame Aurora tossed her headscarf back and turned to her table. “I'll do what I can with her.” She pointed to the doorway. “Stand there, girl.”

“My name's Lizzie.” Lizzie lifted her chin.

“While you're working here, you're called Roxanna.” Madame Aurora sat down and gazed into the crystal ball sitting on her table, her ringed fingers fluttering around it. “Guide the client in, show them to their seat, then stand back and keep your mouth shut. I don't want them knowing you're a guttersnipe from the slums.”

Lizzie flashed Fitzy a worried look as he hovered outside the doorway.

“You'll do fine.” He glanced over his shoulder. “Here comes your first customer.”

Madame Aurora quickly pulled her veil down over her face as Fitzy hurried away. A young woman was approaching the tent warily. Her eyes were red, and her nose was rosy from crying. Lizzie beckoned her in, and the young woman offered her a coin, but Madame Aurora's voice called out, smooth as honey, “I'll take your coin, dear. The spirits won't speak unless you cross my palm with silver.”

Lizzie ushered the woman to the empty chair opposite Madame Aurora and then stepped back into the shadows. She watched as Madame Aurora pocketed the coin.

“Why have you come to seek guidance from the spirit world?” Madame Aurora's veil trembled.

You should know
, Lizzie thought.
You're meant to be psychic.
She shuffled her feet.

Madame jerked her head in Lizzie's direction. “Stand still!” she hissed.

As Madame turned back toward her client, Lizzie stuck out her tongue. Madame Aurora didn't see; her gaze was fixed on the young woman who was now dabbing her nose with a handkerchief. “You seem troubled, my dear.”

The woman nodded.

Well, that's obvious!
Lizzie thought.

Madame stroked the air around her crystal ball. “I see heartache.”

The woman sniffed and wrung her hanky between her fingers.

“Let me see.” Madame Aurora gently lifted one of the woman's hands and turned her palm so it faced upward. Leaning over it she mumbled and shook her head. “You have known sorrow.”

The woman sniffed again.

“Your love line is broken, see?” Madame Aurora pointed toward the woman's palm.

The woman looked closer. “I've been let down,” she confessed.

“A man you trusted has abandoned you,” the psychic continued.

As Madame Aurora spoke, the woman swallowed back a sob. “Archibald.”

“He was not the man for you,” Madame Aurora assured her. “Look.” She ran a finger over the woman's palm. “Beyond the break, the line runs long and smooth. Another man waits, more trustworthy and with a faithful heart. You will find your true happiness with him.”

Can she really tell that just by looking at her palm?
Lizzie wondered.

The young woman's shoulders rose as though a great weight had been lifted from them. “Thank you!” The young woman stood up and began to back out. “Thank you so much.”

Lizzie quickly stepped forward to pull the curtain aside. Another client was waiting outside — a man this time, his forehead furrowed. He hardly acknowledged Lizzie as she waved him toward the chair.

Madame Aurora looked him over, and Lizzie followed her gaze as it lingered on his frayed collar and the threadbare hat he rolled in his hands.

The psychic gazed into her crystal ball. “Financial worries weigh heavily on you.” The man nodded.

Even I could tell that by just looking!
Lizzie thought.

“But fortune awaits.” Madame Aurora peered harder into her ball.

“Fortune?” The man sat forward in his chair, and Madame held out her palm.

The man reached into his pocket and handed her a coin at once. “What fortune?”

“Fortune beyond your wildest imaginings,” Madame Aurora promised. “In business, your path is assured. I see water.” She lifted her veil and peered even closer into the crystal. “Great oceans bearing great ships.”

“Should I invest in shipping?” In the dim light, Lizzie could see the back of the man's neck flush with excitement.

“Your fortune will come from overseas.” Madame Aurora's voice deepened.

She's just telling him what he wants to hear!
Lizzie thought. She wanted to warn the man not to trust Madame Aurora's advice. But if she did, she'd lose her job; maybe even her place in the circus. She bit her lip and stayed quiet as Madame Aurora went on.

“Great wealth is within your reach; you need only wait and it will fall into your lap.”

The man was fidgeting with excitement. ‘Thank you, Madame Aurora!” He jumped to his feet and was out of the tent before Lizzie had time to lift the door.

“How can you get him all worked up like that?” Lizzie demanded.

Madame Aurora lifted her head. “I only tell what the spirits instruct,” she murmured.

“Sure you do,” Lizzie muttered as she lifted the flap for the next client.

* * *

“She makes it all up, I swear!” Lizzie paced back and forth beside Akula while Erin, Nora, Malachy, and Hari lounged in the hay. The last show had finished, and chores were done. Before long, Ma Sullivan would be shouting them back to the caravan for bed.

