Stardust Read Free Page A

drying on the line. ‘You two look very serious,’ she smiled. ‘What are you talking about?’
    â€˜Nothing,’ said Lucy quickly.

    Mrs Evans raised her eyebrows. ‘Nothing you’re going to tell
me
anyway.’ She shook her head. ‘Don’t worry. I remember what it’s like to be ten.’ She took the washing down and went back inside.
    Lucy sighed and rubbed her hands over her face. ‘What would she say if she knew?’
    Allegra looked at her sympathetically. ‘It must be hard not being able to talk about it with anyone here.’
    Lucy nodded. When she had first become a stardust spirit she had really liked having something that was all hers and that her family knew nothing about, but now she couldn’t help wishing she could tell them about it. It was all so scary.
    â€˜Should we go to my house?’ Allegrasaid. ‘Mum said Joanna and Robyn might call in this morning.’
    Lucy remembered Xanthe mentioning her friend, Joanna and her daughter, Robyn. ‘OK,’ she said. ‘So what’s Robyn like?’ she asked as they covered up Thumper’s run and went next door.
    â€˜Nice, I think,’ Allegra replied. ‘But I haven’t seen her since we were about six. Joanna’s always moving round the country with her job. She works for a company that makes medicines. Xanthe said she and Robyn are probably only staying here for a few months.’
    A smart grey sports car was in the driveway.
    â€˜They’re here!’ Allegra said. She and Lucy hurried inside. Two people were sitting at the kitchen table with Xanthe –a woman with dark-red, shoulder-length hair and a girl with long chestnut-brown hair that was similar in colour to Lucy’s. They both looked very smart. The woman was wearing a pair of cream trousers and matching jacket with a brown camisole top underneath. The girl had on a pair of designer jeans, strappy sandals and a skinny white top with a star picked out in jewels on the front. Her hair was straightened and shiny and she was wearing lipgloss and mascara. Lucy looked down at her own jeans, old trainers and faded green T-shirt and felt very scruffy in comparison.
    â€˜Hi, girls,’ Xanthe said with her usual warm smile. ‘This is Joanna and Robyn.’
    Joanna kissed Allegra and then while Allegra and Robyn said hello, Joanna took Lucy’s hand. ‘It’s so lovely to meetyou, Lucy,’ she said warmly. ‘Xanthe’s been telling me all about you. So you are the Last of the Summer Spirits,’ she said, looking her up and down as if she couldn’t quite believe it.
    Lucy blushed and nodded.
    â€˜Sorry,’ Joanna said quickly. ‘I didn’t mean to embarrass you. It’s just so amazing to think you have so much power and you’re only just Robyn’s age. Say hi to Lucy, Robyn.’
    Robyn stepped forward. ‘Hi, Lucy.’ Her green eyes held a sparkle of fun. ‘It’s good to meet you. Xanthe’s been telling us about the woods you go to. They sound great. She said there are otters and dormice there.’
    â€˜Yeah,’ said Lucy eagerly. ‘And buzzards and badgers.’

    â€˜Cool. I can’t wait to visit,’ Robyn said.
    â€˜What type of stardust spirit are you?’ asked Lucy.
    â€˜Summer, like you,’ Robyn replied. ‘So’s Mum.’
    â€˜I’m sure you three don’t want to sit here listening to Jo and I catch up,’ Xanthe said. ‘Why don’t you take some biscuits upstairs?’
    Allegra nodded. ‘Come on, I’ll showyou my room!’ she said to Robyn.
    They went upstairs with a packet of chocolate biscuits. Robyn was really good fun and had lots of stories to tell of the countries and places she had stayed in and of the stardust groups she had been part of. By the time she and her mum left at lunchtime to go back to the apartment they were renting in the nearby town, Lucy