Bromley’s Circus had arrived.
While down on her hands and knees cleaning up the broken vase and flowers, Tilly pondered Rodger’s suggestion of the night before. Once her work was finished, she decided, she would bundle up in her room and not come out for the whole week. And she would ask Mrs. Gregson for tea. Perhaps she would read the book Daphne had lent her.
Her thoughts stopped abruptly when she heard a noise coming from underneath the wooden floorboards. It sounded like scratching and . . . something else. Whispering. Scratches and whispers.
Tilly pressed her ear to the floor, and the whispering got louder, though she couldn’t pick out any specific words. The noise sounded familiar, as if she had heard it once a long time ago. But it ended abruptly when Lord Hollingberry stepped suddenly into the room.
“Tilly? Why are you still here?” The old man looked around the parlor and smiled. “My dear wife loved this room.” The smile faded a little as he looked at Tilly again. “Come along now; leave the cleaning for another time. Do you remember the conversation we had yesterday?”
Tilly gulped and scrambled to her feet, trying to think of a way to escape Lord Hollingberry’s question. “I—I do, sir.”
As she stepped into the foyer, he closed the door behind her and spoke very quietly, as if afraid someone might overhear. “My dear, I know something happened to make you afraid of the Circus. It is a strange place, after all. But I need you to suppress that fear and do something for me.”
Tilly was already shaking her head frantically, her face pale. “I’m sorry, sir, but I can’t. I just can’t.”
Once more, Lord Hollingberry’s voice and manner became strangely young. “What if I told you that a man’s fate rests in your hands?”
“Sir, please, you aren’t making any sense—”
“When have I ever lied to you? I’ve taken you in, given you a home, and treated you with as much kindness and consideration as you could wish. Now grant me this one favor,” he said just above a whisper. “I’m only asking you to go to the Circus, find Indigo Bromley, and tell him you must see the Moon Master to deliver this letter from me. It’s as simple as that.”
Lord Hollingberry stretched out his hand to Tilly, offering her an ivory letter with a midnight-blue wax seal.
Tilly shook her head. “I’m sorry, I—”
“Tilly. What is happening right here, right now, is bigger than your fear. Be brave. I will make sure you are protected from any harm.”
It was a simple task. Take the letter, go to Indigo Bromley, and give the letter to the Moon Master. Simple.
And yet she was terrified.
But Lord Hollingberry had been so good to her. She should stop complaining and complete this small task! With this thought firmly planted in her brain, Tilly held out her hand and allowed Lord Hollingberry to place that crisp letter in her palm.
“Thank you, Tilly. Thank you so very much.” Lord Hollingberry turned to leave, but she stopped him with a question.
“Why can’t you take it, sir?”
The lord slowly looked at her over his shoulder, a deep pool of sadness rippling in his eyes. “I was banished from Bromley’s Circus a long time ago.”
With that, he left.
Tilly walked slowly down to her room, every step more resistant than the last. She inspected the letter and wondered what sort of message was scribbled within it. Then she looked in her mirror, folding back the collar of her maid’s uniform. A long white scar ran from her neck down to her collar bone.
She let out a sob and sat on her bed. Why had she agreed to go back?
5
“Where is my blasted necktie?”
Indigo Bromley always made doubly certain his personal wagon was set up behind the main tent in order to best avoid the Winslow residents rushing to buy Circus wares. But at present he couldn’t think about his Circus. A weightier matter consumed all thought: He was missing his peacock necktie with its emerald pin, and a magician cannot be a magician if he is not properly dressed.
“Scatter! Scatter, come here this instant!” Bromley looked in his mirror and made sure every hair of his black beard was where it should be. Delicately he twirled the tips of his mustache. Then he placed his dangling ruby-and-diamond earring in his right ear. “Scatter! Where is that little—”
“I’m afraid you cannot disturb Indigo Bromley.” The guard outside his door spoke in a low grumble.
“Oh, but I must see him!” A girl’s voice replied. “It’s a matter of the utmost importance!”
