Read Online Mistress of Night and Dawn by Vina Jackson - Free Book Online

boat,’ she replied.
    ‘We’ll see,’ he answered, and continued to chip delicately away on the face of his wooden model.
    Ginger was utterly terrified of heights. He had never left England, and nor had he any desire to take the path that most of his friends in the funfair did and move from ticket collecting to either performing on stilts or working on the highly paid maintenance crews who looked after the Ferris wheels and other machinery whilst balancing on cherry pickers or dangling from harnesses in mid-air.
    It was this fear that drove him to improve his skill working with rigging, but only from the safety of the ground. He was an expert with knots and with tossing coils of rope to his colleagues who worked above him.
    ‘Some friends of mine from the fair are having a party next weekend. In Bristol,’ Ginger continued, adeptly changing the subject. ‘A few performers who studied in America will be there. They’re doing a UK tour. Why don’t you both come? And you could make it a sort of farewell party, also?’
    Siv began flipping her legs back and forward rhythmically so that the rope began to swing.
    ‘I’m not sure that being around funfair people would help Aurelia,’ Siv replied. ‘It will just make her think of Mr No Name.’
    Without school to distract her, and with work only on Saturday mornings and one afternoon during the week, Aurelia had gradually sunk further and further into a sort of lethargic depression. She feared worrying her godparents by telling them about her mystery benefactor, so instead she had arranged for Gwillam Irving, the lawyer, to call Laura and John and convince them that they had inherited a sum of money from a much distant, now-deceased relative from a side of the family Aurelia knew they had both totally lost contact with. It was a white lie, possibly not even far from the truth. On learning the news, the elated pair had immediately set aside a substantial part of the money for Aurelia’s travel and university fees, and cancelled their plans to remortgage to cover the expense of sending her abroad.
    The kindly old lawyer had been delighted to carry out the deception, and the trick had cemented Aurelia in his mind as his favourite client. Not only was she young and pretty and the whole situation intriguing, but the girl was a refreshing change from the usual egotistic, stuffy bores that he normally dealt with when tasked with the tedious problem of administrating wealth to heirs and other beneficiaries.
    Aurelia, though, was uncomfortable about lying to her godparents, and she continued to flit indecisively between excitement at the upcoming trip abroad and an unsettling feeling that she should stay in England, as if the stranger’s kiss had somehow anchored her here.
    ‘Do you think the two are connected in some way?’ Siv asked Ginger when Aurelia was out of earshot. Besides Siv, Ginger was the only person who knew about both Aurelia’s mystery windfall and the kiss.
    ‘But surely the money must have been donated by a relative,’ he replied. ‘Her real parents, perhaps. And that would make the kissing guy her . . . well, that just wouldn’t be right. At any rate,’ he concluded, ‘it would do her good to take her mind off it all.’
    Siv agreed, and Aurelia allowed herself to be talked into attending the party, although she was still feeling strangely out of sorts.
    It was already dark when they left for Bristol. Both had spent considerable time packing their chosen outfits, as it was to be fancy dress.
    ‘Fairy tales? What kind of theme is that for a bunch of dudes?’ Siv had asked Ginger, when he had advised her of the dress code.
    ‘They’re not your typical dudes,’ Ginger replied.
    Siv had gone as one of the Lost Boys from Peter Pan , in a pair of cut off-brown leggings and her short hair gelled up into a mohawk. Aurelia had opted for Little Red Riding Hood, although it had taken her most of the afternoon to curl her hair into ringlets.
    ‘Damn,’ she