Lizzie grabbed an old sack and draped it over her head like a veil. “You are very troubled, my dear. . . .” Copying Madame Aurora's throaty whisper, Lizzie knelt beside Malachy and peered into his palm. “I see from your life line that you are young. But don't worry . . . you'll get older!” She grabbed Erin's hand next. “You are troubled, dear. You have to sleep in a caravan with four snoring brothers.” She grasped Hari's hand. “I see in your love line that your next sweetheart will be an heiress! You will live in the best houses and eat only the best food.”

As her friends hooted with laughter, Lizzie straightened. “But the best was the rich folks. She took longest with them. I expect she thought she was going to get an extra shilling. Mercy, did she ask them questions! As soon as a smart suit comes through the door, she's telling them they'll win big on the stock market and then asking them where their houses are and where they work. Do you know what she said?”

Lizzie put on the haughty voice of Madame Aurora again. “‘Once I am certain of your geographical location, the spirits speak to me stronger.' And when they told her where they lived and talked about their job in some bank or other and she'd um and ah and say, ‘Of course. I feel it now. An inheritance is coming your way,' or ‘Your wife will give you a son before the year is out to carry on your noble line.'” Lizzie flopped down into the straw beside Erin. “I thought she was gonna do real magic. But it's all make-believe.”

Erin rubbed her back. “That's the circus, Lizzie. It's all a big illusion.”

“But
Anita's
real,” Lizzie pointed out.

Malachy shifted beside Hari. “She's about the only one who is. The Pig-Faced Woman's an old bear in a dress with a shaved face.”

Lizzie gaped at him. “What about the mermaid?”

“Fake tail made out of walrus hide,” Nora laughed. “And Sid the Lobster Boy's never even seen the sea. He was just born with his fingers and toes fused together.”

Lizzie heart sank. “So they're just scamming like Pa?”

“They're just making the best of what God gave them,” Nora told her. “People like to see a show, so we give them a show.”

Erin nodded. “A good show is a sure way to take folks' minds off their troubles.”

“Madame Aurora certainly did that.” Lizzie lay back in the straw. “Not one person got bad news. They all left thinking they was gonna fall in love or find a fortune.”

Hari lowered his dark lashes. “Isn't that better?” he said softly. “To believe that something wonderful's going to happen. Isn't that better than always worrying about the future?”

“I guess.” Lizzie shrugged. “And I s'pose, sometimes, she may be right. Though if she'd told me a week ago I'd be working in a circus, I'd never have believed her in a million years.”

“If you can call it working,” said Collette. She'd slipped in silently. Lizzie clenched her fists but kept her mouth shut. Collette gave a dazzling smile and clapped her hands. “You're summoned, boys and girls. Hurry up! To the main tent!”

“What for?” Lizzie was instantly suspicious.

“So my brother can show off his new trick, of course.” Collette's smile never faltered. “You aren't going to keep him waiting, are you?”

The others leaped to their feet and scrambled out. Lizzie followed, not really wanting to go, but not quite knowing why. Dru was agile and clever, wasn't he? He couldn't be in any danger . . . so why was a tight knot of fear growing in her stomach?

“You mustn't mind Collette,” Hari said as she caught up to the rest of the group.

“I don't,” Lizzie snapped.

Inside the huge tent it was gloomy and full of shadows. By day it had been a jolly place, but now that the audience had all gone home it seemed sad. Lizzie's creepy feeling grew worse.

Dru was standing at one end of the high wire, grinning down at her. In his pale costume, he looked like a ghost up there in the dark.

“And now, for your delight and delectation,” he called out, “I shall demonstrate a brand-new feat, one never before seen in this circus!”

Erin gasped and nudged her sister excitedly. Malachy watched, wide-eyed. They all seemed transfixed as Dru stepped out onto the wire, arms outstretched. One careful footstep followed another. The wire wobbled beneath his feet.

“Come down!” The words burst out of Lizzie's mouth before she could stop them. “It ain't safe!”

“Have no fear,” Dru said, as if he were talking to an audience and not to Lizzie. “I've practiced this one for hours on the training wire.”

He was nearly at the middle of the wire now. It bowed under his weight.

Lizzie's heart pounded like a big bass drum. She had to make Dru stop, somehow. “You tell him!” she told Collette, rounding on the startled girl. “Tell him not to do it!”

“My brother is a professional. You're insulting his talent,” Collette said softly.

Now Lizzie's palms were aching. The feeling of horror was taking over her whole body. “Come down!” she yelled again. Dru's life depended on it. She didn't know how she knew. She just
knew
.

“You'd better hush up, Lizzie,” Malachy whispered. “You might put him off with that yelling.”

“Something bad's going to happen,” Lizzie muttered. “I just
know
it.”

High above, Dru bent his knees. “A roll of the drums, please!”

Erin and Nora began to hammer with their hands on the hollow wooden step, and Lizzie could only look on helplessly as Dru bent his knees again and flipped up into the air. The high wire twanged beneath his body as he turned a full backward somersault. Lizzie bit her knuckle.