

WYCHETTS

and the

Dungeon of Dreams

The sixth book in the Wychetts series by

William Holley

Text and images copyright © 2015 William Holley

All Rights Reserved

Please note that Wychetts is a work of fiction and any similarity between characters in this story and any persons living or undead is purely coincidental.

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Table of Contents

Previously...

Prologue

1 Hurry Up, Dad!

2 I'd Sooner Talk to a Brick Wall

3 Always Trouble

4 In a Roundabout Way

5 Don't You Trust Me?

6 Meet the Maddergrubs

7 Just Scream

8 Two Heads Are Better Than One

9 Think What Their Children Will Look Like

10 Just a Bit of Slunge

11 Magical Defences

12 Lucky Us

13 Minding the Toddlers

14 Pickle or Chutney

15 You Can't Make Me Dance

16 Honoured Guest

17 Mummy Sing Me a Bedtime Song

18 Into the Dream Well

19 We Eat Magic

20 Surpri-ise!

21 What Are You Doing Here?

22 The Guvnor

23 Just a Dream?

Epilogue

Previously...

Wychetts (pronounced "Witch-etts") is an old timber framed cottage that contains an amazing magic power...

Centuries ago the Wise Ones governed the Realm of Magic, and built Wychetts as a repository for their wisdom. But the forces of darkness plotted against them, and seized the cottage in a bid to use its magic for evil. Five hundred years passed since the last of the Wise Ones were vanquished by the Shadow Clan, then Bryony and her new stepbrother Edwin arrived to unwittingly awaken the ancient power and become the new Guardians of Wychetts.

At first the children wanted to use the magic of the Wise Ones to rid themselves of each other and go back to their old lives; but when the Shadow Clan returned to claim Wychetts' power, Bryony and Edwin had to work together to save the cottage and the whole world from destruction (not to mention a worldwide shortage of ice-cream).

Since that fateful day the young Guardians have experienced a series of incredible adventures, guided by Inglenook, Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom. A wooden face carved into the living room fireplace, Inglenook controls the flow of Wychetts' power and can communicate with the children through a magic key when they are away from the cottage.

Bryony and Edwin also rely on the quick-witted mouse Stubby to make it through their magical adventures.

And as they discover more about their powers, the children face their own different challenges...

Eager to use Wychetts' magic for good, Edwin learns that brandishing the power of the Wise Ones carries huge responsibilities. At times he has doubted his own strength, but during his quest to retrieve the stolen Thunderstone Edwin discovered he could form a psychic link with Inglenook, something that few Guardians have ever been capable of.

Meanwhile, after an initial period of doubt, Bryony has become more self-assured in the use of magic. But she is haunted by foreboding about her absent mother: a scribbled note discovered in her old stuffed toy; an overheard whisper from plotting enemies; a vision of her own darkest fears conjured by an ancient field demon; the same mysterious words that even Inglenook cannot explain...

Despite her secret worries, Bryony has grown closer to Edwin in the weeks after their adventure with the Thunderstone. For his part, Edwin has found he enjoys having a stepsister after all.

But it doesn't take much to shatter their fragile friendship...

Prologue

"There are many forms of magic, of varying degrees of power: white magic, black magic, magic of the air, of ice and of fire, of music and song, of love and hatred, joy and anger. But the most potent by far is the magic of dreams."

The class remained silent as their tutor spoke; an imposingly tall man clad in a long white gown, with a shock of wiry grey hair, with a large nose like a hawk's beak projecting from his gaunt, angular face.

"Dreams have been a subject of study throughout recorded history." The tutor stood at the front of the classroom, his silver eyes holding each student's gaze for a flickering heartbeat. "Early civilisations believed that dreams were messages from divine beings, or that they predicted future events. Witchdoctors used sleep inducing herbs to enter the realm of dreams to learn more of their mystic properties; but often with the gravest of consequences, for they did not understand what dreams are made of. So here's a question: what are dreams?"

A forest of arms shot into the air, the pupils vying eagerly for the honour of answering the tutor's question. All except one, a girl who sat alone at the back of the classroom.

"Dreams are nothing." A boy answered keenly in response to a nod from the tutor. "Just a series of random thoughts and memories."

"Wrong," said the tutor, striding down the aisle between the rows of wooden desks. "Dreams are much more than that. Dreams are formed from our hopes and desires, and also by our darkest fears, our regrets and our guilt. This unstable mix of positive and negative power makes them a volatile source of magic."

The tutor reached the back of the classroom, stopping next to the girl who had not raised her hand. She sat hunched over her desk, unaware of the tutor's attention.

Leaning forwards, the tutor saw the girl was drawing a picture in her exercise book: a detailed study of some fantastical, fearsome creature.

"And the most dangerous dreams are daydreams." The tutor took the girl's pencil and eased it from her hand. The girl froze, keeping her head down to avoid his harsh silver gaze. "They can distract us from our studies, lead us from the path of learning. The tutor turned and retraced his steps to the front of the classroom. "Dreams can make prisoners of us. Magic from the dream realm can seep into our world, drawn by our hopes, our desires and expectations."

The girl lifted her head and stared at his back, her right hand clenching into a fist.

"So be careful with your dreams." The tutor wheeled round to face his class, raising the girl's confiscated pencil as though to underline his point. "Dreams can be pleasant, yes. But they are made of dark things too. Things we can't control. Things we might want to forget, that we locked away in a box a long time ago. And the magic power of dreams can turn them into reality. And not always the reality you may have hoped for. When practising magic it is therefore important..."

The tutor's voice trailed off when he saw a floating dark blob materialising at the end of the classroom. He instinctively looked at the girl whose pencil he had taken, and saw her lips twisting into a smile. The pupils all looked round, their eyes widening when they glimpsed a shape forming in the heart of the growing dark blob.

And then there were screams, shrill cries of panic as something black and monstrous came flying from the darkness, its red eyes glowing, fanged jaw gnashing as it lunged at the tutor...

All around him is gloom, cold and impenetrable. He cannot remember the light, or how the warmth of the sun felt on his skin.

He has been in the darkness so long, there are many things he cannot remember: what it is to laugh, to cry, to taste fresh air and hear joyous birdsong on a summer's morning.

And yet a sound reaches him, a voice calling from far away, an echoing cry in the emptiness.

It could be from another world, yet he can hear it. He feels it too, resonating inside him like the tolling of a bell.

He hears, he feels, but he cannot respond. He has no voice, no means by which to answer the caller.

So all he can do is wait. Wait in the gloom as the cry grows louder.

Until one day the door opens.

The day of his release...

1 Hurry Up, Dad!

"Daaaaaad!" Bryony threw her head back and shouted. "The taxi's here!"

"Coming," came her father's muffled voice from upstairs.

"I wish he'd get a move on." Bryony rolled her eyes at Edwin, who stood next to her in the hallway by the opened front door. "We'll miss the flight."

"You've got loads of time." Edwin tried his best, but his calming words had little effect on his stepsister. Bryony checked her wristwatch, puffed her cheeks, and then yelled again.

"Daaaaaad! Hurry uuuuuuup!"

Edwin winced as her shrill cry seared his eardrums. He had never known Bryony in such a state, but he could understand why.

It was a big day for her. A day she'd been dreaming about for years.

"Daaaaaaaaaaaaad!" Bryony stamped her right foot on the floor. "Get a move on!"

At last Bill Platt came galloping down the stairs, looking even more flustered than his daughter.

"You've got the flight tickets?" Bryony stared questioningly at her father.

Bill looked offended. "Of course I've got the flight tickets."

Bryony's dark eyebrows arched doubtfully. "Show me."

"Um..." Bill checked his pockets. "They're here somewhere."

"You forgot these." Bryony's stepmother Jane approached waving two slips of printed card. "Your flight tickets."

"See." Bill took the tickets from Jane, smiling at Bryony. "Told you I had them."

Bryony didn't smile back. "Passports?"

"I've got our passports." Bill searched his pockets again. "What sort of absent minded idiot do you think..."

Jane held up two crimson booklets. "You forgot these as well."

"There they are." Bill took the passports from Jane. "Knew I'd have them to hand."

Bryony folded her arms and glared at Bill. "Brain?"

"Ooh, um..." Bill rummaged through his pockets again.

"Don't look at me," sighed Jane. "I didn't know he had one."

"Oi!" Finally Bill realised the joke. "That isn't funny."

"Sorry." Jane gave her husband an apologetic smile. "Now you'd better get going."

"OK," agreed Bill. "If Bryony's ready."

"Ready?" Bryony spoke through gritted teeth. "I've been ready for the past two hours!"

Edwin suspected it was even longer than that. Bryony had started packing long before breakfast, within minutes of the letter turning up.

Bryony turned to go, but Jane took her arm.

"We'd like to give you something before you go." Jane nodded at Edwin, who produced the little wrapped package from behind his back.

"It's from all of us," Jane explained to Bryony. "But Edwin chose it. Happy birthday, darling."

"Happy birthday," said Bill, patting Bryony's shoulder.

Edwin smiled at his stepsister. "Happy b..."

From outside came the sound of a tooting car horn.

"We've got to go." Bryony snatched the present from Edwin and stuffed it hurriedly into her holdall. "Come on, Dad. The taxi's waiting."

"Have a great time." Jane leaned down and kissed Bryony's cheek. "And give my regards to..."

There was another toot of the car horn.

Edwin went to say his farewell, but Bryony was already through the door and half way down the garden.

Jane gave Bill a hug. "Bye darling. Hope it goes OK. And try not to get too stressed."

Bill hugged Jane back. "It's not me I'm worried about. She's waited so long for this."

"Too long." Jane bit her lip. "I hope she's not disappointed."

"Me too," whispered Bill. "It just seems odd, that after all this time..."

"Daaaaaad!" Bryony's anxious cry filtered into the cottage. "Hurry up, or we'll miss the flight!"

Bill drew away from Jane, then gave Edwin a serious look. "Lad, you're going to have to be man of the house while I'm away. Think you can handle my responsibilities?"

Edwin frowned as he tried to think of any. "You mean hogging the sofa, never cleaning the bath after use, and leaving dirty socks in random places?"

Bill slapped a hand on Edwin's shoulder. "I know I can count on you."

There was another impatient scream from Bryony. Bill nodded goodbye before answering his daughter's strained summons.

"Coming!"

Edwin watched Bill sprint through the garden gate and join Bryony in the back of the taxi waiting in the lane.

"Bye!" Jane waved from the cottage door. "We'll miss you!"

Edwin waved too. For a moment he thought Bryony was waving back at him, but then realised her furtive gestures were intended for the taxi driver. He couldn't see anyone through the tinted front windows of the big black car, but there must have been someone at the wheel because seconds later the taxi moved off.

"Bye." Edwin lowered his hand as the taxi sped off down the lane. "And happy birthday, Bryony."

2 I'd Sooner Talk to a Brick Wall

The dining table was laid ready, plates stacked with a choice selection of morsels. There were sandwiches, sausage rolls, cold meats and salad, not to mention an array of accompanying dips and sauces. There were sweets, too: jam tarts, chocolate muffins, and pastries filled with cream. And of course there was the cake, a circular slab of succulent sponge decorated with intricate swirls of pink and white icing, an edible work of art that would have graced any birthday party. Edwin had made everything himself, with a little help from Mum here and there, and hadn't used any magic at all (except to remove some dollops of raw pastry from the kitchen ceiling, and clean up the washing machine after he'd mistaken it for the oven).

Edwin stood at the dining room door, his despondent gaze following the string of gaudy homemade bunting hanging from the ceiling. Bill had helped him put that up, along with the painted sign on the wall that read 'Happy Birthday Bryony'. The sign was a bit wonky, but the overall effect was quite pleasing.

It had taken all week to prepare, the food, bunting and banner, and was meant to have been a birthday surprise for Bryony. But the biggest surprise had been waiting for her on the doormat that morning. And now, just a few hours later, she had gone.

There was a time, not so long ago, when Edwin would have been glad to see the back of her. He'd never wanted a stepsister, and had made no bones about letting the rest of the world know it. But now she'd gone, he didn't feel glad at all. It felt like something was missing: a part of his life, maybe. A part of him.

Edwin shook his head, trying to dislodge such dappy thoughts. He still found Bryony annoying. She was sulky, aloof, and quick to put him down at every opportunity. But in the last few weeks he'd seen another side to her...

It had all started that night after their adventure with the Thunderstone, when Bryony had finally opened up to him about how she'd felt when her mother walked out on her. It seemed like a corner had been turned, and ever since then things had been much better between them. For the first time in his life Edwin had found that he didn't mind having a sister. In fact, he'd quite enjoyed it. And things wouldn't be the same without her.

It was only supposed to be for five days, but Edwin had a feeling he might never see his stepsister again.

Still, it was what she wanted. What she'd always wanted, from the moment they'd moved into the cottage together. She'd made no secret of the fact, and even after all their magical adventures Edwin knew she didn't really care about Wychetts. Or care about him, for that matter. The only thing she cared about was her precious mum, and that had never been more obvious than this morning. She hadn't even glanced at her present (on which Edwin had spent every last penny of his measly savings), and he suspected she'd forgotten about it already.

The more he thought about it, Edwin wondered why he'd bothered going to so much effort preparing for her stupid birthday party. And on the bright side, with no Bryony around it meant he had the whole weekend free to do whatever he liked.

Perhaps he could go out with Mum. It had been ages since they'd done anything together. In the old days, before Bryony and Bill had shown up, Edwin and his mother would always go out on a Saturday. Whether it had been for a walk in the park or a visit to the local museum, they'd always done stuff. Now they could do stuff again, just the two of them.

Edwin left the dining room and closed the door behind him. He found his mother in the kitchen at the table.

"So what are we going to do?" he asked, smiling expectantly.

Jane didn't seem to hear the question. She was sitting as still as a statue, head cradled in her hands, face shrouded by locks of wavy auburn hair.

"Mum?" Edwin clicked his fingers close to Jane's right ear. "Did you hear me?"

"What?" Jane's head snapped up, her pale blue eyes blinking at Edwin. "Sorry dear, I didn't see you there. I was just having a little nap."

Edwin was confused. "At the kitchen table?"

"I don't know what came over me." Jane yawned again, wiping a hand across her face. "I suddenly came over all sleepy. Maybe it's the weather."

It was a muggy sort of day, and the air inside the cottage did seem a bit stifling. Edwin thought he'd better open a window, but was stopped in his tracks by a weird smell.

It was intoxicating, a sickly sweet scent that clogged his nose and throat. He looked round and saw the culprit, a large bunch of flowers in the sink.

"Where did those come from?" Edwin pointed at the flowers, pinching his nose as he spoke.

"Huh?" Jane had almost dozed off again. "Oh, they arrived this morning with the letter."

Edwin frowned. "I didn't see any flowers."

"They were just seeds at the time." Jane gestured to an empty sachet on the table. "I added them to water like the instructions said, and they've grown that big in less than an hour. Aren't they beautiful?"

Still pinching his nose to keep out the smell, Edwin walked to the sink and examined the flowers. He wasn't an expert botanist, but reckoned he could identify most native plant species. And these were definitely not native; with their thick hairy stems, large pink petals and bulbous seedpods, they looked more like something from another planet.

"Flowers don't normally grow that quick," he pondered. "Do you know what species they are?"

"I've never seen their like before." Jane remained seated, gazing fondly at the flowers. "They certainly have a distinctive scent."

"They stink." Edwin leaned past the flowers to open the window, but the latch was jammed.

"I should get round to putting them in a vase," said Jane.

"The dustbin would be better," grumbled Edwin, abandoning his attempt to open the window.

"Only I'm too tired right now." Jane yawned again, and her head lolled forwards.

"Mum!" Edwin hurried back to the table and clapped his hands. "Wake up. It's Saturday."

"Wha?" Jane's curly auburn head jerked up again. "Saturday?"

"I thought we could do something. Maybe go for a hike. I've spotted a footpath on a local map that I'd like to check out."

"I'm too tired for walking," groaned Jane.

"Or we could take a trip into town to the local museum. They've got a special exhibition of iron age pottery."

"That's lovely." Jane closed her eyes. "Just the thing to keep me awake."

"Or maybe... Mum?" Edwin waved a hand in front of Jane's face. "Are you even listening? Mum!"

Jane slumped forwards, her head resting on the kitchen table.

Edwin tapped her shoulder, but the only response from Jane was the sound of gentle breathing.

"Fine." Edwin scowled at his mother. "But if you're too tired, I'll go play with my friends instead."

Edwin turned on his heel and marched from the kitchen. He was halfway down the hallway when he realised there was a slight problem.

He didn't have any friends.

Apart from one.

Edwin delved into his shirt pocket to retrieve a small bundle of fur and whiskers. Stubby was a mouse, and went everywhere Edwin went, although he did complain about it from time to time.

"Now what?" demanded Stubby, his voice sharp with irritation. "Can't you see I'm busy?"

"Busy?" Edwin couldn't help but laugh. "How can a mouse be busy?"

"Mice are always busy. Unlike humans, who seem to spend most of their time doing precious little of any importance."

"You don't look busy. What are you actually doing?"

"Mousey stuff," said Stubby, who looked a little bleary eyed. "You wouldn't understand."

But Edwin realised the truth. "You were sleeping."

"It's called 'power napping'. And only clever mice can do it."

"So now you've had a rest, I was wondering if you'd like to do something fun with me."

Stubby peered at Edwin through his long twitching whiskers. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"Something fun. You know. Enjoyable."

"I'm familiar with the concept of entertaining recreational activities," sniffed Stubby. "It's the bit about you being involved that I'm struggling to get my head round. In my experience the two things seldom go together."

Edwin should have been used to Stubby's insults by now, but that one hurt.

"I won't take up much of your time," he promised. "We could just talk, if you like."

Stubby yawned. "I'd sooner talk to a brick wall. After it had collapsed on me under an advancing steamroller. Now please return me to my office, I have some very urgent mouse matters to attend to."

Edwin doubted that. "You mean you're going back to sleep."

"My office." Stubby pointed to Edwin's shirt pocket. "And no callers, please."

Edwin slipped Stubby back into his pocket. Seconds later, a tiny "DO NOT DISTURB" sign poked out of the top.

Edwin sighed. So Stubby didn't want anything to do with him either.

But that didn't mean he was all out of options. Being a Guardian of Wychetts meant he could do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, as long as he obeyed the magic rules.

So if Mum and Stubby didn't want to have fun with him, he'd have fun all by himself. All it needed was for him to make a wish, and he could have the most fun filled day of his entire life.

So Edwin wished.

Oddly, nothing happened.

He tried wishing again, but still nothing happened.

He modified his wish slightly, just in case there was a limit on the amount of fun you could wish for in one go.

But still nothing happened.

There was no magic!

Edwin wondered if he'd end up talking to a brick wall after all. In any case, he'd need to start with the fireplace.

He ran into the lounge, looking expectantly at the bestial face carved in the wooden beam above the fireplace. Inglenook's eyes were closed, and Edwin assumed the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom was deep in thought on some important magical matter.

"Ahem." Edwin coughed. Even now, after so much time as a Guardian, he still wasn't sure how to request Inglenook's attention.

A cough didn't seem to work, so Edwin tried a different tack.

"Excuse me."

Still no response.

"It's me." Edwin shuffled closer to the fireplace. "Edwin."

Those wooden features remained stubbornly wooden.

"Hello." Edwin reached up and tapped Inglenook's nose. "Is anybody there?"

At last Inglenook's features came to life. Except it wasn't the jolly smile Edwin had been expecting, more an irritated frown. And when he spoke, the normally cheery voice was oddly slurred...

"Oh. It is you, Young Master."

"Yes, it's me." Now Edwin was the one frowning. "Are you all right?"

"Apologies. I was just having a little nap."

"You too?" Edwin couldn't believe it. "It must be the weather."

"Weather. Probably." Inglenook was struggling to keep his eyes open. "Now what is it you wish of me?"

"I need some magic," said Edwin. "Right away, please."

Inglenook sighed. "Not more pastry on the kitchen ceiling? Or have you tried to bake more currant buns in the dishwasher?"

"It was the washing machine," Edwin corrected his mentor. "And they were supposed to be cheese scones."

"Then what were the currants?"

"Bits of fluff," admitted Edwin. "From my stepdad's socks. Anyway it doesn't matter now. I need magic for other stuff. Fun stuff."

"Fun stuff?"

"Yeah, you know..." Edwin couldn't understand why he had to explain himself so much that morning. "Entertaining recreational activities."

"Hmm..." Inglenook made a disapproving sort of noise. "I'm afraid I don't have enough energy to grant any magic wishes. I am feeling rather tired at the moment. The past few weeks have been most strenuous."

"Tell me about it," said Edwin. "But I'm not asking for much. Just a little bit of magic so I can have some fun."

"I would be most happy to oblige..." Inglenook paused to yawn. The whole cottage trembled, and Edwin feared the ceiling might collapse. "But perhaps you would be kind enough to ask me later, after I have rested a little more."

"OK," agreed Edwin. "How much later?"

Inglenook had closed his eyes, so Edwin resorted to tapping him on the nose again.

"I said how much later?"

Inglenook's eyes snapped open. "Oh, just a couple of days."

"A couple of days?"

"Three or four."

"Four?"

"Perhaps five."

"Five days?" Edwin was horrified. "But Bryony will be back by then. Surely you can do some magic now?"

"Too tired." Inglenook yawned again. "Haven't felt this sleepy for a long time."

"It's definitely the weather. I'll let some air in."

He tried the lounge window, but found the latch was stuck. Just like in the kitchen.

"Inglenook." Edwin returned to the fireplace. "Why are all the windows jammed?"

"Wychetts is an old timber framed building, and the woodwork is prone to warping." Inglenook struggled to keep his eyes open. "Now if you will excuse me, I just... need... a little... nap."

Inglenook's face turned back to wood, and the cottage fell silent.

Edwin's shoulders slumped with despair. Even the fireplace didn't want to talk to him. All options exhausted, he was tempted to strike up a conversation with the floor, but wasn't sure if he could handle any further rejection.

Suddenly it felt like he was the only person in the entire world. Whilst Edwin contemplated life as the sole survivor of the human race, and in particular how long his stockpile of homemade party food might last, he heard strange noises from somewhere above him...

A thud followed by frantic scraping.

Edwin lifted his head to inspect the wonky-beamed ceiling. The scraping seemed to be moving in the direction of the chimneybreast. Intrigued, he bent down and peered up the chimney.

He recoiled when something landed on his face. To his relief, it was nothing more than a clump of sooty cobwebs.

Edwin laughed, wiping the debris from his cheek. It was probably just some birds trying to build a nest. Nothing to worry about.

He was about to turn away from the fireplace when a loud booming noise echoed through the house. A pile of rubble crashed down the chimney, sending an eruption of soot and goodness knows what else spewing from the hearth. Edwin staggered back, coughing and gasping as the room filled with billowing clouds of dust.

Then there was silence again.

Edwin stood there, glimpsing movement in the swirling dust clouds.

At first he thought it was a trick of the light. But then a voice pierced the sooty haze...

"Hello Edwin."

It was a voice he knew from somewhere, but the air was still too dusty for him to identify the figure that came clambering out of the fireplace.

"Don't you remember me?" asked the voice. "Oh Edwin, I am disappointed. I thought we were friends."

Suddenly the dust cleared, and Edwin saw a girl standing in front of him.

She was about his own age, and of similar height. She wore old-fashioned thick-rimmed glasses, and a bright purple dress. And her hair was a lurid shade of green.

"Maddy?" Edwin's mouth hung open. "Malady Maddergrub!"

"So you do remember." The green haired girl grinned. "Hope you don't mind me dropping in?"

3 Always Trouble

"You dropped in all right," said Edwin, staring at the rubble-strewn hearth.

"Sorry about the mess." Maddy wiped stringy trails of cobweb from her sleeve. "But knocking on a front door is not how I roll."

"What are you doing here?" Edwin finally got round to closing his mouth, and coughed as he swallowed a helping of dust.

"I heard there was a party." Maddy gestured at her purple dress. "And I'm such the party girl."

"There's no party." Edwin spread his arms. "Does it look like there's a party?"

Maddy's green eyebrows knotted. "But it's Bryony's birthday?"

"She's gone away. And... hey, how did you know it's Bryony's birthday?"

Maddy answered Edwin's question with one of her own. "What do you mean she's 'gone away'?"

"It's a long story." Edwin was in no mood to start explaining everything to Maddy. "But the party's cancelled."

"We can still have a party." Maddy started dancing. "Just the two of us."

"I don't do dancing." Edwin shrank away from Maddy when she tried to take his hand. "I think you'd better leave."

"But I've come all this way to see you. And we're friends."

"That's not what you said the last time we met." Edwin remembered Maddy's parting words. "You said we could never be friends."

"Did I?" Maddy looked genuinely mystified. "I thought we parted on good terms."

"Not exactly. You trapped me down a hole and left me to rot."

"That was just my little way of breaking the ice." Maddy shrugged. "I've always been clumsy expressing positive emotions towards acquaintances."

"You tricked me," countered Edwin. "You only wanted to know me so you could get hold of the Tome Terriblis."

"I would never have left you to rot. And I only wanted the Tome to get my family back." Maddy lifted a satchel she'd been holding behind her back. "They're in here, thanks for asking."

Edwin bit his lip. He'd forgotten about the Maddergrub family, who had all been turned into paintings many hundreds of years ago. It was Maddy herself, using the power of the Tome Terriblis, who had committed this awful deed; but she had never meant it to be permanent, and when a renegade warlock attacked Maddergrub Manor to claim the magic Tome, Maddy had been forced to abandon her family and flee to the future.

"Sorry." Edwin muttered an apology. "But it would be better if you left right now."

"Oh come on," said Maddy. "Don't pretend you're not pleased to see me."

Edwin was caught off guard. As much as he didn't like to admit it, there was part of him that was pleased to see Maddy again. Even after everything that happened on their previous encounter.

"And let's face it," continued Maddy, "it's not like you've got loads of friends to hang out with."

"I've got Stubby," countered Edwin.

Maddy pointed to the little sign protruding from Edwin's shirt pocket. "Doesn't look like he's got much time for you right now."

"Please go." Edwin pointed to the door. "I need to clear this mess up before my mum finds out."

Maddy stepped to one side. Behind her the hearth was spotless; not a cobweb, misplaced brick, or speck of soot in sight.

Edwin blinked, then gave Maddy a suspicious look. "How did you...?"

"How do you think?" giggled Maddy. "Magic, of course."

Edwin's lips formed a perfect circle. "You can do magic like that?"

"It wasn't just me. I had some help from wooden chops over there." Maddy nodded at Inglenook.

"Wychetts' magic?" Edwin frowned. "But you're not a Guardian."

"I'm a Maddergrub. A descendant of the Wise Ones. And I trained to be a Guardian of Wychetts."

"But you flunked your tests and stole the Tome Terriblis." Edwin waved an admonishing finger at Maddy. "So you don't deserve to be a Guardian."

Maddy's lips tightened. "I only borrowed it. I was going to give it back. I didn't know that..."

"Inglenook!" Edwin shouted at the fireplace. "Inglenook!"

"What are you doing?" said Maddy.

"If I can't make you leave, maybe someone else can." Edwin walked up to the hearth and yelled at the carved wooden face. "Inglenook, wake up!"

"Don't disturb him," hissed Maddy. "He can be terribly crotchety if you disrupt his naps."

"Hey there!" Edwin rapped his knuckles on Inglenook's wooden cheek. "Wake up, please."

Those wooden eyes opened a fraction, and a deep slurred voice filled the room. "What is it, Young Master?"

"It's Maddy," blurted Edwin. "Malady Maddergrub. She's gate-crashed Bryony's party."

"But I didn't use the gate," pointed out Maddy. "I came down the chimney."

"Tell her to leave," Edwin ordered Inglenook. "She'll only cause trouble."

"Trouble, yes." Inglenook's voice faded, and his eyes closed again. "Always... trouble..."

"Inglenook!" Edwin yelled at the carved wooden face. "Please wake up!"

But Inglenook was already asleep again.

"See?" Maddy smirked at Edwin. "He's fine with me being here."

"But I'm not." Edwin pointed at the door again. "Please go."

"But what if there's an emergency? Wychetts will be safer with two Guardians at home."

"The only emergency around here is you. You're a walking emergency. Now..."

Then Edwin caught a smell, a syrupy sweet sickly scent.

"Go," he urged, trying not to inhale too deeply. "There's no emergency."

"Then what's that?" Maddy was also pointing at the door.

Edwin looked, and saw a bright pink mist seeping into the room from under the door.

"Inglenook?" He looked questioningly at the fireplace, but the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom still had his eyes shut.

The pink mist spread out in curling tendrils, reminding Edwin of a plant. And as that sickly sweet smell grew ever stronger, he realised there might be a connection.

"The flowers!" Hand clasped over his nose and mouth, Edwin hurried out of the lounge and down the hallway. The pink mist thickened, and he had to feel his way along the walls until he reached the kitchen.

"Mum? Are you there?" He couldn't see through the dense pink veil, and there was a clatter as he knocked over a kitchen chair. "Mum! Where are you?"

"Blimey," coughed Maddy, stumbling into the room behind him. "What's your mum cooking for dinner?"

"It's not dinner," gasped Edwin, now finding it hard to breathe. "It's..."

"Dark magic." Maddy grabbed Edwin's arm. "We need to get out of the cottage."

"No," barked Edwin. "My mum's in here somewhere."

"It's too late for her." Maddy pulled Edwin back to the door. "She's already been affected by the spell. The only way you can save her is to save yourself. Come on, we need air!"

Edwin tried to protest, but the pink mist seeped into his mouth, burning the back of his throat. Maddy hauled him out of the kitchen, the children clinging together as they lurched back down the foggy hallway.

Edwin tripped, and there was a scream from Maddy when his arm slipped from her grasp. He tried reaching out to her, but his flailing fingers felt something wooden in front of him.

The front door!

Eyes streaming, Edwin fumbled until he located the metal latch, but he couldn't prise the door open.

Just like the windows, it was jammed.

He looked round for Maddy, but the pink mist closed around him like a suffocating blanket...

4 In a Roundabout Way

"Excuse me." Bryony leaned forwards and rapped her knuckles on the perspex screen between the driver and passengers. "Can't this thing go any faster?"

The taxi driver didn't reply. From where she was seated Bryony couldn't see his face, or even his reflection in the rear view mirror. She knocked again on the screen, but Bill took her hand and eased her back into her seat.

"Calm down, love. We're nearly there."

"We're miles from the airport," argued Bryony. From by the passing rural scenery it looked as though they were miles away from anywhere. "We should be on the motorway by now." She reached up again, but this time Bill grabbed her hand before her knuckles made contact with perspex.

"Please sit still, love."

"But we'll miss the flight."

"We've got plenty of time. Now try and relax. I know, how about a game of 'I Spy'."

