A Heartbeat rain gushed down, and the residents raised teacups and tankards to the sky and swigged the sweet, fresh water. For the finale, as the cat orchestra played on, Harper took up a collection of instruments and began juggling with them, playing each one as it passed through her fingers or sailed past her lips. She didn’t miss a single beat. It was a song of midnight rainbows and the poetry of stars. A song of stories yet to be written and friendships made in the clouds. She played with all she had, her face tipped to the horizon, searching for a red-and-gold tent. Just as the music came to an end, she saw something that made her tremble: a white-winged eagle swooping through the sky. The Circus of Dreams was coming back!
Chapter Twelve
THE DREAM SONG
All at once, lightning split the sky and the cats dropped their instruments and scattered. Thunder Break rain lashed down and the air turned eerie white.
Quickly, Sassy and Elsie began hurrying everyone inside. The Wild Conductor stood tall. Ferdie and Liesel took shelter beneath the Scarlet Umbrella, and Midnight dropped his mandolin and ran to Harper’s side.
Nate came ran across the roof with Smoke. “I’ll stay with you,” he yelled to Harper, reaching out for her hand. Then the girl, the cat, the boy, and the wolf turned to face the storm.
Snowflakes danced before their eyes, and they crouched down low, shielding their faces. A mist of marvels and mystery covered the rooftop.
“The circus is coming,” whispered Harper, but the mist vanished in front of her eyes, the thunder faded to a dull echo, and sunlight shone through the rain. Just like that, it was over. The storm was gone and the Circus of Dreams was nowhere to be seen. “I don’t understand,” Harper stammered.
The Wild Conductor fell to his knees. “I’m so sorry,” he said wearily, his face etched with sorrow. “The circus came close, but the concert wasn’t enough. We didn’t draw them from the sky.”
Harper felt as if her breath had been stolen from her. All that work, all that effort, all that wonderful music, and it still hadn’t been enough.
The residents of the Tall Apartment Block rushed to her side and she felt their arms wrap around her. “It was a grand idea,” whispered Great Aunt Sassy, embracing her. “You should be very proud of yourself.”
“It could have worked,” said Isabella, wiping Harper’s hair out of her eyes.
“There will be another way to find the circus,” added Brigitte gently.
But Harper felt sadder than ever before. She missed the family she had only met in her dreams and she missed the hope of believing in the impossible.
Jack Willows came shuffling forward and put an instrument in Harper’s hands. It was the small golden harp he had played in the concert. It looked a thousand years old. “I found this on the roof after the Fearsome Storm,” said Jack kindly. “It’s been in the lost property of the Unforgotten Concert Hall ever since, but no one’s ever claimed it. I think perhaps you should have it.”
Harper didn’t feel like playing anything. She wanted to snuggle up in bed and hide from the world. But at that moment, Faydra the fortune teller’s words came back to her: “Play the instrument that calms the storm.”
Harper sighed and wiped the dust from the harp’s frame. She felt a tiny jolt of electricity flicker up her arm. She tried again and felt her heart leap softly as if she were somehow attached to the harp’s strings. Then her fingers were moving and she was playing a familiar melody—a song she had never known how to play before, the song that haunted all of her dreams. The notes came easily now, without her thinking. She closed her eyes and almost didn’t notice that the Scarlet Umbrella had picked up a breeze of its own accord and was carrying her into the Snowdrift clouds.
The song Harper played was simple and special. It felt like the tune that had been with her all of her life, like a story you speak without words. When the wind ceased, she found that the City of Clouds was far, far below her, and in front of her was the swirling red-and-gold tent of the circus. Only this time, the tent was perfectly still.
Harper blinked and saw that all around the hovering tents a flock of birds were fighting the pull of the wind. Fighting to hold the circus still. Fighting to give her time to reach her family. On the back of each bird was a storm-stirrer, and in the middle was the lightning-leader, keeping the storm at bay.
Skylar dived down on her white-winged eagle. “So it’s you!” She laughed. “You’re the little girl who escaped the circus.”
Harper smiled. “I suppose I am.”
“Keep playing your harp,” Skylar called. “The song is an enchantment—it will bring your parents to you.”
Harper felt the loveliness of the harp in her hands. As she began to play again, two black umbrellas came sailing toward her. Beneath them was a woman with long locks and sea-gray eyes, and a man with storm-cloud hair. Harper held her breath. Suddenly, she felt terribly shy. Midnight jumped from the top of the umbrella and curled around her shoulders. Bravely, Harper looked up and saw that her parents’ eyes were glistening with tears. Then she was crying, too. In the air above the Tall Apartment Block in the City of Clouds, the three of them embraced as a family once again.
Chapter Thirteen
HARPER’S FAMILY
Aurelia spoke first, in a voice of sea salt and summer. “We love you so much, Harper. We were never supposed to be apart this long.”
Hugo kissed the top of Harper’s head. “We left you the harp and the Scarlet Umbrella, so that when you played your song you could reach us.”
