The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Devil's Hound

by Vicki Lockwood

“Dad, you have to be practical . . .” Malachy insisted, his voice dwindling into the distance.

  Not long after, Lizzie let herself into JoJo’s caravan. She silently moved to stand at the clown’s bedside. There were flowers on a table next to him. She looked down at his peaceful face. She thought his spots were looking better.

  JoJo’s eyes flickered open. “Hey, Lizzie.”

  “How are you feeling, mate?” she asked, passing him a cup of water.

  “About a million times better, thanks.” The clown slurped the water, gargled, swallowed, and winked. “Ma Sullivan and Anita have been fussing over me like a pair of hens. How did your act go?”

  Lizzie sat down on the bed. “They liked us. I did better as a clown than a serious performer.”

  JoJo smiled weakly. “I’d better hurry up and get this pox beat. I reckon someone’s after my job.”

  “Oh, don’t you worry,” Lizzie said with a laugh. “As soon as Erin’s better, I’m back to fortune-telling full time!”

  * * *

  The next morning, the Penny Gaff Gang gathered at the gates of Kensal Green Cemetery to meet Becky. Hari led Shadow on a leash.

  When Becky arrived, she was walking alongside a funeral carriage. The black coffin it carried was smart and new, the best Lizzie’s money could buy.

  “Thank you,” Becky whispered as Lizzie went to walk by her side. “For everything.”

  While the friends stood and watched, Jacob Hayward was laid to rest once more, in a grave he would never again be snatched from. Instead of the simple wooden cross, a proud headstone now stood. The officiating priest spoke kindly of the power of love to outlast death and the certainty of reunion in the hereafter.

  All through the service, Lizzie turned the horse brass over and over in her pocket. She didn’t hear so much as a whisper from beyond. Becky’s father was indeed at rest.

  “Ashes to ashes,” the priest intoned, “and dust to dust.”

  “Just a moment,” Lizzie said. While the others looked on in surprise, she quickly slipped the horse brass on top of the coffin lid. Becky smiled gratefully — the brass she’d given her father had been thrown into the canal. Now he had a replacement.

  Once the funeral was over and all the tears had been wiped away, the friends gathered at the cemetery gates for a final goodbye. Becky hugged Lizzie so tightly she thought a rib might crack.

  “I’ll miss you,” Becky whispered.

  Lizzie thought of the chickens running wild in the farmyard and all the hard jobs that would need to be done on the farm. She saw Becky alone and weary, sitting at a table too big for just one person, with nobody to care for, or to care for her.

  “You could come with us,” Lizzie said. “Join the circus. You’re good with animals. Hari could use a bit more help, couldn’t you, Hari?”

  “Always!” Hari said. “If you can handle a cow, I’m sure you can handle an elephant.”

  Becky shook her head. “It’s lovely of you to offer,” she said. “But I’m a farmer, and this is my home. My pa fought to keep it. I can’t just walk away.”

  “Well, then,” Hari said, “maybe one of us should stay here with you.”

  Becky looked confused.

  Hari handed her Shadow’s leash. The dog lay down at Becky’s feet, as if to protect her from anyone who might wish her harm.

  “He took to you from the start,” Hari said. “So he should be yours. A guardian and a companion.”

  Becky hugged the dog, who licked her face happily. “It’s wonderful . . . I don’t know what to say!”

  “How about ‘see you next year’?” Lizzie suggested with a smile.

  “That’ll do,” Becky agreed. “When you’re back in Kensal Green, come and see us. You know where to find me!” She whistled, and the dog stood up. “Come on, boy. We’re going home.”

  The Penny Gaff Gang waved their farewells and began the long walk back to the circus tents.

  “I wonder what it would be like,” Malachy wondered as they went. “Living in one place, the same place, all the time.”

  “I can’t imagine it,” said Nora.

  “Neither can I,” Erin agreed, shaking her head.

  Dru made a face. “I think, if I were not always on the road, I would feel dead inside.”

  “What about you, Lizzie?” Hari asked. “You’re the only one of us who’s known it both ways. Do you miss living in a fixed place?”

  Lizzie looked at the rows of hedges they were walking past. Dandelion seeds were blowing in the wind, the air carrying them far and free above all boundaries, like the roaming thoughts of a storyteller, or the wild dreams of a girl with her whole life still to live.

  “No,” she said with a smile. “My home is always on the move now. And that’s just how I like it.”

