Olivia's Winter Wonderland by Lyn Gardner

it. “No,” she said. “I don’t think it would count as snitching at all.”

Chapter Fifteen
    Aeysha and Georgia had grown very curious about Olivia and Tom’s frequent disappearances and eventually they forced their friends to tell them where they’d been going. Olivia and Tom swore Aeysha and Georgia to secrecy, as they didn’t want lots of Swans turning up unexpectedly in Hangman’s Alley. Aeysha and Georgia had been wide-eyed when Olivia described Campions magical interior.
    â€œIt’s just like the enchanted castle in
Sleeping Beauty,
” she enthused, “only it’s a theatre. The most magical theatre in the whole world.”
    Tom stayed strangely quiet. Aeysha, perceptive as ever, had noticed, and afterwards, when Olivia had slipped away and Georgiahad mysteriously said she had to dash too, she had asked him why he didn’t share Olivia’s enthusiasm.
    Tom spoke hesitantly. “Liv’s right. Campion’s
is
beautiful, in a faded, rickety kind of way. But it’s also quite weird and it’s making Liv weird too. Ella doesn’t help. One minute she’s delighted to see us but clearly thinks we’re some other kids called Davey and Lizzie, and the next she behaves as if we are spies sent by someone who wants to take Campion’s away from her. I actually find it all really creepy, but Liv is completely obsessed with the place. She wants to go there all the time. It’s as if she’s being drawn to it by an invisible force, or ghost or something.”
    â€œYou mean the theatre’s haunted?” asked Aeysha, shivering.
    â€œI don’t know,” said Tom. “But I think Olivia hears things and maybe even sees things when we’re there, and she’s been having the weirdest dreams and is so pale sometimes she looks like a ghost herself.”
    â€œBut she seems pretty normal to me,” said Aeysha. “And she’s always a bit distracted and pale!”
    Tom nodded. “I know. And when she’s here, she’s like the same old Liv. But you should see her at Campion’s or when we get near to the place. It’s as if she’s possessed. It’s so weird.”
    Aeysha sighed. “She’s not the only one behaving weirdly. Georgia is being really odd too. Yesterday she actually said that she thought maybe we shouldn’t see so much of each other while we were both still up for the Zelda role, and this morning she didn’t come and sit next to me on the bus like she normally does but went and sat on her own.”
    â€œThat is seriously bonkers behaviour,” agreed Tom, “but not half as weird as Liv’s.”
    He was about to admit that he was frightened when Olivia appeared, holding her coat.
    â€œCome on, Tom, hurry up. Campion’s is waiting for us,” she said. “I can feel it.”
    Tom and Aeysha pulled a face at each other, but Olivia was too concerned with hurrying Tom away to notice. As they were leaving, Aeysha called after Tom, “Why don’t you have a poke around on the Web, Tom? You never know, you might come up with something that explains everything.”
    â€œWhat was Aeysha talking about?” asked Olivia curiously as they headed towards Hangman’s Alley.
    â€œEh, nothing,” said Tom. “It was just about my history project.”
    â€œOh,” said Olivia, losing interest and forgetting that they didn’t even have history projects. She just glided along the pavement towards Campion’s like someone being pulled by an invisible thread. She looked so strange, it made Tom come out in goosebumps.
    Â 
    A few days later, Olivia and Tom jumped off the high-wire on the stage at Campion’s. Olivia grinned at Ella and gave a mock curtsy. The little ghost-light was still flickering in its jam jar but had been moved to the side of the stage. Olivia ran to fetch it and placed it back centre stage.
    â€œGood, we