"All right." Bryony glared at her father. "I spy with my little eye, something beginning with 'idiot'."

"Er...' Bill looked flummoxed. "Could you give me a clue?"

"It's you." Bryony pointed at her father. "Idiot."

"That's a word, not a letter. I've explained the rules of 'I Spy' to you before, and..." Bill scowled at Bryony. "Hey, did you just call me an idiot?"

"I'm not playing silly games." Bryony slumped back in her seat. "I just want to see Mum."

"You will." Bill insisted. "Very soon."

But 'very soon' wasn't anywhere near quick enough for Bryony. They'd been travelling for a good half hour, surely they should have reached the main road by now?

She mentioned this again to Bill, but he dismissed her concerns with his usual patronising smile. So she sat in silence, trying to think of positive things: of flying to America, of being in a different country, of seeing her real mum again.

Bryony felt her stomach knot, but wasn't sure if it was from excitement. She would never admit it to anyone, not even Dad, but her anticipation was chilled by a haunting sense of dread.

It had been a long time, nearly four years since Bryony had seen her mother. What if Mum had changed since then? What if she wasn't the person Bryony remembered? Now Mum had another daughter, Bryony realised things could never be like they were before.

But there was an even greater fear, a fear that had festered inside her for months, growing larger and darker until its menacing shadow swamped all her thoughts...

Bryony rummaged in her holdall and drew out the small parcel that Edwin had given her before she'd left home. It wasn't what she'd been looking for, so she dropped it back into the holdall and rummaged around a bit more until she found the letter.

It was just a piece of paper, but its arrival that morning had turned Bryony's whole world upside down.

Bryony drew the crumpled piece of paper out of the holdall. She read the letter so many times that she already knew its contents off by heart. But she read it again anyhow.

"My dearest Bryony,

Great news. I have some time off work and am free to meet up with you. Only problem is you'll have to come to America. I enclose two flight tickets, one for you and Dad. I'll meet you at the airport as soon as you arrive. I can't wait, it's been so long!

Love you,

Your ever loving Mother. XXX"

Bryony's eyebrows knotted. After the blur of excitement that morning, she felt a sudden pang of doubt. There was something about the letter. Something that didn't feel right...

Maybe it was because the letter was typed, rather than handwritten? Maybe because it wasn't signed? Or maybe...

Or maybe she was just being dumb. What had got into her, trying to pick holes in a letter from Mum after all this time? Did it matter if it was typed? Did it matter if there was no signature? Did it even matter that there had been no stamp or postmark on the envelope?

But the letter itself didn't really matter. Bryony had a long list of questions to ask Mum about more important things.

Like the Moon of Magister.

Those words had kept cropping up ever since Bryony had discovered the power of Wychetts. She had heard them that first night in the garden, whispered by Katya Pauncefoot as the Shadow Clan hatched their scheme to seize the cottage. And again at Barrenbrake Farm, and then on the Darkwing airship in the midst of their fight to retrieve the Thunderstone. And of course, there had been the message stowed inside Mr Cuddles...

Those five words now haunted Bryony, whispering at the back of her mind over and over. What could they mean? Was this Magister a person? And why wouldn't Inglenook, the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom, even attempt to help her unravel the mystery?

Beware the Moon of Magister.

Bryony shuddered, her skin puckering as an icy chill ran down her spine. She told herself they were just words. In any case she'd soon be with Mum, who'd explain everything and make her feel safe again. Safe again, just like the old days in Mossy Glade Close.

She inserted the letter back into her holdall, then looked out of the window again. They were still in the countryside, miles away from anywhere. She glanced at her watch, noting that nearly ten minutes had passed since her last time check. Surely they should be on the motorway by now?

Dad had his eyes closed, deep in thought. Bryony sat up, and was about to request the driver's attention when she saw a roundabout up ahead. At last! Hopefully there would be a sign showing how far they were from the airport.

The taxi headed around the roundabout. Bryony pressed her face eagerly against the window, but couldn't see any signs for the airport. In fact, she couldn't see any signs at all.

The taxi went right around the roundabout. Bryony wondered if the driver was going to head back where they'd just come from, but then she saw the road they had just come from wasn't there anymore.

In fact, she couldn't see any roads coming off the roundabout.

Bryony blinked, wondering if her eyes were playing tricks on her. Then she pinched herself in case she had fallen asleep and was dreaming. The she pinched her father, because she realised that she wasn't seeing things and she wasn't dreaming.

"Ow!" Bill's eyes snapped open. "What is it? Are we there?"

"Look." Bryony tapped on the window. "The roundabout."

"It's a roundabout." Bill nodded. "Well done. But I still don't think you've quite got the hang of 'I Spy'."

"Look closer," urged Bryony. "Where have all the roads gone? There's no way out of it."

Bill peered out of the window. "But that can't be. How did we get on the roundabout in the first place?"

The taxi continued round the roundabout, gathering speed as it went. Bryony raised her hand to knock on the screen, but she was thrown sideways onto her father when the taxi tilted sharply.

She looked up, hoping to catch the driver's eye in the rear view mirror; but the reflection she saw was just an empty seat.

And that's when she realised: there was no driver!

And yet somehow the taxi continued circling the roundabout. The engine roared as it hit top speed, and the view through the windows became a blur of streaky colours.

Bryony closed her eyes as her head swam. She heard her father calling out to her, but his cries faded before she drowned in a whirlpool of giddiness...

5 Don't You Trust Me?

"Wake up, sleepy head."

Edwin felt something nudging his shoulder. He opened his eyes and saw a foot. The foot was connected to a leg, and the leg was connected to a girl with green hair wearing a pair of old-fashioned thick-rimmed glasses.

Edwin tried to speak, but could only manage a strangled yawn.

"What beautiful tonsils you have." Maddy knelt on the grass next to Edwin. "You'll be a little dozy for a minute or two. Then you'll be very dozy for an awful lot longer, but that's just how you were before."

Edwin sat up, realising he was lying in the garden outside the cottage.

"What..." He yawned again, but remembered to cover his mouth with a hand this time. "What happened?"

"You fell asleep." Maddy tutted. "And just when it was getting interesting. Typical man."

"But why? How?" Edwin stifled yet another yawn. Then he remembered. "It was because of that pink mist."

"It wasn't mist," said Maddy. "It was pollen. Hypnoflax pollen."

"Hypno..." Edwin couldn't prevent another yawn. "What's Hypnoflax?"

"A species of magical flower. The Wise Ones cultivated it widely, harvesting its spores as a powerful sedative." Maddy smirked. "Even more powerful than their Magic School lessons."

"Those flowers." Edwin remembered the seeds his mother had planted in the sink. Then he realised his mother wasn't anywhere in sight. "Where's Mum?"

"Still inside the cottage." Maddy's lips straightened. "I'm afraid I couldn't get her out in time."

"You mean..." Edwin clambered to his feet and ran screaming towards the cottage. "Mum!"

"Edwin, be careful!" Maddy followed, but couldn't catch up before he was through the front door.

"Muuuum!" Edwin hared through the hallway, staggering to a halt when he entered the kitchen. "Mum?"

For a moment Edwin wondered if it actually was the kitchen. The whole room, walls, ceiling, furniture, everything, was covered in a mesh of strands that looked like cobwebs. Thick pink cobwebs.

"Don't touch." Maddy seized Edwin's wrist before his fingers brushed the dense pink fibres.

"But the flowers are dead." Edwin noticed the flowers in the sink had wilted, the once pink petals now shrivelled and blackened.

"Maybe." Maddy let go of Edwin's arm. "But their spores remain toxic for up to three weeks."

"Where's my mum? I can't see..." Then Edwin noticed a shape slumped on the table. A vaguely human shape, smothered in pink cobwebs. He couldn't see a face, but there were a few coils of auburn hair visible through the blanket of cobwebs.

"Mum!" A distraught Edwin hurried to the table. "Are you OK? Can you hear me?"

"She's alive," advised Maddy. "But in a very deep sleep."

Edwin leaned forwards, catching a soft murmuring noise from his mother's lips.

"She's waking up." Edwin sighed with relief, but Maddy shook her green head.

"She's dreaming. That's another side effect of Hypnoflax poisoning. Vivid dreams that seem almost real."

"Then we need to wake her up," said Edwin.

"We can't." Maddy grabbed Edwin's arm again when he moved to touch Jane's shoulder. "Nothing can counter the effect of Hypnoflaxflax spores."

Edwin frowned at Maddy. "Not even Wychetts' magic?"

Maddy bit her bottom lip. "Your mother isn't the only one affected."

Edwin twisted his arm from Maddy's grip and ran from the kitchen. As he galloped back down the hallway he now noticed that the walls and floor were smothered in the same pink cobwebs. The lounge was in an even worse state...

The cobwebs were thickest around the fireplace, clinging to Inglenook's carved wooden features, smothering his mouth and nostrils, drawing a pink veil across his eyes.

"Inglenook!" Edwin ran up to the hearth, yelling at the top of his voice. "INGLENOOK!"

"He can't hear you." Maddy stood behind Edwin. "He's in the same comatose state as your mother."

"I can contact him by psychic link." Edwin closed his eyes and concentrated. "Inglenook, can you hear me?"

"Nothing can wake him up," said Maddy. "Not even you."

Edwin concentrated for a few more seconds, his freckled face contorted with effort.

Then he heard a sound. A sound that came from nowhere and everywhere at once, that made the floor and the walls tremble. A deep, rhythmic rasping noise that reminded him of...

Snoring. It was Inglenook snoring.

And then he realised Maddy was right. He couldn't wake Inglenook.

Edwin opened his eyes, blinking back a tear as he lowered his gaze to floor. Then he saw the little 'DO NOT DISTURB' sign. His spirits lifting, Edwin put a hand to his shirt pocket.

Stubby will know what to do, he thought. But Edwin's eyes started watering again when he found his shirt pocket was empty.

"I don't know what happened to your mouse," confessed Maddy. "Guess he must have been affected by the Hypnoflax like everyone else. Probably fell out of your pocket when I was dragging you out of the cottage."

"He was sleepy all morning." Edwin recalled how everyone in the cottage had been drowsy. "Mum, Inglenook too. And the windows were jammed so I couldn't let any air in."

"All part of the Hypnoflax spell." Maddy's green freckled forehead puckered thoughtfully. "But how did the flowers get here in the first place?"

"The seeds arrived in the post this morning." Edwin's gaze followed Maddy as she started pacing around the lounge. "With the letter from Bryony's mother in America. She said they were a present."

Maddy halted, then wheeled round to face Edwin.

"That letter didn't come from Bryony's mother."

"Huh?" Edwin wondered how Maddy could be so sure about that. "Then who sent it?"

"Who indeed." Maddy tapped her little cleft chin. "An enemy of Wychetts, I'd say. An enemy who wanted to knock down your defences, leaving you vulnerable to attack..."

Edwin gawped. "The Shadow Clan?"

Maddy waved away the suggestion. "The Shadow Clan don't do flowers, not even poisonous ones. No, this seems more like..."

Edwin wondered why Maddy had stopped mid sentence. She stared into space, her lips apart, eyebrows arched in apparent anguish. For a moment he feared she had fallen asleep like his mother, but then Maddy spoke again. Although what she said didn't make much sense.

"The Vampiropteryx."

"Vampi..." Edwin gave up trying to repeat the word. "What are they?"

"You don't know?" Maddy fixed Edwin with an incredulous look. "Only the most evil creatures ever, from another dimension. Sometimes they leave their domain of darkness and come into ours to feed. Except the Vampiropteryx don't feed on blood, but magic. The magic of our world draws them like bees to nectar. Except they're more bat-like. And spit deadly green fire."

"Wow." Edwin gulped. "These Vampi... bat monster things sound as bad as the Shadow Clan."

"Worse, I'm afraid. They're everyone's most terrible nightmare come true, all at once, with wings on. It was the Vampiropteryx who sent you the Hypnoflax seeds, along with the letter luring Bryony and her father away from Wychetts."

"Bryony." Edwin gasped. "Then we've got to warn her, send her a message in America." Then he gasped again. "But if the letter was a fake... she probably isn't on her way to America?"

"Your stepsister is already a prisoner of the Vampiropteryx. Her father too." Maddy nodded slowly. "It was the perfect plan. The easiest way of splitting up the Guardians and leaving Wychetts open to their attack. Except for one thing."

"Which is?" Edwin wondered why Maddy was smiling.

"Me!" Maddy patted her chest. "I'm a descendant of the Wise Ones like you. I'm a Guardian."

"We've been through this before," Edwin reminded her. "You never finished your magical training."

"Neither have you," argued Maddy. "But you can still use Wychetts' magic."

"But Inglenook is asleep. So even two Guardians won't be enough to stop the Vampi..." Again Edwin gave up trying to say it. "... those magic eating monsters."

Maddy tutted like an impatient schoolteacher. "We can still use Wychetts' power without old wooden chops. Even more of it, seeing as he can't ration our use of magic like he normally does."

Edwin didn't like the idea of that. "But Inglenook is the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom. It wouldn't be right to use Wychetts' power without his say so."

"But if we don't do something to help, Inglenook might not be able to say anything ever again. Or your mother, for that matter."

Edwin let Maddy's words sink in. If what she said was true, Wychetts was in terrible danger. And if these Vampi... bat monsters stole Wychetts' magic, there was no way of waking up Mum, let alone finding Bill and Bryony.

"Let's do it." Edwin decided he had no choice. "We'll use Wychetts' power to wake up Inglenook and my mum."

"It's not as simple as that," warned Maddy. "There's no antidote to Hypnoflax poisoning. At least not any more."

"But if there's no antidote, then how can we..."

Maddy skipped between Edwin and the fireplace. "Do you trust me, Edwin?"

"I..." Edwin was taken aback by the question. "Well..."

"Because you're going to have to." Maddy's blue, magnified eyes seemed to grow larger whilst she gazed at Edwin. "If my plan is going to work."

"You've got a plan?"

"As plans go it isn't much of a plan. More a plan of a plan. But it's the only plan we've got."

That was good enough for Edwin. "So what do we do?"

"We go on a little trip." Maddy bit her bottom lip as though to rein in a smile. "To meet my family."

"But we can't," said Edwin. "They're trapped in paintings. In your satchel."

"Right now, yes. But we're going to meet them before..." A pained expression crossed Maddy's face. "Before it happened."

"How?" It took a few seconds of frowning before the answer dawned on Edwin. "You mean... we're going to travel back in time?"

"Clever boy, I knew we'd get there in the end."

"But is that even possible?"

"I wouldn't have suggested it otherwise. Although it needs a lot of magic power, more than Inglenook would let you use in a fortnight. So it's just as well he's snoozing."

"But can your family help?"

"Of course." Maddy scowled indignantly. "The Maddergrub family are renowned for our knowledge of magic. My parents are expert magic herb growers, and they're bound to know a cure for Hypnoflax poisoning."

Edwin mulled it over. "But if we can travel back in time, can't we ask the Wise Ones themselves? Or even Inglenook?"

"I'd rather not," admitted Maddy. "The Wise Ones took a rather dim view of magic time travel, and I wouldn't want to get into more trouble with them."

"But..." Edwin was still debating what to do when Maddy grabbed hold of his hand.

"You have to trust me, Edwin." Maddy's words sounded more like an order than a request. "This won't work if you don't trust me."

"I trusted you before," Edwin reminded her. "And you left me stuck down a pit."

"It's different now." Maddy squeezed Edwin's hand. "We're friends, right?"

"Well..." Edwin hesitated. "Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Of course it isn't." Maddy grinned. "There's a million things that could go wrong. We could materialise at the bottom of a swamp, or get flattened by a dinosaur, or get captured by a tribe of primitive cannibalistic cave people. I really hate it when that happens."

Edwin's doubts were growing by the second. "And shouldn't we have travel insurance?"

"Oh sure. Plus injections against cholera, bubonic plague and chilblains. And sunscreen, sensible shoes, and a small flashlight to convince those primitive cannibalistic cave people we're gods and shouldn't be a side dish in their Sunday mammoth roast. Plus a book of word puzzles for the duller moments. But we don't have time for all that. Now close your eyes. Magic time travel can be a bit scary first time."

Edwin stared at Maddy, seeing his reflection in the lenses of her thick-rimmed glasses.

"Close your eyes," she whispered. "And trust me."

Edwin didn't totally trust Maddy, but reckoned he had no choice but to go along with her plan. Even if it was only a plan of a plan.

So he closed his eyes.

And trusted her.

6 Meet the Maddergrubs

Maddy tightened her grip on Edwin's hand. He felt he could never let go, as though fused to her. Seconds passed, but nothing seemed to happen. Then he heard a whoosh of air, and it felt like his feet had left the ground.

He opened his eyes, and saw they were tumbling through a tunnel of swirling bright colours. He quickly closed his eyes again, fighting the urge to throw up. It was a fight he came desperately close to losing, but just as the bile rose threateningly in his throat, Edwin felt solid ground beneath his feet again.

The whooshing noise faded, replaced by the calming chirp of birdsong. He felt a gentle warm breeze on his face, and the bitter taste of sick receded.

"Are we there?" he asked, eyes still screwed shut.

"We're there," confirmed Maddy.

"That wasn't too bad." Edwin tried to sound as though he had enjoyed the journey.

"Quite a smooth ride," agreed Maddy. "Luckily there were no jams on the North Circular. Plus we by-passed the nineteen seventies, which is always a bonus."

"Huh?" Edwin wondered whether Maddy was kidding him. "Are you sure we're there?"

"Open your eyes and find out."

Edwin opened his eyes, and blinked in the strong sunlight. They were standing in a garden, a huge, wondrous garden. A patchwork of beautifully coloured flowerbeds stretched in all directions. Large, plump bees droned contentedly between the blooms, whilst butterflies flitted all around in dabs of shimmering colour.

"The Maddergrub Garden is the envy of the magical world." Maddy beamed with pride. "All of these plants have magical uses, for potions, spells and such like."

"Wow." Edwin was duly impressed. "So there could be a cure for Hypnoflax poisoning right here?"

"Like I said, my family are experts with magic herbs. Now let's go find them."

Maddy set off down a gravel pathway. Edwin went to follow, but stopped when he heard a strange noise.

It seemed to come from all round him, yet echoed in his mind as though somehow part of him: a rhythmic, deep rasping noise that reminded him of snoring.

"Edwin?" Maddy was tapping his shoulder. "Are you all right?"

"Can't you hear it?" Edwin stared expectantly at her. "That loud snoring noise."

Maddy's green eyebrows arched doubtfully. Edwin listened again, but the snoring had stopped.

"It's probably just a side effect of magic time travel," said Maddy. "Nothing to worry about. Now come along, there's plenty more to show you."

Maddy dragged Edwin along the pathway and through an arched opening in a thick box hedge.

"And this," she announced with a wave of her right hand, "is our home."

Edwin gaped, the muscles that held his jaw in place seeming to turn to jelly.

He'd seen Maddergrub Manor before. It had been old and derelict then, a crumbling empty shell. Now Edwin couldn't believe he was looking at the same building.

"So what d'you think?"

Edwin couldn't answer Maddy's question. All he could do was stare, absorbing the grandeur of the gleaming white walls, the slender high towers topped with shiny golden spires, the beautiful windows made of shimmering, multi-coloured glass...

And the flying gargoyles, of course.

"Look out!" Edwin ducked when he saw a hideous, winged statue swooping down from the roof of Maddergrub Manor.

"It's alright," chuckled Maddy, holding out a hand to the gargoyle as it landed beside her. "These ones are quite tame. We've raised Girty and Gorty since they were pebbles."

A second gargoyle dropped to the ground, approaching Edwin in a determined manner. Edwin let go of Maddy's hand and shrank back, recalling his previous encounter with the living stone monsters.

"She's only being friendly." Maddy stroked the head of the first gargoyle. "Give her a pat, she likes that."

The gargoyle ambled right up to Edwin, pressing its head against his stomach.

"Go on," urged Maddy. "She won't bite."

Gingerly, Edwin reached down and patted the gargoyle's head. The stone monster emitted a stream of contented croaks, which became a delighted purr when Edwin tickled its neck.

"That's enough mollycoddling." Maddy pointed at the manor roof. "Now get back on guard duty."

The gargoyles hissed in protest, but Maddy was firm.

"Back to your positions." She waved her arms encouragingly. "Both of you. Shoo!"

The gargoyles reluctantly took to the air, circling the manor before settling on the roof.

"See." Maddy grinned at Edwin. "Gargoyles make ideal sentries. Very weather resistant. Although they do need regular de-mossing, and they're not too keen on that. But there's no time to stand here chatting." Maddy took hold of Edwin's hand again. "It's time to meet the Maddergrubs."

"Wait." A sudden thought struck Edwin. "If we've gone back in time to meet your family, what if you meet yourself? The universe will implode. I've seen it on TV."

"No it won't," Maddy assured him. "Although I agree it could be rather problematic. But don't worry. I'm not at home right now. The new term has just started, so I'll be stuck at magic boarding school for weeks."

"Then won't your family be surprised to see you?"

"I've thought of that."

Maddy led Edwin up the grand flight of steps that led to the main entrance of the manor. She clicked her fingers, and the huge wooden doors swung silently open.

"Welcome to my home." Maddy ushered Edwin into the hallway of Maddergrub Manor.

Again, Edwin was struck dumb by the sight that met his eyes. The hallway was nothing like he remembered it; with spotless white walls, a beautiful symmetrically tiled floor, and a stunning wrought iron chandelier suspended from a vaulted ceiling which reminded him of a cathedral. Everything looked shiny and new, not a speck of dust or cobweb in sight.

This is a proper house, he thought to himself. As much as he loved Wychetts, the old cottage with its wonky timbers and crooked walls just couldn't compare to a building of this majesty and splendour.

"Beautiful," he breathed.

"Thank you," said Maddy, as though Edwin's compliment had been meant for her. Edwin was about to clarify his remark, but then noticed that Maddy had magically transformed her appearance.

She now wore a long purple dress, with wide sleeves and golden trim. Her green hair was neatly plaited, and shimmered like a dewy meadow in the sunlight that streamed through the opened doors.

"Do you like it?" Maddy spread her arms and did a little twirl. "Just normal everyday clothes for a normal thirteenth century girl."

"There's nothing normal about you," said Edwin with a smile. "But yeah, you look very... um... nice."

"Thank you." Maddy curtsied. "And you don't look too bad yourself."

"Huh?" Edwin looked down to see that he'd also changed clothes, a burgundy tunic and yellow leggings having replaced his jeans and T-shirt.

"Do I have to wear this?" He pulled at his puffy sleeves, grimacing when he noticed his long pointy shoes. "I feel a right ninny."

"You look very trendy." Maddy nodded approvingly. "And we need to blend in with the period."

Edwin guessed that Maddy was right, about blending in at any rate, but then noticed something about her that hadn't changed.

"So what about those?" He pointed at her thick-rimmed glasses. "I didn't think people wore specs in medieval times."

"They don't," admitted Maddy. "But they will after seeing how cool and stylish I look. Now stop complaining, tights suit you. Though I might change the colour. It looks like you've got heron's legs."

"Heron's legs?" A scowling Edwin inspected his legs again. "What do you..."

"Never mind." Maddy patted his arm. "Now we need to think of a suitable back story."

"Back story?"

"To explain your presence here." Maddy lowered her voice to a whisper. "I can't tell my parents the truth, can I?"

Edwin realised Maddy had a point.

"Best make it simple," he advised. "We need to get back to the present day as soon as possible."

Maddy shrugged. "This is the present day."

Edwin was going to argue that, but the sound of agitated voices came echoing from an adjoining passage.

The first was male, deep and booming. "Malady, is that you?"

"That's my father!" Maddy gasped, squeezing Edwin's arm.

The second voice was feminine, soft and lilting. "Is our daughter home?"

"That's Mother." Maddy gasped again, inflicting another squeeze on Edwin's arm. "My parents are coming."

Edwin saw Maddy's eyes moisten, and suddenly realised how emotional this must be for her. He put a hand on her shoulder, and was surprised how much she was trembling.

"How shall I address them?" Edwin had been brought up to know the importance of good manners, but obviously wasn't familiar with medieval etiquette.

"We're pretty relaxed and informal," Maddy told him. "Lord and Lady Maddergrub will do."

Edwin didn't think that was relaxed and informal, but was happy to go along with it.

"But it's best if you leave all the talking to me," Maddy whispered, still grasping his arm. "Don't say a word. Not a word about anything, unless I give you the nod. Understand?"

"Not really," complained Edwin. "Why shouldn't I speak to them? I'm a Guardian of Wychetts. I..."

"Think about it. We've travelled eight hundred years into your past. One wrong word from you could change the course of history. Your stepsister Bryony could end up Queen of England. Imagine that."

Edwin told Maddy that he rather wouldn't.

"Good." Maddy finally relaxed her grip on Edwin's arm. "Now remember, don't say a word unless I give you the nod. And you need to trust me. This won't work if you don't trust me."

"I trust you," said Edwin, knowing he had little choice.

"It sounded like Malady." Lord Maddergrub's voice boomed louder.

"It must be her," said Lady Maddergrub. "But she did not send word of her return. I hope all is well."

The voices were now accompanied by the sound of hurrying footsteps. Maddy took a deep breath and closed her eyes, opening them again when Lord and Lady Maddergrub came hurrying into the hall.

Edwin had seen Maddy's parents before in their paintings. But even if he hadn't, he could have guessed their identity from the man's sparkling blue eyes and the woman's bright green hair.

"Malady!" Lady Maddergrub clasped her hands together when she spied her daughter.

"Mother!" Maddy ran and threw herself at Lady Maddergrub, almost knocking her to the floor.

"Father!" Maddy extricated herself from her mother's arms and treated Lord Maddergrub to a similar greeting. "Oh, it's so good to see you. Both of you."

"Something is wrong," said Lady Maddergrub when the hugging was over. "I foresaw it in the clouds this morning."

"Why have you returned to us?" Lord Maddergrub held Maddy by the shoulders and gazed into her face. "And why are you wearing that strange frame across your eyes?"

"They're called glasses," explained Maddy, removing the offending articles to wipe a tear from her cheek. "And they're very fashionable."

"Not very," murmured Edwin, but his comment was drowned by more voices.

"Is that Maddy?"

"Back so soon?"

"Is something the matter?"

Three children ran into the hall: two girls, one older and one younger than Maddy, and a small boy Edwin recognised as her little brother. They all shared Maddy's blue eyes and green hair, although Edwin couldn't fail to note the older girl was a lot prettier than Maddy.

Maddy treated her siblings to the same boisterous greeting as her parents, sobbing their names she they embraced.

"Rosabella!" This was the older and prettier girl, who checked her face in a hand mirror before and after embracing Maddy.

"Floriana!" The younger sister, who squealed with delight as she hugged Maddy back.

"Alphonsus." The little brother pulled a face when Maddy kissed him on the cheek.

"But why are you home?" asked Rosabella, after tearing her attention from her hand mirror. "Have you been expelled for playing another trick on your magic tutor?"

"Malady was just about to tell us," boomed Lord Maddergrub. "I'm sure there is a just reason for her unexpected return."

An expectant hush descended whilst everyone waited for Maddy to begin her explanation. No one seemed to have noticed Edwin, until Floriana happened to glance in his direction.

"Look everyone," she squealed. "Maddy's brought home a boyfriend."

Suddenly everyone was looking at Edwin.

"Hi," said Edwin, fiddling with the hem of his tunic. "I'm..."

"This is Prince Edwin." Maddy stepped hurriedly between Edwin and her family. "Prince Edwin of Ninny."

"Prince Edwin of Ninny?" Lord Maddergrub looked Edwin up and down.

"Prince Edwin of Ninny?" Edwin was also wondering why Maddy had introduced him with such an outlandish title.

"Prince Edwin of Ninny." Maddy gave Edwin a sideways glance as she nodded. "The reason for my unexpected return."

"I was right," giggled Floriana. "Maddy's got a boyfriend."

"He has strange hair," observed Alphonsus. "And the legs of a heron."

Edwin was tempted to respond to the boy's insult, but a dig in the ribs from Maddy was enough to silence him.

But Alphonsus hadn't finished. "And I've never heard of a place called Ninny."

"It's in mainland Europe," said Maddy. "Between the Principality of Prattonia and the Duchy of Dumbo."

"I've never heard of those either." Alphonsus snorted doubtfully. "I don't think he's a real Prince."

"Hush," said Lady Maddergrub. "And allow Malady to explain."

"I'm all ears too," muttered Edwin.

Maddy shot Edwin a glare, finger pressed to her lips. Then she faced her family again, clearing her throat before speaking.

"Prince Edwin has fallen on hard times. His kingdom has been ravaged by the evil Vampiropteryx, his family dethroned and sent into exile. The High Council of the Wise Ones has asked that we look after him until his lands and title are restored."

Edwin had never heard anything so bizarre in his life. But the Maddergrubs seemed to believe it.

"The Vampiropteryx have become more daring of late," mused Lord Maddergrub. "I hear reports daily of their incursions into our magical dimension. It was only a matter of time before they launched such an outrageous attack."

"This is terrible news." Lady Maddergrub put a hand to her mouth, gazing at Edwin with watery eyes. "My dear Prince, you are most welcome to stay at Madderbrub Manor."

Lord Maddergrub nodded solemnly. "For as long as it takes for your kingdom to be saved and your family returned to their rightful throne."

Maddy's siblings offered Edwin similar words of comfort. Except Alphonsus, who made another sneering remark about heron's legs.

From the Maddergrubs' reaction, Edwin could only assume that princes from dubious-sounding countries were always being deposed in this time period. He smiled his gratitude, and thought he should say something princely and noble in response, but remained silent under another warning glare from Maddy.

"We will treat you as one of the family." Lord Maddergrub laid a sturdy hand on Edwin's shoulder. "You shall consider Maddergrub Manor as your home, and are welcome to use all available lavatories. Except the one on the third floor, which is my own private lavatory."

"It has a special padded seat," Maddy told Edwin in a whisper. "With his name embroidered on it."

"You shall be considered one of the family," said Lady Maddergrub. "You shall dine with us, drink with us, and play with us as though you were our son."

Edwin felt awkward. He wanted more than anything to reveal the truth about his presence, and didn't like the notion of deceiving his gracious hosts. But Maddy continued to glare at him, so he nodded his thanks and smiled gratefully.

She had asked him to trust her. For his part, Edwin was prepared to go along with the plan. But he couldn't rid himself of the nagging suspicion that Malady Maddergrub was up to something.

7 Just Scream

Bryony lay motionless; clinging to her holdall while the world around her heaved and gyrated. Gradually everything slowed. Fuzzy forms sharpened into focus. Streaks of whirling colour merged into solid shapes. The world settled into stillness.

It took a lot longer for Bryony's stomach to do the same.