Harper gave a big sudden sigh. So many things made sense to her in that moment. She pulled the note Sassy had saved for all these years from her pocket. “Oh,” she said wistfully, “so that’s the missing word in the note.” And she read the sentence as it should be:
“So the harp was my true instrument all along.” Harper smiled.
Hugo nodded. “It’s the reason we named you Harper. We knew from when you were very young that you had a rare musical gift.”
“We wanted a musical name,” added Aurelia. It was the nicest reason for a name Harper had ever known.
“But the Fearsome Storm must have snatched the harp away from you,” Aurelia said sadly.
“Every cookie I baked was harp-shaped and contained the notes of your song,” Hugo explained.
“Every night I sang your tune and made it echo from the stars, hoping you would hear it,” Aurelia breathed.
“I did hear it,” Harper whispered. “It’s the melody of my dreams. But I couldn’t play it until I found the harp.” Her parents’ faces were pale with sorrow, but their eyes were hopeful.
“Come with me,” said Harper brightly. “Come and meet the people who’ve looked after me—the residents of the Tall Apartment Block.”
The three of them floated down as softly as a blossom to the crowd that stood ready to welcome them on the rooftop.
“Hugo! My darling boy, where on earth have you been?” cried Sassy, giving her nephew a huge hug and planting a kiss on Aurelia’s fair cheek.
“Thank you for taking care of our daughter,” said Aurelia, wrapping Sassy in her long slender arms.
Harper held up the little old harp proudly. “This is my true instrument,” she announced. “It’s the missing word from the note.”
“And the reason for your name,” smiled Hugo.
A hush of astonishment swept across the rooftop. “Makes sense,” Nate murmured to Ferdie, who nodded. “The answer was here in her name all along.”
Liesel was silent. The sight of her friend with her parents, holding the harp, was all the proof she needed that fairy tales were real, and that one day, one would find her.
“Oh, Harper, if only we’d known the missing word was ‘harp,’” gushed Great Aunt Sassy. “But at least you’ve found it now.”
“So if the umbrella can fly, is the harp magical, too?” asked Isabella.
Aurelia smiled and Nate, who was standing very close to her, could just make out the dazzle of her deep-sea beauty. “
The harp is enchanted,” Aurelia said. “But its spell only works when Harper plays her song.” Everyone smiled in amazement. “When she plays that one song, Hugo and I will come drifting from the clouds to wherever she is.”
Liesel’s eyes were as wide as saucers. “Will Harper live in the circus with you?” she asked.
Hugo frowned heavily. “Not yet,” he said, touching his daughter’s cheek and turning to gaze at her. “Harper, in the circus your musical gift would never be allowed to shine. Othello Grande would make you play piano until your nails were worn thin, or have you teach the cello to warthogs, or sing underwater like your mother. There would be no freedom.”
Harper listened and tried to understand. “So you wanted me to be free?” she asked.
Both her parents nodded. “If you do join the circus, we want it to be by choice, and not just because you were born into it,” said Aurelia.
Hugo swept her into a hug and murmured, “Any time you need us, play the harp and we’ll be here.”
“Will we be able to come and visit you in the clouds?” asked Ferdie.
The Wild Conductor emerged from the crowd and answered. “No.”
Everyone turned to stare at him and Hugo and Aurelia gave startled gasps. “Professor Armoury!” they uttered.
The Wild Conductor gave a sweeping bow, and then continued explaining. “The Circus is bound by magic. You are either in or out. It’s almost impossible to join, but even harder to leave.” Hugo and Aurelia stared at their daughter glumly. “But in the summer, when Othello Grande is away,” the Wild Conductor said slyly, “then I might just be able to get you in—if you happen to have a flying umbrella.”
Harper’s mind was suddenly alive with questions. There were so many things she wanted to ask. She grabbed her parents’ hands and together they crept beneath the canopy of storm blooms, where the three of them talked until the moon was high.
Chapter Fourteen
A HAPPY FAREWELL
As Feather-fern clouds crossed the night sky, Peter and Brigitte arrived with cups of hot cocoa. Harper, Aurelia, and Hugo came to join the other residents in the moonlight, and to sip cocoa and falling rain.
“I guess we’ll have to go soon,” said Aurelia gently. “The lightning-leader can’t hold off the storm forever.”
Harper nodded, and Hugo took her hand. “Before we go, will you play us a song?” he asked.
Harper smiled and let her friends lead her to the little stage Nate’s brothers had built. Ferdie, Nate, and Liesel passed her their instruments and, as Midnight joined her on the mandolin, Harper began to juggle and play once again. This time everyone clapped and cheered as if their hearts might burst with love. Hugo and Aurelia could not have been prouder.
As Harper played the final note on her piccolo flute, there was a whooshing of wings, and a girl who moved like lightning leaped from the sky and landed on the rooftop.
“Skylar!” cried the children, gathering around her. Hugo and Aurelia both bowed to the storm-stirrer, and the Wild Conductor tipped his hat.
