The Girl of Ink & Stars Read Free Page A

with their beautiful colours and falling-star-shine, but they scared Pep too much for me to like them.
    â€˜Papa’s let me pick the colours. There’re gold ones, a blue one, two red ones . . .’
    I let Lupe’s voice wash over me as we took our shortcut across the fields. She was probably right. Even if Cata had been caught, surely the Governor’s men wouldn’t have thrown a girl into the Dédalo just for stealing fruit? I promised myself I’d be extra nice to Cata at school, maybe even invite her to watch Lupe’s birthday fireworks from my garden. ‘Oh, and you haven’t seen this,’ said Lupe, stopping suddenly and jerking me to a halt.
    â€˜What?’
    Lupe untucked a thick gold chain from her dress and held it out on her palm. A gold locket glinted in the sunlight, engraved with a shape I recognized.
    â€˜That’s Afrik, where Papa is from,’ said Lupe. ‘He gave it to me for my birthday. It was my grandmother’s.’
    â€˜What’s inside?’
    Lupe shrugged. ‘Da says I’m not allowed to open it until I’m older. He’s the only one with the key.’
    â€˜It’s lovely.’
    â€˜It’s heavy,’ said Lupe. ‘But I like it. It was all I got, though.’
    She looked at me expectantly. I tried to pretend I didn’t know what she was waiting for, but she was grinning sostupidly I couldn’t keep it up. I took out a scroll from my satchel.
    â€˜Happy birthday,’ I said, grinning too.
    â€˜A map! Marked with an X !’
    It was a very simple map, with no star lines and a compass that was only an arrow with an N on the end. I hadn’t had time to make it a proper hunt with lots of clues.
    â€˜Treasure.’ I squeezed Lupe’s fingers.
    â€˜No point just standing there,’ Lupe shouted, bounding ahead. ‘Race you!’
    With her long legs Lupe should have been the favourite, but she was as uncoordinated as a one-legged rabbit and so we ran together. My lungs filled as I ran across the dry field, bag slapping my side.
    Cata will be at school, Lupe will get her dragon fruit, and everything will be all right .
    At last Lupe reached the X , the abandoned rabbit warren where Pablo had hidden the present for me. Inside sat a small twist of blue paper. She unwrapped the simple plaited bracelet, made with leftover thread I had begged from Masha. Woven in amongst the multi-coloured strands was a single thread of gold I had stolen from Da’s study. He never made special maps any more, so I didn’t think he would notice.
    â€˜I love it!’ Lupe wound it around her wrist and I tied the knot. ‘It’s my favourite present.’
    Only Lupe would prefer a scrappy piece of string to a pure gold locket. It was another thing I liked about her.
    â€˜Come on,’ I said, taking her sweaty palm and pulling her towards the low rectangle of school. Being late for the first day might be all right for Lupe Adori, but Señora Feliz would not forgive plain old Isabella Riosse so easily.
    We broke into another run, hoping not to hear the bell, and arrived in a dead heat, panting and laughing, stitches needling our sides.
    â€˜I… won!’ Lupe gasped.
    â€˜No… me! I… beat… you.’
    â€˜Girls!’ Señora Feliz appeared at the school door, her face sour as a lemon. When she recognized Lupe, her face went as sour as two lemons. ‘Señorita Adori! You should have been told, I sent someone straight to your father—’
    â€˜What?’ Lupe frowned. ‘Why?’
    â€˜There’s been a— Well, your father will tell you, I’m sure. School is closed today.’
    â€˜Closed?’ I said, stupidly. ‘But why?’
    â€˜Enough questions!’ snapped the teacher, then her face drained as her eyes fixed on something behind us.
    We turned to see a carriage drawn by a pair of dun stallions picking its way slowly