“Sorry, miss. Have you seen the magic pumpkin carvings? You might enjoy that.”
“Please, Lord Hollingberry sent me!”
Indigo Bromley stopped searching for his necktie and peeked around his curtain at the girl outside. She was young. Pretty, too, and she looked absolutely petrified.
Hoping to make a dramatic entrance even without his necktie, Indigo Bromley flung open the curtains of his wagon and flared out his long, green-and-black, sparkling coattails.
“Let her in, Dudlow,” he said in a deep, unidentifiable accent. With a shrug, Dudlow let the girl step into the wagon. Bromley closed the curtains again and turned to her, twirling his mustache absentmindedly. “And what is the beautiful lady’s name?” He bowed and grasped her fingertips, planting a kiss on them.
She snatched her hand away. “Higgins,” she said in a trembling voice. “Tilly Higgins. Lord Hollingberry sent me. I have a letter, you see.” Her hand shaking, she pulled out a letter with the Hollingberry seal on it.
“Hmm.” Indigo Bromley extended a ring-clad hand to take it, but Tilly jerked the letter out of his reach.
“M—my instructions were to show it to the Moon Master. No one else.”
Bromley raised an already-arched eyebrow. “I see. I don’t think you’ll like him very much. You’re already quite frightened about something, and he’ll only scare you further.”
Tucking the letter away, Tilly took a deep breath. “But I still must deliver the letter to him.”
“Very well.” Indigo Bromley turned away from her. “Scatter!” He bellowed out, making Tilly jump. “Jittery, aren’t you?” The magician smirked.
“Yes sir.” Tilly lowered her gaze and hoped Bromley would hurry and take her where she needed to go. She heard a rustling noise beneath the wagon. Looking down, she saw a hole in the floor. The rustling noise got louder until a little white head poked up from the hole. Tilly jumped backwards and knocked into Indigo Bromley’s full-length mirror, nearly sending it crashing to the ground.
“Good heavens, girl, watch what you’re doing!” Bromley barked, and then addressed the white mouse climbing up from the hole in his floor. “Scatter. It’s about time you got here.”
The mouse chattered then looked at Tilly almost apologetically.
“Take the girl to the Moon Master. And find my necktie!”
With a chirp, Scatter gestured with its tiny pink paw for Tilly to follow. She didn’t move.
“What’s the matter, girl?” Bromley looked exasperated.
“I’m not . . . not fond of . . . rodents.” She wrung her hands and glanced at the mouse again.
“Neither am I. Now go with Scatter to the Moon Master. Or you can give me the letter.”
Tilly didn’t respond. Steeling herself, she followed Scatter from the wagon and past the guard to the main tent.
This tent was as gigantic as she remembered, towering high above the village below the meadow. Its curtains were open wide as if they wanted to embrace each visitor, but Tilly didn’t feel up to a hug. It was too crowded inside, and she only wanted to get away from the noise and the pushy vendors. The mouse bounded inside then turned to look at her with his glistening black eyes. When she didn’t move, he sat on his haunches and began to clean his whiskers.
“Hello, Tilly! Beautiful day, isn’t it?” the village folk asked as they passed her and strolled into the Circus. Tilly nodded and smiled at each one, knowing she must look silly standing there outside the te
nt, quivering with nerves.
Closing her eyes, she tried to forget about the small but terribly powerful creature that had attacked her. It had been nighttime that first time she came, so perhaps the creature was nocturnal. Or maybe, after all these years, it was dead.
Yes, it was surely dead, she told herself and plunged into the tent. She clutched the letter tightly inside her dress pocket and followed Scatter deeper into the lights and shadows of the Circus.
The noise of vendors calling to village folk and the villagers calling back was deafening. Her ears felt suffocated by the noises, and she ran to keep up with the mouse, which wound between peoples’ legs and scurried under booths.
“Scatter! You’re going too—Oh, excuse me!” Tilly apologized when she bumped into a man and sent his hat flying to the grass.
“Quite all right,” the man grumbled as he placed the hat back on his head, then watched in astonishment as she turned from him to follow a small white mouse through the thick crowd.
