Magic Kitten: A Circus Wish (4 page)

‘You might say that sawdust is in my blood!’ Lena said proudly.

‘Sounds uncomfortable!’ Jenny exclaimed, as everyone laughed.

Flame and Presto had finished eating and were curled up together on the sofa. When it was time to leave, Sadie had to tickle Flame under the chin to wake him up.

‘You will come again, won’t you?’ Lena asked as the girls were about to leave.

‘We’d love to, thanks a lot!’ Sadie said eagerly.

She expected Jenny to say the same, but her friend remained unusually silent as they left the trailer.

Sadie, Jenny and Flame retraced their steps across the yard. The acrobats were
still practising. There was a sheen of sweat on their bodies. Sadie felt like she could have watched them forever.

As they walked back home, Sadie was relieved that Jenny seemed to have cheered up. She had noticed how quiet she had been at Lena’s. She thought about what she might get Jenny for her birthday in a few days.

‘I
just need to pop to the shops,’ Sadie told her. ‘Why don’t you go on without me?’

‘OΚ. I’ll see you on Monday,’ Jenny said.

‘I’ll call for you before school. And don’t forget we’re going to circus youth club afterwards!’ Sadie reminded her.

‘As if you’d let me forget! See you!’ Jenny walked away.

After buying Flame’s cat food, Sadie realized that she didn’t have much money for Jenny’s present. She wandered around the shelves, looking for something she could afford.

Flame poked his head out of her bag and watched Sadie pick up a big notebook with sequins and beads on the cover.

‘Oh, that’s gorgeous.’ Sadie looked at
the notebook for a moment and then put it back reluctantly.

Flame frowned. ‘Is something wrong?’

‘No. It’s just that Jenny would have loved that book.’ She picked up a smaller plain notebook and a purple pen, with a pink heart that lit up when you used it. ‘This book’s not as nice. But it’s all I can afford. I hope Jenny won’t mind.’

As she went to pay for the notebook and pen, Sadie didn’t see the thoughtful look on Flame’s face.

When Sadie reached home, she opened the front door carefully. She could hear her parents talking in the kitchen. Creeping upstairs, she hid the tins of cat food in the bottom of her wardrobe and put the plastic carrier
with Jenny’s present inside on her bed.

Flame jumped up and curled up on the duvet. He yawned, showing his little sharp teeth.

‘I expect you’re ready for a nap after those sardines. I’ll see you later.’ Sadie patted him and went downstairs to the kitchen.

Her mum was reading the paper, while her dad boiled the kettle for hot chocolate.

‘Hello, love. I didn’t hear you come in,’ Mr Allen said. ‘Did you and Jenny have a good time?’

‘The best! You’ll never guess where we’ve been.’ Sadie slipped into a chair next to her mum. She told them about meeting Lena’s parents. ‘We had sandwiches and cake. And there were
even sardines for…’ she broke off. She had just been about to mention Flame! ‘… for me,’ she said hurriedly.

Her mum frowned. ‘You hate sardines!’

‘I don’t any more. I love them, yum yum,’ Sadie fibbed madly. ‘Anyway,’ she rushed on. ‘We looked through this amazing scrapbook with cuttings and –’

Suddenly there was the most enormous thud from upstairs.

Sadie froze.

Her dad stopped in the middle of stirring hot water into chocolate powder. ‘What was that?’

‘Er… What? I didn’t hear anything,’ Sadie said, her heart thumping.

Her dad eyed her suspiciously. ‘That
noise. It came from your bedroom. I’d better go and have a look.’

‘No!’ Sadie burst out. What if Flame was asleep and didn’t have time to make himself invisible? ‘I mean, I’ll go first!’

‘Sadie?’ Mr Allen called after his daughter as she shot out of the kitchen.

Sadie felt an unusual warm tingling down her spine as she hurtled up the stairs two at a time. She didn’t have time to think about it – her dad was right behind her. Yanking open the bedroom door, she almost threw herself inside, and then leaned against it to hold it shut.

‘Oh, no!’ she gasped. How on earth was she going to explain this?

Chapter
* FOUR *

Flame stood on the bed, his black coat fizzing with silver sparks and his whiskers crackling with electricity.

The plastic bag with Jenny’s notebook inside lay on the floor, where it had fallen. Sadie gasped. No wonder it had made such a noise. The bag was now as big as a bedside rug! Starbursts
of coloured glitter sprayed out of it in all directions.

There was no time for explanations.

‘Dad’s coming! Do something!’ she hissed at Flame.

Flame looked a little hurt, but waved his paw towards the enormous bag.

Instantly the bag shrank and the sprays of coloured glitter whizzed back towards Flame’s paw.

‘Sadie?’ Her dad banged on her

bedroom door. ‘Open up! Why are you holding this door shut?’

‘Flame!’ Sadie exclaimed.

Flame vanished. There was only a tiny dent in the quilt where his invisible little form lay.

‘Just give me a minute!’ Sadie sang out. She thought quickly. Dashing over to a cupboard, she dragged out an armful of clothes and scattered them on the floor.