Eventually, when it stopped hurting just to look at things, she tried to make sense of her now more stable surroundings.

It was a room, dark and dingy. A musty scent hung in the chill dank air. There was a faint light, flickering and orange. The floor on which she lay was cold and hard, and from somewhere came the sound of dripping water.

Where on earth was she?

Bryony sat up, cradling her stomach whilst conducting a closer examination of the room. The stone walls and ceiling glistened with slime. There was no window, the only light cast by a flaming torch set on a wall beyond a row of rusty metal bars.

She had no idea where she was, or how she'd got there. One moment she'd been in the taxi, the next...

She looked at her wristwatch. Just an hour to catch the flight.

Confusion sharpened into panic. Bryony struggled to her feet, slipped the holdall over her shoulder, then grabbed the iron bars and screamed the first word that came into her head.

"Muuuuuuuuuum!"

Bryony listened as her echoing cry faded. She was about to start yelling again when she heard another sound in response: a distant clank reverberating in the silence.

She felt a surge of hope. Someone was coming!

There was another clank, louder this time, and then heavy stomping footsteps. And as the stomping feet came closer, Bryony heard yet another noise. Difficult to make out, but it sounded like snorting.

Bryony clung to the bars whilst the stomping and snorting got louder. A large lump of a shadow appeared on the wall outside the cell, and then the thing that caused all the stomping and snorting came lumbering into view.

And it was the ugliest thing Bryony had ever seen.

It was over seven feet tall, and almost as wide, with a huge fat body. It had no neck, its head seeming to sprout from its broad humpy shoulders. It wore a leather apron, smeared with a variety of nasty looking stains.

All that was hideous enough, but its face was even more disgusting. It resembled a warty pig, with a broad flat snout pierced by a rusty metal ring. A pair of yellow hooked fangs curved upwards from its flabby lower jaw. Its tiny dark eyes glinted evilly as it staggered to a halt outside the cell and peered through the bars at Bryony.

"I ain't yer mum," snorted the creature, its gruff voice thick with phlegm. "Do I look like yer mum?"

"No," agreed Bryony, after taking a few seconds to recover her power of speech. "You're way too ugly."

"Ugly?" The pig monster snorted again. "You're a fine one to talk. Just look at the state of yer face."

Bryony looked where the pig monster's podgy finger was pointing.

"That's my knee," she told him.

"Just goes to show how ugly you are if I can't work out where yer face is." There was another loud snort from the pig monster. "So did you want something? I ain't got all day. Running this dungeon is a twenty four seven job, what with torture duty and on-going slime maintenance."

"This is a dungeon?" Bryony's jaw fell open.

"Course it is," said the pig monster. "The deepest, dankest, dirtiest and darkest dungeon of them all. I'm Gluttoniuos Globb, Gaoler. I'm in charge, and have been for over five hundred years."

Bryony continued to gawp. "That's a long time."

"Not down 'ere it ain't," said Globb. "Some folks have been 'ere a lot longer than that. And at least I get a day off every ninety seven years, plus a five minute tea break each weekday afternoon."

Bryony wasn't interested in leave quotas or tea breaks. "You've got to let me out," she demanded. "I shouldn't be here. I've done nothing wrong."

Globb chortled, runny snot spurting from his snout. "They all say that. But there's no way out of 'ere. This is where you'll spend the rest of yer life, so get used to it."

"But I'm innocent," pleaded Bryony. "I've done nothing wrong."

"I ain't interested in yer excuses," grunted Globb. "You're all guilty, that's why you're 'ere. And that's why I'm 'ere, to make your life as unpleasant as possible. By the way, how am I doing? Feedback is always useful for evaluating performance."

Bryony was quite happy to provide feedback; of the very loud shouty variety.

"I'm supposed to be flying to America to meet my mum," she barked. "The plane takes off in an hour, so you'd better let me out right now."

"No one gets out," chortled Globb. "Not from this dungeon."

"Then I want to see a lawyer," insisted Bryony. "It's my basic human right."

"No lawyers allowed," growled Globb. "And no one has any human rights in the Dungeon of Dreams."

"The Dungeon of Dreams?" Bryony frowned. "What sort of dungeon is that?"

"The dungeon from which there is no escape, no reprieve." Globb's tiny eyes bored into Bryony, and streams of snot bubbled from his nostrils. "You are doomed to rot in the darkness, never again to feel the sun on your face. Your emaciated body will feed the ravenous rats, and your tortured soul will linger in these gloomy confines for all eternity."

Bryony just stared at Globb, too shocked to utter a single word.

"On the plus side," said Globb, hoisting a wooden bucket into view, "the food's thrown in for free."

Globb hurled the contents of the bucket through the bars, drenching Bryony in cold greasy stew.

"They always fall for that one." Globb oinked and gurgled gleefully. "And it always makes me laugh. Now I suggest you make yourself comfortable. If you're lucky you might find a dead rat to use as a pillow. And if you want anything else, just scream. No one will come, but I like the sound. All adds to the atmosphere."

And with one last snorted laugh, Gluttoniuos Globb stomped off down the passage.

"Let me out," shrieked Bryony, wiping greasy stew from her eyes. "I have a plane to catch. I have to see my mum! Let me out! Pleeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaase..."

The bulky form of the pig monster lumbered out of view. Bryony sank to her knees, her shriek fading to a despairing whimper as her hands slid down the rusty cell bars.

"Cheer up. It's not so bad down here once you get used to it."

"Huh?" Bryony's head snapped up. "Who said that?"

"Your cellmate," said the voice. "I would have introduced myself earlier, but it seemed rude to interrupt your yelling."

"Cellmate?" Bryony looked around the cell, but couldn't see anyone. "Where are you?"

"I'm here," said the voice.

"But I can't see you." Bryony tracked the voice to an empty corner of the cell. "I can't see anybody."

The voice started laughing. "That's because there's no body here."

Now Bryony was even more confused. "But you just said you were here."

"I'm here," said the voice. "But there's no body."

Bryony noticed a shape on the floor in the corner.

"Take a look." The voice laughed again. "You'll find there's definitely no body here."

Bryony didn't want to look, but at the same time she had to know for sure. She shuffled gingerly into the corner, kneeling to examine the shape on the floor. To her relief she found the voice was right. It wasn't a body, just a pile of old rags. So where was that laughing voice coming from?

Then she glimpsed something through the shredded rags: something pale, smooth and rounded.

Despite her growing sense of unease, Bryony found herself pulling the rags apart...

Only to recoil in horror when she saw what lay beneath.

It was a human skull, its bony jaw agape as the voice's laughter warped into an insane cackle...

8 Two Heads Are Better Than One

"No body here," laughed the skull. "Just a skull. Did you see what I did there? No body. Just a skull. I'm here all week. And the next couple of millennia, most probably."

Bryony had retreated to the other side of the cell, where she stood cowering from the cackling skull.

"What's the matter?" The skull seemed mystified by her reaction. "I didn't think it was that bad, considering it was my first stab at a joke for several hundred years. Oh please, don't say they've lumbered me with someone who's got no sense of humour. You can pick your nose and talk in your sleep, but if you don't like a laugh then we simply won't get on."

"Several hundred years?" Bryony's fear gave way to curiosity. "Is that how long you've been here?"

"I forget the precise length of time," admitted the skull. "But it's been at least six and a half centuries since the last of my soft tissue rotted away. The rats didn't help. The little blighters couldn't wait to get stuck in once I'd popped my clogs."

"You're dead." Bryony's jaw fell open. "So... how come you're talking?"

"My body may have been eaten away, but my soul remains. That's what happens when you're imprisoned for all eternity. The physical body may grow old and perish, but the spirit is doomed to remain here for ever."

"That's horrible." Bryony felt sympathy for the skull. "My name's Bryony."

"Pleased to meet you. And my name is..."

Bryony waited for the skull to introduce himself. "Yes?"

"I apologise," said the skull. "But I've been here so long that I've forgotten what my name is."

"Never mind." Bryony walked back to the skull. "I'll call you... Boney."

"Boney?" The skull chuckled. "I can see you have a sense of humour after all."

"And I need it," sighed Bryony, crouching next to the skull. "Today is my birthday. I'm supposed to be flying to my mum in America. I haven't seen her for four years, so..."

"Flying?" Boney sounded suddenly excited. "So my suspicions are correct. You can do magic."

"I meant flying in a plane." Appreciating that Boney might be a little behind the times, Bryony tried to describe an aircraft in a way he might recognise. "It's sort of like a boat, but with wings. They fly all around the world, and can fit hundreds of passengers inside."

"That's awful," reflected Boney.

"Yeah. You have to pay extra for decent legroom nowadays. And the food..."

"No, I meant it's awful that you can't do magic. I had hoped you might have been a Wise One."

"I never said that I couldn't do magic." Bryony leaned closer to the skull. "And how do you know about the Wise Ones?"

"I may have forgotten who I am, but I remember some things about the old times, about the Wise Ones and the Guardians of Wychetts."

"That's what I am!" Bryony nodded excitedly. "I'm a Guardian of Wychetts."

"I knew it," gasped Boney. "That's why you can hear me. Only magically sensitive folks can detect a disembodied voice. Oh how I have waited for this special day. My saviour has arrived, and we shall soon be free from this horrid place!"

"I wouldn't get your hopes up too high," warned Bryony. "Globb won't let me speak to a lawyer, so..."

"I was not relying on the dubious workings of our legal system. It is your magic that will set us free, Guardian."

"Sorry, but it doesn't work like that. I don't have the Wychetts Key, so I can't do any magic when I'm away from home."

"You are more powerful than you think," advised Boney. "Down here in the Dungeon of Dreams, anything is possible. You can use Wychetts' magic without the Key to help you. Go on, give it a try. Test your powers on those iron bars."

"It won't work," said Bryony.

"You must try," urged Boney. "Or you'll never see your mother again."

"OK." Bryony stood up. "Just to show you're wrong."

She pointed at the rusty bars, two of which bent apart with a loud graunching noise.

"You see?" said Boney. "You can do magic without the Wychetts Key."

Bryony lowered her arm, staring open mouthed at the bent iron bars. "But that's impossible."

"As I said, anything is possible in the Dungeon of Dreams."

Although confused, Bryony knew she didn't have time to waste debating how she could use magic. There was a way out of here, and she had to take it.

"Thanks." She nodded at Boney. "It's been nice talking to you. But I've got a flight to catch."

Bryony concentrated again, but this time on transporting herself to the airport. Except this time, nothing happened.

"I'm afraid that won't work," said Boney. "The Dungeon of Dreams is magically sealed from the outside world, so long range transportation spells are useless."

Bryony was dismayed. "So how do I get out?"

"Your only chance is to proceed on foot. But many have tried in vain to escape this way, all victims to the horrors and traps that lurk in the dungeon's dark domains. Even a Guardian of Wychetts cannot make that journey alone. But with a guide, you may stand a chance."

"You mean a map? Like for tourists?"

"There is no map of the Dungeon of Dreams, but I have knowledge of the route you must take to win your freedom."

Bryony was doubtful. "How?"

"Rats can be quite talkative between chewing, and I learned a great deal from them during my time here. There was one rat in particular who told me of a shaft that runs from the dungeon all the way to the upper levels. I would have given it a go myself, but unfortunately the same rat had gnawed both my legs off by the time he'd got round to telling me."

Bryony found no reason to doubt Boney; after all, he'd been right about her being able to do magic.

"So how do I find this shaft? Can you remember the way?"

"I can. And will be happy to navigate as we go."

Bryony realised what Boney meant. "You want me to take you with me?"

"It would be advantageous for us both. After all, two heads are better than one."

"But I don't have any room in my holdall."

"I won't be able to navigate from inside a sack, so you must carry me. And it would be best to leave your luggage here. We must travel light."

Bryony was horrified. "I'm not leaving my stuff."

"Surplus baggage will slow us down. Take only what you can fit in your pockets, no more."

On reflection, Bryony supposed she'd have little need for hairbrushes and perfumed shampoo on her trek through the dungeon. But there was one thing she wasn't going to leave behind.

She slipped the holdall from her shoulder and tipped its contents onto the floor. It took a few seconds rummaging before she found her mother's letter, which she folded up and slipped into her trouser pocket.

"Is that everything?" asked Boney.

Bryony nodded, and then spotted the small package lying amongst her abandoned belongings.

Her birthday present.

It was probably nothing to get excited about, worth less than the paper it was wrapped in. But something made Bryony pick up the tiny parcel and cram it into her pocket with the letter.

"I'm good to go." She scooped up the skull and tucked it under her arm. "Are you comfortable?"

"Luckily I have no need for leg room," said Boney. "Now let us make haste. Think you can slip through those bars you just bent?"

"Sure." Bryony tried, but found it more of a squeeze than a slip.

"Try breathing in," suggested Boney.

"Are you saying I'm fat?" growled Bryony. "Because you're not exactly a good advert for weight loss."

A distant clang echoed through the dungeon, followed by the sound of stomping feet.

"It's that rock troll Globb," said Boney. "He must be doing a slime inspection."

"Surprised he bothers," said Bryony. "The walls are covered in the stuff."

"Only because he maintains it so diligently. Needs six to eight coats a year to get that level of slime."

"He paints the walls with slime?"

"It's mostly slime. If he's got a head cold, you really can't be sure."

The stomping feet got louder.

"He's coming this way. Hurry, Guardian. If he catches us we're dead."

"You're dead already," Bryony pointed out.

"Oh yes, I keep forgetting. Well let's not both end up like this. Two heads may be better than one, but legs are a distinct advantage in escape situations."

Bryony breathed in, and made it through the bars just as Globb's misshapen shadow appeared on the passage wall.

"Go left," instructed Boney. "And take the first right turn."

Bryony followed Boney's directions, and found herself in a gloomy tunnel.

"Where now?" she asked, struggling to see anything ahead of her.

"Straight down," said Boney.

"Down where?" Bryony took a tentative step forward. Then the floor disappeared, and she went tumbling into darkness...

9 Think What Their Children Will Look Like

"But you must be Maddy's boyfriend," insisted little Floriana. "She wouldn't have brought you home otherwise."

"I'm a prince of Ninny." Edwin hated himself for lying, but realised he'd been left with little choice. "And I'm here because my kingdom has been attacked by the Vampir..." Still he struggled with the word. "Evil bat monster thingies. I'm not Maddy's boyfriend."

At least the last bit was true. But Floriana didn't seem convinced.

"You are Maddy's boyfriend. And you're going to be married to her, and she shall become a Princess of Ninny."

"Ninny doesn't exist," said Alphonsus. "It's not a real place and he's not a real prince. And he's got weird hair and heron's legs. Think what their children will look like."

"Don't be rude," Floriana told her brother. "Prince Edwin can't help having weird hair."

"And I don't have heron's legs," added Edwin, struggling to retain his princely bearing.

They were in the nursery playroom, a large chamber crammed with a startling array of toys. The most impressive was a detailed dollhouse replica of Maddergrub Manor, complete with miniature figures of the Maddergrub family that Floriana was taking care to assemble in the scaled down version of the banqueting hall.

"The wedding will be magnificent, and we shall have a magic feast in celebration." Floriana's blue eyes shone with excitement. "With magic games and magic dancing all night long."

"I don't do dancing," said Edwin, hoping to set expectation levels. "Dancing is outlawed in Ninny."

"Ninny doesn't exist," repeated Alphonsus, who was trying to pull the arms off the doll version of himself. "So Edwin can't be a real prince, and I want to know what he's doing here."

Edwin shifted uneasily. If truth be told, he was beginning to wonder that himself...

He'd lost track of time since his arrival at Maddergrub Manor, but he guessed he must have been there for at least an hour. After the family reunion Maddy had kindly volunteered him for nursery duties whilst she'd gone off with her parents for a chat. Edwin presumed she was talking to them about the Hypnoflax antidote, but thought she'd have returned by now.

"Ninny is a real place," insisted Floriana. "Maddy said so."

"She made it up," argued Alphonsus. "Just like the Vampiropteryx."

"You're wrong." Edwin took great delight in putting the stupid little boy in his place. "The Vampi... bat things are real. Even your father said so."

Alphonsus pulled a face. "He's only playing along with Maddy's game. Just like you are. It is a game, isn't it?"

"Um..." Edwin suddenly lost his sense of superiority, and was relieved in more ways than one when Maddy came bustling into the nursery.

"You must excuse Alphonsus." Maddy smiled apologetically at Edwin. "He's at that age where he can't tell the difference between fantasy and reality." She switched her attention to her younger brother. "Now leave our guest alone and play nicely with your sister."

"Don't want to," muttered Alphonsus. "She's playing girly games."

"I'm planning your wedding," chirped Floriana, still arranging the dollies. "To Prince Edwin of Ninny."

"Oh how lovely." Maddy giggled excitedly. "We haven't had a family wedding since Auntie Brenda married her toad."

Edwin's forehead creased. "Your auntie married a toad?"

"That was down to a magic curse," explained Maddy. "He was really a handsome prince. Until Auntie Brenda kissed him. She's always had that effect on men."

"You shall wear a beautiful wedding dress." Floriana held up a doll version of Maddy swathed in glittery white silk.

"That's so pretty." Maddy watched her younger sister place the dolly bride in the hall of the miniature Maddergrub Manor. "But where's the dashing bridegroom?"

Floriana looked sad. "I don't have a dolly of Prince Edwin."

"You do now!" Maddy produced a doll from behind her back. It was a figure of a boy with a sprig of orange wool hair.

"It's him!" Floriana shrieked with joy when she beheld her new toy.

"It looks nothing like me," glowered Edwin. "The legs are just bits of yellow string."

"A stunning likeness." Maddy winked at Floriana. "I made him specially. Now we can get married and live happily ever after."

"No they won't," sneered Alphonsus. "For I will kidnap the imposter Prince Edwin!"

Before Maddy could react, Alphonsus had swiped the ginger haired doll from her hand.

"Give him back," squeaked Floriana. But Alphonsus was already making his escape.

"You'll never see your Prince Edwin again," he laughed, haring through the opened door. "I'll drop him into the moat!"

Floriana gave chase, her shrill cries echoing as she followed her brother from the playroom.

"Oh dear." Maddy chuckled. "Those two are always fighting."

"Up to now I hadn't realised how irritating little brothers could be," confessed Edwin.

"They're good kids really." Maddy's smile fell as she gazed into space. "Oh how I've missed them."

Edwin appreciated how emotional this was for Maddy, but he was eager to find out if the Maddergrubs could help save Wychetts.

"So?" He stepped closer to Maddy. "Do your parents have a cure for Hypnoflax poisoning?"

"Sorry." Maddy looked at Edwin, her lips stretched a guilty grimace. "I never got round to asking."

Edwin was incredulous. "But you've been with them for ages."

"I was catching up on family news. Uncle Romario has been selected for the regional dragon racing final, and it turns out Auntie Brenda has contracted warts after her wedding."

Edwin couldn't hide his disappointment. "So you were just chatting all that time whilst I played nanny to the Twins of Terror?"

"Thought it would be nice for you to get to know them. You're a similar age group, after all. At least mentally."

"This isn't funny," snapped Edwin. "We came back in time to save Wychetts. To save Inglenook, my mum, Bill and Bryony. Not for petty family gossip."

"It's not petty. At least not for poor Auntie Brenda."

"Then she shouldn't have married a toad."

"You're forgetting, he wasn't a toad when she married him."

"That's not the point." Edwin spoke through gritted teeth. "The point is we need to save Wychetts."

Maddy nodded slowly. "And we will, I promise. But you have to trust me. This won't work if you don't trust me. You do trust me, don't you?"

"I..." Edwin wouldn't admit it, but he still wasn't completely sure. "Well..."

A sudden noise drowned Edwin's response. It was unlike anything he'd heard before, a terrible throaty shriek that cut right through him...

"The alarm!" Maddy ran across the playroom. "The sentries are sounding the alarm!"

"What alarm?" Edwin joined Maddy at the window, where he saw the two gargoyles flying above the courtyard in an agitated manner. "It's Girty and Gorty. Why are they making that noise?"

"It's time to man the defences." Maddy peeled away from the window and hared from the nursery. "Maddergrub Manor is under attack!"

10 Just a Bit of Slunge

Luckily for Bryony, she had landed in something soft. Unluckily, it was also very smelly.

"Are you hurt?" enquired Boney.

"I'm good," reported Bryony. "And that's the first time I've said that after falling into something soft and smelly."

"I shouldn't worry," said Boney. "It's only a bit of slunge."

"Slunge?"

"A mixture of slime and gunge. Perfectly harmless, unless you swallow more than a cupful, in which case your stomach will rot away within seconds. On the up side, it tastes better than Globb's stew."

"Happy to take your word for that." Bryony stood up, cradling the skull in her right arm. "So where are we?"

They were surrounded by a wall of darkness, and Bryony couldn't even see her hand when she held it in front of her face.

"Some light may be useful," advised Boney. "Try your magic powers again."

"Leave it to me." A flaming wooden torch appeared in Bryony's left hand, its flickering light revealing a curved ceiling above them. "It's some sort of tunnel," she observed, waving the torch around for a better look.

"More like a pipe," said Boney. "A pipe for channelling waste."

"Great." Bryony tried not to breathe too deeply. "We've ended up in a drain. It could only happen on my birthday."

"Fear not, Guardian. My rat informant spoke of this drain. There is an access hatch some three hundred yards in a north easterly direction that we can use to exit this pipe. Let us proceed."

"Wait." Bryony held the torch over Boney's skull face. "I just magicked a flaming torch out of nowhere, so why can't I use magic to zap us out of this pipe?"

"Not advisable, I'm afraid. You don't know the Dungeon of Dreams, and could end up in an even worse situation if we stray from the rat's escape route. Besides, rock trolls are sensitive to magic, and it would only make it easier for Globb to track us. And if he catches us we'll be in even greater trouble with the authorities."

Bryony looked quizzically at the skull. "So who are the authorities?"

"I do not recall. But we can presume, given the nature of this place, that whoever locked us both here is not heavily into scented candles and forgiveness. No, I fear that an evil power is at work against us. And against Wychetts."

"Wychetts?" Bryony's dark eyebrows puckered. "What makes you think that?"

"They kidnapped one Guardian. For all we know they may have kidnapped the other."

"You mean they might have taken Edwin?" Up to now Bryony hadn't thought that her stepbrother might be in danger.

"It's possible. And then no one connected with Wychetts would be safe."

"That means Dad." Bryony bit her lip. "And Jane, too. Even Inglenook..."

"Let us delay no longer, Guardian. We must find the access hatch."

Torch held aloft, Bryony set off along the waste pipe. Her feet churned the gooey slunge, releasing foul smelling gases that made her feel sick.

She glanced at her wristwatch. Her flight to America was due to depart in just forty minutes. But if Wychetts and the rest of the family were in trouble, she couldn't just fly off and leave them in the lurch.

Could she?

She was debating what to do when she heard a noise from behind her.

Bryony wheeled round, an arc of flame trailing from the torch in her hand. "Did you hear that? It was a weird sort of clicking noise."

"That's nothing to worry about," said Boney. "Just a cockroach."

Bryony thought that unlikely. "It was very loud for a cockroach."

"The cylindrical shape of the pipe was magnifying the sound. Now hurry up, we're losing daylight."

"There's no daylight down here." Bryony turned back and continued along the pipe. "And I'm starting to think I'll never see any again."

"You must stay positive, Guardian. That's how I survived all this time down here."

"You call that surviving?" Bryony snorted. "The rats chewed you up until there was nothing left but your skull. That hardly makes you Bear Grylls."

"But my soul still exists. The essence of my being remains intact. I shall yet escape from this wretched dungeon."

"But what will you do when you get out? It's not like you could get a job."

"There are lots of positions for individuals such as myself in the outside world," said Boney. "I could be a Head Teacher. Or a Head Chef. Or Head of anything I wanted."

"Head Case, more likely."

"I only wish I remembered who I was. Not just my name, but whether I had any special talents."

"Bit late for that. The only talent you've got now is for wedging doors open."

"Maybe," said Boney. "But perhaps my memories will return as we make progress."

Bryony didn't think that sloshing through a smelly pipe could be classed as 'progress', but then she spotted a round metal door in the wall of the pipe. "There's the access hatch. Your rat friend was right."

"He's no longer my friend," said Boney. "We stopped writing about five hundred years ago. Partly because our mutual priorities changed, and partly because he'd chewed both my arms off. Probably more down to the arms, with hindsight."

Bryony hurried to the door. It was covered in a thick crust of congealed slime, and it took her a while to work out where the handle was.

She planted the torch in a thick puddle of slunge, clamped Boney under her left arm, then tried pulling the door handle.

"It won't budge an inch." Bryony tugged with all her might, but to no avail. "It's rusted solid. I'm going to have to use magic."

"I agree there is no choice," said Boney. "But we have no idea what lies behind that door, so take it slowly."

Knowing that Boney was right, Bryony concentrated on the hatch.

Slowly. Carefully. Open the hatch.

There was a click, but it wasn't from the hatch.

Bryony jumped and looked round. "That noise again."

"Just a cockroach," said Boney. "Focus on the hatch."

Bryony returned her attention to the hatch. She imagined it opening. Slowly, carefully.

There was a creak as the hatch moved a fraction.

"It's working," she whispered. "The hatch is opening..."

Then she heard another click.

Bryony looked round again, catching sight of a large beetle shaped form scuttling into the shadows.

"Did you see that?" she gasped. "It was the size of a horse."

Boney didn't seem concerned. "Like I said, nothing to worry about. You should see the big ones."

"I'd rather not," said Bryony.

"In that case, best keep your eyes shut."

So Bryony closed her eyes, tightening her grip on the handle.

But then she heard another clicking sound.

And another.

"Concentrate," urged Boney. "You must open the hatch."

"I can't concentrate," hissed Bryony. "Not with all that clicking going on."

"It's just the cockroaches," said Boney.

"So now there's more than one?"

"They're sociable animals when it comes to feeding."

"Feeding? What are they feeding on?"

"Nothing. Yet."

"Yet?"

"Never mind. Just open the hatch."

Bryony screwed her face up, doing her best to ignore the chorus of multiplying clicks.

Open the hatch. Carefully.

She heard more creaking, and a splattering sound as liquid dribbled from inside the opening hatch.

"It's coming," said Boney. "Just a few more inches should do it."

Eyes still clenched shut, Bryony focused all her concentration on opening the hatch.

Until something touched the back of her left leg.

She spun round to see a huge insect face staring back at her. Its large spherical eyes were the size of TV satellite dishes, its mandibles twitching hungrily as it reached out to her with a thick, segmented leg...

Bryony snatched up the flaming torch and swung it at the monster. The cockroach retreated with an angry shriek, but Bryony heard more clicks from the shadows. She raised the torch, and was horrified to see a swarm of giant insects closing in all around her.

"You must open the hatch," pleaded Boney. "It is our only escape from here."

"I can't." Bryony cried out when another giant cockroach came scuttling towards her. "There's too many."

Bryony swung the torch again, but this time the cockroach raised a foreleg to block the attack. The torch was knocked from her grasp, and the flame died when it landed in a puddle of slunge.

A chorus of elated clicks echoed through the blackness, and Bryony knew there was no escape.

"We're finished," she wailed helplessly.

"You are never finished," said Boney. "You are a Guardian of Wychetts with the magic of the Wise Ones at your command. Now open the hatch!"

Bryony reached out, fumbling around until her trembling fingers found the rusted hatch handle. But then something clamped around her left ankle. She clung on to the hatch, screaming with terror as she was dragged backwards...

11 Magical Defences

The view should have been glorious on such a fine summer's day. A patchwork of emerald fields stretched across the rolling landscape, threaded by the shimmering silver ribbon of a meandering river. But there was a dark cloud on the horizon, a blotch of swirling blackness that widened like a hungry mouth about to devour all in its path...

Standing on the balcony of Maddergrub Manor, Edwin felt the summer breeze turn chill, his skin puckering as an icy shiver tingled his spine.

"It is them." Lord Maddergrub lowered his bronze telescope, his expression grim. "The Vampiropteryx have breached the dimensional wall and are massing to attack our home. We must raise all defences."

Lord Maddergrub waved a hand. There was a rumbling noise, then something huge emerged from the ground in front of the manor. At first Edwin thought it was some kind of giant mushroom, but as more of the structure emerged he saw it was a hefty stone tower. Another tower appeared some distance away to the right, and another to the left, all linked by a thick wall that rose to surround the manor. The towers and wall sprouted castle-like battlements, and Edwin realised that Lord Maddergrub had, quite literally, raised the defences.

"We should send word to the Council of Wise Ones," suggested Lady Maddergrub. "They are sure to lend assistance."

"I fear there is not time," said Lord Maddergrub. "We must face this menace without their aid."

"Should this be happening?" Edwin whispered to Maddy. "Did the Vampi... bat monsters attack Maddergrub Manor?"

"No." Maddy's gaze was locked on the horizon, her lips trembling as she spoke. "They must have followed us back through time. It's my fault. I led them here."

Edwin placed a tentative arm around her shoulder, but hastily withdrew it when he spied Rosabella hurrying onto the balcony.

"I can't find them," mewled Maddy's elder sister. "I've looked everywhere, but there's no sign of Floriana and Alphonsus." Then she noticed the horizon, and her pretty features distorted with fear. "Oh my. Are they really going to attack us?"

"No," said Maddy. "They've come to read the gas meter."

Edwin didn't think it was a fitting time for jokes. And neither did the rest of Maddy's family, judging by the way they looked at her.

"What is a gas meter?" asked Rosabella.

"Never mind," sighed Maddy. "I'll have to remember to make my sarcastic put-downs more relevant to the time period." She turned to Lord Maddergrub. "So what's the plan, father? Do we wait for them to strike, or shall we launch a pre-emptive attack to their flanks?"

"You should not concern yourself with battle tactics," Lord Maddergrub told Maddy. "You shall help Prince Edwin and Rosabella find the younglings, and then proceed with them to the nursery where you shall remain for the duration of the battle."

"I'm not hiding in the nursery with the babies," protested Maddy. "I want to fight alongside you."

"War is the domain of men," boomed Lord Maddergrub. "Not for women or children."

"Mother is going to fight." Maddy pointed to Lady Maddergrub, who wore lightweight armour and brandished an ornate longbow. "And she's a woman."

"She is my wife," said Lord Maddergrub. "That is a totally different thing."

"Thank you." Lady Maddergrub bowed to her husband. "I think."

"Let me fight," Maddy begged her father. "I want to help defend our home."

"You are not ready." Lady Maddergrub laid a hand on Maddy's shoulder. "Even if you were a man. You have yet to complete your magic schooling."

Edwin winced. He knew Maddy would never get to finish magic school, and noted her pained expression as she reeled away from her mother.

"We must go." Rosabella beckoned Edwin and Maddy. "We must find the younglings and keep them safe. And quickly. We don't have much time."

