Out of this World

Out of this WorldSunnymede Junior School

Out of this WorldSunnymede Junior School O

ut of this World

–S

unnymede Junior S

chool –2011

What happens when Henry, Jake and Rosie are sucked

through the nozzle of an abandoned hoover into Rosie’s

painting of a snow-capped landscape haunted by a hideous

snake-headed monster? Or when James, Jess, Victor and

Holly fall through the stock-cupboard floor into the warring

realms of the Sluffies and Zergoids? Or when a loose mosaic

tile brings Will and Cleo face to face with the enigmatic

Sphinx? Or when Jamie-Lee travels back in time to save her

parents’ marriage?

Out of this World contains nine exciting adventure stories,

each written and illustrated collectively by children from

Sunnymede Junior School in Billericay, Essex. Read and enjoy

them – and discover the secret worlds of the imagination

that lie behind the walls of a school just like yours! £9.99

SunnymedeCover2_Layout 1 09/06/2011 10:35 Page 1


SunnymedeBook2011:Layout 1 12/06/2011 15:19 Page 1

Published in 2011 for Sunnymede Junior School

by Categorical Books, 70 Margate Road, Herne Bay CT6 7BH

This book was created as part of a project delivered by Creative Partnerships and

Royal Opera House Education in Thurrock.

The book was also kindly supported by Ford and Hallmark Healthcare.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-904662-14-3

Copyright © Sunnymede Junior School.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

otherwise transmitted by any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying,

recording or otherwise without the prior permission of the copyright owner.

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Butler Tanner & Dennis Ltd, Frome.


ContentsForeword from the School Council ...................................................................................................................................................................................................... 5

The Story Thief! by Class 3J ......................................................................................................................................................................................................................... 6

The Wild Willow Dome by Class 3D ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 14

The Missing Tile by Class 4W ............................................................................................................................................................................................................... 22

The Stock Cupboard and the Creatures of Flamefreeze by Class 4H .................................................................................................. 30

The Undersea Adventure by Class 5SH ...................................................................................................................................................................................... 38

Two Sides to Every Story by Class 5V ......................................................................................................................................................................................... 44

The Knight’s Shield by Class 6C .......................................................................................................................................................................................................... 52

The Locket Anomaly by Class 6J ....................................................................................................................................................................................................... 60

Paintings, Portals and Pencils by Class 6K ............................................................................................................................................................................ 68

Acknowledgements .............................................................................................................................................................................................................................................. 77

Sunnymede Junior School | Out of this World | 3


The Sunnymede Junior School Council



Foreword from the School Council

Writing our book was very enjoyable. We had so much fun even though some of us had a few

disagreements about parts of our stories. Everyone was involved and our teachers wrote

down our ideas. They helped us to make our stories better by looking at the vocabulary to

see if we could make it more exciting. They also helped us to edit our work so that it made sense and had

the right punctuation.

It took much longer to write the stories than we thought it would. This was because we spent lots and lots

of time practising the skills that we needed to make our stories good enough to be published. Writing the

stories has helped us improve our writing and our teachers are really pleased. It has been good

preparation for moving up to the next year group.

We feel proud that the School Council played an important role in producing the book. We all spent extra

time working with Danya, our storyteller, and we loved making up our own stories. Mrs Cooke, our

headteacher, bought us special journals so that we could write and draw pictures to record what we were

doing. Our teachers Mr Jackson and Mrs Hathaway took us to London to visit the British Library and to a

shop to buy things to make our own books. Some of us made paper and stinky ink too.


6 | Out of this World | Sunnymede Junior School

One very ordinary school day the children of Class 3J wereworking hard learning about Myths and MythologicalCreatures. They were writing stories and painting

pictures of mythical lands and the creatures that lived there.The first three children to finish were Henry, Jake andRosie. Henry had written an exciting myth, Jake had drawnand painted an imaginative mythological creature and Rosiehad painted a picture of the land where the creatureslived.