“It’s almost time to leave,” said Skylar. “We can’t hold the circus still for much longer.”
“Harper, we wanted you to have this,” said Aurelia, lifting a baby bird out of her pocket. It was a small pink dove, the very same one that had mistaken Liesel’s hair for a nest.
“Her name is Storm,” said Hugo. “If you teach her your song, she’ll be able to sing to Skylar’s birds and send messages.”
Skylar turned a happy somersault. “So we can keep in touch!”
“Wait there,” cried Harper, and she dashed into Elsie Caraham’s little flat, where Memphis and Tallulah’s kittens were soundly sleeping. All of them had homes to go to, except one—a silver-and-black striped cat with sharp claws. At first glance she looked like a tabby. But if you knew cats the way they do in the City of Clouds, you would know that she was part Bengal—a hunter and adventurer.
Carefully, Harper picked up the sleeping kitten and carried it back to her parents. “She’ll be pretty fierce, but the circus birds are so huge that she would never be able to harm them,” she said, handing them the little cat.
Skylar could not stop smiling. “A circus kitten!” she laughed. “The first cat to live in the clouds.”
Aurelia covered her daughter’s face with kisses. “We’ll give her a name that reminds us of you—the girl with the Scarlet Umbrella.”
“How about Ruby Mischief?” said Elsie Caraham, winking at Harper. Everyone chuckled—the name was right for the little cat in every way.
“We’d better get back to the circus,” said Aurelia.
“Be brave, my little Harper,” said Hugo, cuddling Harper closely.
The residents of the Tall Apartment Block stepped back as Harper hugged her parents goodbye. It was all so strange and new. But somehow it was okay. Harper stood with her feet firmly on the ground and waved to the two dark umbrellas swinging away across the moon. Nate, Ferdie, and Liesel stood beside her, waving to Harper’s parents and their wonderful friend, the storm-stirrer.
Midnight slunk over to the man with the magpie-feather hair. Harper understood at once. She ran up to the Wild Conductor and threw her arms around him. “Thank you for helping me find my family,” she said with a laugh. The Wild Conductor was so surprised, he almost toppled over.
“I’ll help you get back into to the Circus of Dreams,” Harper promised.
“And so will we,” chorused her friends.
The Wild Conductor shrugged a little awkwardly, gave a farewell bow, and then vanished down the stairwell and into the City of Clouds.
Harper yawned—she was incredibly tired. Nate took her hand, and Smoke prowled beside her. Ferdie carried the Scarlet Umbrella and the harp. Liesel led the way, dancing back indoors with Storm the pink dove fluttering just ahead, and Midnight following three paces behind.
When they were all inside the little flat, Great Aunt Sassy fetched the birdcage from the bathroom. It had once held the Scarlet Umbrella, but now it made the perfect home for the small pink dove.
Harper wasn’t sure she liked the idea of birds in cages. “If I’m going to teach her my song, Storm will need to be happy,” she said, opening the cage door. The little bird flew straight into Liesel’s tangled hair and made a nest. “Maybe when we go on adventures, Storm could come too in your hair?” Liesel actually jumped for joy.
The wind whistled softly outside, a Summer-dew rain kissed the rooftop, and somewhere far off, a clock chimed. It really was very late. The four children, the cat, the wolf, and the little pink dove drew close and said good night. Then the poetic boy with the serious scarf and the small grubby girl who dreamed of dark forests skipped away down the stairs to floor five. And the boy who moved as softly as an angel headed to floor ten, a silvery wolf at his side.
Then the girl with the rare musical gift curled up in bed, her beloved Midnight purring beside her and Storm singing from her open cage.
She listened to the clicking of her fabulous Great Aunt Sassy’s sewing machine and she knew in her heart that no matter how magical the circus was, the Tall Apartment Block in the City of Clouds was where she belonged.
Outside Harper’s window the rain fell like a heartbeat and stars twinkled through a Feather-fern cloud. Harper stroked the strings of the little harp. At last I’ve found my true instrument, she thought. At last I can play my dream song. And at last I’ve found my family. She tucked the little Harp under her pillow, closed her eyes, and fell into a deep, deep sleep.
Far away in the sky, in a circus tent, Hugo and Aurelia lay down to sleep. For the first time since the Fearsome Storm they were at peace. They had thought of Harper night after night, but when they did so now, she met them in their dreams and they sailed through the skies together, to the Circus of Dreams and beyond.
About the Author
Cerrie Burnell is a presenter, actress, and writer, best known for her work in British children’s TV. She was featured in the Guardian’s 2011 list of the one hun
dred most inspirational women. She lives in the United Kingdom.
About the Illustrator
Laura Ellen Anderson is the creator of the Evil Emperor Penguin comic and the illustrator for many books including the Witch Wars series. She lives in the United Kingdom.
Also look out for . . .
Harper and the Circus of Dreams Page 4