Scatter led her, weaving across the length of the Circus tent until they reached its farthest and darkest corner. Tilly glanced around, wondering where the Moon Master could possibly be. At least it was quiet in this area. There was no interesting act or delicious food to attract anyone. In fact, there was nothing in the corner at all.
But then, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness, Tilly noticed a pair of green curtains that reminded her of a dense forest covering the entrance of a small black wagon. The mouse climbed up to it and scurried underneath the curtains, leaving Tilly to assume she should follow. She spread the silk apart cautiously and peeked inside.
“Hello?” She slid between the curtains and entered the black wagon, her eyes opening wide as she looked around. Candles lit up the small space, illuminating the piles of velvet ribbons distributed about the room. Each ribbon was more unique than the last, and Tilly walked closer to inspect them. Gems she had never seen before inlaid every strip, making them finer than the most expensive ribbons one could find at a dress shop. There were stones as black as night sewn into a ribbon the color of an aged rose. Tilly reached out her hand to touch it.
“I believe you’ve entered the wrong wagon.”
She jerked her hand back like a child caught stealing a cookie and looked around for the speaker. A man who must have been standing in a back corner of the wagon now slowly approached her. “Are you lost?” he asked with a voice that reminded her of chocolate and caramel mixed together.
“I . . .” Tilly stared up at the strange, tall form before her and wondered how he could stand so perfectly straight in such a small space. He was painfully thin, and his dark clothes hung on his gaunt frame, making him appear willowy and fragile. Yet something about the way he held himself made Tilly certain he was anything but fragile. His pale face was young, though he was older than Tilly. Chestnut hair hung in his wintry grey eyes, just brushing his shoulders when he tilted his head to study Tilly.
“Are you quite well?”
Tilly gathered herself and blinked several times. “Y—yes. I’m fine. Are you the Moon Master?”
His eyes narrowed. “Who’s asking?” There was a hint of hostility in his voice.
“My name is Tilly Higgins. Lord Hollingberry sent me. I have a letter.” She held out the letter to him, making certain he could see the Hollingberry seal.
“Lord Hollingberry?” He took the letter gently from her grasp and opened it a bit awkwardly with one hand. His eyes scanned the paper several times before he folded and held it back out to her.
“Don’t you want to keep it?” Tilly looked from him to the letter.
“I have no need to.” He watched as she took the letter from him and placed it back in her pocket.
“I’ll just . . . I’ll just be going now.” Feeling awkward, Tilly took a step backwards and startled when something dashed past her feet. Scatter climbed up to the Moon Master’s shoulder and perched there like a proper parrot. Placing his paws on either side of his Master’s ear, the mouse leaned in and whispered. The Moon Master smirked and patted Scatter’s head with one finger.
“Well, we won’t tell him you’ve made it into a nest, will we?”
Tilly turned to leave, giving the lovely ribbons one last glance.
“Wait.”
She turned around when the Moon Master spoke to her.
“Take a ribbon, please, Tilly Higgins.” He gestured generously.
Even though her task was accomplished—even though she wanted nothing more than to escape the Circus—Tilly paused and looked at the beauty before her. Giving the Moon Master a cautious glance, she fingered a yellow ribbon with green gems.
“May I?” From a near pile he selected a pair of ribbons the color of a frosted violet with gems that shone like stars. “These are my favorite.” He held the two ribbons out to her.
“Thank you. They’re lovely.” Tilly took them and rubbed the silkiness between her fingers. She could not help noticing that he only ever used one hand.
“Have we met before, Miss Higgins?”
The Moon Master’s question shocked Tilly, and she looked sharply up at him. “No. We haven’t,” she said a bit more emphatically than she meant to. “I never come to the Circus. I only came now because Lord Hollingberry requested it of me.”
“I see. Forgive me if I offended you.” He dipped his head graciously and then nodded to the curtains. “Make your escape. I know you’re dying to leave.”
Without further ado, Tilly left the Moon Master and the mouse on his shoulder, suddenly feeling claustrophobic.
