CHAPTER 1

Sitting at the front of the class before her classmates arrived, Daisy Madigan opened her arts coursework folder and pulled out a drawing she'd done at the weekend. Staring at it, she remembered how the lion had looked so peaceful, sleeping on the plinth in the park.

As the other kids started to noisily enter the room, she wished she could go back there and sit beneath it. It was her favourite statue at Abney Park. Nobody mocked her while she was there. Nobody cared that she had red curly hair. And freckles.

Once everyone had settled down, the usual routine began. Some of the kids began to throw things at her. Just little things so the teacher wouldn't notice. Rolled up pieces of paper, paper clips, broken erasers... Over the years she'd learned to ignore them. She just sat and listened to what the teacher had to say about the creative process of working with charcoal.

But before Mr. Parker had even finished his sentence, the door opened and in walked a woman in her late fifties with huge eyes and a short, sleek black bob. For some reason, she reminded Daisy of those little Lego people she'd played with as a child. Not that you could play with Mrs. Goodyear. She was the Headmistress.