When the sun sets more than once a day and the world's diamonds are stolen, a small brave girl, struggling to belong, has secrets to discover.
Marigold leaves her lonely life to join extraordinary thieves, Bert and Bob. Who is their Mistress? What i...
К сожалению, это изображение не соответствует нашим правилам. Чтобы продолжить публикацию, пожалуйста, удалите изображение или загрузите другое.
Marigold and Bert raced towards the moon. They were bathed in its pearl coloured light. Bert slowed down. He moved his legs just enough to keep them from falling. He turned his head around to face her.
'Beautiful', he said.
She could only smile at him. She was too overcome with admiration to speak. Less than half an hour ago, she'd been staring up at it from the library window. She sighed with delight. How many people were lucky enough to get this close?
Bob's head suddenly appeared from out of the tartan trolley bag which, as usual, was hanging around the front of Bert's neck.
Marigold watched Bob's snout twitch as he inhaled the smell of diamonds. He tugged on Bert's sweater.
'Down', he ordered. Bert obeyed. As they approached the ground, Marigold spotted a floodlit white palace.
'I bet there's loads of diamonds in there, Bert' she said.
Bert didn't reply. From the serious look on his face, she realised he was concentrating on his landing. The garden in front of the palace was just feet away from them. Bert straightened his legs at exactly the right moment. His feet touched down with a creak of his boots.
'Perfect', said Marigold giving him a pat on the back before sliding off it and onto the lawn.
Bob pulled himself out of the bag. Marigold expected him to head for the palace immediately. But he turned himself around and sniffed in all directions.
'It's a lot warmer here than the moors, Bert', she observed. Bert grinned in agreement.
'We are in India', said Bob between sniffs.
'Wow!' she exclaimed. 'Bert - you're amazing!' Bert tittered and his face flushed red with embarrassment.
'Right', said Marigold. 'How do we get into the palace? Will you use the diamond-tipped drill?'
'Not so fast', said Bob. 'They must be pinpointed exactly.'
'Pin-point-ed', repeated Bert.
'Oh', said Marigold, a little disappointed that they weren't springing into action.
While Bob continued to follow his snout around the garden, her eye was caught by a bed of golden and blue irises and lemon daylilies. She knelt down to examine the detail of their petals. Her tiny nose checked for perfumes. Suddenly the flowers began to move as the soil was disturbed. A pink snout appeared between the stems and leaves. Bob was burrowing deep into the earth - uprooting the flowers in the process
'Stop it!' shouted Marigold. She jumped to her feet and smacked Bob's back. He ignored her and burrowed with more enthusiasm, pulling stems and roots out of his way with his stubby hands.
'Clunk!' Bob's nose had struck something wooden. He pulled himself out of the hole he'd dug and then dragged Bert over to it by the trouser leg. Bob indicated that Bert should put his arm into the hole. Bert pulled out a small casket. Bob snatched it from him, bit through the fastening and kissed and stroked the diamonds it contained. Marigold looked from the ruined flower-bed to Bob in disgust. He sensed her angry eyes were on him.
'I said you'd be in the way', he gloated.
Marigold looked at his smug face dripping with saliva. He was asking for it. She kicked the casket out of his hand, sending the diamonds in all directions across the lawn.
Bob squealed and chased after them in a frenzy. Marigold smiled to herself. She knelt down on the lawn once more and attempted to re-plant some of the flowers. Bert came over to help.
'It's no good, Bert', she said miserably. 'Most of them are torn apart above the roots'
'Her ladyship will make sure you're torn apart', said Bob. He was now standing next to her clutching the casket firmly to his chest.
'What?' said Marigold in as rude a tone as possible.
'If she finds out it's your fault we haven't brought back enough', Bob continued.
'And you wouldn't want Bert to suffer too, would you?'
Marigold glared at him 'What d'you mean?'
'You think she won't punish us?'
'No punish!' said Bert, suddenly agitated.
Marigold put an arm around his shoulder. 'It's fine, Bert. I won't let her.'
Bert managed a smile. She could see Bob wasn't convinced by her claim.
'It's simple enough' he said. 'I think even you could understand it.'
'What?' She spoke through gritted teeth as she tried to keep her temper.
'Oh, what a happy band of thieves we are', said Bob.
Marigold gave him a false smile to match his words.
*
If she'd had time to think about it, Marigold would've realised it was a risky plan. They were becoming desperate. Bob's snout had brought them to a theatre. It wasn't the strongest scent he'd chased. But there were definitely diamonds amongst the audience inside.
They'd managed to sneak backstage before the show had begun. Bert had shot up to the steel bridge - high above the stage. Here she was hanging upside down behind the red velvet curtain. Bert was holding on to her feet. His toes were clinging firmly to the edge of the bridge. Marigold was holding Bob's feet.
'Ready?' hissed Bob.
Scared and excited, Marigold nodded. She glanced up at Bert as he nodded too. There was no trace of fear on his face. He put both of Marigold's feet into one hand and reached out to pull the rope that would raise the curtain.
She began to wobble. She felt sick. She was going to fall. No, she was going to die of fright first. 'Bert! Help!' she wanted to cry out. But then as the curtain rose she felt him move one of her feet back to his other hand. Steadier, she breathed deeply with relief. She looked down at the surprised faces of the audience.
'Good evening, ladies and gentleman', Bob announced.
The audience applauded the three unusual looking acrobats. Bert, Marigold and Bob swung out to the front row of seats. She watched Bob use his snout to quickly suck up diamond cuff-links, earrings, tie-pins and pendants from the people sitting there. Before they could stop him, Bert swung them back to the stage.
The audience screamed and shouted.
Bert swung them towards one of the boxes. Marigold began to enjoy their flight.
'Whee!' she exclaimed.
Thump! Bob banged against the edge of the box.
Marigold's cap fell off. Her copper hair - loosened from her pony-tail - tumbled out and over her face. She let go of Bob's right foot for a moment and pushed her hair out of her eyes. Bob was clinging onto the edge of the box.
Seated inside was a man with a bandaged head. He was staring at her in disbelief.
'Marigold!' he shouted above the noise of the audience.
