The Magnificent Lizzie Brown and the Mysterious Phantom by Vicki Lockwood

below like loaves in an oven. For the first time since Ma had died, Lizzie felt safe and warm. Smiling to herself, she closed her eyes. She was soon dreaming of high wires and elephants.
    Swooping from a trapeze, Lizzie landed lightly on her feet in the elephant tent. Akula lifted her trunk to greet her but, as Lizzie reached out her hand to stroke the gentle creature, she vanished into darkness.
    Lizzie spun around. Shadows swamped every corner.
    â€œAkula?” Lizzie strained to see. “Hari?”
    â€œLizzie,” a voice answered back.
    â€œWho’s there?” Lizzie tiptoed forward.
    â€œAre you looking for me?” the voice asked.
    Lizzie’s heart quickened as she heard rasping breathing ahead. A face loomed from the shadows.
    The Phantom!
    Snarling, he lunged. His black cloak fluttered as he flew at her. He slammed into her, and she staggered backward. . . .
    As she hit the ground, Lizzie woke with a gasp.
    Nora moved beside her and sighed. Around her, the Sullivans still snored and mumbled in their sleep. Relieved, Lizzie let herself sink into the soft mattress, her heart slowing as she drifted back into sleep.

CHAPTER 5
    The next morning, the hustle and bustle of the Sullivan family’s caravan made it easy for Lizzie to forget her nightmare about the Phantom.
    â€œCome on!” Erin tugged Lizzie out of the caravan while Nora raced behind.
    â€œWhy won’t you just tell me what they’re called?” Lizzie leaped over a rope as Erin swung her past the Lobster Boy’s penny gaff.
    â€œI will when we get there!” Erin said, dodging past the elephant tent.
    Lizzie had been asking about the humpback horses over breakfast in the caravan. “Humpback horses!” Nora and Erin had burst into fits of giggles.
    Patrick, shoveling in porridge at the far end of the table, had choked with laughter while Ma and Pa Sullivan exchanged smiles across Pa’s newspaper.
    â€œWe’ll get to the humpbacks in just a while.” Erin skidded to a halt beside the horse pen.
    Conor was brushing down his golden mare at the far side. “Don’t be expecting me to brush Marigold and Daisy down for you again today,” he told his sisters. “I’ve got to practice my somersaults. I’ve no time for grooming.”
    â€œI hear you,” Erin hollered back. “We’re just showing Lizzie the animals.” She was ready with a sugar lump as her pony came trotting to meet her. “There you go, Marigold.” She stood on the bottom rung of the fence and leaned over. Marigold whickered and nibbled it softly from her palm.
    â€œHello, Daisy.” Nora climbed the rail beside them and took a sugar lump from her pocket as her pony nudged Marigold aside. “Here, Lizzie. You give it to her. Rest it on your palm and keep your thumb tucked in,” she advised.
    Lizzie held her hand out gingerly, thumb tucked in. She felt the pony’s warm breath as it nuzzled her palm and softly took the sugar.
    â€œGood girl, Daisy.” Nora patted the pony’s neck.
    Lizzie looked around. “Where are the humpbacks?” she asked.
    â€œThey’re called camels.” A deep voice sounded from the pen beside them. Mario, the circus giant, was leaning over the fence. “Come say hello. I’m just about to feed them.”
    Lizzie clambered over the fence and jumped down beside Mario. “That’s them!” She pointed excitedly at the two camels grazing on the far side of the pen. They looked even stranger in the sunshine, their brown pelts shaggy and their humps tufted and floppy at the top.
    â€œWait here.” Mario held up a hand as Erin and Nora leaped down beside Lizzie. “Camels can be grumpy first thing in the morning, and when they’re grumpy, they spit.”
    â€œLike Pa,” Lizzie muttered.
    Erin nudged her. “Conor’s a champion spitter, so he is.”
    â€œHe can spit the length of the circus