The children were sent to show their amazing work tothe head teacher. While they were walking along thecorridor they noticed that a hoover had been left out and itwas still switched on!

“Who’s left that hoover out?” askedJake.

“And why is it still switched on?”questioned Henry.

“I’ll go and turn it off,” said Rosie.But when Rosie tried it wouldn’t switch

off, so she picked up the hose and looked down the nozzle. Suddenly there was agigantic BANG! The floor rumbled and there was a rushing, roaring, swishing,swooshing sound.

The children were swept off their feet and sucked down thenozzle of the hoover.

For a few moments the children were sent spinning,spiralling, swishing, twisting and turning down, down,

down, until they tumbled out with a crashing THUMP!into a dust-filled, jumbled heap.

When the dust had settled the children could notbelieve their eyes.

“Wh… wh… wh… where are we?” stuttered ashaking Henry. “This isn’t the corridor!”

“Wow! Look at that view!” gasped Rosie. There in front of them was a real landscape that was an

exact copy of Rosie’s painting. In the distance they could see

The Story Thief!


THE STORy THIEF!

tall, towering, snow-capped mountains with rocks and boulders tumbling down.Rustling fir trees swayed in the rushing wind. In the valley a fast-flowing,wriggling, winding river hissed along like an angry snake. Crossing the river wasan old rickety, squeaky, creaky, wooden bridge. From this a rocky, stony, dustypath twisted and turned up the side of the mountains until it reached a dark,mysterious cave perched high above.

“It’s exactly the same as the picture I painted!” exclaimed Rosie. “But wherehas my picture gone? It’s vanished out of my hands!” Rosie looked at her empty

hands. She was very confused. She didn’t like feeling this way because she was asmart, brainy girl who usually understood everything.

“My painting of the mythological creature has disappeared too! What onearth is going on?” asked Jake. He was a natural leader, a confident boy wholiked to be in control and look after his friends.

“My book’s gone missing too,” Henry mumbled quietly. “I don’t like this! I wantto go back to school!” Henry, who was a very timid, shy boy, began to sobsilently.




“H… h… h… have you seen my storywritingb… b… b… book?” stuttered Henry shyly.From behind its back the monster took out Henry’s

book. “Is this what you are looking for?”growled the beast, cruelly. Henry nodded.

“Well, you can’t have it, because it’s mine!”smiled the beast wickedly. And with that itpushed the children over and zoomed away asfast as it could up the dusty, stony path,clutching Henry’s storywriting book. It quicklyrushed across the bridge and then chopped it

down with its sharp fangs, laughing over itsshoulder. “Ha ha ha!

You’re never going to getit back now!”“I d… d… d… don’t like this! I

want my book back!” sobbed Henry.“We need to think of a way to get

it back,” suggested Jake.Suddenly the paintbrush on the

floor in front of them began to glow.Jake picked it up and as he did so itmade a golden line in mid air. He wavedit around and it painted wiggly, colourfullines and patterns.

“Wow! Look at that! It’s amazing! It’sa magic paintbrush!” cried Rosieexcitedly.

“How d… d… d… does it dothat?” asked Henry in amazement.“I wonder if we could use it to paint the

bridge back? Then we will be able to chasethe creature,” continued Rosie. So Jake

walked towards the broken bridge and with the

THE STORy THIEF!

As they sat there thinking, they noticed, onthe floor in front of them, a school paintbrush.

“Look! There’s my paintbrush! How did it getthere?” shouted Rosie, pointing at the floor. Thepaintbrush was still dripping wet with paint.

“That’s very strange!” exclaimed Jake, scratching his head. Jake picked up the paintbrush and where it had been

lying they spotted some very strange coloured andpainted footprints leading along a dusty path.

“I d… d… d… don’t like this. I’ve got a verybad feeling,” whispered Henry nervously.

Jake leapt up, dropping the paintbrush. “Let’sfollow the footprints!” he yelled excitedly.

“I d… d… d… don’t like this!” trembled Henry.“Whose footprints are they and where are they going?”