When the curtains were closed again, the Moon Master sat down in his rickety chair, placing his head in one palm. “I scared her away, Scatter. I spoke too soon.”
The mouse patted his cheek.
“Follow her. Make certain she is safe.”
With a loyal chirp, the mouse darted off his master’s shoulder and followed the young girl, who was running towards the safety of Winslow village.
6
Once well away from Bromley’s Circus, Tilly stopped to catch her breath, sitting down in the meadow’s grass. The sun was setting behind the Circus tent. She couldn’t believe she had gone back. The day seemed too surreal to comprehend. But, at Lord Hollingberry’s request, she had returned to the Circus, and she had seen the Moon Master. The task was done.
Why had he seemed to recognize her? And what was Lord Hollingberry’s connection to the strange Moon Master? Tilly felt her dress pocket, remembering the letter tucked inside, waiting to be read. Little caring whether or not she was doing the right thing, she pulled it out and fingered the broken seal.
“Tilly! What are you doing here?”
She shoved the letter back into hiding and looked up at Rodger approaching with his two little sisters. Rising, she brushed herself off, trying very hard not to look guilty. “Hello, Rodger. I’m just on my way back to Winslow Manor.” She offered the two girls clinging to his hands a shaky smile then started to walk past them.
“Wait a moment.” Rodger let go of his sisters and stopped her. “Just last night you were upset about the Circus, and now here you are, sitting in Bromley Meadow. What made you change your mind?”
It was a reasonable question, but Tilly certainly didn’t feel like answering, nor did she think it was right to. After all, she didn’t have all the answers; Lord Hollingberry did.
“I was running an errand. Please, Rodger. I don’t want to talk about it.”
Rodger pursed his lips and watched her walk away, noticing that she took a shuddery breath. Glancing towards the Circus, he saw Ellen waving at him. He waved back, then leaned down to his sisters and said, “Girls, see Ellen over there? Go to her, and she’ll take you around the Circus. I’ll be right back.” Then he ran to catch up with Tilly.
“Mind if I walk you home?” He appeared beside her and sauntered along, hands in pockets.
Tilly turned to him, somewhat aggravated. “Not today, Rodger. Go be with your sisters.” She walked faster, but Rodger sped u
p and dodged in front of her, walking backwards.
“Well, I feel like walking you home. Is that all right?”
Tilly sighed, truly not wanting his company at the moment. “If you wish.”
Rodger grinned triumphantly. They made quick progress back to Winslow Manor since Tilly set such a fast pace. Neither one said a word until they reached their destination.
When they stood at the back entrance, Tilly turned to Rodger. “Well, I’m here, safe and sound. Go back to your sisters, Rodger.” She opened the door, but Rodger drew it shut again. She sighed. “What now?”
“I want to make sure you’re all right.” He gazed upon her with all the concern in the world, which only made Tilly angry.
“Do you?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “Fine. I’m not all right. In fact, I’ve had a completely horrible day, and I don’t want to talk about it. I’ve been used, and I’ve been scared, and I just want to be left alone.”
Rodger took a step closer, a strange expression on his face. Then he reached out and gently took her hand. Tilly pulled half-heartedly away, only making his grip tighten. “In case you didn’t notice, Tilly, I care about you, and I want to be sure you’re safe.”
“Stop it, Rodger! You’re being ridiculous.” She pulled away again.
“Very well.” He let go of her and grinned, albeit ruefully. “I’ll leave you alone. Just promise me you’ll take care of yourself.”
Tilly nodded. Then she rushed inside, closed the door, and leaned her back against it, breathing hard. When she cautiously peeked out the window, Rodger still stood there gazing at the spot where she had been. Then he turned back towards the meadow without the usual jaunty spring in his step.
Without wasting another minute, Tilly sped up two flights of stairs to Lord Hollingberry’s study, only just stopped herself from barging in, and raised her fist to knock on the door. She hesitated, however, when she heard voices from within the room.
“She’s back. It’s time.” That was Lord Hollingberry’s voice.
The Moon Master's Ball Page 3