"We'd better do as she says." Edwin went to take Maddy's arm, but she had already gathered up her skirt and was sprinting from the balcony. He followed after with Rosabella, down a flight of stairs, before catching up with Maddy in the courtyard below.

"This isn't fair." Maddy was fuming. "I can handle a magic longbow as well as anyone. I should be out there defending the manor, not minding toddlers."

"You must obey Mother and Father," said Rosabella. "For once, why can't you do as you're told?"

Maddy shot her elder sister a glare before hurrying off through a doorway.

"We need to find your brother and sister." Edwin followed Maddy into an oak panelled corridor. "Have you any idea where..."

He froze on hearing a clanking sound, and then yelped when he saw a column of armoured figures marching towards him.

"Look out! Walking suits of armour!"

Maddy remained calm as the suits of armour came straight towards her.

"They're on our side," said Rosabella, joining Edwin in the corridor. "Part of our magical defences."

Edwin nodded, trying to look as if he had known that all along. He stood to one side to allow the walking suits of armour to pass, but after the last had clanked by he couldn't see any sign of Maddy.

"Where did she go?"

Rosabella answered his question with a puzzled shrug.

They ran down the corridor calling for Maddy, but there was no answer. Edwin checked behind a hanging tapestry, just to see if she was playing a silly game. But Maddy had vanished.

Edwin just stood there, unsure what to do. From outside he could hear Lord Maddergrub barking orders above the rhythmic clank of marching armoured sentries, and knew that time was running out...

Then he caught a flash of lurid green up ahead.

"Maddy!" Edwin sprinted down the corridor, but it wasn't Maddy who came running towards him.

"Rosabella! Prince Edwin!" A sobbing Floriana threw herself at him. "Oh Prince Edwin, something terrible has happened!"

"It's OK," crooned Edwin, struggling to unwrap her arms from his waist. "Everything's going to be fine. We're going to stay in the nursery whilst your mummy and daddy defend the manor against those evil, magic leeching bat monsters."

Floriana wailed like a tomcat, and with hindsight Edwin thought he probably shouldn't have gone into quite as much detail.

Rosabella pulled her little sister away from Edwin. "Where's Alphonsus?"

"He's on the main tower," sobbed Floriana. "The main tower roof."

"On the tower roof?" Edwin frowned. "What's he doing up there?"

"That's the terrible thing," croaked Floriana. "He was threatening to throw my dolly into the moat. Then the alarm cry sounded and he slipped, and now he's dangling. You've got to save him. Please, Prince Edwin."

"Um..." Edwin wasn't sure if he was up to that. "We'd better tell your parents."

Floriana shook her little green head. "They'll be too busy fighting off those magic leeching bat monsters."

"Then maybe Maddy..." Edwin looked around, but there was still no sign of her bespectacled face. Then he looked at Rosabella, and was surprised to see she was inspecting her reflection in her hand mirror.

He coughed discreetly. Rosabella lowered her mirror, but kept one eye on her reflection whilst speaking to him.

"There's no one else who can help. I could try, but it can get very windy on the tower roof and I've just had my hair done. Plus the cold air wouldn't be good for my complexion."

Edwin realised it was down to him to save Alphonsus. "Then you'd better go to the nursery," he told Rosabella. "I'll try and rescue your brother."

"This way." Floriana grabbed Edwin's hand and guided him along the corridor, squeezing past another troop of marching armoured sentries before mounting the spiral staircase at the foot of the main tower. Edwin recalled climbing the same steps before when trying to escape the powers of the Tome Terriblis. Except of course it wasn't before, but eight hundred years in the future. And Bryony had been with him...

Bryony. Edwin realised he hadn't thought about her for a while. Or Bill. Or even his mother.

They were all in great peril, somewhere in the future. Inglenook too. Even Wychetts' magic was at risk. Everything he cared about.

But right now Maddy and her family had to be his main concern.

"Hurry up!" wailed Floriana, trying her best to drag Edwin up the winding stairs.

"Sorry." Edwin realised he'd been dawdling a little, and increased his speed to keep up with Floriana. The stairs seemed to go on forever, and Edwin thought the tower was twice as tall as he remembered. He was exhausted when he finally reached the top, and Floriana had to help him open the hefty door to the tower roof: a flat hexagonal area walled by battlements, with a pole in the centre from which fluttered a flag bearing the Maddergrub coat of arms.

"Here he is." Floriana scampered across the roof to point over the side. "Still dangling."

Edwin peered over the battlements to see a green haired boy hanging off a ledge on the tower wall. He called down to Alphonsus. The boy looked up, his terrified face the same colour as his hair.

"Save him," whined Floriana. "I want him back. Please save him."

Edwin leaned over the wall, but it was obvious there was no way he could reach Alphonsus. He looked around for something, anything he could use to reach the boy. Then he saw the perfect solution right in front of him: the flagpole!

Edwin grabbed the flagpole, and was trying to prise it free from its moorings when he happened to glance upwards.

The swirling dark blotch had grown in size. The sunlight dimmed, and the chill wind intensified. Edwin heard shouts from below, and looked down to see Lord Maddergrub marshalling his defences. Lady Maddergub stood beside her husband, poised with her longbow. A line of armoured figures manned the outer wall, swords and axes at the ready, whilst the defensive towers now bristled with huge silver cannon.

"Hurry!" Floriana shrieked at Edwin. "I want him back!"

"Get inside." Edwin waved at Floriana. "It's not safe up here."

"I'm not leaving him," wailed Maddy's little sister. "Just hurry!"

With a mighty heave, Edwin pulled the flagpole from the roof. It was a lot heavier than he'd expected, and he staggered forwards whilst trying to balance its weight. A sudden gust of wind caught the flag, almost wrenching the pole from his arms.

And as Edwin wrestled with the flagpole he saw more movement in the sky, dark forms streaming from the widening black maw: giant bat-like forms with glowing red eyes...

Edwin stood like a statue as he watched the swarm of bat monsters descending on Maddergrub Manor. There were hundreds, probably thousands of them, blackening the sky and turning day into night.

He could hear the swish of their leathery wings, their high-pitched cries seeming to stab like needles at his eardrums. But Lord Maddergrub's booming voice cut through the din.

"We shall defend our home to the death. The enemy will never set foot inside Maddergrub Manor, nor defile our hallowed lavatories. On my command. Select a target. Ready. Aim. Fire!"

There was a loud boom, and the air crumpled as the silver cannon discharged glittering beams of magic at the swarming bat monsters. Many invaders succumbed to the blast, but such was their number that it seemed to make no difference.

Then Edwin heard a woman's cry, and saw a stream of glowing pink darts arcing into the sky; it was Lady Maddergrub, arms moving in a blur as she loosed a flurry of magic arrows into the ranks of the enemy.

Again the attackers sustained heavy casualties, but it was obvious that the manor's defenders were vastly outnumbered.

"Prince Edwin!" Floriana was tugging at his sleeve. "You must hurry. He is sure to fall at any moment."

Edwin tore his gaze from the battle, just as another gust of wind ripped the flag from the pole. As the flag fluttered away, Edwin tottered across the roof to lower the pole over the tower battlements.

"Alphonsus!" Edwin angled the pole to where the green haired boy was hanging. "Grab hold. I'll pull you up."

But Alphonsus didn't respond, too terrified to let go of the ledge. There was another loud boom from the magic cannon, but then Edwin heard a different sound in response.

An ominous whistling...

A shower of luminous green fireballs poured from the sky onto Maddergrub Manor. The outer wall bore the brunt of the onslaught, large portions crumbling where the missiles hit home. The armoured sentries met a similar fate, toppling from the battlements and scattering into pieces in the courtyard below.

Edwin looked up and saw another wave of bat monsters diving to attack the outer wall. Their mouths gaped wide, spewing their lethal green payload onto the manor's defenders. Then there was a throaty shriek as the living stone gargoyles took flew off to meet the enemy...

The battle raged on, but Edwin tried to focus his attention on saving Alphonsus. He leaned over the battlements as far as he dared, so that the tip of the flagpole was hovering close to the frightened boy's head.

"Grab hold," Edwin shouted. "I won't let go."

Slowly, painfully, Alphonsus moved his right hand towards the pole.

"That's it." Edwin called encouragingly, trying to ignore another barrage of glowing green fireballs that fell a lot closer than he'd have liked. "Nearly there..."

Then there was a terrible shriek from overhead. Edwin looked up and saw a gargoyle wrestling with a bat creature directly above the tower. The home side appeared to be winning, but then a stray green fireball came hurtling from the sky to strike the gargoyle. There was a deafening crash, and an avalanche of shattered stone chunks fell onto the tower. The roof shook, and the flagpole slipped from Edwin's grasp. He reached down and grabbed it, but couldn't stop himself pitching forwards over the side of the tower.

One end of the flagpole somehow wedged in the tower battlements, and Edwin was left grasping the other, dangling perilously over the side of the tower as the flagpole bent under his weight.

The flagpole bent more than it should have done, and Edwin looked down to see Floriana clinging to his waist. He was now hanging level with Alphonsus, who reached out and grabbed his shoulders.

There was a splintering sound as the flagpole snapped. And then they were falling...

12 Lucky Us

The cockroach pulled harder on Bryony's legs. She gripped the handle even tighter, and felt the hatch jerk open under the strain.

"Whoa," said Boney. "That's a little too much. Pull more slowly."

Just as Bryony was about to point out that she wasn't doing the pulling, there was a loud clang followed by a thunderous roar.

Then Bryony was hurled backwards, blasted by an incredible force that came from nowhere. She managed to keep hold of the hatch, although it felt like her arm might be torn from her shoulder. There were startled shrieks from around her, and she felt her leg slip free from the cockroach's grip.

Bryony clamped Boney tighter under her left arm, but was struggling to keep hold of the hatch. She felt her fingers slipping from around the slimy handle, and knew it was only a matter of time before she was swept away by the unstoppable force...

Then suddenly the roaring stopped.

Bryony fell to the floor, gasping and spluttering. It was only then that she realised she was soaking wet.

"That was fortunate," said Boney. "It would appear there was a build up of slunge behind the service hatch."

"Lucky us," coughed Bryony, thankful at least that she hadn't swallowed any slunge.

"I was not being sarcastic," said Boney. "Take a look around."

Bryony magicked another flaming torch, and saw the pipe was now free from giant scuttling insects. "They've all been washed away."

"The slunge saved us," said Boney. "But more cockroaches will be here soon. We should make haste. So no time to stop for a rest, in case you were feeling a little drained." The skull chuckled. "Drained. We're in a pipe. D'you get it?"

"No," sighed Bryony. "But you will if you don't stop the dumb jokes."

She clambered through the opened hatch, taking care to close the door behind her. The torchlight revealed another circular tunnel extending into the gloom.

"It's all right," said Boney. "It's too narrow for cockroaches. Giant ones, at any rate. Now let us hurry, according to my rat informant there should be another door at the end of this passage."

Bryony set off, but her relief turned to disgust when she caught a vile smell. And disgust to horror when she realised the cause.

"I stink of slunge," she grumbled. "I'll need a bath before I meet my mum."

"You still intend to see her?" Boney sounded surprised. "As a Guardian I thought your priority would be to defend Wychetts. Not to mention the rest of your family."

"My mum is my family too," said Bryony.

"Of course. Sorry, I wasn't forcing you to make a choice. Although I suspect you made that choice a long time ago."

"You don't know anything about me," snapped Bryony. "So shut up and stick to navigating."

"I am afraid I cannot do both."

"Fine." Bryony sighed. "But if you mention Mum again, I'll knock your head off."

"Then there wouldn't be much of me left," Boney pointed out.

"Sure. Sorry." Bryony's anger subsided, and she felt guilty for mocking the skull. "It must have been hard for you."

"I dare say it was, if I could remember who I was or how I came to be here in the first place."

"But you remembered about the Wise Ones."

"Only once you turned up. It's as though your arrival triggered part of my memory."

"Hey." Bryony had an idea. "Maybe I could help you remember other stuff. If I asked some questions, it might trigger more memories."

"Worth a shot," agreed Boney. "And it'll help pass the time, seeing as scope for 'I Spy' is somewhat limited. So go on, fire away."

"Um..." Bryony screwed her face up, trying to think of a suitable question. "I know. What's your favourite colour?"

"I can't remember," said Boney. "It's been a long time since I've seen any colours apart from grey walls and green slime, and I don't care much for either of those."

"Then I'll try something else. What's your favourite day of the week?"

"There are no days down here. It's all one long continuous night."

This was proving harder than Bryony had expected, so she decided to change tack. "So what else do you remember about the Wise Ones?"

"Only little," replied Boney after a moment's reflection. "I recall they governed the Realm of Magic for many centuries, maintaining the balance of natural forces to ensure harmony in the world. And that they passed on their knowledge to selected children in special magic classes, the most able of which became Guardians of Wychetts, who bore responsibility for looking after the source of the Wise One's power."

"Good." Bryony nodded. "Anything else?"

"Not really. Except... for some reason I keep thinking of the moon."

Bryony stopped, almost dropping the skull. "The moon?"

"Yes. I remember the moon. But I don't know what it has to do with anything."

Bryony thought she might. She lifted the skull and stared into its empty eye sockets. "Have you heard of..." The words got tangled up in her throat, and she had to swallow several times before she could say them. "The Moon of Magister?"

She waited in vain for a response, but the skull stared silently back at her.

"Boney?" Bryony shook the skull. "Are you still there?"

"I am," answered Boney. "And I am not a child's rattle if you don't mind."

"Sorry." Bryony stopped shaking Boney. "But what do you know about the Moon of Magister?"

"We must hurry, Guardian."

"But what about the Moon of Magister? If you know something, anything, you must tell me."

"I have heard the words." Boney spoke in a whisper. "But they are words, that is all. Perhaps more memories will return in time. Until then, we must press on."

Bryony tucked the skull under her arm and continued along the tunnel. She had a suspicion Boney knew more than he was letting on, but for now she had to concentrate on escaping the dungeon.

And her hopes grew when she saw a door ahead of them...

13 Minding the Toddlers

Alphonsus and Floriana screamed, clinging to Edwin whilst he held on to the broken flagpole.

He saw they were heading for the moat, so hoped they might get away with just a severe dunking. But then suddenly he realised they had changed course...

Hot stinky breath fanned his cheek, and an ugly beady-eyed face filled his vision. A bat monster had seized the broken flagpole in its jaws, and was carrying Edwin and the children away from Maddergrub Manor!

Edwin guessed the monster wanted to take them alive, for what grim purpose he dared not imagine. But he couldn't let that happen, whatever the cost. So, without thinking of the consequences, Edwin let go of the flagpole.

There were more screams from Floriana and Alphonsus, but the screams became whoops of astonishment when they saw that Edwin was flying them back towards Maddergrub Manor.

Yes, that's right. Edwin was flying.

And if the Maddergrub children were astonished, Edwin was even more so.

He hadn't meant to fly. It had been an instinctive decision to let go of the flagpole, more from panic than anything.

But now, somehow, he was soaring through the air.

"You can do magic." Floriana squealed with delight. "Prince Edwin can do magic!"

Edwin had to agree that he was doing magic, even if he couldn't work out how. But he had little time to dwell on the matter because another bat monster was already swooping down on him from the right.

He tried to change direction, but magic flying proved trickier than he might have thought, and Edwin found himself heading straight towards the gaping jaws of yet another bat monster attacking from the other direction.

A streak of pink light fizzed past his left ear, and the bat monster shrieked as the magic arrow struck it in the chest. Twisting in agony, its left wing clipped Edwin as he flew past. His body went spinning from the sky, the world melting into a giddy blur. Edwin clung on to the Maddergrub children, bracing himself for impact with the ground below.

But however much he braced himself, Edwin couldn't have prepared for the bone jarring impact that followed.

It took several dazed seconds before Edwin worked out what had happened. He was sprawled on his back in the courtyard of Maddergrub Manor. Floriana and Alphonsus lay on top of him, stunned but luckily unhurt. He had no idea how far he'd fallen, but when he tried to move he found that he couldn't.

And he needed to move, because carnage was unfolding all around him.

The bat monsters were everywhere, dropping from the sky to swarm over the ruined outer wall and into the courtyard. They moved as easily on the ground as in the air, chunks of dismembered armour clattering to the ground whilst the marauding invaders hacked and chewed their way through the ranks of defenders.

It was obvious to Edwin that the manor wouldn't hold out much longer, but he was paralysed and powerless to help.

"Floriana! Alphonsus! Prince Edwin!" A woman's lilting voice called out through the clamour of battle. Edwin lifted his head to see Lady Maddergrub drop nimbly from the outer wall and come running towards them.

A bat monster lunged at her, but Lady Maddergrub had dispatched an arrow into its body before Edwin could muster the strength to shout a warning. In a heartbeat she was kneeling by his side.

"Floriana, Alphonsus." Lady Maddergrub hugged her children before turning her attention to Edwin. "Are you hurt, my Prince?"

"I'm not sure," he answered truthfully. "I can't move a muscle."

"You must have fallen a great distance." Lady Maddergrub looked concerned. "You may have broken something."

"Prince Edwin didn't fall," said Floriana. "He flew."

"He did magic," said Alphonsus. "He saved us with his magic!"

Lady Maddergrub frowned. "He is a Wise One?"

"Look out!" This time Edwin managed a warning cry, but it was too late.

An airborne bat monster dived low across the courtyard. It was the largest and ugliest of the lot, with a horned head and a long spiked tail, and it was heading straight for Lady Maddergrub.

She raised her magic bow, but couldn't draw before that ugly bat head slammed into her.

Lady Maddergrub was thrown across the courtyard, landing in a crumpled heap some distance from where Edwin lay. Wailing, Floriana and Alphonsus ran to their mother. Edwin saw her head moving, but his relief faded when he saw the ugly bat monster was circling for another attack.

And this time it was coming for him.

"Use your powers!" Floriana squealed at him. "Destroy it with your magic!"

But it was too much for Edwin to even raise a hand, and he could do nothing but lie there.

He turned his head to one side, spying Lady Maddergrub's magic bow on the ground beside him. There was an arrow close by, but both lay just beyond his reach.

The horned bat monster exhaled a triumphant shriek, a shriek that grew louder as it closed in for the kill...

There was a clang as an iron-clad foot stamped the ground beside Edwin. An armoured hand reached down to pick up the longbow, another to retrieve the discarded magic arrow. The bow was lifted, and Edwin heard the string tightening.

There was a whoosh, a blur of pink light speeding towards the horned bat monster's head. Then a blinding flash on impact, followed by a wave of searing heat and an agonised scream.

The heat faded and the scream died. Edwin blinked, still dazzled by the flash. And when his vision cleared, he couldn't believe what he saw.

There were signs of battle everywhere. The outer wall and towers lay in ruins, whilst the courtyard was littered with pieces of dented armour and chunks of stone, all that remained of Maddergrub Manor's defenders. The previously pristine exterior of the house itself was now cracked and charred, and the main tower was missing its flagpole.

But there was not a single bat monster in sight.

No high pitched screams or swishing leathery wings. No yawning dark blotch in the sky. The breeze was warm again, and golden sunlight bathed the courtyard once more.

"My children!" Lord Maddergrub's voice boomed like a cannon as he came hurrying across the courtyard. "Are you safe, my darlings?"

At that moment Lady Maddergrub stood up, seemingly none the worse from the battle. Floriana and Alphonsus embraced their parents, soon joined by a smiling Rosabella who emerged from the manor to take part in the family celebrations.

Although Edwin couldn't move he shared their joy, his relieved gaze turning to the armoured figure that stood above him, its magic bow still poised.

"Thank you," he said, even though he knew he was talking to an empty metal suit.

There was a creak as the armoured figure removed its helmet, revealing a mass of lurid green hair and a spectacled face that grinned back at an astonished Edwin.

"My pleasure," beamed Malady Maddergrub. "And thanks for minding the toddlers."

14 Pickle or Chutney

"Faster," cried Boney. "It's gaining on us."

"I'm running as fast as I can," panted Bryony. "Happy to let you have a go if you can do better."

"Thanks for the offer. But I thought you wanted me to stick to navigating."

Bryony glanced over her shoulder to see a huge dark shape hurtling down the tunnel behind them. "So while you're about it, a 'take next right' would be good some time soon."

"Keep going, young Guardian. I believe we are close to the end of this tunnel."

Bryony thrust the flaming torch forwards, and saw a slimy brick wall ahead of them.

"You're right. We've made it."

Bryony gasped with relief as she neared the end of the passage. Her lungs were fit to burst, and her legs felt like lead weights. She doubted if she could have run much further.

But her relief dissolved when she realised something.

"There's no left or right turn. There's no way out."

"That's because it's a dead end. I fear quite literally."

Bryony wailed hopelessly. "Then your rat friend has led us into a trap."

"You can't blame him for this. You must have taken a wrong turn."

"Oh how careless of me. It's not like I had anything else to think about, like getting squashed to a pulp by a giant runaway boulder."

"Maybe I was being a touch over-critical," conceded Boney. "But on the other hand, there wouldn't be a giant runaway boulder if you hadn't pulled that lever."

"It was a lever. Levers are for pulling. What else was I supposed to do with it?"

"You could have tried not pulling it."

"I thought it was for opening that door."

"The door had a handle. That normally does the job."

"The handle was stuck. And you said I couldn't use magic."

"Fair point. Happy to label that one as an honest mistake."

"Thanks. That makes me feel a whole lot better."

Bryony looked back up the tunnel. The huge boulder rumbled closer like a runaway train, sparks flashing as it scraped the walls.

"There must be a way out." She waved the torch frantically. "A lever or something."

"You want to pull another lever?" Bony sounded incredulous. "One death dealing giant boulder not enough for you?"

The rolling boulder was now only seconds away. Bryony knew they had only one option.

"I'll have to use magic."

"Is that wise? I have warned you of the consequences."

"I'll only use a bit, just to zap us to the other side of this wall."

"But we don't know what's there. We could end up in a right pickle."

"We'll end up as chutney if we stay here."

"With hindsight, I prefer pickle to chutney. So do it, Guardian. Now!"

The thunderous rumbling became a deafening roar as the boulder rushed closer. Bryony closed her eyes and concentrated, but a savage jolt knocked her off her feet. She slammed against the wall, and the torch went tumbling from her grasp.

There was a massive crash when the runaway boulder struck the wall. Then silence.

Bryony realised she had stopped breathing. For a second or two she panicked, then remembered how to breathe again. And as her lungs filled with air, she noticed she wasn't squashed flat.

At first she was confused. She was standing with her back to a slimy stone wall, its chill dankness seeping through her clothes. But it couldn't be the same wall, surely. Not unless...

"You did it," said a voice from the darkness. "Zapped us to the other side of the wall."

"Happy to be of service." Bryony patted the top of the skull still tucked beneath her arm. "Makes up for pulling that lever, eh?"

"Rather depends on where we've ended up. Some light might help."

"I'm on it." Bryony magicked another flaming torch, its quivering glow illuminating the slimy walls of another passage stretching ahead into the gloom.

"Brilliant," she groaned. "Another gloomy passage."

"This is the Dungeon of Dreams," Boney reminded her. "There isn't a scenic route. But fear not, for we are making good progress and will soon be out of here."

"You said that half an hour ago," sighed Bryony. "And once every ten minutes before that."

"I'm just trying to keep spirits up. Don't want to see your head dropping."

"I'll drop your head if we don't get out of here soon."

"There's no need to get grumpy," tutted Boney. "If it wasn't for me you'd still be stuck in that cell."

"At least I wouldn't be covered in stinky slunge and have blisters from all that running."

"Then you should have worn sensible shoes, young lady."

"Sure, how dumb of me not to pack hiking boots for a transatlantic plane flight." Bryony slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "It's no use. I've got to rest."

"We don't have time for a rest. Globb may be hot on our trail."

"I don't care." Bryony shivered. She was exhausted, wet through with slunge, and smelled like a sewer. "Let him find us."

"Are you serious?" Boney's skull face was as blank as ever, but his voice was shrill with shock. "Don't you want to see your mother again?"

Bryony was surprised to find she wasn't thinking of her mother anymore.

"I wish Edwin was here," she whispered.

"Your fellow Guardian? Why?"

"He's got a special psychic link with Inglenook." But that wasn't the only reason Bryony was thinking about her stepbrother. "Plus he's clever. And brave. And loyal. And..."

"And you miss him?"

"A bit." Bryony suddenly felt very alone. "I wish Dad was here too. And my stepmum Jane."

"I'm sure they'd be happy to join you on this delightful dungeon tour."

"I don't wish they were actually here, just..."

"You want to be with them. Then all the more reason to escape this place."

"I'm too tired." Now Bryony had sat down she found it hard to move her legs again. "Don't forget I've been doing all the walking. It'd be different if the shoe was on the other foot."

"Then swap your shoes. That might help with the blisters."

"That's not how shoes work."

"How would I know?"

"Just let me rest a few minutes more."

"There isn't time. Globb is sure to be gaining on us. We don't want Wychetts' sacrifice to be in vain."

"Sacrifice?" Bryony wrinkled her nose. "Wychetts isn't sacrificed."

"It will be if you fly off to your mother in America, leaving Edwin, Inglenook and the rest of your family to the mercy of whatever evil power locked you in this dungeon."

"Well..." Bryony knew Boney had a point. "I..."

"I'm not judging. It's only natural you should favour your mother. Even though she left you."

"How do you know she left me?"

"You said she's been in America nearly four years. I'm thinking she didn't pop over for groceries."

"You don't know anything about me or my mum." Bryony's cheeks blushed angrily. "I just want to see her again. There's so much I need to ask her. Especially about the Moon of Magister."

"What do you think she knows about that?"

Bryony shrugged. "I'm not sure. I've asked Inglenook if he knows, but he never talks about it. But she's involved somehow, I'm sure of it."

"Intriguing," mused Boney. "Even more reason for us to hurry."

Bryony was going to plead for another five minute's rest, but the sound of stomping feet and snorting came echoing from somewhere behind them.

"OK." She struggled reluctantly to her feet. "But there'd better not be any more levers."

Despite her former misgivings, Bryony's mood lifted as she headed along the passage. The walls became less slimy, and the stone floor was free from slunge.

"This isn't too bad after all," she told Boney. "I think you might be right about us getting out soon."

"We must still take care," the skull warned her. "We have strayed from the rat's escape route. One wrong step could lead to..."

There was a click when Bryony's leading foot pressed on a paving slab.

Bryony froze. "What was that?"

"I hate to say it. But that could have been the wrong step."

Even as the skull spoke, an ominous rumbling noise sounded from both sides of the passage.

"What's happening?" Bryony glanced from wall to wall. "What did I do?"

"You activated a secret mechanism, hence the rumbling noise. But don't worry, we won't get crushed by a giant rolling boulder this time."

"How can you be sure?"

"Because the walls will have crushed us first."

To her horror, Bryony noticed that Boney was right. The walls of the passage were closing in!

She ran down the passage, but a line of spiked iron bars rose from the floor to block her escape route.

"There's no way out," she howled. "It's a trap!"

"Or an extreme method of weight control. Either way, we'll both end up slimmer."

"Looks like another pickle or chutney situation." Bryony knew there was only one way out. "Time for more magic."

"Agreed. But be careful, Guardian."

Bryony closed her eyes and concentrated. There was a flash, and suddenly she was floating in air.

At least she thought she was floating. That's until she opened her eyes and looked down to see a bed of rusty spikes rushing towards her.

So she closed her again.

At first she thought nothing had happened. She was still in the air, except the air was much colder and thicker. And for some reason she couldn't breathe.

She opened her eyes and saw a gloomy murk all around her. Confused, she tried asking Boney where they might be, but all that came out of her lips was a gurgling stream of bubbles.

And then something lunged at her from the murk: a pointed shark's head with beady eyes and gaping jaws stacked with row upon row of vicious dagger teeth...

Bryony closed her eyes again. Suddenly she could breathe, but could hear a terrible graunching sound getting louder. This time, when she opened her eyes, she saw a massive circular blade spinning closer in line with her neck...

She screwed her eyes shut and concentrated again. The graunching stopped, and all she could hear was the sound of her own drumming heart.

When the drumming died down, Bryony opened her eyes again. There was nothing to see but darkness, so she sat up and magicked yet another torch. The flickering flame revealed pale round shapes all around her; in fact, she found that she was lying on a bed of the things. They felt hard, like stone, and cold to the touch.

For some reason Bryony felt a growing sense of unease, which heightened when she realised she wasn't holding a skull.

"Boney?" Bryony waved the torch around until she saw a skull lying a few feet away from her. "Ah, there you are. Please don't run off like that again."

She expected a response, but Boney remained unusually quiet.

"In a sulk, are we?" Bryony crawled over and picked up the skull, holding the torch to its face. It was odd, but Boney looked different to how she remembered him. His eye sockets were rounder, forehead wider, and there were less teeth missing.

"I'm sorry about all that, but it was pickle or chutney, remember? Boney? Is that you?" Bryony examined the skull closely. "It's got to be you. What are the chances of finding another skull down he..."

Her voice trailed off as she noticed a second skull lying close beside her. And then another. A sweep of the torch revealed yet more and more skulls, piles and piles stacked all around her. Not only that, she now realised what the round things were that she'd been crawling over...

Skulls. Skulls everywhere. She was in a sea of skulls!

"Boney!" Bryony called out desperately. "Boney, where are you?"

There was no answer, just the hollow stare from a thousand empty eye sockets.

Then Bryony heard a distant clang from below. And as the clang faded, she detected another sound.

It started off as a faint clatter. Bryony looked around, but couldn't work out where the noise was coming from. The clattering grew steadily louder, and then Bryony noticed something about the skull she was holding...

Its jaw was moving!

She held the skull at arms length, wondering if her eyes were deceiving her. But there could be no denying it. The skull's jaw was moving, its teeth chattering as though trying to talk to her.

But as the chattering reached a crescendo, Bryony realised just one skull couldn't make all that noise. And when she raised the torch above her head, she saw that every skull's jaw was moving.

"Um... hello." Bryony tried to remain calm. "I'm sorry to have woken you. But there's no need to panic. I'm just the... er... skull inspector."

The chattering only got louder.

"Yes, I'm the skull inspector. Inspecting you. And everything seems fine." Bryony placed the skull she was holding back where she'd found it. "So you can all go back to, um, whatever skulls do. Thanks for your co-operation."

A skull jumped at her, its gnashing teeth nipping her arm. Bryony yelped, but another skull came flying at her, and then another.

She tried to scramble away, but her right foot sunk into the sea of skulls beneath her. The sea seemed to swell, rising all around like a tidal wave. And then Bryony was dragged under.

There was a deafening chorus of clangs and clatters, and Bryony found herself sliding down a chute in an avalanche of skulls.

