So, here's a short extract. Tina is in Rome on a school trip. Her teacher, the mysterious Mr. Verdigris, asks her to do a strange thing, about which she must tell no-one. She must find a missing Stradivarius violin. She has no idea how she will accomplish this but soon, as she's visiting the Colosseum, she's swept up, up and away....
".....Suddenly, a
movement in the corner of Tina’s eyes caught her attention. She turned and saw one of their helpers
beckoning to her.
Oh no!
It was that weird
one with the black headscarf.
What on earth does she want?
She indicated to
Beth that she would only be a moment.
Little did she know! No sooner
had she reached the old woman than she realised at last why she looked so
familiar.
‘Oh, you look just
like Miss Pinchtuck – from my dance class,’ she said in confusion. ‘But, what are you doing with our group from
school?’
Tina was really
really surprised. It was not often that
someone from one part of her life collided into another. Really, her Saturday dance classes at the
Rainbow School of Dance had nothing whatsoever to do with Kingsbridge School,
so she was amazed that the old woman was here as a helper. But right here, at the Colosseum in Rome
Miss Pinchtuck
cackled and rubbed her hands together with glee. ‘I wondered how long it would take you,
child, to recognise me. But at least, as
an over-65, I got in for free!’ She
paused awhile and looked ahead of her whilst nodding slowly to herself. Yes, that just might do it! But first she needed to entice the child
towards and through those two central gothic pillars over there, the ones with
the flaking masonry hanging in shreds right down to the ground. Yes,
those are the ones, she smiled to herself.
The ones with that arch above them
– the arch with the seven grooves in it……But how to lure the child over
there?
Miss Pinchtuck
strained her painful neck muscles backwards so that she could look straight up
into the clear blue sky, a sky so translucent that it was a perfect dome for
the Colosseum beneath. Why, it was
almost as if they were all spectators in what was to be the greatest show on
earth. She brought her head straight
again and looked at the arch directly in front of her. A voice came into her addled brains. Keep it simple, Mildred…(for that was her
name, a name that no-one ever used any more because it sounded like
mildew)….keep it simple.
‘Child,’ she said,
turning again to Tina, who was shuffling from one foot to the other anxious to
get back to Beth again. Tina was
frightened she would lose sight of the rest of the group and become hopelessly
lost in the milling crowds all around. ‘You couldn’t do me a favour, could
you?’ said the old woman, smiling in the best way she could, despite her
yellowing, decayed teeth.
Tina nodded, but
saying ‘Yes, but can you make it quick. I’m sure I’ll lose sight of my friends
if I don’t hurry up.’
‘Yes, yes,
dear. It won’t take a moment…a mere
second in life’s precious passage of time.’
‘What?’ What on
earth was the old woman going on about now? thought Tina, growing
increasingly irritated.
‘You see those
pillars over there – the ones with the arch above linking them both
together? Miss Pinchtuck pointed to the
exact place she wanted the child to be.
Tina nodded.
‘I simply need you
to fetch my handkerchief which I’m sure I dropped just the other side. You can’t fail to recognise it – it’s got
rainbow bands all around the edges.’
Tina thought oh, anything to get rid of her, so
quickly agreed. ‘Just between those
arches, you say?’ as she ran off in the direction the old woman had said.
Shouldn’t take
long.
As the child sped
off, Miss Pinchtuck stuck her bony hand inside her bodice and extracted a
rainbow-shaped charm hanging on a gilt chain around her wrinkled neck. She raised her other hand in an arch above
her short-sighted, hooded eyes, the better to see exactly when the child was in
the correct position.
She peered through
the sparkling sunlight until her eyes suddenly focused.
‘Yes, yes, you old
fool. Now. Now.!’
With that, she rubbed the rainbow charm in an anti-clockwise direction,
mumbling an ancient spell she had concocted specially for this moment.
Nimble, nimble, child be quick
Don’t be slow, for here’s the trick
By all that’s holy, all sublime
By magic’s grace, GO BACK IN TIME!
Tina found the
pillars, the ones underneath the archway, but as she ran through them searching
for that elusive handkerchief, something very strange happened. She found herself growing dizzy, all of a
sudden. She put her clammy hand up to
her head in an effort to still the throbbing vein in her temples, but it made
no difference. She suddenly felt worse,
much worse. The whole world had started
to spin in an anti-clockwise direction, herself in the centre. She felt as though she was in the middle of a
giant tornado, in the very eye of the needle, twirling, twirling, round and
round. Everything went first grey, then black, as she was flung helplessly
along.
Every so often,
the twisting fabric of her life would pick up elements of years gone by. Images of people, their thoughts, collided in
a quickening and roaring pace, each phase superseded by another, then
another.
Hours passed, days
disappeared, followed by years, then centuries, as the loose sheets of the
world’s calendar were torn off one by one.
And still she spun in that vortex, like a helpless spider being sucked
ever downwards into the giant plughole of time.
In a fleeting
moment of consciousness she kept repeating to herself, over and over, in a
never-ending mantra:
Where am I?
What am I?
Where am I going?
Why?
Soon, very soon,
she would find out.
It would be like
nothing she had ever experienced before....."
Here's the link for all 3 in this series: http://www.amazon.co.uk/-/e/B013IDLQ4O
Do hope a youngster in your family enjoys them.
Don't miss, next Wednesday, an extract from the 3rd book: Saffron, who's a child of mixed race who visits the Taj Mahal in India in search of her late grandmother's love token. Don't miss it!
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