Rose 3: Rose and the Magician's Mask by Holly Webb Read Free Book Online Page B

Fountain snapped. ‘You’ll need to watch it, Rose. Poppets can be tricky. It – it may not always have your best interests at heart.’
    Everyone stared at the white china face, with its knowing expression.
    ‘What’s the matter with it?’ Bella demanded worriedly, as she marched into the room. ‘Why are you all looking at Rose’s present like that? Rose, have you done something to it? It didn’t look like that before.’ Bella picked up the doll, frowning. ‘It looks more real . Did you put a spell on it?’
    ‘Not on purpose…’ Rose admitted.
    ‘You gave Rose a doll that swallowed her blood,’ Freddie told Bella accusingly.
    Bella stared at the doll, fascinated. ‘Really?’
    Rose shook her head. ‘That isn’t fair. The blood dripped on her, and I’d cracked her, Bella, I’m so sorry. It was one of the plants from the doll’s house. Freddie and I tried to make it a real one, and…it went a little bit wrong…’
    Mr Fountain glared at them both. ‘I was about to get to that. Good Lord. What am I going to do with the pair of you? Dangerous magic exploding out of you, coupled with no common sense whatsoever. I never expected Freddie to have any, but you, Rose!’
    ‘You mean a common servant child should have had more sense?’ Gus enquired, his voice brightly interested.
    ‘No! Well…yes. An orphanage upbringing should have made her very sensible, shouldn’t it? Stop trying to tie me in knots, cat.’
    ‘Blood will out.’ Gus jumped off Mr Fountain’s lap, and padded over the table to nose Rose’s cheek gently.
    Rose looked down at her finger, where there was still a tiny purplish mark.
    ‘Not that, silly. Family blood. You may have been abandoned at an orphanage, but your family is claiming you now. You can’t hide it.’
    Rose ran one finger down his velvet nose, and sniffed. ‘No, they aren’t. Not really. The magic’s just like leftovers. No one actually wants me.’
    ‘Leftovers can be just what one needs in the middle of the night.’ Gus settled into her lap, purring. ‘Quite delicious. And most often, one can tell exactly what they were the previous day, too. I shouldn’t be surprised, Rose, if we find you’re quite the best smoked salmon.’
    ‘Everything is always about fish for you!’ Bella complained. ‘Papa, I forgot. I was coming to tell you that most unfortunately, Miss Anstruther seems to have…’ Bella looked thoughtfully at the ceiling, and then started again. ‘She says she wants to hand in her notice.’
    ‘Oh, not again… Bella, what did you do?’
    ‘I only screamed. Not even very loudly. But she says her ears are ringing, and she can’t stand me any longer.’ Bella sounded quite proud of herself.
    ‘She always says that,’ Freddie pointed out. ‘She’ll be fine if you leave her to lie down for a while. Shouldn’t we be trying to work out what that… creature…meant?’
    Rose took the doll back protectively from Bella. She wasn’t a creature. Although, as Rose examined the painted smile, she suspected that the doll had ratherenjoyed being mysterious, and could probably have given them more of a straight answer. If Rose had wanted to. And had she really been neglecting her cleaning?
    ‘Oh!’ She jumped up. ‘I know what she means!’ She dashed out of the door, calling back behind her. ‘Come and see!’ She ran headlong down the stairs to the study on the floor below, and when the others caught up with her, she was kneeling in front of Mr Fountain’s old leather armchair. ‘Look!’
    Underneath the carved wooden foot was something dingily red. ‘You were sitting on it all the time! You must have used it to prop the chair up, when it was wobbling. I even saw it, when I was lying on the floor yesterday to read.’
    Gus sniffed the book. ‘I said you needed a new chair,’ he told his master, his tail twitching irritably. Then he clawed the book out from under the chair leg, and flipped the pages over, sniffing at each one