The torch burned out, so Bryony couldn't see where she was headed. Then suddenly the chute ended, and the mass of tumbling skulls disappeared into shadow beneath her. Bryony managed to grab the end of the chute, and clung on as the clangs and clatters faded into silence.

There was a roaring noise, a burst of orange light, and a blast of intense heat. She looked down and saw a ball of fire below. Her sweaty fingers slipped on the chute, and she struggled to hold on whilst leaping flames licked hungrily at her dangling feet.

Bryony closed her eyes and concentrated. If ever she needed to use magic, it was now. But she felt overwhelmed by the heat and fumes from the fire. Her head swam, and her fingers lost their grip on the chute...

15 You Can't Make Me Dance

Snoring. Deep, rhythmic snoring. Reverberating through his mind, from everywhere and nowhere at once.

"Wake up sleepy head."

"Huh?" Edwin opened his eyes to see a bespectacled, green freckled face hovering over him. "Was I snoring?"

"No more than when you're awake." Maddy grinned cheekily. "I trust you slept well?"

Edwin sat up and found he was ensconced in an ornately carved four-poster bed. The sheets were purple silk, and the mattress was so soft it felt like he was floating on air.

Edwin nodded, rubbing sleep from his eyes. "How long was I out for?"

"A couple of hours," revealed Maddy. "Just enough time for mother's potion to work."

Edwin had only a vague recollection of events after the battle. He had been wounded, all but paralysed. Lady Maddergrub had made him a drink, a warm frothy sweet tasting brew that had made him feel sleepy. And it seemed only moments later he'd woken up.

"So what happened to the bat monsters?" Edwin peered anxiously out of the tall, leaded window. "Have they gone?"

"Every last one." Maddy smiled proudly. "The big horned one I killed was their King. When he died, the Vampiropteryx lost all their power and were sucked back to their own magic dimension." She performed an energetic mime to illustrate events, finishing off with a loud sucking noise. "All gone, and good riddance."

"All gone." Edwin was relieved to hear it. "So that means Wychetts is safe as well?"

Maddy nodded. "I killed two birds with one stone. So you don't have to worry about your family anymore."

"They're safe?" Edwin wondered how Maddy could be so sure. "All of them?"

"And we've repaired the battle damage." Maddy talked on as though she hadn't heard Edwin's question. "The manor looks good as new. The suits of armour have been re-assembled, and Girt and Gorty have been pieced back together and are back on guard duty. Just hope it doesn't rain before the cement sets."

"Great," said Edwin. "But what about my mum, Bill and Bryony? How can you be sure..."

"You feel all right?" Maddy prodded his right leg. "Nothing broken?"

Edwin screamed, feigning agony. But Maddy wasn't taken in.

"You can't fool me. Mother's potions have never failed yet."

"I feel fine." Edwin moved his arms and legs to demonstrate. "Come to think of it I've never felt better. What was in that brew?"

"Trade secrets." Maddy tapped her little snub nose. "Mother knows remedies that even the High Council of the Wise Ones can't get their distinguished heads around."

"Which is why we came here in the first place," Edwin reminded her. "So have you asked your parents about a cure for Hypnoflax poisoning?"

"There's no need now," said Maddy. "The Vampiropteryx are defeated. Wychetts and your family are safe."

"You can't know that for sure." Edwin didn't share Maddy's lack of concern. "We need to get back to the future to check they're all right."

Maddy's green eyebrows arched in a pitying manner. "You don't understand magic time travel, do you?"

Edwin didn't understand magic time travel, and wasn't afraid to admit it. "All I know is that we can't wait any longer. If there's the slightest chance Wychetts and my family are still in danger..."

"Magic time travel works like this." Maddy spoke slowly, like a teacher addressing a slow-witted pupil. "You can go back to any point in history you choose. Likewise, you can go forward to any point in the future you choose. At any time."

Edwin still wasn't sure what Maddy was getting at. "So?"

"So we can stay here as long as we want." Maddy smiled. "A week, a month, a whole year. Twenty years if we want to. And whenever we want to go back to your time, mother and father will use their magic to send us there."

"I suppose so." Edwin couldn't fault the logic of Maddy's argument. "But I don't want to stay here twenty years. I want to go home."

"I understand." Maddy's smile fell as she turned to the window. "I'll tell my parents. First thing tomorrow."

"Why not now?"

"Not now because..." Maddy was smiling again when she looked back at Edwin. "It would ruin the party."

"What party?" A chilling thought struck Edwin. "Not a wedding party?"

"No, silly." Maddy giggled. "It's a celebration party, in honour of our glorious saviour."

"What glorious saviour?"

"Me, stupid. I saved Maddergrub Manor from the Vampiropteryx, remember?"

"Oh yes." Edwin breathed a relieved sigh. "So you're having a party to celebrate."

Maddy nodded. "You are invited, in case you were wondering."

"Sorry," said Edwin. "I don't do parties."

"You were going to have a party for Bryony," Maddy reminded him.

"That's different. It's her birthday." Edwin threw the sheets back and slid from the bed. "It's her birthday, and she could still be in danger. We need to speak to your parents now. It doesn't matter about your stupid party."

"But it's not a stupid party," cried a high-pitched voice. "It's a magic party. So you've got to come!"

Edwin hadn't heard the sound of approaching footsteps, and didn't have time to take evasive action before little Floriana burst into the room and threw herself at him.

"Oh Prince Edwin," she squealed, pinning him to the bed. "I'm glad you're all right."

"As are we all." Lord Maddergrub entered the room at a more leisurely pace, with his wife, eldest daughter and glum faced son beside him. "Aren't we, Alphonsus?"

Alphonsus's reply came in the form of a terse grunt. Lady Maddergrub scowled at him.

"Alfie, that's not what you're supposed to say."

Alphonsus shuffled towards Edwin, face angled at the floor. "Thanks," he muttered. "Thanks for saving us from the Demonae. I should never have doubted you, Prince Edwin."

"Um..." Edwin was still trying to extricate himself from Floriana's grip. "It was nothing really."

"But you saved us." At last Floriana peeled herself away from Edwin. "You saved us with your magic."

"Yeah, I did." Edwin sat up again, suddenly remembering how he had escaped from the bat monster that had been carrying them away from the manor. "I used magic to fly."

"You can't fly," said Maddy. "You don't have magic powers." Then she leaned closer to him and whispered. "Not without the Wychetts Key."

"But he did magic," blurted Alphonsus. "I saw it."

"Is this so?" Lord Maddergrub's eyes narrowed as he regarded Edwin. "Do you have powers, young Prince?"

Maddy cut in before Edwin could reply.

"It was just a freak gust of wind. Tell them, Prince Edwin. Tell them you can't do magic."

Edwin doubted Maddy's wind theory, but knew he couldn't say anything to reveal the truth about his presence in Maddergrub Manor. At least not until Maddy had spoken to her parents.

"Maddy's right," he told the Maddergrub family. "I can't do magic. I'm just a normal Prince."

"Your hair isn't normal," said Alphonsus, before falling silent under a glare from his mother.

"But you still saved him," Floriana told Edwin. "You saved my special boy."

Edwin was touched by Floriana's love for her brother. Until she drew a ginger haired doll from her skirts, and he realised where her true concerns had lain all along.

Alphonsus didn't look at all surprised, his face remaining serious when he addressed Maddy.

"And I'd like to apologise to you as well. I'm sorry I said the Vampiropteryx didn't exist. It's just I thought you'd made them up because of what happened at magic school last term."

Edwin looked quizzically at Maddy. "What happened at magic school last term?"

"It was nothing." Maddy dismissed the question with a wave of her hand. "I just played a little joke on one of the tutors."

"The Magister didn't find it funny." Lady Maddergrub's lips pursed with disapproval. "Malady was lucky not to get expelled."

"Who's the Magister?" asked Edwin.

"The Head Tutor of Magic School," explained Lord Maddergrub. "A very wise and esteemed warlock, a one time Guardian of Wychetts and now a prominent member of the Council of the Wise Ones."

Edwin looked at Maddy again, with a look more horrified than enquiring. "And you played a joke on him?"

"Never mind about that," said Maddy. "We must prepare for the party."

There were excited cheers from the Maddergrub family, but Edwin couldn't bring himself to share their enthusiasm.

"I'm sorry," he announced. "But I'm not in the mood for a party."

"But this isn't just any old party," boomed Lord Maddergrub. "It is a magic party."

A magic party? Despite his initial reluctance, Edwin found the idea of a magic party rather intriguing.

"Will there be food?" asked Alphonsus.

"Magic food," said Lady Maddergrub. "And lots of it."

Edwin placed a hand on his stomach. He hadn't eaten since breakfast, and the thought of food did have its attractions.

Floriana jumped up and down. "And will there be games?"

"Lots of games," said Maddy. "Magic games, of course."

Edwin wasn't a fan of silly party games, but thought he could maybe endure a bit of blind man's bluff if push came to shove.

"And dancing," added Rosabella, performing a quick pirouette. "Lots and lots of dancing."

That revelation clinched it for Edwin; he'd rather starve than be made to dance.

"Thanks for the invite." He tried his best to appear grateful. "But I could do with an early night after the battle."

"But you must come to the party." Maddy fixed Edwin with a demanding stare. "We insist on it."

The other Maddergrubs voiced their agreement, even Alphonsus.

But Edwin was determined to stand his ground.

"Really sorry. But I'm Prince Edwin, heir to the throne of Ninny, and if I don't want to go to your party, you can't make me."

He looked at Maddy, and wondered why she was smiling at him.

16 Honoured Guest

Edwin fiddled with the hem of his gown. He'd been provided with a special outfit for the evening: a similar design to his day tunic, but with even puffier sleeves and a jewel studded collar. He'd wanted to change his yellow leggings for a sensible pair of trousers, but this wasn't allowed because apparently trousers hadn't been invented yet, sensible or otherwise. He'd also complained about his shoes, which were even longer and pointier than before, but Maddy had told him that it made him look even more like a proper Prince of Ninny. And he could only agree with her on that one.

As he stood outside the banqueting hall doors, Edwin was sorely tempted to turn and make a run for it. Parties, as he'd explained many times to Maddy, just weren't his thing. Sure he'd gone to all that trouble to prepare a party for Bryony, but that was different. It would have been a small party, without silly games and dancing. Definitely no dancing.

But, as Maddy had repeatedly pointed out, this was to be a magic party. It would be a wondrous event, the most amazing night of his life, and he wasn't to miss it for anything.

Mind you, Edwin still wasn't sure he could believe everything Maddy said. There was always something about her that he found bewildering, a certain look in her bright eyes that he couldn't work out.

But he trusted her.

Of course he trusted her. That's why he'd journeyed back in time eight hundred years. That's why he was wearing a silly gown with even sillier yellow tights and pointy shoes. That's why he was about to attend her stupid party.

Edwin tried to convince himself that he might enjoy the evening, but couldn't stave off a familiar gut-knotting dread at the prospect of being made to dance.

The banqueting hall doors swung open all by themselves. At one time he might have been impressed, but after a day at Maddergrub Manor Edwin was starting to take things for granted.

Until he entered the banqueting hall.

The vast rectangular chamber was festooned with streamers and bunting, a cascade of pinks, reds and yellows tumbling from the walls and vaulted ceiling. The long table was draped in red cloth trimmed with gold, and laden with an array of diamond-studded plates, dishes and goblets that glittered in the light from a multitude of candles.

"Welcome Prince Edwin, honoured guest."

The booming voice drew Edwin's attention to the far end of the hall where the Maddergrub family were assembled on a raised dais. They were all resplendently dressed, even little Floriana and Alphonsus, and beamed warmly at him as he performed a bow in response to their greeting.

But after Edwin straightened, he noticed someone was missing. He was about to enquire, but Lord Maddergrub spoke first.

"And to Malady, our most beloved daughter and saviour of Maddergrub Manor."

The hall rang with a grand trumpet fanfare. Edwin looked round but couldn't see a trumpeter, or any sign of Maddy for that matter. Then he noticed the Maddergrub family were looking up at the ceiling. Or, to be more precise, a round window in the apex of the ceiling.

The window opened by itself, and Edwin glimpsed a shape against the dimming evening sky.

A bird flew through the window to swoop majestically around the hall. It was a beautiful specimen, with vibrant purple plumage and a green crest on its slender head. It had bright blue eyes, and a long tail of shimmering gold feathers.

There was a burst of applause when the beautiful bird settled on the floor in front of the Maddergrub family. Then there was a puff of smoke, and a girl stood where the bird had landed.

She wore a flowing purple gown with a gold lace collar. A diamond tiara glittered in her hair, which tumbled over her shoulders in luxuriant green ringlets. At first Edwin thought this girl must be another member of the family, then gasped when he realised it was Maddy. He had never seen her looking so pretty, even with those thick-rimmed glasses she drew out of her sleeve to put on.

The applause stopped as the Maddergrub family greeted Maddy with a combination of bows and curtseys. Maddy curtsied back to them, before performing a little twirl.

"How do I look?" she asked her family.

There was a babble of flattering responses, even from the youngest children.

Maddy smiled. "You all look pretty neat too." Then her smile vanished. "Except one thing."

The Maddergrubs smiled knowingly at each other, before each one donned a pair of thick rimmed glasses just like Maddy's.

"Perfect!" Maddy squealed and clapped her hands. "I knew you'd all see sense in the end."

The Maddergrub family bowed and curtsied again. Maddy spun on her heel to face Edwin.

"So what do you think of it so far?"

"Um..." Edwin struggled to think of a suitable word. "Different. What was all that stuff with the bird?"

"I told you, doors are not how I roll. Plus it's my party, so I'm entitled to a grand entrance if I want." Maddy scowled at Edwin. "You're not going to be grumpy all evening?"

"Like I said, I... hey!" Edwin suddenly realised he was wearing glasses like Maddy. "I don't want to wear these stupid things."

"It's either glasses or a funny hat," warned Maddy.

"I'd prefer a funny hat," said Edwin, just to be awkward.

Maddy clicked her fingers.

The glasses disappeared, and Edwin felt something on his head. "What's that?"

"Your funny hat." Maddy picked up a dish from the table so that Edwin could check his reflection in its polished surface. He was wearing a paper hat adorned with a smiling clown's face.

"I say I say I say," said the hat. "What did the hat say to the neck tie?"

"I don't know," said Maddy to the hat. "What did the hat say to the neck tie?"

The hat laughed. "You hang around, I'll go on a head."

There was a little drumroll and cymbal crash from somewhere.

"Now that's what you call a funny hat." Maddy giggled. "Very good, isn't he?"

Edwin was not impressed. "Thinking about it, I don't want to wear glasses or a hat."

"Suit yourself." Maddy clicked her fingers again, and the funny hat vanished. "But you'd better start cheering up, or I'll make you wear both."

"But I can't cheer up." Edwin moved closer to Maddy. "Not when I know that Wychetts and the rest of my family are in trouble."

"We've been through all this. I'll speak to my parents first thing tomorrow, then we'll go back to the future and save them. Now cheer up, misery guts." Maddy turned to smile at her family. "So what are we all waiting for? Let's party like it's thirteen ninety nine!"

There were cheers, but Lord Maddergrub raised a hand.

"But what about all our other guests, Malady?"

Edwin had been wondering why there were so many seats at the table.

"Oh dear." Maddy put a hand to her mouth. "I forgot to send out the invitations."

For some reason everyone seemed to find that funny. Then Maddy clapped her hands, and suddenly every seat at the table was filled. The guests laughed and chatted amongst themselves, as though they were already enjoying the festivities.

Edwin switched his astonished gaze back to Maddy. "Magic guests?"

"Naturally. And do you know the best bit about that? If they start getting dull and talking about the economy, I can just turn them into someone less boring."

As Maddy spoke, Edwin could hear a portly gentleman droning on in the background.

"Oh I agree, but the fact wages are not rising as fast as inflation is having a negative impact on the ability of homeowners to meet on-going mortgage costs with the result that..."

Maddy clicked her fingers. The portly man vanished, to be replaced by a monkey in a glittery sombrero.

Edwin blinked. "A monkey in a sombrero?"

Maddy nodded. "Can't get more interesting than that, eh?"

"Honoured daughter," said Lord Maddergrub, stepping down from the dais with the rest of his family. "We hold this party in celebration of our love for you. Let there be joyous feasting. Let there be jubilant drinking. Let there be only mild gastric discomfort in the morning. Let there be..."

"Music!" Maddy clapped her hands.

An orchestra appeared on the dais, the air filling with the sound of energetic music. Then Edwin realised it wasn't an actual orchestra, just the instruments. The instruments were playing themselves!

All the party guests started clapping in time to the music. Even the monkey, who clapped with his feet as well as his hands.

Lady Maddergrub spread her arms. "And let there be dancing!"

Dancing. Edwin's stomach lurched at the sound of the word. But before he had a chance to feign a serious ankle injury, little Floriana had grabbed hold of his hand. Then Alphonsus took Floriana's other hand, and Rosabella took his in turn. Lord and Lady Maddergrub joined the chain, which closed into a circle when Maddy linked hands with her mother and Edwin.

"I don't dance," Edwin reminded Maddy. "I can't dance."

"This is magic dancing." Maddy started to jig about. "All you have to do is let the music take control."

Edwin tried to pull away, but Maddy and Floriana wouldn't let go of him. So he had no choice but to join in the dancing.

After a few half-hearted leg jerks he found there was something in the jaunty music that made him lose his usual inhibitions. And as his movements quickened Edwin began to feel as though his feet weren't touching the floor any more.

Then he looked down and saw that his feet weren't touching the floor. He was floating. Maddy was floating too, and the rest of her family. They were all floating. Literally dancing on air.

"I don't believe it," he gasped. "This is amazing!"

"Told you magic parties were fun," Maddy grinned. "And you ain't seen nothing yet."

17 Mummy Sing Me a Bedtime Song

Bryony had opened her eyes several times already, but still couldn't make sense of what she saw.

With the dank smell and slimy stone walls, it could have been another prison cell. Except there was furniture of sorts: a wooden desk and rickety shelves all laden with battered leather books and rolls of yellowed parchment. Some kind of office, maybe? Yes, Bryony decided that's where she was. Someone's office. Only that didn't explain why everything was upside down.

Then Bryony saw the manacles round her ankles, and came to realise that she was the one who was upside down, hanging in chains from the ceiling.

And that's when she started shouting.

"Help! Someone, please!"

There was a stomping noise in response, and a pair of hefty feet came lumbering into view.

"Woken up, have we?" A phlegmy voice snorted. "Hope you enjoyed yer little nap. Some of us have been working, you know."

Bryony looked up to see an ugly pig face leering at her.

"You been causing a right kerfuffle." Gluttoniuos Globb stabbed a podgy finger at Bryony's legs. "Knew you was trouble the moment I saw you. I could tell by the devious look in your eyes."

"Those are my knees," said Bryony.

"Eh?" Globb studied her carefully. "Oh. Sorry. I can never tell with humans, you're all so ugly."

"You can talk," growled Bryony. "You're so hideous, I bet you have to sneak up on the mirror."

Globb snorted angrily. "I'll have you know I'm very good looking for a troll. I got that from my mother's side of the family."

"Along with the facial hair and bad breath?"

"As it happens, yes." Globb seemed proud of the fact. "And the warts. And the extensive tooth decay. And the intriguingly shaped birthmark on my..."

"I don't want to hear," cut in Bryony. "I just want you to let me go."

"Let you go?" Bryony felt a spray of snot as Globb exhaled another loud snort. "I ain't doing that, not after all the hassle you caused me. Took all day to track you down. Eventually found you unconscious in the lower levels. Looks like you'd just escaped from the crematorium. You were lucky to get out of there alive."

Bryony couldn't recall how she'd escaped from the furnace. She guessed it was by magic, but she'd been too weak to use her powers. So how...

"But you can't use magic to get out of this one," warned Globb. "These manacles are forged from high grade anti-magic iron. Which means yer crafty spells won't work."

Bryony now realised she was totally at Globb's mercy. "So what's going to happen to me?"

"The punishment for attempted escape is harsh," explained the troll. "If you got flayed alive and dunked in a vat of acid you'd be getting off lightly. But you..." The pig face wobbled as it shook from side to side. "You're a different case."

That didn't sound good to Bryony. "Please, I haven't..."

"You shouldn't even be here." Globb pointed to a hefty book that lay open on his desk. "You ain't on the list. I checked and re-checked, but can't find you anywhere."

Bryony's hopes lifted. "I told you I was innocent. So you've got to let me out, huh?"

"Ain't got the authority," revealed Globb. "The only one who can make that decision is the guy at the top. The Guvnor."

"Then I must see him." Bryony craned her neck in an attempt to meet Globb's piggy gaze. "You must take me to the Guvnor."

"Ain't as simple as that. The Guvnor is very busy. Even busier than me. It's more than my job's worth to go troubling him with trivial matters like this. I got my pension to think about. Going to retire to a nice little bog in the countryside, where I'll grow high quality slunge for the local market."

"Never mind all that." Bryony couldn't have cared less about Globb's future plans. "What's going to happen to me? You can't put me back in a cell."

"Too right," agreed Globb. "You need twenty four hour supervision. Which is why you'll have to stay chained up 'ere where I can keep an eye on you."

"You can't leave me like this," protested Bryony. "I'm upside down."

"I've only got your word for that." Globb shrugged his lumpy shoulders. "Now I can't stand 'ere chatting with you all day, it's my tea break."

Globb emitted one last snort before stomping out of his office.

"You can't leave me here!" wailed Bryony. "I want to see the Guvnor. Come back! Please..."

Bryony's cries were drowned by a despairing sob. Then the tears came, dribbling down her forehead and into her tangled black hair.

"This is no time for crying," said a familiar voice. "For we are reunited, and close to escaping this wretched place."

"Huh?" Bryony blinked back the tears, trying to locate the source of the voice. Then she saw the skull sitting on Globb's desk. "Boney! What are you doing here?"

"I am ensconced as some sort of paperweight cum novelty lighting fixture. A clever camouflage to disguise my presence."

"It suits you." Bryony noticed the candle stuck on top of the skull, the dripping wax resembling hair. "But I actually meant how did you get here in the first place."

"The same way you escaped from being crushed to a pulp, devoured by a shark and burned to a cinder. Magic, of course."

"You missed out the rusty spikes," said Bryony. "And the circular blade thingy."

"Apologies. Be sure to include them all in the 'Near Death Experience' section of your curriculum vitae."

"But I was too weak to do any magic by the time I got to the furnace." Bryony shook her upside down head. "So how did I get out of that one?"

"It wasn't your magic that saved you from the fire," said Boney. "It was mine."

"You can do magic?" Bryony's jaw would have fallen open if she'd been hanging the right way up. "How come?"

"Since your arrival, my memories have gradually returned to me," explained Boney. "And I suddenly recalled that I used to have magic powers of my own."

"Wow!" Bryony was impressed. "So you were a wizard?"

"Perhaps. But much of my past still remains a mystery, and will do so until we can escape this place."

"That won't happen," Bryony told him. "These manacles are magic proof."

"Only to the person wearing them. Allow me to demonstrate."

There was a snapping sound as the manacles broke, followed by a thud when Bryony hit the floor.

"Sorry about that," said Boney. "I hope you are not hurt."

"I'm fine." Bryony got shakily to her feet. "Anything is better than hanging upside down. I do feel a bit light headed though."

"Not as light headed as I am." Boney chuckled. "Light headed. You see the candle on my head? Light headed. Geddit?"

Bryony tutted as she walked to the desk. "You might have remembered how to do magic, but you still need to work on the jokes. And anyway, I don't get it."

"I thought it was obvious," said Boney. "The lighted candle is on my head, which means I'm literally light headed. But I don't want to wax lyrical about it. It would only get on your wick. There were two more belters there, by the way."

"I didn't mean the joke. I meant why you let Globb take me to his office. Couldn't you have used your magic to zap us somewhere safer?"

"There are two reasons for that. Firstly, there are no safe places in the Dungeon of Dreams. And secondly, because Globb's office is exactly where we need to be. If what the rat told me is true, we are now very close to the escape shaft."

"It's in Globb's office?"

"Almost. It's in his kitchen. Which must be through that door over there, where the rock troll is enjoying his tea break. Let us take a look."

Bryony picked up Boney and carried him to the kitchen door. It was ajar, and through the gap she could see Globb pouring the contents of a teapot into a delicate china cup. He took a sip, then snorted so hard that most of the tea blew out through his nostrils onto the wall.

"Perfect," sighed the troll. "I do make a lovely cup of tea, if I say so myself. Now all I need are a few biscuits to go with it." He prised open a round tin, but scowled when he saw it was empty. "Aw, run out. Never mind, I'll have some more in a jiffy."

Globb plodded to a hatch in the kitchen wall. He pressed a button next to the hatch, and Bryony heard a whirring noise from somewhere above.

"That must be the shaft," whispered Boney. "The rat told me it's fitted with a hoist for conveying supplies down to the gaoler's quarters."

Moments later a bell chimed. Globb opened the hatch, and sure enough there was a tray of biscuits inside. Globb picked up the tray, then stomped back to retrieve his teacup before lowering himself into a large wooden chair.

"So what are waiting for?" hissed Bryony. "Let's magic ourselves into that shaft and out of this hell hole."

"It's not as simple as that," advised Boney. "The shaft door is fitted with a magic seal. Only persons carrying the appropriate key can gain access."

"You mean Globb?" Bryony studied the reclining pig monster. "I didn't see him use a key just now."

"The key to a magic seal doesn't have to be key shaped. It can be any object kept upon his person. A button, a badge, an item of jewellery..."

"Hey." Bryony had an idea. "What about his nose ring?"

"That must be it," agreed Boney. "But we'll have to wait till he's asleep before we can take it. Which will be in three minutes precisely."

"How do you know?"

"My rat informant told me that Globb always takes a nap after his tea break. Trolls may be ugly and disgusting, but they are sticklers for routine, which is why they make excellent prison guards. Trust me, Globb will fall asleep as soon as he finishes his biscuits."

Crouching behind the door, Bryony saw Globb pick up a lumpy biscuit. She hadn't eaten since breakfast, and watched enviously as the troll turned the biscuit over in his podgy fingers. Then he tapped the biscuit hard on the arm of his wooden chair.

Bryony frowned. "What's he doing that for?"

"To dislodge the weevils," said Boney.

Bryony's envy changed into disgust when she saw a shower of tiny bug creatures tumble from the biscuit onto the arm of the chair. She was even more disgusted when Globb scooped up the bugs and shovelled them into his mouth. When he had eaten all the weevils, he tossed the biscuit aside and picked up another, before repeating the entire process.

Grimacing with revulsion, Bryony made a mental note never to complain about her dad's dining habits again. Then she thought more about her father, and her pangs of hunger became pangs of guilt. She had no idea what might have happened to him since she'd been taken from the taxi. Jane and Edwin too. If what Boney said was true, some evil force was working against Wychetts; the same force that had brought her to the Dungeon of Dreams.

She had wanted to escape the dungeon so she could fly to her mum in America, but now Bryony wasn't so sure about her plans. Could she turn her back on Wychetts and her family if she thought they were in danger?

As Bryony debated her course of action, Globb went through a further five biscuits. Then he took another slurp of tea, which he snorted all over the wall again, before settling back in his chair.

"Time for a nap," grunted the rock troll. "And well earned it is too, what with that human girl causing so much trouble. I'm sure a few hundred years chained up will wipe the smile from her face. If I could work out where her face was."

Globb clasped his podgy hands together and closed his beady eyes. A few seconds passed before Bryony dared speak.

"Is he asleep?" She studied the gaoler's bulbous stomach rising and falling. "I can't hear him snoring."

"Trolls don't snore," said Boney. "At least not when they're asleep."

"So how can we be sure he's soundo?"

"We could try sniffing his armpits. It's a well known fact that trolls emit a stronger body odour when unconscious."

Bryony shuddered at the thought. "Maybe we'll just have to chance it."

"Yes you will," said Boney. "Seeing as you're better equipped in the hands department than I am."

"I've got to use my hands?" Bryony shuddered when she realised what Boney meant. "Can't we just magic the ring from his nose?"

"It is a magic key and therefore resistant to magic. According to my rat informant, Globb only sleeps for five minutes twenty-seven seconds. So I suggest you make haste."

"But what if I wake him up?"

"He'll most probably bite your arm off. Trolls don't like having their naps interrupted."

Bryony was horrified. "I could lose an arm?"

"You'd still have one more to spare than I have. Now hurry up, we're losing time."

"OK." Bryony took a deep breath. "Here goes."

She slipped into the kitchen, holding Boney under her arm whilst creeping up to the sleeping troll. Globb stirred as she drew near, tilting his head to one side and muttering something under his breath.

Bryony froze, fearing the troll was about to wake up.

"He is merely dreaming," Boney assured her. "Do not be afraid. You have confronted greater challenges this day."

If truth be told, Bryony would have preferred facing a swarm of giant cockroaches than put her hand anywhere near Globb's ugly face.

Globb still muttered to himself. Treacly mucus oozed from his nostrils, trickling down his metal ring before dripping to the floor in glistening puddle.

"I can't do it." Bryony stepped back from the chair. "It's too disgusting."

"You have no choice," Boney told her. "If you ever want to see your mother again."

Bryony knew Boney was right, but it still took an almighty effort to move her hand towards Globb's drooling snout. She could barely look as her trembling fingers closed around his nose ring, and she shuddered when she felt warm snot dribbling over her fingers.

Then Bryony froze as a thought struck her.

"Do I pull, twist, or what?"

"I have no idea," confessed Boney. "When we're done I'll make it my first job to write an instruction manual for future reference. Until then we'll just have to wing it. First try pulling. Gently though."

Bryony pulled on the ring.

"It's not moving."

"Try a little harder."

Bryony tried harder. "Nope."

"Then perhaps try twisting it."

Bryony tried twisting the ring.

Globb's nose twitched, but the ring remained secure.

Bryony tried twisting the other way, but to no avail.

"Try twisting and pulling together," suggested Boney.

Trying to ignore the fact that her hand was now smothered in glistening troll snot, Bryony did as instructed. There was a revolting squelching noise, but she felt the ring loosen.

"It's coming." Bryony clenched her teeth as she twisted the ring further. "Yes, it's definitely..."

Globb snorted. A fountain of mucus erupted from his nostrils, drenching Bryony from head to foot. And as she stood there, smothered in warm sticky snot, the troll started speaking.

"Mummy? Are you there?"

"He's still asleep," whispered Boney. "He's just dreaming."

"Mummy?" Globb spoke in a shrill childish voice. "I can hear you, Mummy. Please tell me you're there."

"You'd better answer him," said Boney.

"But I'm not his mummy," Bryony pointed out.

"He won't know that."

"So you answer him."

"He can't hear me. The telepathic link doesn't work with trolls."

"Then why have you been whispering for the past ten minutes?"

"Purely for dramatic effect. Now you'd better answer him."