The door banged open and her dad stepped inside. ‘What’s going on in here?’ he demanded.

Sadie turned round and looked at him innocently. ‘What? Oh, you mean that noise? The bag with Jenny’s present inside slid on to the floor.’

Her dad glanced at it. ‘It made a very
loud noise for such a small bag. Why did you hold the door closed?’

‘I was… er… trying to put this stuff away I didn’t want you to see how messy my room was.’ Sadie jammed a T-shirt back into the cupboard.

Mr Allen rubbed his nose. His eyes started to water. ‘Ah-choo!’ he sneezed.

‘It must be all the dust in here,’ Sadie said quickly, starting to edge him out of the room. ‘I’ll get the hoover.’

Mr Allen’s eyes almost popped out of his head. ‘Hoover? Ah-choo! Are you sure you’re feeling OK?’

‘I’m fine. I’m great. Hoovering is no big deal, you know!’ Sadie gabbled, standing in the doorway. She watched until she was certain he had gone, before she went back in and collapsed
on to the bed. ‘Phew! That was much too close.’

Flame padded across the bed and rubbed his head apologetically against Sadie’s arm. ‘I was trying to make Jenny’s present more special. But I used too much magic and it grew extra big!’ he mewed softly.

Sadie couldn’t help laughing. ‘You can say that again! Never mind. Everything’s back to normal now.’

Flame looked surprised. ‘You are not angry?’

Sadie stroked his soft little ears. ‘I could never be angry with you. You were only trying to help.’

She bent down to pick up the carrier bag and then looked inside. ‘Oh!’ she gasped. The small plain notebook had
gone. In its place was a larger version in pink velvet and decorated with shiny beads and purple thread. ‘It’s gorgeous! It even matches the pen. Jenny’s going to adore this. Thanks ever so much, Flame!’

‘I really want to work in the circus when I’m old enough,’ Sadie confided to Jenny as they left school that day for the circus youth group.

Flame’s head poked out of Sadie’s bag, taking in everything with his big emerald eyes.

‘Working in the circus?’ Jenny said, giggling. ‘What are you going to call yourself? The Flying Sadie? More like the Flopping-about Sadie, I should think!’ She galloped down the path,
waving her arms up and down. ‘Look at me, I’m a famous trapeze artist!’ she said in a snooty voice before collapsing in fits of laughter.

Sadie couldn’t help but laugh. Jenny did look hilarious prancing about like that. But she wished she hadn’t said anything now.

‘I don’t mean I want to work in the circus now!’ she said when Jenny had stopped laughing. ‘That
would
be stupid. I know I’d have to work really hard to get anywhere near good enough. But if Lena can do it, so can I. Everyone has to start somewhere, don’t they?’

‘Can’t we talk about something else for a change?’ Jenny grumbled.

Sadie stared at her friend in surprise, taken aback. She gave Jenny a sheepish
grin. ‘Sorry. I suppose I have been going on a bit, haven’t I? Just tell me to shut up if I go on circus overload.’

Sadie felt a bit nervous as they reached the circus youth club. Lots of kids had turned up and the place was crowded.

‘Come on, Flame. Let’s find somewhere to get changed,’ Sadie said, walking across the room with Flame in her arms.

‘Fancy talking to a kitten. As if it’s going to answer her!’ a voice jeered.

It was Grace Davies, a loud girl who was always messing about in class.

Sadie felt herself going red. ‘Why are you bothered? I wasn’t talking to you!’ she said.

Grace flushed but remained silent. Someone tittered. Sadie saw Jenny trying not to laugh as she stood up.

‘Let’s go and get changed.’ Jenny linked arms with Sadie. ‘Sorry I was moody earlier.’

‘That’s OK. I’m really glad you’re here,’ Sadie said as they strolled across the room together.

‘Really?’ Jenny looked uncertain.

‘You’re my best friend, aren’t you?’
Sadie said happily. ‘It wouldn’t be half as much fun without you.’

‘Hi, Sadie! Hi, Jenny!’ Lena called as the girls returned from getting changed. Presto was at her heels. ‘Oh, good, you’ve brought Flame with you. I was hoping you would.’

As Sadie put Flame down, Presto gave an eager little yap. Flame purred loudly and Presto wagged his tail as they sniffed each other.

Victor Tomani clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. ‘Welcome! Would you all gather round? I want a quick word about the aims of the youth club and then we’ll move on to doing some warm-ups.’

‘I think I might faint with
excitement,’ Grace boomed, patting her mouth and faking a yawn.

Jenny chuckled. ‘Grace’s a riot, isn’t she?’

‘No!’ Sadie said, annoyed. ‘I don’t know why she bothered to come.’

‘She doesn’t mean anything,’ Jenny said.

‘If you ask me, she’s a real pain. I came here to learn stuff, not listen to her foghorn voice!’ Sadie grumbled.

Jenny looked at her. ‘I thought we came to have fun,’ she said quietly.