Una met Violet’s eyes.To her surprise, Violet seemed to grasp the gravity of the situation.
“What’s the plan?”Violet asked.
“Plan?”Una repeated.She had plans for everything, but there was no plan for a rogue quetzalcoatl awakening from brumation two months early.
The creatures hadn’t a malicious bone in their giant serpentine bodies, but theywouldlash out if frightened.They were safe enough with the locals, who knew their way around them, but there was no predicting what a crowd of tourists might do to provoke them.And there were so many children at the menagerie today!Una’s vision began to speckle over at the thought.
“I don’t—I don’t know what to do…” she heard herself gasp.“If the visitors find their way down here…”
Violet leaned close to Una.“Are you actually breathing, Loon?”
Una managed two or three decent breaths.When she came back to herself, Violet’s hand was next to hers against the serpent’s oily blackness—firm, freckled, with uneven nails that urgently required a nail brush.Una focused on them.
“I can’t do this,” Una said shortly.She felt as if she didn’t know herself, all of a sudden—she, who knew how to manage every contingency.All she wanted to do was run away.
“Good thing you aren’t alone, then, Loon,” Violet said.“I’m not going anywhere.We’ll do it together.Do you hear me?”
“And there’s us!”chorused Iggy and Dolly.“Don’t bother about Father!”
“Just tell me what to do, and I’ll do it,” said Violet.“Give me my quest, Fair Una!”
And with those words, Una was seven years old again, acting out the Faerie Queene with her sister.They had mapped every inch of this wood in torn stockings and tangled hair, with flower crowns and stick swords.They had kept it all secret and they had paid for it with copywork and missed meals and the occasional whipping.
They had thought it well worth the price.
Dolly had managed to lodge herself behind the feather frill of what Una now realised was the male of the quetzalcoatl pair.
“Lay kleppe!“ Dolly said, stroking the feathers.“That’s what Hanna tells us every night.Then we know we really have to go to bed.”
To Dolly, this was somehow just a game.I’m a child again,thought Una,and it doesn’t matter.This is a game we are playing.Play, Una.Just play.
Una’s lungs suddenly began to work again.
“My violin,” Una said.
“Going!”said Violet, and she was off, almost before Una knew she had spoken the words aloud.
Chapter twenty-nine
Ormdale
Violetwasonthereturn trip, dodging a particularly tall tourist by the pond, clutching a violin case, when—
“Excuse me, ma’am,” interrupted the tourist.“Might you be the famous Miss Worms?”
Violet’s eyes tracked up the crisp suit and collar until they reached a squared face that clearly hailed from sunnier climes than Yorkshire.
“I’m James Anderson,” he said, slipping off his hat.“Are you George’s cousin?”
“Oh, you’re therealAmerican!“ Violet cried in relief.Impulsively, she grabbed his hand and held it hard.“Come quick, you’ll want to seethis!”
“Excuse me for saying so, but aren’t we headed in the wrong direction, ma’am?”he asked, bemused, as she dragged him out the gate and towards the steep path to the river.“We seem to be leaving the menagerie behind us, if I’m right?”
“Well, if you want to go fraternise with thetourists, please yourself,“ Violet said killingly.“I thought you’d want to see therealOrmdale.”
Belatedly, she hoped she wasn’t terrifying the man.Whatever George had told him, he probably hadn’t warned him about wild girls luring him into the bushes with stringed instruments.
To her relief, his face split into a grin that startled her with its whiteness.