"Mummy?" Globb's voice became more agitated, and his flabby head lolled from side to side. "Mummy, are you there?"

"I'm here," crooned Bryony, trying to remember what her own mother would have said to her when she was an infant. "There's nothing to worry about. Just go back to sleepy byes, there's a good girl. I mean boy. I mean...er... troll."

"But I can't," wailed Globb. "I'm scared of the bed bugs."

"They're nothing to worry about," murmured Bryony. "Only tiny little insects."

"Actually troll bed bugs are eight feet tall," said Boney. "With venomous fangs. And three heads."

"You're not helping," growled Bryony.

"Mummy, where have you gone?" Globb's voice rose in pitch, and his head twitched furtively. "Don't leave your little Globblet."

"I'm still here," said Bryony. "Now please go back to sleep."

"I want a song," mewled Globb. "Sing me a song or I'll wet the bed."

"Best do as he says," warned Boney. "If you thought troll sneezes were messy..."

Bryony shrugged. "But what shall I sing?"

"Something restful. Surely you know a lullaby or two?"

Bryony's mind had gone blank. Then she recalled a song her mother used to sing to her. It was a silly rhyme, and years since she'd heard it. But as she sang, all the words came back to her...

"I see the moon and the moon sees me,

Shining through the boughs of the old dead tree.

Oh, let the light that shines on me

Shine on the one I love."

As Bryony sang, Globb calmed down.

"Over the mountains, over the sea,

Back where my heart is longing to be.

Oh, let the light that shines on me

Shine on the one I love."

The lullaby seemed to be working, so Bryony continued.

"I see the moon and the moon sees me

Shining through the boughs of the old dead tree.

When she returns then I shall be

Back with the one I love."

For a moment Bryony was a toddler again, nestling in her mother's arms as she listened to the song. Then she remembered she was holding a troll's snotty nose ring.

"That was lovely," gurgled Globb. "I feel all warm and snuggly now."

"Good," said Bryony. "So you can go back to sleepy byes like a good little Globblet."

"Only if I get my good night kiss," demanded Globb. "Please kiss me good night, Mummy."

"You heard him," said Boney. "What are you waiting for?"

Bryony's stomach lurched at the thought. Then she had an idea.

"Of course I'll kiss you good night," she told Globb. "Pucker up, my little Globblet."

Smiling to herself, Bryony pressed Boney's face against Globb's quivering lips.

"Hey! What are you..." Boney's cries of protest were smothered by a disgusting slobbering sound. Bryony couldn't help laughing, but didn't spot a lump of melting hot wax drip from the candle onto Globb's flabby cheek...

The troll woke up with a start, drenching Bryony in another deluge of snot as he exhaled a deafening snort.

"What is this?" Globb's beady eyes focussed on Bryony. "Who are you?"

"I'm your Mummy," said Bryony. "Now go back to sleep."

"Mummy?" The troll's pig face crumpled into a frown. "You're not my mummy. You're way too ugly."

"Who are you calling ugly?" Bryony lost her temper. "You're so ugly, even your reflection ducks."

"It's you!" Globb bellowed in rage. "The human child, come to steal my magic nose-ringle!"

"It's not like that." Bryony let go of Globb's nose ring, gooey strings of snot trailing from her fingers as she backed away from the chair. "I was only adjusting it. Thought it looked a bit wonky. There, it's much better now. You look lovely. I'll just go back to my chains."

"Chains is too good for you." Globb lurched to his feet. "You're too much trouble to be kept alive. I'm gonna drown you in slunge, then chop you up and feed you to the cockroaches!"

By now Bryony had her back to the kitchen wall, and there was nowhere else to run. She saw Globb lumbering towards her, and noticed the puddle of snot on the floor by his chair. Then she had an idea...

"But I'm innocent, remember?" Still holding the skull, Bryony edged along the wall towards the wooden hatch. "The Guvnor might not like it if you hurt me."

"The Guvnor ain't gonna hear about it, " vowed Globb. "I'm in charge down 'ere. And I'm gonna make you regret the day you set foot in the Dungeon of Dreams."

Enraged, Globb lowered his head and charged at Bryony...

18 Into the Dream Well

Bryony's plan worked perfectly.

Globb's right foot slipped in the puddle of his own snot, and the troll exhaled a surprised grunt as he skidded across the floor.

Bryony dived out of the way just in time. There was a loud slap when Globb's blubbery face slammed into the hatch on the wall. The troll's body slid to the floor like a massive dollop of lard, whilst the hatch sprang magically open.

"Good work," said Boney. "Now let's get out of here."

"You won't make it." Globb stirred, his piggy head lifting to fix Bryony with a baleful stare. "Even your magic can't help you escape from the Dungeon of Dreams."

But Bryony was not to be denied. She tucked Boney under her arm and ran straight at Globb, using his flabby stomach as a springboard to propel her up and through the opened hatch.

The hatch slammed shut behind Bryony. It was dark inside the shaft, but there was enough light from Boney's candle to reveal that she was sitting on a small wooden platform. There was a grinding noise, a lurch, and suddenly the platform was moving.

"We made it. We escaped the Dungeon of Dreams." Bryony smiled down at the skull in her arms. "Thanks to you, Boney."

"On the contrary," replied Boney. "I must thank you, Guardian."

"We made a good team." Then Bryony had an idea. "Hey, we need to think of a trendy name for us. A single catchy word, like a combination of Bryony and Boney."

"That'd be 'Boney'," suggested Boney.

"Or 'Bryony'," said Bryony. Then she giggled. "Doesn't really work, does it?"

Boney didn't reply at first, his hollow eye sockets staring blankly into space. When he eventually spoke, his words surprised Bryony.

"I am afraid," declared the skull.

"But there's nothing to be afraid of now," said Bryony. "We've escaped the dungeon. All those slimy tunnels and giant cockroaches are history."

"It is not the past that troubles me, but the future. The Boney you first met in the cell wasn't my true self. For as my memories return, I feel I am changing."

"Back to the real you. That's good, huh?"

"Perhaps." Boney spoke softly. "But what if I change into someone bad? What if you don't like the real me?"

Bryony thought about that, then shrugged. "It doesn't matter what you'll be like. I never would have escaped from the dungeon if it wasn't for you. I'll always remember that, and I'll always remember you as you were down there, when I needed you."

The skull seemed to grin back at Bryony. "And I shall always remember you, after you've gone."

"Gone where?"

"To your mother, of course. In America. You're still going to see her?"

"How?" Bryony studied her wristwatch. The dial was smashed, but she could still make out the time. "I've missed the flight by now."

"But you can still go to her. We are now beyond the magic seal, so with your powers you can go anywhere in the blink of an eye. So what are you waiting for?"

"But what about you?" Bryony gazed at the skull.

"I shall stay here. I need to find out who I am and how I came to be a prisoner in the Dungeon of Dreams. And I believe the answers may lie at the top of this shaft."

Bryony hesitated. She was desperate to see Mum, of course. But after all they'd been through together, she couldn't abandon poor Boney.

"I'll hang around for a while," she decided. "Until we reach the top of the shaft."

"Are you sure? We have no idea what awaits us. You may come to regret that decision."

"Right now I regret not having a cushion." Bryony was struggling to get comfortable on the hard wooden platform. "Why is it taking so long? When Globb got his biscuits it only seemed to take a few seconds."

"That would be the weight difference," said Boney. "And I'm not saying you're fat. Just fatter than a tray of biscuits."

"Thanks. I think." Bryony winced again as she felt something digging into her leg. She put a hand into her trouser pocket and removed a small parcel, no larger than a matchbox. The wrapping paper was stained and soggy, and at first Bryony didn't recognise what she was holding. Then it came back to her.

"It's my birthday present. From Dad, Jane and Edwin. It's been in my pocket all this time."

"Open it," suggested Boney. "It could be something useful."

Bryony doubted that. "Edwin chose it, so it's probably something dumb like a joke wart."

Despite her misgivings, Bryony started unwrapping the parcel. The soggy paper tore easily to reveal a small blue box. Her grimy fingers prised the lid open, and she caught a flash of silver from inside.

Still suspicious, Bryony tipped the contents of the box into the palm of her hand.

And what she saw made her gasp with astonishment.

It was a piece of jewellery, a silver chain with a heart shaped pendant. Only when Bryony studied the pendant more closely, she saw it wasn't a heart, but some sort of leaf.

"That is a bryony leaf," observed Boney. "The bryony plant was used as magic medicine back in the old times. It was considered a very powerful herb."

"It's beautiful." Bryony dangled the pendant in front of her. "I didn't think Edwin would choose something like this. He must have put a lot of thought into it. And I didn't even say goodbye to him. Or Jane. And I don't know what happened to Dad, either."

Suddenly Bryony felt her eyes welling with tears.

"All I was thinking about was Mum. I walked straight into a trap and left my family and Wychetts defenceless."

"Do not punish yourself, Guardian. We will soon find out who brought us here, and can use our combined powers to save Wychetts and your family. And then you'll see your mother again, I promise."

Bryony fastened the pendant chain around her neck. She looked up, hoping to spot light at the end of the shaft above her. But there was only blackness.

She thought they should have made it to the top by now, and wondered if the platform had stopped moving. She lifted Boney up, using his candle to illuminate the walls of the shaft. She could tell the platform was moving from the way the bricks in the wall were whizzing past. Except the bricks weren't whizzing in the right direction...

"Hey." Bryony realised something worrying. "We're not going up. We're going down."

"And fast. I must admit, I didn't think you were that much fatter than a tray of biscuits."

"We're speeding up." Bryony noticed the bricks were whizzing faster.

"Indeed." Boney retained his usual calm detachment. "It seems as though we have stumbled into yet another trap."

"But we followed the rat's directions."

"That may be so. But even the rat wasn't sure what lay at the top of the shaft. Or the bottom, for that matter. If there is a bottom. For all we know, this shaft could go on forever."

The platform creaked and rattled as it picked up speed. The brick walls became a blur, and Boney's candle sputtered in a rush of cold air blowing up the shaft.

Then the candle flickered out, and they were hurtling into darkness.

"We need to zap ourselves out of here," shouted Bryony. "Now."

"A very good idea. Let us combine our magic powers and..."

There was a mighty crash. A heavy jolt threw Bryony into the air, the wooden platform shattering beneath her.

Time seemed to slow. Bryony hung motionless as a bright light flooded the shaft. She shut her eyes, dazzled by the glare.

Then she felt solid ground beneath her feet.

She stood still, savouring the sun on her face and the sweet fresh air in her lungs. After several deep breaths, Bryony opened her eyes again.

She was out of the shaft, standing in an impressive street in front of an even more impressive house: a modern, stylish building with an immaculate front garden.

She didn't have to look at the nearby road sign to know where she was.

"Mum's house in America. But how did I get here?"

"Were you not thinking of visiting your mother?"

Bryony looked down at the skull in her arms. "Suppose my magic powers brought me here, huh?"

"I would not be so sure of that. Are you sure this is your mother's house?"

"Sure." Bryony nodded confidently. "I've been here before, the first day I moved into Wychetts."

"It may look like your mother's house, but that doesn't mean it is. I advise caution, Guardian."

After all they'd been through, Bryony had every reason to heed Boney's warning. But this time she was sure he was wrong. She was in America, right in front of her mum's house, just where she'd wanted to be.

What was she waiting for?

Bryony rushed up the spotless drive towards the beautiful front door of the impressive house. She rang the doorbell, smiling as she listened to the expensive sounding chimes. Seconds later the door was opened by a tall, grey haired man whom Bryony assumed was her mother's butler.

"It's me," said Bryony. "I made it."

The butler looked Bryony up and down, his silvery eyes narrowing suspiciously.

Bryony realised she probably didn't look her best after escaping from a filthy dungeon. Plus she was holding a skull, which might not be giving off positive vibes.

"It's a cake." She held Boney up so the butler could get a better view. "A novelty cake. See the candle? It's my birthday, see."

"Of course." The butler smiled suddenly, moving aside to usher Bryony through the door. "The lady of the house has been expecting you."

Bryony walked hurriedly down the immaculate hallway, her heart beat quickening with every step.

"I'm here, Mum."

There was no answer.

"I don't like this," said Boney.

"Be quiet," shushed Bryony. "What do you know about interior design anyway?"

"I wasn't referring to the wallpaper. I meant..."

The front door slammed shut, causing Bryony to jump. She wheeled round to reprimand the butler for his heavy handedness, but the hall was empty.

"This isn't right." Boney's voice carried an unfamiliar hint of panic. "There is something unnatural about this place."

From somewhere ahead came the sound of pattering footsteps and a child-like squeal.

Turning round, Bryony saw a small blonde haired girl running off down the hallway.

"Mum's other daughter." She felt a rush of resentment, but tried to push her jealous thoughts aside as she followed the girl. "Mum? Are you there?"

More squeals and pattering footsteps from ahead.

Bryony followed the sounds, wondering why she hadn't yet reached the end of the hall. She guessed that Mum's house must have been a lot bigger than it looked from the outside. Yet surely not even a mansion or palace had a hallway this long?

The light faded whilst Bryony walked further along the never ending hallway. The air became colder, and she began to think that Boney's suspicions could be right.

"Mum?" Her call was more anxious now. "What's going on? Where are you?"

"That remains to be seen," said Boney. "But I've worked out where we are. And I'm afraid it isn't your mother's house."

There were more pattering footsteps. The small, blonde girl appeared in front of Bryony. She giggled teasingly before running off into the shadows again.

"Wait!" called Bryony. "I want to see Mum. Where is she?"

"Do not follow!" warned Boney. "This is part of the trap."

"Trap?" Bryony ignored Boney's advice, quickening her pace to keep up with the girl. "What are you on about?"

"We have not yet escaped the Dungeon of Dreams. Indeed, we have reached its very heart. We have fallen into the Dream Well."

"Dream Well?" Bryony was now jogging to keep the blonde haired girl in sight.

"The place where dreams are created. The very source of dream power."

"So you're saying all this is just a dream?"

"That's exactly what I'm saying. None of this is real, Guardian."

"Of course it's real," Bryony argued despite her growing doubts. "It has to be real."

"That's the point of dreams. They feel real when you experience them. Some people even confuse dreams with genuine memories."

"So this place is just a memory?" Bryony slowed down, inspecting the walls and floor.

"Not just memories. Dreams are also formed from our hopes, our desires, and our greatest fears. That's what makes them so powerful. And so terribly dangerous."

"How can dreams be dangerous?"

"Dreams are made not just of happy thoughts, but of dark things too. Things we might want to forget, that we locked away in a box a long time ago. And the magic power of dreams can turn them into reality. And not always the reality you may have hoped for. We must beware..."

"Beware." The blonde girl spoke as she stopped running. Then she turned round slowly.

Bryony dashed forwards to reach her, but froze when she found herself looking at a mirror image of her own face.

"Beware." The girl pointed at the night sky.

At first Bryony wondered how she could see night sky through the ceiling of her mother's hall. Then she realised they weren't in the hall anymore, but outside on some vast open moorland.

Then the girl spoke again.

"Beware the Moon of Magister."

"Magister..." Bryony stepped towards her blonde haired twin. "What do you know about..."

A full moon emerged from behind a curtain of broiling clouds, flooding the landscape with silvery light.

"The Moon of Magister." Bryony spoke in a cracked whisper. "Is this the Moon of Magister?"

But the blonde girl had vanished.

"Come back!" Bryony's cries were drowned by a blast of sound from all around her, a raucous din of shouts, clangs and explosions. Shadowy figures ran about, pulsing explosions lit up the sky, and it seemed like she was in the midst of some tremendous battle.

"Where are we now?" Bryony flinched when a glowing arrow whizzed over her head. "Boney, what's happening?"

"The moon," cried Boney. "Look at the moon!"

Bryony looked up to see the moon had grown, the pale orb expanding to fill the entire sky. And in the moon she saw a face, a man's face that stared at her with intense silver eyes. It was a face she recognised: Mum's butler!

The butler's mouth twisted open to emit a terrible scream. The skin melted from his face, bubbling and peeling away until there was nothing left but a gaunt grey skull.

"Nooooo!" Boney screamed too. Bryony felt a surge of power crackling through her fingers from the skull. She let go, the skull clattering to the ground at her feet.

Boney still screamed as the battle raged on all around them. Bryony closed her eyes and covered her ears, trying to block the terrible sights and sounds.

She wanted to get out of there, to somewhere warm and safe.

She wanted to get back home.

To Wychetts.

The shouts and screams stopped. For a moment the silence hurt. Then Bryony felt a hand on her shoulder, and opened her eyes to find she was back home in the lounge of the cottage, with her father and Jane beside her.

Inglenook's carved features smiled back at her from the fireplace. But then his smile contorted into a frown, and cracks appeared on his wooden face.

Bryony wanted to ask him what was wrong, but choked when she tried to speak. A bitter taste clogged her throat, a burning stench stinging her nostrils. Billowing smoke filled the room, and Inglenook's face blistered as red flames flared all around him.

There was a shout, and Bryony saw a ginger haired boy running towards the fireplace.

"Edwin!" Bryony reached out for her stepbrother, but he disappeared into the smoke before she could touch him. Then a loud boom thundered through the cottage, an avalanche of timber and stone crashing down all around her.

Bryony called out again, but all she could see was a wall of fire. She looked for her father, but he had vanished along with Jane.

And then suddenly the flames cleared, leaving Bryony alone. The moon had retreated behind the clouds, but there was enough light to reveal the burned out remains of a cottage, a blackened skeleton of smouldering timbers standing stark against a snow covered landscape.

And there, rising from the ground in front of her, were three curved stones.

Three gravestones.

Bryony shook her head, unable to accept what she was seeing.

But she knew what it meant.

They were gone. Her family. Her home. Nothing left.

Nothing.

And as the realisation hit home, Byrony's legs buckled beneath her. She fell to her knees, her body racked with choking sobs. She had never felt such loss, such an overwhelming surge of despair. Even when Mum had left her, it hadn't been like this.

She slumped forwards, struggling for breath. Then she glimpsed a flash of silver, and instinctively grabbed the leaf pendant swinging from her neck.

She held on to it, all that was left of them, whilst the cold earth opened up to swallow her...

19 We Eat Magic

Edwin laughed as he took his seat at the table. He was exhausted: exhausted from magic dancing, exhausted from the magic games that had followed the magic dancing, but most of all exhausted from laughing.

He had never laughed so much in his life. Even now he couldn't stop. Even now, when every muscle in his body ached, when he had a stitch in his stomach and it hurt just to breathe, Edwin couldn't control the spasms of glee that exploded from somewhere deep inside him like a stuttering volcano eruption.

You ain't seen nothing yet. How right Maddy had been!

After the magic dancing, it had been time for the magic games. There was magic musical chairs, where the chairs had a tendency to move around and throw you off if they didn't like the way you sat on them. Then magic pass the parcel, where the parcel had a mind of its own and the winner was the one who actually caught it. Then finally there had been magic pin the tail on the dragon. A real dragon, of course. Edwin had given it a go, and been lucky to escape with only slightly singed eyebrows.

Maddy had won, but then Maddy had won all the games, even beating her parents. Maybe they were taking it easy because it was her party. Or maybe she was stronger at magic than them. Whatever the reason, no one minded. Jollity reigned, and everyone appeared to be having the time of their lives. Especially the monkey in the glittery sombrero.

"Enjoying yourself?" Maddy flopped breathlessly into a chair opposite Edwin.

Edwin's answer was a hoarse laugh. He meant to say that he was having a good time, but all he could do was laugh.

"Knew you'd love magic parties," said Maddy. "Now it's time to sample a magic feast."

Edwin was pleased to hear it. He still hadn't eaten a morsel since breakfast, and was in desperate need of food after all the games and dancing.

"It's a self service meal," Maddy explained. "I hope you don't mind."

Edwin's hopes fell just a little. His arms and legs were aching, and the last thing he wanted was to queue up round a table for sausages on sticks.

But when he saw the food approaching the table, he realised that Maddy's idea of 'self service' differed vastly from his own.

He hadn't imagined that the food would float its way to the table, or that it would proceed to arrange itself on the guests' plates without the need for spoons or ladles.

Or that it would look so delicious. There was every kind of food imaginable, and quite a few Edwin could never have imagined.

"Aren't you hungry?" Maddy watched Edwin eyeing a giant joint of roast beef floating past him. "If you want something, just click your fingers."

She demonstrated, and the joint of beef floated down to land on her plate, followed by flock of assorted vegetables.

"But how do you do it?" Edwin was mesmerised by a hovering jug that poured lashings of steaming gravy over Maddy's dinner. "You must use up so much magic."

"So?" Maddy declined the offer of horseradish from a passing tureen dish.

"Inglenook rations us." Edwin examined a hovering plate of chicken legs. At least he thought they were chicken legs; by the size of them they could have come from an ostrich. "We're only allowed to use a certain amount of magic every day."

"That's the Wise Ones for you," sighed Maddy. "They see magic as something a precious that should be locked away so no one can use it. We Maddergrubs are different. We live magic, we breathe magic. We eat magic."

There was a ripple of applause as a massive white drum floated into the banqueting hall. At least that's what Edwin thought it was, until he saw it was covered in icing.

"Is that a cake?" A gawping Edwin watched the huge iced drum park itself in the middle of the hall.

Maddy nodded. "The party wouldn't be complete without a cake. It's fruit and nut. But I can change it to sponge if you've got an allergy."

"Fruit and nut is fine," said Edwin. He'd never seen a cake so huge, so enticing, so perfect. In many ways it represented Maddy's life, the life of the Maddergrubs: a magic family, in a magic home, with a magic family life.

A life he could share for a while.

"I've been thinking." Edwin cleared his throat. "Maybe there's no need to rush back to the future tomorrow."

Maddy had just crammed a fork load of beef and potatoes into her mouth, so her response was limited to a quizzical arching of the eyebrows.

"Maybe," continued Edwin, "we could stay here a bit longer. Like you said, we can go back to the future any time to save Wychetts and my family. That's if they still need saving, now you've defeated the Vampi... the bat monsters."

Maddy swallowed her food, then took a swig of drink from a drifting chalice.

"Just another few days." Edwin checked Maddy's face for a reaction. "It's all right by me."

Maddy's face was hidden as an airborne napkin wiped her lips. It was only when the napkin fluttered away that Edwin saw she was smiling.

"Oh Edwin." She clasped her hands together as though offering a little prayer of thanks. "I'm so glad you feel that way."

Edwin smiled back at her. "I know how much they mean to you. Your mother, father, Rosabella and Floriana. Even Alphonsus. I've grown to like them too."

"They like you." Maddy grinned. "Just as well, since Floriana has set her heart on being bridesmaid at our wedding."

"I'm serious," said Edwin.

"So is she," insisted Maddy. "Who do you think should be Best Man? At the moment it's a toss up between Alphonsus and the monkey in the sombrero. I'm not sure who has the better table manners."

"Will you listen to me?" Edwin was impatient with Maddy's joking, although when he glanced at Alphonsus he figured she might have a point about table manners. "I don't like lying to them about the Prince of Ninny stuff. It feels wrong, after they've been so kind and welcoming. It would be better if we told them the truth."

"We can't." Maddy leaned across the table. "If I tell them you're a Guardian of Wychetts I've magically transported from the future, they'll start asking all sorts of questions. Especially how I got to the future in the first place."

Edwin realised what Maddy was getting at. "You'd have to come clean about stealing the Tome Terriblis."

"I didn't steal..." Maddy checked there was no one within earshot before continuing in a whisper. "I didn't steal the Tome. I only borrowed it to help me pass my magic exams. And anyhow, it was all a set up."

"A set up?" Edwin leaned closer to Maddy. "How come?"

Maddy took another sip of drink from the floating chalice before revealing more. "I might have stolen the Tome, but someone else put me up to it. Someone who told me where to find it, who filled my head with ideas of how to use its power. Someone who could get me access to the Library of the Wise Ones."

The sounds of the party faded as Edwin's attention focussed on Maddy.

"But all the time he was using me. All the time he wanted the Tome for himself, so he could use its power against the Wise Ones. That's why he came here that night, forcing his way into my home to claim his prize."

"The night you transported yourself to the future?" Edwin remembered Maddy's story of events. "This was the renegade warlock guy?"

"A renegade, yes. But no mere warlock. He was a member of the High Council of Wise Ones, a one time Guardian of Wychetts. He was my tutor. And he was called..."

"The Magister." Edwin had already worked it out.

Maddy winced, as if it hurt to hear those words.

"But if he was a member of the Council, why did he want to use the Tome against the Wise Ones?" Edwin's curiosity had been sparked. "Was he a secret agent of the Shadow Clan?"

"Magister worked for no one but himself," said Maddy. "He wanted to usurp the Wise Ones and rule the Realm of Magic on his own."

"Wow. This is just like a story book plot." Edwin was eager to find out more. "So what happened when he got his hands on the Tome? Did he fight the Wise Ones? Was there some sort of magic war?"

"I don't know." Maddy looked at the table. "By then I'd transported myself to the future, and I've never tried to find out what became of Magister. In some ways I don't want to know."

"Sure." It suddenly struck Edwin that Maddy might not have wished to dwell on past events. "I'm sorry I brought it up. But if you told your family what happens, it could change everything for the better. Your family would be saved, and the Wise Ones could act against this Magister guy before he gets his hands on the Tome."

"So history would be changed." Maddy's eyes glistened with tears when she looked up at Edwin. "And we wouldn't meet, so you'd never experience a magic party."

"Good point. And I'm grateful. But this is your family we're talking about." Edwin glanced at the other Maddergrubs enjoying their party. "Surely they're more important to you than anything else?"

"What's done is done," said Maddy. "Meddling with history can have all sorts of nasty consequences, which is why the Wise Ones banned magic time travel. I'll find a way to be with my family again, but not like this."

Edwin considered Maddy's words whilst she polished off the remains of her meal.

"That was delicious." Maddy lowered her knife and fork. "The sprouts tasted just like chocolate."

"Chocolate sprouts?" Edwin wasn't sure if he'd heard her right.

"Great thing about magic food, it can taste like anything you want. Plus the washing up takes care of itself." Maddy clicked her fingers and the dirty plate vanished. "Now it's time to cut the cake. Fancy a slice?"

Edwin reluctantly declined the offer. "I haven't had my first course yet."

"We'll soon take care of that." Maddy snapped her fingers again. A large dish with a domed silver cover answered her summons, gliding to a rest beside Edwin.

Despite his hunger, Edwin was still thinking about Maddy's story.

"But don't you ever wonder what happened to this Magister guy?"

"Who cares?" Maddy shrugged with apparent indifference. "He's history."

"Not now he isn't. We travelled back in time, so he's still alive at this very moment."

"Don't worry." Maddy smiled reassuringly. "He can't get to us here. Nothing can spoil our magic party. Now have a savoury pastry."

Edwin switched his attention to the domed platter parked beside him. He smiled with anticipation, visualising a heap of perfect pastries all baked to a scrumptious golden brown. But when the domed cover lifted he found himself looking at a face.

A familiar face of a pretty, dark eyed girl.

Edwin gawped at the girl. The girl gawped back at him. Then she opened her mouth and screamed...

20 Surpri-ise!

"Edwin!" Bryony jumped from the platter, showering the floor with pastries. "You're safe!"

"Bryony!" Edwin sprang from his chair. "How did you get in that platter of pastries?"

"I'm not sure," admitted Bryony. "Guess it was down to magic."

Of course, Edwin should have known that. "So Inglenook sent you?"

Bryony shook her head. "I haven't spoken to him since I left home."

"So how did you get here?" Edwin noticed his stepsister's bedraggled appearance. "And how come you look such a state?"

"I look a state?" Bryony realised she might not look her best, but she was equally curious about Edwin's strange appearance. "Why are you wearing a dress? And those awful yellow tights? They make you look like a herring."

"You mean a heron." Edwin decided to change the subject. "Anyway, I'm glad you're safe. Maddy reckoned you might have been kidnapped."

"Malady Maddergrub." Bryony's expression darkened when she spotted the bespectacled green haired girl sitting opposite Edwin. "What are you doing here?"

"I should be asking the same of you." Maddy returned Bryony's hostile look. "You shouldn't be here."

"No." At last Bryony realised who had kidnapped her. "I should be rotting away in your dungeon, huh?"

Maddy's scowl softened into a frown. "There's no dungeon at Maddergrub Manor."

"Maddergrub Manor?" Bryony's expression mirrored Maddy's again. "I thought the place got blown up. So how..."

"We've travelled back in time," said Edwin. "Eight hundred years to Maddy's past. It was the only way to save Wychetts and everyone from the Vampi..." Still he couldn't say the word, so looked at Maddy for help.

"Vampiropteryx," she clarified.

"Vampiropteryx?" Bryony was none the wiser. "What are they?"

Although irritated that Bryony could pronounce the word so easily, Edwin was happy to explain. "Evil bat creatures from another dimension that spit green fire and feed on magic. They lured you away from home, then used poisonous plants to drug Inglenook so they could steal Wychetts' power. Luckily Maddy was visiting, or we'd never have stood a chance of beating them."

Edwin was convinced of his story, but Bryony was far from persuaded.

"But if the Vampiropteryx kidnapped me, why would they have brought me back in time and thrown me into Maddy's dungeon?"

"We don't have a dungeon," insisted Maddy.

"So I dreamed it all, huh?" Bryony snarled angrily. "I dreamed all the dank corridors and death traps and giant cockroaches. That's why I'm covered from head to foot in troll snot and slunge."

Maddy wrinkled her nose. "What's slunge?"

"You'll find out soon enough," vowed Bryony. "When you land head first in the stuff from a very great height."

"Is everything all right?" A green haired woman hurried over, her eyebrows creasing as she studied Bryony. "And who is this young lady? Another guest?"

"This is my Great Aunt." Edwin answered Lady Maddergrub before Maddy could speak. "Baroness Bryony of, um...Blubberbum."

"Blubber-what?" Bryony glared at Edwin.

"A small province in the east of my kingdom," fibbed Edwin. "Baroness Bryony, may I introduce you to Lady Maddergrub and her family."

Bryony saw three children standing behind the woman. They were all similar to Maddy, with green hair and freckles, and all wearing the same dumb glasses.

"Rosabella, Floriana, and Alphonsus." Edwin introduced Maddy's siblings in turn, before gesturing to a golden haired man with a cleft chin and bright blue eyes who came striding across the hall. "And this is Lord Maddergrub, Maddy's father."

The girls curtseyed. Lord Maddergrub and Alphonsus bowed. Bryony ignored them, scowling at Edwin instead.

"Blubberbum? Were you saying I'm f..."

"You must excuse Aunt Bryony's manners." Edwin made an apologetic bow to his hosts. "The Baroness was captured by the Vampi... our enemies, and has just escaped their horrible dungeon."

"We understand." Lady Maddergrub smiled sympathetically at Bryony. "And the Baroness is more than welcome to stay here."