They were about to find out the answer to Henry’s questions, becausefrom behind a tree, a dark shadow appeared, which was followed by thestrangest creature they had ever seen.

“Wow! Look at that!” screamed Jake. “That’s the mythologicalcreature I painted. It’s exactly the same. It’s come to life!”

“I d… d… d… don’t like this!” shivered Henry.The strange, beast-like creature came towards them on its four feet,

but slithering and wriggling its slimy body and flapping terrifyingwings. On its head hideous, hissing snakes were spitting at thechildren. Inside its massive mouth were three glaring, bulging,evil eyes that were staring at them. Two pointed, sharp fangsjutted out of its mouth and fire was streaming out of itsnostrils.

“Who are you?” asked the children.“Who are you and what are you doing in

my land?” replied the beast grumpily.“We don’t know! We just landed here

out of a hoover,” explained thechildren.



magical paintbrush he painted long, straight and wiggly lines to bring the bridgeback to normal.

“I don’t like this,” said Henry nervously. Carefully and very slowly the children crept across the new bridge.“Now, we can follow the creature’s tracks and catch him up,”

said Rosie calmly.And so they set off. During the next few hours the mean and

hideous beast put many obstacles along the path to stop thechildren from catching him and getting Henry’s book back.

The first thing the beast did, as they walked along the path,was to lay a trap by digging a massive hole and covering it withbranches, sticks, moss, leaves and grass. Unfortunately Henry fellthrough and landed very confused and dizzy at the bottom of themurky, muddy, mouldy hole.

“I d… d… d… don’t like this!” wailed Henry. Jake and Rosiepeered over the edge.

“Oh no!” cried Rosie. “How are we going toget him out?”

Jake looked at the paintbrush in his hand.It was glowing again. “Why don’t I use themagical paintbrush again and paint a ladder soHenry can climb out?” suggested Jake.

So he did.Henry quickly scrambled out and they continued up the path, following thebeast, who was just disappearing from view. A little while later the beast wasspying on them from the top of a tree. He knocked down a few spiky fir trees,which fell across the path in front of them.

“Oh n… n… n… no!” gasped Henry. “I don’t like this. How are we going toget over them? They’re gigantic!”

“Look! The paintbrush is glowing again. It seems to do that every time thebeast does something nasty to us. Why don’t we use it to paint wings on ourbacks so we can fly over the fallen trees?” suggested Rosie excitedly.

So they did.They fluttered their wings, flew over the trees and continued up the paththrough the forest.

Meanwhile the beast was getting up to more mischief, setting up anothersecret trap for the children. This time it was a metal cage, hung high in the tree

tops. Underneath, in the middle of the path, was a triple-layer chocolatecake! They immediately spotted the delicious-looking cake.

“Look!” yelled Rosie. “I’m starving! Let’s eat that yummy-looking cake!”“Stop!” screamed Jake. “It may be a trap!” But Rosie and Henry

didn’t listen. They grabbed a handful each and scoffed it down.“I don’t like this,” said Henry, feeling sick. “It doesn’t taste like

ch… ch… ch… chocolate to me!”Suddenly, from nowhere, a cage plunged like thunder to the

ground, right over the top of them. They were trapped!“H… h… h… help us!” stuttered Henry. “I don’t like this!”

“Calm down, Henry. You’ll be OK. Rosie will get us outsomehow with the magic paintbrush,” said Jake

firmly.“Oh look! There’s a keyhole!”exclaimed Rosie excitedly. “Let’s

paint a key to unlock the cage,so we can escape.”

THE STORy THIEF!



So she did. They were free! They continued their journey along the dusty path. Eventuallythey came out of the trees. In front of them was an enormous rocky cliff andright at the very top stood the fierce beast. He roared wickedly at them.

“Ha! Ha! You’ll never catch me!” Never catch me… never catch me… nevercatch me… echoed the words around the mountains. And with that he pushedhuge boulders over the edge of the cliff.