  A Preview From

  THE MAGNIFICENT LIZZIE BROWN AND THE GHOST SHIP

  Lizzie lifted her feet from the sea bed and doggy-paddled for all she was worth, swimming past her friends and closer to where Dru was splashing. She wondered if he was impressed, but she couldn’t tell. All her effort went into propelling herself forward.

  The water below her swirled and rushed past, pulling her further out to sea. I can handle this, Lizzie thought. I’m properly swimming now. If only Hari could see me now!

  Suddenly Lizzie realized that there were no other swimmers in sight. The only thing she could see out this far were boats. She decided it was time to stop. The undertow had pulled her out a lot further than she’d meant to come. She put her feet down, expecting to find the sandy sea bed. Her feet went down . . . and down. As if she’d missed a step going downstairs, they plunged into nothing.

  I’ve gone too far out, Lizzie thought in sudden terror. The water’s deep here. She floundered, gasping, only just managing to keep her head above water. Remember what Hari showed you. Tread the water, circle your arms, don’t panic.

  But right then, a sharp pain split Lizzie’s head in two as if an ax had struck her. Not a cramp but a vision, forcing itself behind her eyes at the worst possible time.

  “No!” Lizzie gasped as she tried to shut it out. But there was no fighting the vision. It overwhelmed her mind, an image like a horrifying illustration from a book of ghost stories.

  It was a ship of some kind, with a single mast, looming out of a thick white mist. A sickly green light blazed from the prow, casting eerie shadows across the dark waves. Dimly visible through the mist was a figure — the pilot of this strange vessel.

  Lizzie didn’t want to look, but her mind’s eye swept closer anyway. The figure was wearing a ragged robe, like a hooded ghost from a stage play. It raised its arms, and from the depths of its black hood, Lizzie saw two gleaming lights like eyes.

  It was real. A ghost ship, captained by Death himself.

  Lizzie opened her mouth to scream, and the ocean flooded in. Salt water choked her. Struggling, her strength fading with every second, she sank beneath the water’s surface.

  The shadow on the ghost ship, still visible in her mind, reached its tattered arms out to grasp her . . .

  The Magnificent Lizzie Brown is published in the United States in 2015

  by Capstone Young Readers,

  A Capstone Imprint

  1710 Roe Crest Drive

  North Mankato, Minnesota 56003

  www.capstoneyoungreaders.com

  First published in 2014 by Curious Fox,

  an imprint of Capstone Global Library

  Limited,7 Pilgrim Street, London, EC4V 6LB

  Registered company number: 6695582

  www.curious-fox.com

  Text © Hothouse Fiction Ltd 2014

  Series created by Hothouse Fiction

  www.hothousefiction.com

  The author’s moral rights are hereby asserted.

  All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in w
hole or in part, or stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission of the publisher.

  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

  Lockwood, Vicki, author.

  The magnificent Lizzie Brown and the devil’s hound / by Vicki Lockwood; illustrated by Stephanie Hans.

  pages cm. -- (The magnificent Lizzie Brown)

  “First published in 2014 by Curious Fox, an imprint of Capstone Global Library Limited.”

  Summary: Lizzie is now an established member of Fitzy’s Circus, but when the circus arrives in Kensal Green they are plagued by accidents and sickness--and Lizzie needs to put her psychic talents to use to solve the mystery of a graveyard haunted by a devil hound.

  ISBN 978-1-4342-7941-5 (library binding)

  ISBN 978-1-62370-070-6 (paper over board)

  ISBN 978-1-4342-7943-9 (paperback)

  ISBN 978-1-4965-0100-4 (eBook PDF)

  ISBN 978-1-62370-279-3 (eBook)

  1. Psychic ability--Juvenile fiction. 2. Circus--Juvenile fiction. 3. Haunted cemeteries--Juvenile fiction. 4. Grave robbing--Juvenile fiction. 5. Ghost stories. 6. Kensal Green (London, England)--Juvenile fiction. 7. Great Britain--History--19th century--Juvenile fiction. [1. Mystery and detective stories. 2. Psychic ability--Fiction. 3. Circus--Fiction. 4. Haunted places--Fiction. 5. Grave robbing--Fiction. 6. Ghosts--Fiction. 7. Kensal Green (London, England)--Fiction. 8. Great Britain--History--19th century--Fiction.] I. Hans, Stephanie, illustrator. II. Title.

  PZ7.L8192Mae 2014

  [Fic]--dc23

  2014001840

  Cover illustration: Stephanie Hans

  Designer: Kristi Carlson