Rosabella looked up from her hand mirror to smile at Bryony. "That would be lovely. I can give her some beauty tips."

Bryony wasn't impressed. "Why should I take beauty tips from someone with bogey coloured hair?"

"I apologise." Rosabella pointed at Bryony's head. "But you actually do have bogeys in your hair."

"Oh yeah." Bryony remembered she'd been drenched in Globb's snot. "Fair point, I suppose."

"You are indeed most welcome to stay here, Baroness Blubberbum." Lord Maddergrub beamed at Bryony. "Why, your safe return is even more reason to celebrate. Let us continue with the party."

"Party?" Up to now Bryony hadn't registered the bright streamers and bunting hanging from the ceiling, or the long table lined with guests, including a monkey in a glittery sombrero, who were now all staring at her.

"It doesn't matter about all that." Edwin reached out to take his stepsister's arm. "The main thing is that you're safe. I was worried sick about you."

"Sure." Bryony pulled her arm away from Edwin. "Must have really taken the edge off your party."

"I..." Edwin realised what this must have looked like to Bryony. "It was just a little party."

"I can see that. Just several hundred guests and a cake the size of Canada."

"It's fruit," said Edwin, hoping to smooth Bryony's demeanour. "Fancy a slice?"

"I'm not hungry." Bryony had secretly helped herself to a pastry whilst trapped in the dome covered dish. "All I want is to go home. So come on." She beckoned to Edwin. "We're leaving."

"Edwin's going nowhere," said Maddy. "He's having a great time, with people who love him. Isn't that true, mother?"

"We love Prince Edwin as our own," said Lady Maddergrub.

"He is the elder son we never had," Maddy's father agreed.

"I thought he looked weird at first," admitted Alphonsus. "What with his silly hair and his heron legs. But now I look up to him as an older brother."

"I love Prince Edwin with all my heart." Floriana held up a little ginger haired dolly. "And I cannot wait for him to marry Maddy."

"You're going to get married?" Bryony looked quizzically at Edwin.

"She's only joking." Edwin looked pleadingly at Maddy. "Tell her that Floriana is only joking."

Maddy looked hurt. "Oh Edwin. Are you having second thoughts? I'll let you wear the dress if that's what you want."

"He's not marrying you." Bryony grabbed hold of Edwin's arm and dragged him from the table. "He's coming home with me. That's after we've found Boney."

Edwin was going to ask who Boney was, but then the hall doors slammed shut of their own accord.

"I can't let you take him." A stern faced Maddy was suddenly standing in front of Bryony. "Edwin must stay here."

"But Edwin doesn't want to stay," argued Bryony. "Tell her, Edwin. Tell her you don't want to stay."

Edwin gazed into Maddy's eyes. He'd never totally trusted her, yet he'd been willing to believe. Firstly, because Maddy's family had been his only hope of saving Wychetts. And secondly, because he'd felt so happy here with them.

"Tell them." Bryony jabbed Edwin's ribs with her elbow. "Tell them you want to go home."

"He's already told me what he wants," said Maddy. "To stay another week."

"A week?" Bryony couldn't believe what she was hearing.

"Oh sorry, I got that wrong." Maddy smiled. "It was actually two."

Bryony glared at Edwin. "How could you have agreed to stay here for two weeks if you thought Wychetts and the family were in danger?"

"Well..." Edwin squirmed under his stepsister's challenging gaze. "Maddy said the Vampi..."

"Vampiropteryx." Bryony helped him out. "What about them?"

"Maddy said they were defeated, and that you were all OK."

"And you believed her?" Bryony gasped in amazement. "You trusted her, after what she did to you before?"

"Of course he trusts me," said Maddy. "We're friends."

"Plus," added Edwin, "the thing with magic time travel is that you can go to any point in the past or future at any time you want, so there was no real hurry."

"Obviously not for you. But then again you've been having a party whilst I've been trying to escape a horrible dungeon." Bryony gripped Edwin's arm more tightly. "Maddy tricked you. She locked me in a horrible dungeon. She's been playing a game all along. But now it's over."

"It's my game," said Maddy. "Played to my rules. And only I get to say when it's over."

"You can't tell me to do anything," sneered Bryony. "I'm a Guardian of Wychetts, and I can do magic."

"Not here you can't." Edwin wondered if Bryony's experience in the dungeon had affected her mind. "Not without the Wychetts Key."

"That's what I thought," said Bryony. "But I've been doing magic ever since I arrived in the dungeon. I wouldn't have got out otherwise. And if I can do magic, you can too."

"You did magic," Floriana squealed at Edwin. "When you saved us from the Vampiropteryx."

"He flew," added Alphonsus. "Prince Edwin flew like the wind. He did magic. We saw it. He's..."

"Be quiet." Maddy raised her hand, and the children fell immediately and uncharacteristically silent. "They're silly kids," she told Edwin. "Can't tell fantasy from reality."

"But they're right." Edwin now remembered. "I did do magic. But Maddy said..."

"It doesn't matter what Maddy said," hissed Bryony. "There are two of us and only one of her. She can't stop us leaving."

"Maybe you're right," conceded Maddy. "I can't stop you leaving. But we can."

"We can't let Prince Edwin leave," boomed Lord Maddergrub, suddenly by Maddy's side.

"He is our honoured guest." Lady Maddergrub appeared next to her husband. "Without him there can be no party."

"No fun, no games." Rosabella now stood next to her mother. "Only darkness and despair."

"We can't let you take him." Alphonsus emerged from behind his parents. "He belongs here now."

"He must stay with us," said Floriana, completing a wall of Maddergrubs blocking the doors. "We must have our family wedding."

"See?" Maddy smirked at Bryony. "Edwin is loved in Maddergrub Manor. He has a family here. Brothers and sisters who don't just care about themselves or their stupid mothers who ran out on them years ago."

"How dare you." Bryony gritted her teeth. "You don't know anything about my mum or why she left me."

"I know enough," said Maddy. "I know that you care more about her than anyone else. And I knew what it would take for you to abandon Wychetts."

"You knew?" Bryony realised what Maddy had said. "What do you mean by that?"

Maddy bit her lip, as if she'd said something she shouldn't have. But Bryony was in no doubt what had been meant.

"Maddy sent the letter. It was her all along."

"Don't be silly." Edwin dismissed the notion with a shake of the head. "Why would she have done that?"

"Why?" Bryony thought it was obvious. "To lure me away from Wychetts so she could kidnap me and lock me in her stinky slunge filled dungeon, that's why."

"We don't have a dungeon." Maddy groaned as though tired of repeating the fact. "I never meant to send you there."

"But you sent the letter?" Suddenly Edwin realised that Maddy hadn't denied Bryony's first accusation. He sensed she was hiding something, that she'd been hiding something ever since they'd arrived at Maddergrub Manor. "Did you send the letter?"

"Of course I didn't," insisted Maddy. "Trust me, Edwin, You have to trust me or..."

"Did you send the letter?" Edwin's shout echoed through the silent hall. The candles guttered, and a deep rumble sounded from somewhere. It could have been thunder, but Bryony was sure she felt the floor tremble.

She'd never seen her stepbrother so mad; even Maddy seemed to lose her usual cock-sure demeanour in the face of his anger.

At least for a second or two.

"OK. So I sent the letter." Maddy shrugged in a matter-of-fact way. "But I didn't mean it to end up like this. I only wanted her out of the way for a while."

"There you go." Bryony nodded, her suspicions proven. "Knew she'd be behind it all."

But Edwin was struggling to absorb this revelation. "So if you sent the letter, you must have sent the Hypnoflax seeds too?"

"They're only a weak strain." Another careless shrug from Maddy. "The effects will wear off in a couple of hours. I only wanted to see my family for a while. I meant no harm to anyone."

"No harm?" Now Bryony was doing the shouting. "I nearly got killed in that dungeon of yours."

"There isn't a dungeon." Maddy fixed her pleading stare on Edwin. "You must believe me."

"How can I believe you?" Edwin stared back at Maddy. "How can I believe a word you say about anything?"

The party guests vanished in a puff of smoke. The candles guttered once again, and the floor trembled as a deep rumble sounded from below.

"Now see what you've done." Maddy pointed at Bryony. "You've spoiled everything."

"We need to get out of here." Bryony dragged Edwin to the doors, but the Maddergrub family stepped forward to bar her path. Their faces were stern, eyes staring glassily into space, as though they were in some sort of trance.

"We won't let you take him." Maddy stood beside her family, her pointed finger trained on Bryony. "You go, but leave Edwin with us."

"No way." Bryony pointed at Maddy. "I've been through hell to find him, and I'm not leaving him behind."

"Everyone lower their fingers." Edwin feared the situation was about to turn ugly. "We can work this out between us."

But even as he spoke the Maddergrub family raised their right hands, all pointing at Bryony.

"I'm sorry," said Maddy. "But you leave us no choice. We'll try not to hurt you."

The Maddergrub's pointed fingers glowed bright green. Bryony panicked, and discharged a bolt of magical energy from her finger straight at Maddy and her family.

The Maddergrub's spread their palms, forming an invisible shield which deflected Bryony's magic missile straight back at her.

Bryony ducked, the magic bolt fizzing over her head. There was an explosion behind her, accompanied by an eruption of white icing chunks.

"Look what you did!" Maddy glowered at Bryony. "You ruined my party cake!"

Bryony looked round to see the charred remains of the once beautiful cake. Then she saw something lying in the pile of smouldering crumbs. It looked like, but it couldn't be...

A human skull.

"Boney!" Bryony's voice was shrill with delight. "I've found you!"

"That's Boney?" Edwin peered doubtfully at the skull.

Bryony nodded. "Boney helped me escape from the dungeon. He was a prisoner down there for hundreds of years. His body had been eaten by rats, but his soul remained."

"A skull?" Edwin gave Maddy a stupefied stare. "I thought you said it was fruit and nut."

Bryony hurried towards the cake, but froze when the skull started glowing.

"Boney?"

The skull pulsed with light, growing steadily brighter, then rose into the air by itself. Bryony watched, mystified, as the glowing skull hovered in front of her.

"Boney, are you OK?" Bryony reached out tentatively, but drew her finger back when a halo of sparks formed around the skull.

There was a stuttering flash, and a mighty blast of air that sent Bryony reeling backwards. Edwin caught her in his arms, and she clung to him as a howling wind tore through the hall, ripping the cloth from the table and hurling cups and crockery to the floor in a jarring chorus of clangs and clatters.

The howling wind died as suddenly as it had begun. A voice broke the silence that followed.

A familiar voice that Bryony was relieved to hear.

"Surpri-ise!"

She lifted her head, but her smile faded when she saw the figure standing before her.

It was tall, clad in white robes, its face obscured by a pointed hood. Its arms were outstretched, its human hands waving back at her.

"Oh dear." The hooded head twitched from side to side. "Have I missed the party?"

"Boney?" Bryony looked around to see if the skull was lying nearby. "Are you there?"

"Boney." The white robed figure chuckled. "That's a very amusing name. And quite fitting, given the state I was in when you found me. But back in the old days I went by a much grander title."

"I recognise that voice." Maddy's blue eyes widened as she stared at the hooded figure. "But it can't be..."

"In the old days I was respected." The robed figure bowed its head. "In the old days I was a member of the Council of the Wise Ones." The figure pulled down its hood to reveal a head of wavy grey hair. "In the old days..."

"No." Maddy's head twitched from side to side. "That's impossible. You can't be here. Not here."

The figure raised its head, the candlelight revealing the features of a middle aged man with angular cheeks and a prominent hooked nose. His eyes shone like discs of pure silver, blazing with intelligence and power. "In the old days, I was known..."

As he said the words, the hall shook with an ominous tremor.

"... as Magister."

21 What Are You Doing Here?

"You're Magister?" Bryony gaped at the silver-eyed man. "Boney, you were Magister all along?"

"So it seems," said Magister. "Now all my memories have returned. Along with my magic powers, which I used to re-create my old body. A very good likeness don't you think, Malady?"

"It isn't you," said Maddy. "You can't be here, not now."

"But it would appear I am." The grey haired man spread his arms in an almost apologetic gesture. "Sorry for gate-crashing your party. But I'm rather miffed I didn't get an invite."

"What are you doing here?" Maddy's voice was a hateful snarl. "And how come you were hiding in my cake?"

"I admit it wasn't my ideal choice of entrance." Magister grinned, displaying perfect white teeth. "Would have much preferred sponge."

"Keep away from him!" Edwin grabbed Bryony's arm and drew her back from Magister. "This is the renegade warlock guy that tricked Maddy into stealing the Tome Terriblis, so he could use its power for himself."

Magister's smile fell as he regarded Edwin. "Not much of a character reference there, eh? I've heard better things about you from your stepsister: Edwin, the brave and clever Guardian of Wychetts. Though she didn't mention the weird hair and heron's legs."

"You're evil." Edwin hissed at Magister. "A traitor to the Wise Ones."

"I'm not a bad man," protested Magister. "More a man who wants to be good, so very badly. And remember it wasn't me who stole the Tome."

"You put me up to it," snapped Maddy. "You told me where it was and how I could gain access to the library. And all the time you wanted to use its power against the Wise Ones."

"Oh yes, so I did." Magister nodded as though he'd just remembered. "Less risky than stealing the Tome myself. But once I got my sweaty little hands on it there was no stopping me."

Then Edwin realised something about Magister. "But how come you know about Maddy and the Tome? All that hasn't happened yet. Unless... you're from the future?"

"A shrewd deduction," acknowledged Magister. "And one that raises some curious questions, don't you think?"

"So that's why you were in Maddy's dungeon," realised Bryony. "You were her prisoner, too."

"But I never held any prisoners." Maddy whined despairingly. "We don't have a dungeon at Maddergrub Manor."

"Stop lying," barked Bryony. "I was there. I saw..."

"She isn't lying," cut in Magister. "At least not about the dungeon. Which raises some even more curious questions. Eh, Malady?"

"You shouldn't be here." Maddy pointed at Magister. "You belong in the shadows, and that's where you're headed."

At Maddy's words the Maddergrub family aimed their pointed fingers. Six bolts of green lightning crackled through the air straight at Magister. It seemed there was no time to react, but somehow the grey haired man raised his right hand to deflect the sizzling barrage.

Sparks burst everywhere, the lightning bolts rebounding off the walls and ceiling. Bryony and Edwin dropped to the floor, not daring to lift their heads until the last stray missile had fizzled out.

"That was lovely. No party is complete without indoor fireworks." The grey haired man stood grinning, none the worse for the magical pyrotechnics. "But you see, Malady? Even your combined Maddergrub powers are no match for The Magister. Now let's play nicely, eh?"

The Maddergrub family lowered their hands, but Maddy kept her trembling finger pointed at Magister as he continued to address her.

"You asked me what I was doing here, Malady. That was a very good question. But the answer depends on where 'here' actually is."

"It's Maddergrub Manor." Edwin was surprised Magister hadn't worked that out by now. "We're in the banqueting hall."

"But are we?" Magister's silver eyes rolled doubtfully. "I've been here before, that night I claimed the Tome. And this is not quite how I remember it. The place seems wider, taller, grander."

Edwin looked around him. He'd been in the banqueting hall before, too; it was where he'd sat his entrance exam for the Schrunkopf Institute, and where he'd fought Maddy for the Tome. He'd been too busy to pay much attention to his surroundings at the time, but now he came to think of it, the hall was much larger than he remembered. But then so was the rest Maddergrub Manor. The main tower had seemed twice as tall as before when he'd climbed the stairs. Everything about the place was so much grander, as though somehow exaggerated.

He gave Maddy a questioning look, but she was still pointing at Magister.

"You've said enough," she snarled. "If you like fireworks, we'll give you fireworks."

"You and your lovely family?" Magister snorted with amusement. "I thought we'd just established that isn't likely."

Maddy's mouth twisted into a mirthless smile. "I didn't mean my family."

There were five puffs of smoke as the Maddergrub family vanished.

"What have you done?" A horrified Edwin screamed accusingly at Magister. "You've killed them!"

Magister denied the charge with a shake of his grey head. "You can't kill something that was never alive in the first place. And anyway, it was nothing to do with me."

There was a shattering noise from above, broken glass fragments raining down on the hall. Bryony looked up to see something black and monstrous had smashed through a window in the ceiling. It resembled a giant bat with glowing red eyes. It could only be...

"A Vampiropteryx?" She looked at Edwin. "Is that a Vampiropteryx?"

"Yes, it's a Vampi... one of them." Then the realisation hit Edwin, and he cried in terror. "They're back! Everyone take cover!"

He dragged Bryony with him under the table. He called out to Maddy, but she stood her ground as if untroubled by the monster's appearance.

The Vampiropteryx dived at Magister, discharging a ball of green fire from its gaping jaws.

Magister spread his arms, a halo of light flaring around him to absorb the Vampiropteryxe's fire. Then he thrust a hand into the air, unleashing a beam of pure magic that turned the bat monster into floating wisps of ash.

"Not bad." Magister put his finger to his lips and blew, as if clearing smoke from the barrel of a gun. "Still haven't lost my touch after all these years."

But even as he spoke, more Vampiropteryx streamed through the smashed ceiling window.

"We've got to help," Edwin told Bryony. "Maddy won't stand a chance against this many bat monsters."

However Bryony wasn't convinced that Maddy needed rescuing. "But they're not interested in her. They're making straight for Magister."

Edwin saw Bryony was right. The bat creatures didn't seem to notice Maddy, venting all their fury on the grey haired man instead. But Magister parried their green firebombs with a series of nimble arm gestures, before dispatching each monster in turn with bursts of his own magic energy.

"Keep 'em coming," he roared. "I need the practice."

Edwin wondered what Magister meant. Then there was a louder smashing noise, and the largest Vampiropteryx yet came crashing through the ceiling.

"It's their King!" Edwin thought the mighty beast had been destroyed. "Maddy, get out of there!"

But still Maddy didn't move. Her eyes were screwed shut, her lips moving soundlessly whilst the horned monster circled above her.

"That's beautiful." Magister seemed genuinely in awe of the Vampiropteryx King. "I commend your creative skills, Malady. It's a shame you never showed as much attention to detail in your magic lessons."

The Vampiropteryx King swooped low, its spiked tail swishing close to Maddy's head.

Then Maddy opened her eyes, and Edwin was horrified to see them burn as red as the bat monster's. She pointed at Magister, and the Vampiropteryx King lunged at its victim...

22 The Guvnor

Magister blocked an orb of green fire, then shot a retaliatory bolt of magic at the Vampiropteryx King. The bat creature twisted in the air to avoid the attack, its flailing spiked tail gouging chunks from the table above Edwin and Bryony's heads.

"This is great fun." Magister's silver eyes gleamed with delight as they tracked the flight of the Vampiropteryx King. "Best party game ever!"

The bat monster circled before diving again at Magister, its clawed legs raking at his head.

Magister ducked, bringing his right arm up. His hand morphed into a long metal sword that he thrust at the monster's belly.

The Vampiropteryx King exhaled an agonised scream as Magister's blade struck deep. Then it pulled away, a fountain of dark blood erupting from its wound. Magister gave a shout of victory, but the royal monster wasn't yet defeated. Its great spiked tail lashed at Magister, too fast for him to react.

"Boney!" Bryony screamed when she saw the grey haired figure flung across the hall.

Magister lay still, his white robe stained with blood. The wounded Vampiropteryx King hovered over him, as though savouring the moment before the final kill.

"What are you doing?" Edwin made a grab for Bryony when she squirmed from under the table. "Come back, it's too dangerous!"

"I've got to save Boney." Bryony ran towards the Vampiropteryx King. "Over here," she yelled, waving her arms. "You want a fight, I'll give you a fight!"

The bat monster's eyes flared red in acceptance of the challenge. It twisted in the air to face Bryony, presenting a perfect target.

Bryony wasted no time, firing a bolt of magic from her pointed finger. There was a flash as the glowing missile struck its target. The Vampiropteryx King recoiled with a shriek of pain, but recovered in a heartbeat to make a retaliatory lunge at Bryony.

She fired again. Again there was a flash when her attack hit home, but still the Vampiropteryx King came on, horned head lowered to ram her.

Bryony realised her magic was no match for the fearsome bat monster, but she wasn't going down without a fight. She planted her feet firmly on the floor, raised her arm again, and aimed her finger for what would surely be the final time...

Suddenly there was someone at her side. A hand grabbed hers. Bryony felt a surge of power through her arm...

The hall filled with light. There was a loud boom, and a piercing scream from the Vampiropteryx King.

The scream faded into silence. The air hung heavy with smoke, and when the fog cleared Bryony saw there was nothing left of the bat monster except a cloud of scattered cinders.

Arm still raised, Bryony turned to see it was Edwin who held her hand.

She smiled her thanks, but a groan of pain drew her attention to the wounded Magister. She broke away from Edwin and ran to where the grey haired man lay.

"Boney?" She knelt by his side. "Can you hear me? Boney?"

"I thought I'd already told you I am not your Boney." Those silver eyes snapped open to fix Bryony with a reproving stare. "You should try and pay more attention in class."

"You're hurt." Bryony winced, trying not to look at his bloody robes. "But we can heal you with magic."

"I'm finished," croaked Magister.

"Don't say that." Bryony attempted a smile. "It's probably just a scratch. And you're a powerful warlock, so you can just..."

Magister sprang to his feet, seemingly recovered. "Wounds can be healed," he told a gobsmacked Bryony. "But I'm still finished. Because this world is finished."

There was another rumble from below. Bryony looked round to see that only a few candles remained alight, a dense darkness closing around them.

"There can only be minutes left." Magister directed his gaze at the green haired girl sitting hunched against the wall. "Then this world will end, along with everything in it."

Maddy's head was bowed, her shoulders heaving with sobs. Edwin crouched next to her, a hand on her arm.

"I'm sorry." Maddy looked up at him through tear misted glasses. "I didn't mean it to be like this. I didn't want to hurt anyone. I just wanted to see my family again. You must understand..."

"But I don't understand," breathed Edwin. "The Vampi... bat monsters. It's like you were controlling them."

"She was," said Magister. "More than that. She created them in the first place."

"What are you talking about?" Edwin spoke without taking his eyes off Maddy.

"Malady invented the Vampiropteryx, a product of her idle daydreaming in my magic class." Magister smiled wryly. "Caused all sorts of merry hell, if I recall. She was lucky not to get expelled. I only let her off because I recognised her creative talents. Evil magic leeching bat monsters from another dimension was pure genius. Although she could have come up with an easier to pronounce name for them."

"So Alphonsus was right?" Edwin directed this question at Maddy. "The Vampi... bat monsters aren't real?"

"Nothing here is real," sniffed Maddy. "The manor, my family, the Vampiropteryx. It's all a dream. A world of dreams."

The rumbles grew louder, shaking the floor. The ceiling heaved, and flakes of plaster fell like snow.

Bryony glanced nervously around her. "So if this isn't Maddergrub Manor, where are we?"

"As Malady says, we are in a world of dreams." Magister gestured at the surrounding shadows. "A world of magic dreams, where mere thoughts can become reality. If you know how to tap into the power source."

"What power source?" asked Bryony.

"The boy should know." Magister nodded at Edwin. "He's supposed to be the clever one."

But Edwin was still struggling to come to terms with Maddy's revelation, and all he could do was shrug.

"Oh come on, lad." Magister scowled impatiently. "Think about it."

Edwin tried to think, but nothing made sense. "So you're saying we haven't travelled back in time after all?"

"Magic time travel is possible," conceded Magister. "But only the most learned magical practitioners have mastered the art. The Wise Ones strongly disapproved of dabbling in such things, which is why even Malady would never risk going back to her own time. So she planned a much shorter trip instead. Not back in time, more sideways, to another realm. Another dimension, if you like."

"I'm not getting this." Edwin just couldn't understand what he was hearing.

"I think you are," said Magister. "If what Bryony told me about you is true, I suspect you will have been getting it ever since you arrived. Think, lad."

Edwin was still trying to think, but there was a loud noise disrupting his thoughts. Not rumbles from below this time, but a deep rhythmic breathing.

"You can hear it," whispered Magister. "Tell me you can hear it."

"Yeah, I can hear it." Edwin put a hand to his forehead. "And I've heard it before. It's like... snoring."

"That's right, lad. That's him. The ruler of this realm. You've been hearing him all along."

"But who is he?" asked Edwin. "And how come I can hear him?"

"You can hear him because you're a very gifted Guardian with a psychic link." Magister bowed in salutation. "Well I suppose something had to make up for the legs and hair. And as to the identity of our mystery snorer, I believe you are already acquainted with the Guvnor."

The wall behind Magister crumbled, the plaster peeling away to reveal a massive face. A familiar half human, half animal face carved from wood...

"Inglenook!" Edwin and Bryony shrieked the word together.

"He can't hear you," said Magister. "Well actually he can, because you're in his dreams. But he can't answer because he's asleep."

"Let me get this straight." After recovering from his shock, Edwin thought he finally understood. "We're in Inglenook's dreams?"

Magister nodded. "Or to put it more technically, in his subconscious mind."

"Which is why we could do magic." Bryony now got it as well. "We're still at home."

"It was the only way I could see my family again," confessed a tearful Maddy. "To drug Inglenook with Hypnoflax spores, then use magic to enter his mind whilst he slept. Once here, I could tap into his magic energy to create my own world of dreams."

"So all this was just a dream?" Edwin frowned as he pondered Maddy's revelation. "We never travelled back in time. You were lying to me all along."

"I didn't mean any harm," sobbed Maddy. "I just wanted to be with my family again. Just for a couple of hours."

"Liar!" growled Edwin. "You planned to stay here for weeks!"

"Don't be too hard on her," said Magister. "Time moves at a different pace in the dream realm. What seems like hours here is only a matter of minutes in the real world. And it was a very clever plan. Would have scored her ten out of ten in creative magical theory class."

"So throwing me in that dungeon was part of your plan too?" Bryony glared at Maddy, but Magister raised a hand.

"Actually, I think that was down to me. Or rather, Boney. You see, when Malady and Edwin entered Inglenook's subconscious, their magic tore open the barrier between the real and the dream worlds. It meant they could get in, but also that something could get out. And that's how Boney brought you here. He reached out with his own subconscious, drawn to your fears about something called... the Moon of Magister."

"I was thinking about that in the taxi." Bryony nodded. "And then we went onto that roundabout..."

"And that's where you were supposed to stay," muttered Maddy. "Trapped in a nice little magic vortex I created. But somehow you got out."

"It was Boney who brought you to the dungeon," continued Magister. "Although he didn't realise he was doing it. It was his faded memories connecting with your fears, forming a magic link that pulled you physically into the dream realm."

"But not my dream." Maddy shook her head firmly. "The dungeon wasn't anything to do with me. It was part of Inglenook's dreams all along."

Bryony found that hard to believe. "How could that horrid place be part of Inglenook's dreams? The slunge, the cockroaches, the death traps? That ugly troll Globb? And all those skulls?"

"Everyone has nightmares," said Magister. "Even Inglenook."

"But..." Bryony looked at Magister. "What was Boney... I mean what were you doing in Inglenook's nightmare in the first place?"

"I'd been there a very long time." Magister stared into space, his voice a husky whisper. "A dark memory, languishing in the depths of his mind. Locked away in the dungeon of his dreams." Those silver eyes snapped back to Bryony. "The old French, they had a word for 'dungeon', and that word was 'oubliette'. It came from the word 'oublier', which meant 'to forget'. And that's what dungeons are. Places to put things you want to forget about."

Bryony's forehead wrinkled. "But why would Inglenook want to forget about you?"

"You've asked him about me many times. You must have wondered why the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom never talked about me, why he couldn't bring himself to even mention my name."

"So tell me," pleaded Bryony. "Tell me what he couldn't speak about."

"You saw it." Magister's silver eyes bored into Bryony. "In the Dream Well, you saw it."

"I saw lots of things." Bryony shrugged helplessly whilst trying to remember. "I saw a battle. And your face in the moon. But what does it mean?"

Magister turned away from Bryony, just as another tremor struck the hall. Cracks appeared, flickering across the floor and walls.

"These earthquakes." Edwin stepped nervously away from a widening crevice. "Are they part of Inglenook's dream?"

"Only in the sense that we all are." Magister paced around the hall, seemingly unworried by the worsening state of the floor beneath his feet. "Malady wasn't powerful enough to create her dream world all by herself, so she needed your magic to help. She needed your trust, Edwin. Once that trust weakened, the magic spell was broken and the illusion was shattered. And her dream world is now crashing down around her. Literally."

There was another wave of tremors, and the floor became a mosaic of widening cracks.

"But is it dangerous?" Bryony spread her arms to keep her balance as the whole building shuddered. "It's just a dream, after all."

"Everything here is just a dream." Magister still strode around the hall. "Including us. We're as much part of this world as this building."

As he spoke, a portion of ceiling collapsed nearby.

"So yes." Magister stopped to look at Bryony. "It is dangerous."

"So how do we stop it?" said Edwin.

"It will stop itself," said Magister. "When Inglenook awakes. All this activity is disturbing his subconscious. As I'm sure you all know, the worst part of a nightmare comes just before you wake up."

"Then it's OK." Edwin sighed with relief. "When Inglenook wakes up we'll all be saved."

"I wish it were that simple," sighed Magister. "But remember that you are part of his dreams. And when his dreams stop, you stop with them."

"You mean..." Bryony could hardly say the words. "We'll die?"

"Not so much die, as cease to exist in a physical sense. Which is technically the same thing. And that was always the flaw in Malady's scheme. You had to get out before Inglenook woke up, and there was no telling when that might happen. The plan might have scored her a perfect ten for creative spell theory, but I would have to deduct several thousand points for practical application and sheer hare-brained stupidity."

The tremors were constant now. The walls heaved, stone grinding and timbers groaning in protest.

"But we can do magic." Bryony wasn't going to admit defeat. "All of us. So we can escape."

There was another shake of Magister's grey head. "As Inglenook wakes up his dreams fade, and all the magic power returns to the Dream Well. So I'm afraid magic alone won't be enough to save us."

"But..." Bryony couldn't believe it would end like this, not after everything she'd been through to escape the dungeon. "You made a promise. That I'll see Mum again."

"And so you will," said Magister. "If you believe it."

"Just believing it won't be enough." Bryony was growing impatient with Magister's riddles. "We need magic to get us out of here. That's how we escaped the Dream Well, right?"

"There is no magic potent enough to resist the power in the Dream Well." Magister answered coolly, just like the teacher he was. "Your escape was due to something else entirely. Another force within you, one you never knew you possessed until today."

Confused, Bryony wrinkled her nose. "What kind of force?"

And it was at that moment, as she stared into Magister's silver eyes, that Bryony remembered where she'd seen him before.

"You were there, at Mum's house. When I visited her on my first day at Wychetts. And in the Dream Well. You answered the door. You... you're Mum's butler!"