As quick as a flash they dashed out of the way and the boulders rumbled pastthem, down to the winding river far, far below.

“Phew! That was close!” said Jake, wiping his forehead with the back of hishand.

“I don’t like this!” said Henry, biting his finger nails.“Don’t worry! You’ll be alright. Let’s carry on with our quest,” encouraged

Rosie. A few minutes later, as they walked along the path, a mysterious, spooky cave

emerged into view, perched above them. They caught a glimpse of the beastdisappearing inside.

“I wonder if that’s his lair. Let’s go and investigate!” said Jake bravely.And so they trudged on towards the beastly-looking cave. Suddenly,

underneath their feet, they heard SNAP! CRUNCH! CRACK! They werestepping on thousands of small bones! The ground began to shake and thechildren heard a loud rattle like thunder behind them. Henry spun round like aCatherine wheel. To his amazement and horror he saw a fearsome sight.

The bones they had trodden on had broken and sprung to life. Theyconnected together like magnets to make an enormous, strong army of small,fierce, fighting skeletons.

“I… I… I… I don’t like this!” he yelled. The other children spun round, asthe fighting skeletons marched towards them with shining swords held high.

“Quick! Rosie!” screamed Jake. “Paint a crack in the ground, so they fall in.”

So she did.The fighting skeletons tumbled into the crack head first and disappeared out ofsight.

The boulders tumbled,

tumbled, tumbled, tumbled,

down, down, down…

……

right on top of the children.

THE STORy THIEF!



At last they were approaching the mysterious, creepy cave that the beast haddisappeared into. The children were now very high up in the mountains andfeeling very cold. At the entrance to the cave hung plunging, pointed, sharpicicles, like teeth guarding the creature’s lair.

“How are we going to get into the cave without being seen?” asked Rosie.“I know! Why don’t we try to paint invisibility cloaks around ourselves, then

we can sneak in unnoticed,” whispered Jake.

THE STORy THIEF!



So they did!They were now completely invisible.

Jake, Rosie and Henry crept silently, on tiptoe, into the cave. It was dark,dismal, damp and dripping. At the back of the cave was a very faint glow. As thechildren got nearer they could see the beast sitting behind a slimy, slipperystalactite reading Henry’s storywriting book. The snakes on its head weretwisting around, their tongues quietly hissing and spitting.

All around the walls of the cave hung many children’s paintings andstorywriting books. The children’s jaws dropped open in amazement!

“I d… d… d… don’t like this!” sobbed Henry, loudly, forgetting where hewas. In a flash their invisibility cloaks fell from them into a pile of dust aroundtheir feet. Their cover was blown!

The snakes on the beast’s head began spitting and hissing wildly, alerting theirmaster to the intruders in the cave.

“Oh no!” screamed Jake, Rosie and Henry together. The beast’s head slowly peered round from behind the stalactite. Its massive

mouth opened as wide as an alligator’s jaw and revealed three hideous, glaringeyes, which were staring at the frightened children. It sprung up with itsflapping wings and unravelled its slimy, wormlike body until it was toweringabove them.

“What are you doing here?” it roared, with fire streaming out of its nostrils.

“You weren’t supposed to get to my cave. I made traps and obstacles to stopyou!”

“I d… d… d…don’t like this!” wept Henry.“Why have you got children’s paintings and books hung around your walls?

Why have you stolen our work?” asked the suspicious children.The creature began to sob and crumpled to its knees on the floor. “I’m sorry! I

stole them because I’m just an ordinary beast. I wanted to be a real mythicalcreature in a real mythical story. I’m sorry for being nasty to you.”

“That’s OK,” replied Jake, smiling.“But can we have our work back please?” asked Rosie politely.“Of course you can. I’m sorry I stole it. Please forgive me,” sniffed the

creature. “And by the way, I really enjoyed reading your magical myth. It’s justthe sort of story I’d like to be in.”

