Eliza Vandas Button Box chapter sampler

Eliza Vanda smiled. Everything around her was damp and dull but her smile was like the sun coming out. And just then a patch of blue appeared above her head and the rain stopped. ‘Right,’ she said, with the air of getting down to business. ‘Now, I need a place to stay, where I won’t be bothered, so I can finish a very important job. Are any of these cabins free, do you know?’ Milly blinked and pulled herself together. Her father wouldn’t hear her if she called him, and if she ran up to the attic to fetch him there was a risk that the woman might get impatient and leave. That was a risk Milly didn’t want to take. She was usually shy with strangers, but if there was a chance of renting out one of the cabins she knew she should grab it. ‘They’re all free!’ she said breathlessly, stepping outside and quickly skirting the sodden pile of junk to reach the road. ‘You can have whichever one you like.’ Too late, it occurred to her that this didn’t sound very

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