"Butler?" Magister's grimace suggested he found the idea distasteful. "I'd like to think my role in all this would involve more than answering the door and polishing spoons."

"It's not a joke," snapped Bryony.

"You're right," said Magister. "I'm not Boney anymore. The jokes have stopped. Things get serious from now on."

"So you are involved. But how?" Bryony gritted her teeth. "Tell me!"

"Don't waste your breath on him," Maddy told Bryony. "He's not the real Magister. He's just a memory, part of Inglenook's nightmare."

Bryony's eyes narrowed whilst she studied the silver eyed man. "Is that true? Are you real, or a dream?"

Magister pressed a finger to his smiling lips, just as another tremor shook the building. The floor split where he was standing, and he dropped from view without a sound.

"Boney!" Bryony peered into the crack that had swallowed Magister. "Don't leave me now!"

Her cries were masked by another loud rumble. The floor tilted, and she would have followed Magister into oblivion if Edwin hadn't grabbed her arm.

"We've got to get out of here." Edwin held onto Bryony. "We'll stand more chance if we can get out of the building."

Bryony wasn't so sure, but was too shocked to respond in any way other than a dumb nod.

"Maddy!" Edwin looked round the hall, but there was no sign of the green haired girl. Then he heard a scream, and saw a hand grasping the edge of a widening crack in the floor. "There she is!"

Edwin and Bryony made their way across the trembling hall, hopping and jumping whilst more cracks opened beneath them. They found Maddy gripping the edge of a precipice, her legs dangling into an empty black void.

"Give me your hand." Edwin knelt at the edge of the crack, reaching down to Maddy. Bryony clung to his other arm, ready to take the strain.

But Maddy didn't move. "It's too late," she cried. "This dream world is finished."

"We can't give up," said Edwin. "There has to be a way we can escape."

"There is for you." Maddy still refused to raise her free arm. "Remember what Magister just said?"

Bryony and Edwin looked blankly at each other.

Maddy sighed. "He was right, you do need to pay more attention in class. You escaped from the Dream Well, remember? Can you remember how you did that? What did you see there? What were you thinking?"

"I saw Mum's house. Then a battle. The moon. Magister's face. Then..." Bryony's mind went blank. "I can't remember the rest..."

Another violent tremor tore great shards of masonry from the ceiling, which sliced the air close to Maddy's head as they dropped into the broadening crevice.

"Never mind about all that." Edwin leaned further over the precipice, his fingers brushing the knuckles of Maddy's clenched hand. "We don't have time for games."

"The game's over," said Maddy. "At least for me. You see there's nothing for me in the real world. Nothing for me to go back to."

"Don't talk rubbish." Edwin leaned forwards as far as he dared, trying to wrap his fingers around Maddy's wrist. "If you stay here you'll die."

"I'll live on as a memory. No one dies if you remember them." Maddy's smile belied the tears that streamed down her green freckled cheeks. "You have to go. Both of you. Back to your world, your home and family."

"But I can't leave you." At last Edwin took hold of Maddy's wrist. "You're my friend."

"And always will be." Maddy grinned. "Pity. It would have been a great wedding. And you would have looked so sweet in that dress."

There was a jolt, and Edwin felt Maddy's wrist slide through his fingers. He made a desperate grab, but couldn't stop her falling into the crevice. In a heartbeat she was gone, consumed by the blackness below.

"Maddy! Nooooooo!"

Edwin lurched forwards, but Bryony managed to wrap an arm around his waist as the floor dissolved below him. She dragged her sobbing stepbrother onto what remained of the hall floor, an island of solidity in a sea of encroaching emptiness.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "But Maddy got us into this mess in the first place."

"She only wanted to see her family again." Edwin stared mournfully into the darkness below. "I don't expect you'd understand that. You've never cared about anyone or anything except your precious Mum."

"That isn't true," countered Bryony. "When I was in the dungeon I wished you were there."

"Instead of you, I bet."

"No, not like that. I meant I wanted to be with you. And then, in the Dream Well..."

Suddenly Bryony remembered her vision.

"I saw Wychetts. The house was on fire. You were there. I saw you run into the flames. There were gravestones..."

And then she realised how she had escaped the Dream Well, and what had brought her to Edwin.

"It was you! I was thinking of you, Edwin."

Edwin found that hard to believe. "So what?"

"So that's how we get out of here. We need to think of Wychetts. Our home, our life as a family."

"But we're not a family. Not like the Maddergrubs."

"Forget about them. Think about us."

"There isn't any us." Edwin glowered at Bryony. "There never has been. You only ever cared about your mum. As soon as that letter turned up you couldn't wait to leave. It didn't matter what anyone else thought, or that I'd spent the past two weeks cooking all the food for your surprise party."

Bryony was confused. "I didn't know you were planning a party. You should have said."

"Then it wouldn't have been a surprise, dumbo."

Bryony didn't know what to say. Except maybe one thing.

"I'm sorry."

Edwin looked away from her. "It doesn't matter about the party now."

"Not just about the party." Bryony took a deep breath. "You're right that I only thought about my mum. I didn't realise how much you all meant to me until today. When I was lost in that dungeon, it wasn't Mum I wanted."

Edwin looked at Bryony again. He was surprised to see she was crying.

"It's no use," he told her. "We've never been a family, and we never will be. It was just a dream. It was never real."

Another tremor made their island of floor lurch perilously.

"This will go any second." Resigned to failure, Edwin knew there was no point continuing the argument. "There's one thing I haven't said to you today, and this will probably be my last chance." He touched Bryony's arm. "Happy birthday."

Bryony smiled at Edwin through her tears, then saw a flash of silver when she leaned forwards to put her arms around him.

"The leaf pendant." Bryony had forgotten all about her birthday present. "Edwin, the pendant."

"Hope you like it. But I kept the receipt just in case."

"This is it." Bryony grasped the pendant with her free hand. "This is how we get out of here."

"The pendant? How?"

"You bought it for me. You, your mum, Dad. All of you."

"Yeah. Stubby chose the wrapping paper. Although he ate most of it."

"This is how I got out of the Dream Well." Bryony pulled Edwin to her, showing him the leaf pendant on her upturned palm. "I was holding on to it, thinking about you. If we both focus on it now, maybe it can take us home."

"It's just a pendant," said Edwin.

"But it's something real. It represents us. Remember why you bought it for me?"

"It's a bryony leaf. It seemed fitting. It was either that or a joke plastic wart."

"Not just that. Remember why you wanted to buy me a present in the first place. Why you bothered with my surprise party. We need to focus."

"Why?" snorted Edwin. "So you can go to your mum in America?"

"I don't want to go to Mum." Bryony lifted Edwin's hand and clamped his fingers around the pendant. "I want to go home with you."

Edwin had never seen Bryony like this, her dark eyes so wide and pleading, her lips curved in a trembling smile.

"We need to focus, Edwin. Inglenook is waking up. If we don't get out now we'll be stuck in here forever. Focus on the pendant, on what you felt when you walked into that shop and chose it for me."

"I bought it online," confessed Edwin. "And it was on special offer."

"It doesn't matter." Bryony squeezed Edwin's hand. It was like she could feel the pendant radiating energy through his clenched fingers. "Focus, Edwin. Focus on the pendant."

Edwin focussed, remembering all the hours he'd spent making the food for Bryony's party. Mixing the dough, icing the cake, cleaning out the washing machine. He thought about how he'd felt at the time. And as he thought these thoughts, a warm sensation radiated from the pendant.

Bryony closed her eyes, concentrating all her thoughts on the pendant, on her father, Jane and Edwin. On Wychetts, and the carved wooden face above the hearth.

She felt warmth from the pendant too; a warmth that enveloped her like a comforting embrace.

But then there was a crash as the floor gave way, and a yell from Edwin when they went sliding into emptiness...

23 Just a Dream?

Bryony sat upright, blinking in the sunlight that peeked through a gap in the curtains. She was breathing heavily, sweat dripping from her furrowed forehead as she gazed around in bewilderment.

She was in a bed. Her bed. In her bedroom. Back home in Wychetts!

She instinctively checked the time on her alarm clock. It was almost eleven o'clock in the morning, barely an hour after she'd left home in the taxi.

Confused, Bryony slipped from her bed and onto the landing. Edwin was coming out of his room, as bleary eyed and befuddled as his stepsister.

The children looked at each other. Then, without a word, they ran down the twisting stairs, along the hallway and into the lounge.

"Good morning." The carved wooden face beamed down at the children from the fireplace. "Although there isn't much left of the morning now. I trust you both slept well?"

"We weren't asleep," Bryony told Inglenook. "You were the one snoozing."

"I may have partaken of a five minute nap," conceded the Keeper of the Ancient Wisdom. "Just to preserve my magic powers."

"You were out for hours," said Edwin. "It was the Hypnoflax spores."

"Hypnoflax spores?" There was a creaking noise as Inglenook's wooden features folded into a frown. "What are you speaking of, Young Master?"

Edwin noticed there wasn't a trace of pink webs in the lounge. "It's all gone now," he explained to Inglenook. "But it sent you to sleep. That's how we ended up in your dreams."

"I was in the dungeon," added Bryony. "Your dungeon. With slunge and giant cockroaches and..."

"Slunge?" More creaking as Inglenook's frown deepened. "What is slunge?"

"A mixture of slime and gunge. It was everywhere. I got covered in it. And troll bogeys. Can't you see?"

Bryony glanced down at her clothes. She was wearing a clean nightdress, not a globule of slunge or troll snot in sight.

Inglenook chuckled. "I suspect it was your dream, not mine, Young Mistress."

"Perhaps it didn't happen. Maybe it was all just a dream." Edwin showed Bryony his wristwatch. "It's not been an hour since you left in the taxi, but I reckon I was in Maddergrub Manor for the best part of a day."

Bryony shook her head. "You heard what Magister said. Time passes quicker in the dream realm."

"Magister?" Inglenook's voice was suddenly sharp. "What do you know of him, Young Mistress?"

"A lot more than you ever told me." Bryony stared at Inglenook. "He was in your dreams too. Locked in a dungeon for hundreds of years. Or had you forgotten about him?"

There was a long pause before Inglenook replied.

"Magister is no more. He passed from this life a long time ago."

"But we just saw him," Bryony contested. "We spoke to him. In your dreams."

"Then he was only part of my dream," said Inglenook. "No more real than dungeons and cockroaches. You have nothing to fear from Magister in the real world."

"But what about you?" Bryony stood on tiptoes, craning her neck to meet Inglenook's gaze. "What do you have to fear from him?"

"Leave him be," Edwin whispered to Bryony. "Magister is gone now. And anyway, none of it was Inglenook's fault."

Bryony wasn't so sure about that. But Inglenook had fallen silent again, and she knew it was pointless asking more questions, at least for the moment. In any case, there was someone else to be thinking about.

She turned back to Edwin. "I'm sorry about Maddy."

"I know she tricked us." Edwin struggled to swallow a rising lump in his throat. "But she only wanted to be with her family."

Bryony nodded, recognising for the first time how Maddy must have felt.

"That reminds me," said Inglenook, suddenly back to his old cheery self. "It would seem young Malady popped round this morning whilst I was enjoying my short nap. She left her bag, which I assume she must want us to look after for a while."

Edwin spotted Maddy's satchel in the corner of the room. He walked over and opened it, delving inside to retrieve five rolls of canvas.

"The paintings of her family." Edwin unrolled each canvas in turn. They were all present: Lord and Lady Maddergrub, pretty Rosabella, little Floriana and Alphonsus. Edwin had seen the portraits before, but noticed something different about them.

"They're all wearing glasses." It was Bryony who spotted it first, peering over Edwin's shoulder as he spread the canvases on the floor. "They weren't in the paintings before."

But there was something else, another change that Edwin found even more striking.

"They're smiling. All of them."

"There's another one." Bryony pulled a sixth roll of canvas from the satchel, gasping when she unfurled it.

Edwin gasped too when he saw the painted features smiling back at him. "It's Maddy! But how did she end up as a painting?"

"That was her dream," said Bryony. "To be with her family, even if it meant turning herself into a painting. Guess she must have transported herself out of the dream world like we did."

"So she finally made it home." Edwin couldn't stop his bottom lip wobbling. "She looks happy now. They all do. We must look after these."

"I shall see they are stored securely." As Inglenook spoke, the paintings vanished. "At least until Malady returns to claim them."

"I don't think she'll come back," said Edwin. "She's where she wants to be. She's living her dream."

"Dreams are part of what we are," said Inglenook. "But we must not let them control our destiny. What's most important is what's real, here and now. The present, and those we live our lives with."

"That's right." Bryony smiled at Edwin. "I never realised it until today. Thanks for the pendant." She clasped the silver leaf at her throat. "It's the best present I ever had."

"You've opened it already!" A disappointed looking Bill came striding into the lounge. "And I wanted to see the look on your face."

Bryony ran and hugged her father. "Oh Dad. Thank you. Thank you so much. And you..." She embraced Jane who stood waiting in the hall. "Thank you. I love you guys."

Jane and Bill exchanged bemused glances.

"That's lovely." Jane smiled and stroked Bryony's hair. "We love you too."

Edwin threw himself at his mother, almost knocking her over.

"And we love you," Jane told Edwin. "All of us."

"Now it's about time we had a spot of lunch," said Bill. "I wonder if anyone's laid the table?" He ushered Bryony into the dining room. "Oh look, they have!"

Although Bryony now knew about her birthday surprise, she was still impressed by the food and decorations.

"Edwin cooked most of it." Jane patted her son's shoulder. "And the cake, icing and all."

"I didn't use any magic." Edwin whispered to Bryony. "So it's not quite up to Maddergrub standards."

"It doesn't matter." Bryony winked at him. "I prefer it this way."

"I put the sign up," claimed Bill.

"That's why it's wonky," clarified Edwin.

"That sign is perfectly straight," said Bill. "It's the rest of the house that's wonky."

Given the state of the ancient cottage, Bryony was prepared to give her father the benefit of the doubt. "I don't care if the sign is wonky or not," she declared. "What matters is we're all together again."

"Again?" Jane frowned. "But we haven't been apart."

"No." Bryony checked herself, remembering that the grown ups knew nothing about events in the Dungeon of Dreams. Then she thought of something. "Did a letter turn up for me this morning?"

"I didn't see one," answered Bill.

"Me neither," said Jane.

"Oh." Bryony shrugged. "Must have dreamed it then."

Bill and Jane glanced at each other, before Bill smiled a forced looking smile at Bryony. "Your mother will write again soon, I'm sure."

Bryony didn't share his optimism. "I haven't heard from her for years. I can't rely on Mum, but I can rely on you, Dad. Jane, too. And Edwin."

Bill's forced smile became more genuine. "But don't give up on your mother. She loves you, I know she does."

"Maybe," conceded Bryony. "But I'm not going to sit around waiting for a letter anymore. It wouldn't surprise me if I never heard from her again."

Bill picked up a knife. "Let's cut the cake."

"I think we should have sandwiches first," said Jane. "Savoury before sweet, dear."

"It's Bryony's birthday," said Bill. "Let her decide."

"Cake," said Bryony, without a moment's hesitation.

The family sang 'Happy Birthday' to Bryony before she blew out the candles in a single puff. A grinning Bill plunged the knife into the cake. Edwin crossed his fingers, hoping they wouldn't need a hammer and chisel. But he needn't have worried, the knife sliced through icing and cake with ease.

"Here you are." Bill presented Bryony with a slab of birthday cake. "Happy birthday, love."

"Thanks." Bryony reached for the cake, but then withdrew her hand. "But I think someone else should have first slice. Someone who put so much effort into the party."

"That's nice of you." Bill raised the cake to his mouth. "After all, signs don't put themselves up."

"Ahem." Jane seized Bill's arm before he could bite into the cake. "I think Bryony meant someone who cooked all the food. Which would be Edwin."

"Of course." Bill smiled, thrusting the cake at his stepson. "Here you go, lad. And well deserved."

Edwin looked at Bryony. "Are you sure?"

"Like Dad says, you deserve it." Bryony chuckled. "Plus I want to check it's not poison."

Edwin knew she was only joking, and smiled as he took the cake from Bill. He was about to bite into it when a loud knocking noise came echoing from the hallway.

"There's someone at the front door." Bill looked questioningly at Jane. "Did we invite any guests?"

Jane gave her husband a puzzled look before leaving the dining room.

"Hurry up," Bill urged Edwin. "At this rate she'll be another year older before we get to sample the cake."

Again Edwin lifted the cake to his mouth, but froze when Jane came back into the room. She beckoned at Bill, mouthing something that Edwin couldn't make out.

The grown ups left the room. Edwin sensed something was wrong, but received an elbow in the ribs before he could voice his concerns to Bryony.

"So come on." Smiling, she gave him another encouraging nudge. "Let's get on with the party."

Edwin was happy to oblige. But when he raised the slab of cake to his lips, he saw something poking out of it: a small furry head with a conical snout, long whiskers, large round ears and a pair of shiny black button eyes...

"Oi!" Edwin glared at the mouse. "What are you doing in Bryony's birthday cake?"

"Just carrying out some routine structural checks," explained Stubby. "Prior to taking up residence."

"That's my birthday cake," said Bryony. "You can't live in it."

"Of course I can," argued Stubby. "Cakes make perfect housing for mice. I have a Great Aunt who spent several years living in a three-tiered wedding gateau. Problem was she was on the top floor. Nice view but a pain when the lift was out of order."

"Hey." Edwin noticed that Stubby's cheeks were bulging. "You're eating it!"

"Naturally. What use is a house made of cake if you can't eat it? And I have to say this is the best house I've ever tasted. My compliments to the builder."

Bryony couldn't help but laugh, and Edwin found himself chuckling along with her.

That was until Bill and Jane came back into the room.

"What's the matter?" Bryony sensed something was wrong from her father's troubled expression. Jane looked anxious, too.

"We have a visitor." Bill shifted uncomfortably. "Um..."

"Prepare yourself," whispered Jane. "This might come as a bit of a shock."

A woman strode into the dining room. Tall, slender, with long golden hair. Wearing a smart designer suit. And smiling. Smiling at Bryony.

But Bryony couldn't smile back; every muscle in her face was suddenly paralysed.

"Hi," said the woman. "Sorry I'm a bit late. Delays at the airport. But never mind, I'm here now."

The woman stepped towards Bryony, arms spread wide.

Bryony just stood there, although it took a considerable effort to do that. Her head was reeling, and her legs had turned to jelly.

"Oh come along, Poppet." The blonde haired woman frowned at Bryony. "This is no way to greet your mother."

Epilogue

It was a quiet night in the maternity ward. Or would have been, except for the ceaseless crying of a newborn baby.

"Hush," whispered the mother, cradling the mewling infant in her arms. "There's no reason to cry, Poppit."

A shadow fell across the bed. The mother looked up to see a lady nurse staring down at her.

"I'm sorry," she told the nurse. "I've tried everything, but I can't make her stop. Are you sure my baby's not sick?"

"Our tests have revealed nothing amiss," advised the nurse. "At least not physically."

The mother glowered at the nurse. "Are you suggesting there's something wrong with my baby's mind?"

"I am no expert at such matters," said the nurse. "But luckily I know someone who is. And he's going to take very good care of you and your child. And here comes Doctor Masters now."

The mother didn't pay much attention to the tall man in a white coat striding up the ward. She was studying her crying baby, whose dark eyes were focussed on the window opposite the bed.

"It's something outside." The mother realised what her child was looking at. "It's the moon. She's crying because she's scared of the moon."

The mother looked up to see a grey haired man with a hawk's beak nose leaning over her bed.

"There's nothing to worry about, Mrs Platt." Doctor Masters' voice was softly reassuring. "Your daughter Bryony will soon be fast asleep."

"Not drugs." The mother wrapped her arms protectively around the infant. "I don't want my child on medication."

"Of course not." Doctor Masters smiled, his silver eyes glinting as he studied the baby. "I favour more old fashioned methods. And I know a little nursery rhyme that will help..."

To be continued...

###

Thanks for reading my book. If you enjoyed it, I would be grateful if you could spend a few more moments of your precious time leaving an unbiased five star review at your retailer.

Also feel free to check out the other titles in the Wychetts series:

Wychetts

Wychetts and the Key to Magic

Wychetts and the Farm of Fear

Wychetts and the Tome of Terror

Wychetts and the Thunderstone

Wychetts and the Moon of Magister

And to whet your appetite, here's a taste of what to expect in the next Wychetts story...

The sky was melting. Streaks of red, amber and gold oozed across the horizon, a dazzling contrast to the expanse of darkening blue above. The full moon shone brightly, framed by a halo of pale light that made it look somehow larger than normal.

"Which way now?" Bill slowed his posh company car as they neared another road junction.

Ensconced on the back seat, Bryony studied the paper in her hand. "Turn left, Dad."

"That will take us further into the countryside." Bill aimed a doubting glance at her via the rear view mirror. "No town or village for miles. Are you sure you know where we're going?"

Bryony wasn't sure at all. It was hard work deciphering the squiggly lines on the paper, and she was largely relying on guesswork. Or maybe something else...

She peered out of the car window. There was nothing to see except empty fields. Yet despite the lack of landmarks, Bryony found the scenery familiar. She couldn't help but feel she'd been this way before. Just when, and who with, she couldn't be sure. But the lack of shops meant it wouldn't have been with Mum.

Mum. Thinking of her now made Bryony's stomach churn with guilt. Despite what Bryony had told her father, Mum thought Bryony was still in her bedroom. She'd come up to check several times that afternoon, but Bryony had told her that she just needed a few hours rest, and that she'd be right as rain for their family dinner. At which point Mum had seemed to get the message and retreated to the kitchen to prepare the lavish feast.

Bryony wasn't sure why she'd kept the letter a secret from Mum. She told herself it was because she didn't want Mum to worry, but deep down she knew there was more to it than that. If Mum knew about the letter, there was no way she'd have let Bryony set one foot outside the house, let alone embark on some magical mystery tour. If Mum knew about the letter, she'd have locked the bedroom door and called the police.

No, maybe not the police. What would the neighbours think if the police turned up at the door?

But Bryony knew whom Mum would have called...

Doctor Masters.

Again Bryony saw a flickering vision of a man with a hawkish face dressed in a long white cloak, with eyes glowing bright silver.

Magister, that was his name, another face from her dreams becoming real.

Bryony didn't know if this Magister was good or evil. Like everything else in her dreams, she just couldn't make sense of it.

But she sensed the letter was the key to unlocking the mystery.

Wherever it had come from, the purpose of the mysterious message was now obvious. The scribbles on the back had turned out to be some sort of map. A very crude map, but with just enough information to guide her on the ten mile journey. She could tell they'd travelled ten miles from the dashboard milometer. Ten miles wasn't that far, but it seemed a million times that distance from Mossy Glade Close.

"We should turn back," Bill suggested, stopping the car at the junction. "It's getting late and I need to catch up on my emails. Plus your mother's cooking us a lovely family dinner."

"She's never cooked anything lovely," Bryony reminded him.

"Don't criticise your mother," Bill snapped. "She'd do anything for you. You're the most precious thing in her entire world. You know that, don't you?"

"Sure. Sorry." Another pang of guilt stabbed Bryony's insides. She didn't want to antagonise her father, not after a stressful working day. "But it's not much further," she told him, struggling to interpret the squiggly lines on the paper. "Turn left here, then another right turn and we're there."

Wherever 'there' might turn out to be.

"OK. Left it is." Bill pulled out of the junction as directed.

Bryony leaned forwards, spotting a right hand turn ahead. "There!" She tapped her father's shoulder and pointed. "There it is, look."

"Are you sure? Looks more like a track than a road."

"I'm sure," said Bryony, even though she wasn't. "Turn right here."

Bill steered the car into a narrow, high-banked lane. Long tufts of grass sprouted in the middle of the road, and overgrown ferns swished against the wheels as they passed.

"Don't reckon anyone's been this way for years," Bill muttered. "Are you sure your friend lives down here?"

Bryony pretended she hadn't heard the question. She'd told Dad that she had to return some books she'd borrowed to a friend. She hated lying to Dad, but wouldn't have have agreed to take her if he thought Mum hadn't given prior approval. Even then, Bryony had been surprised when he'd said 'yes'. After all, he'd only just got home from work, and was still getting out of the car when she'd pounced on him.

But he had obviously come to regret that decision.

"I'd never have agreed to take you if I'd known it was this far," he grumbled. "I hope your friend is grateful when she gets her precious books back. How much further?"

"We must be close now," said Bryony, although she couldn't read the map anymore. It had grown suddenly darker, the high banks and hedges blocking the sun's fading rays. She was about to suggest that Dad should switch on his headlights, when her attention was drawn to a ragged dark shape flitting across the road. It was only a bird, but it looked suspiciously like the bird that had appeared at her bedroom window, the same one from her dreams. The ragged shape melted into shadow before she could get a closer look, but she felt a rising surge of unease.

"It's getting colder." Bill tapped the thermometer on the dashboard. "Down to six degrees. And it's supposed to be summer."

Bryony thought she saw flecks of falling snow outside. Then she caught another flash of white, as a long slender tail disappeared behind a dead tree at the side of the lane. It was a weird looking tree, its gnarled trunk resembling an ugly old man's face, with hollow eyes that seemed to leer at her as the car went past.

It was probably just a trick of the light. Shadows, that's all. Nothing to worry about. But by now Bryony couldn't stop worrying, because she realised she'd seen that ugly old tree before...

She fought the urge to ask Dad to take her home. She'd come too far. She was almost there, she could feel it.

Bill slowed the car to a standstill before hitching the handbrake. "Here we are, then."

Bryony frowned at her father's reflection in the rear view mirror. "Why have you stopped?"

"Isn't this the place, Sweetpea?"

Bryony consulted the map. It was hard to tell in the fading light, but she guessed they must have reached the end of the squiggly route.

"Yeah. But how did you know?"

"Suppose I must have brought you here before."

Bryony was about to say she had never been here before, but she couldn't be sure that was true. It looked pitch dark outside the car, no streetlights to banish the gathering gloom, yet she felt a peculiar sense of familiarity with her surroundings.

A shrill bleep sounded. Bill tapped his Bluetooth headpiece. "Bill Platt. Hello Mr Yakamoto. Yes, it was great to meet you this afternoon. I hope you've had time to consider our business offer. Hello? Mr Yakamoto?" Bill jiggled the headpiece, then groaned. "Cut off. Must be dodgy reception out here. You OK if I drive off to find a better signal whilst you pop in to see your friend?"

Bryony was far from OK with that. She didn't know what she was heading into, and wanted Dad nearby.

"Can't you wait here? I'll only be a few minutes."

"After coming all this way?" Bill shook his head. "No, you make the trip worthwhile. I'll be back in half an hour."

"You'll get lost," warned Bryony. "Better if you stayed here."

"But I need to speak to the client. We have to get the deal signed and sealed by midnight."

"OK." Bryony opened the car door, grimacing as cold air wafted in from outside. "You'll definitely be back in half an hour?"

Bill promised he would. Bryony picked up her satchel and clambered out of the car, and had barely shut the door before Bill pressed his foot on the accelerator pedal. The large silver car sped off down the lane, leaving Bryony all alone.

Silence fell, and the chill darkness seemed to close around her. She shivered, regretting that she hadn't worn warmer clothing. Then again, it had been a fine summers' evening when they'd left home.

She glimpsed another falling snowflake, and began to wonder if she might end up getting stranded in the middle of some freak arctic storm. Maybe she should have packed a sleeping bag and a flask of hot drink. But her dinky satchel was designed more for style than practical use, and there had only been room for one vital item.

And that was Mr Cuddles, of course. He went everywhere Bryony went, and she'd felt compelled to bring him with her, just like she'd felt compelled to follow that crudely drawn map.

But the map offered no further clues to her destination. She peered around her, and spied a gap in the hedge right in front of her. It was then she knew that she'd reached her destination.

The Old Place. Dusk.

There was no point hanging around. Bryony looped the satchel strap over her right shoulder, tucked the reassuring bulge of Mr Cuddles under her arm, and then stepped through the gap in the hedge.

She'd only taken a couple of strides when her right foot struck something. There was a clattering sound, and then a loud crunch as something snapped beneath the weight of her left foot.

Bryony stopped, crouching to discover shards of shattered wood strewn on the ground. Most probably the remains of an old garden gate. Nothing of interest, she thought, until she noticed markings on some of the wood fragments; it was hard to be sure in the dimming light, but they looked like letters. There was a C, a couple of T's, a Y and an H. And was that an E? And over there a W?

She knew the letters formed a word, and that word was probably important. But Bryony wasn't in the mood for jigsaw puzzles.

She stood up, deciding to press on. But another couple of steps brought her to a jungle of overgrown weeds. It looked an impenetrable barrier, until she saw a narrow trail had been hacked through the vegetation.

Someone had been here before her; how recently was tricky to tell, but Bryony's twitching nostrils detected the scent of wood smoke wafting from nearby.

Bryony guessed that whoever sent that scrawled invitation was probably here already, waiting for her. She had no idea what they might want, but she sensed they held the answer to the riddle of her dreams.

The shadows deepened as Bryony stepped gingerly through the hacked down weeds. It seemed the trail was going nowhere, but then she spied a clear patch of dusky sky up ahead. She hurried forwards, exhaling a sigh of relief when she cleared the jungle.

A sigh that became a gasp when she saw what stood before her.

It was a house. Or rather, all that was left of a house. It was more like a skeleton now, a shell of broken beams and sagging rafters that looked like it might collapse any moment. The remains of a brick chimney tottered precariously at the far end, and Bryony saw wisps of pale smoke wafting from the lopsided stack.

Someone was at home.

Bryony crept towards the ruined building, trying to locate the front door. Then she realised there was little point, so simply stepped through a gap in the crumbled wall. She noticed the remains of the house were coated in thick black dust, like ash from a fire.

At that very moment she saw flames flickering amongst the wreckage. Not an uncontrollable inferno, more like a small camp fire.

The air was growing ever colder, and larger flecks of snow tumbled soundlessly around her. Bryony shuddered, her skin puckering when a falling flake of ice brushed her bare arm.

Lured by the prospect of warmth, but keeping her wits about her, she cautiously approached the campfire. She passed through what might once have been a doorway, and found herself standing in front of a structure that reminded her of a wide, brick built barbecue.

She guessed it was the remains of a fireplace. The brickwork was laced with cracks, and it looked like part of the chimney breast had fallen away. Indeed, she wondered how it was still standing.

The small fire crackled welcomingly in the hearth. Bryony hurried forwards, thrusting her hands towards the warming flames.

The sense of familiarity returned. She'd been here before, there was no doubt about it. Stood on this very spot, warming herself in just this way. Except something was missing.

Bryony was trying to work out what that something was, when a hand grabbed her right shoulder...