“Th… th… th… thank you! That was mine!” stuttered Henry happily.For a while the children sat in the cave with the beast, talking about their life

THE STORy THIEF!


at school. Suddenly the paintbrush began toglow. To their amazement it began to paint the hoover from their school.

“Hooray! The hoover! I think it’s telling us that it’s time to go,” sighed Jake.A short message was stuck on the nozzle. “TURN ME ON!”

So they did!They felt the floor rumble and heard a familiar

rushing, roaring, swishing, swooshing noise. Onceagain they were swept off their feet and suckeddown the nozzle of the hoover. They were sentspinning, spiralling, swishing, twisting andturning. But this time it was up, up, up, untilthey tumbled out in a jumbled, tangled heap.This time they found themselves back in theschool corridor where it had all started, but

their work had completely vanished from theirhands.“I wonder where our work has gone?” said the

very confused children, looking all around.In a land far, far, away, a real mythical creature sat in its

cave reading its favourite storywriting book and looking at two special paintings. Ithad a very happy, smug smile on its face!

THE STORy THIEF!




Thewi

ld willowdome

One peaceful afternoon the new Year 3 children settled into their

new classroom. Most of the children were feeling nervous and

anxious because it was their first day at junior school, although

there was one person who was more worried than the rest.

Izzy was new to the school and she hadn’t made any friends yet. She was a

little girl with short red hair, light green eyes and freckles that covered her

nose and cheeks. She sat awkwardly at the back of the carpet as she felt too

shy to join the little groups of children.

Sophie, Daniel and Kieran felt confident and excited in their new class

because Mrs Franklin was a cheerful and friendly teacher. Mrs Franklin

decided to take the whole class into the wildlife garden because they were

going on a mini-beast hunt.

The children tiptoed quietly along the corridor so that they didn’t disturb the

rest of the classes in the school. The wildlife garden was in the middle of the

school near the Year 6 classrooms. There were lots of spiky wild plants, a

rickety wooden shed and a brown log cabin. Butterflies fluttered gracefully in

the calm breeze and spotty red ladybirds munched on the glossy green leaves.

Mrs Franklin put the children into groups of four.



“Izzy, would you mind working with Kieran, Sophie and Daniel?They’re a friendly bunch!” said Mrs Franklin.

“OK then,” replied Izzy, quietly.

“Come on Izzy! Let’s go to the willow dome,” shouted the excited

children.

The willow dome was shaped like a semi-circle. It was covered with small

narrow leaves and the entrance was a curved arch woven from long, thin

willow branches. The four children skipped towards the green dome and entered

through the little archway. Inside the dome, it was dark and muddy. The willow

branches creaked and they could hear the gentle wind blowing softly through

the leaves.

Suddenly, they heard a low rumble and the ground began to shake. A massive

bolt of colour sprouted out of the ground and the children screamed. The floor

of the willow dome gave way and the four children fell into a big round hole.

They fell down, whooshing and whirling through a spiralling pitch black tunnel.

In a flash, they saw a speck of daylight. They tumbled out of the tunnel and

landed in a bush. They scrambled to their feet and looked around in

astonishment. All around them were tall, unusual plants in different shades

of green.

“Ouch! Where are we? What just happened?” cried Sophie, shakily.

The children looked around nervously. They could see hundreds of tall trees that

made a canopy high above them. Vines swayed to and fro in the light breeze

and, as they swung, they wrapped themselves around the brown tree trunks.

A colourful parrot sat on a thick branch and squawked loudly. They could also

hear a strange scratching sound. Pretty flowers were scattered through the wet

grass of the unusual place. There were unfamiliar sounds everywhere. The group

thought they could hear snakes hissing, crickets chirping, monkeys chattering

and beetles scurrying. Leaves crackled and crunched underneath the children’s

feet as they looked around them.

“I didn’t know the willow dome was this big!” exclaimed Daniel in

surprise.

THE WILD WILLOW DOME



“We’re not in the willow dome! I think we’re in a rainforest,”announced Kieran. “I read a book about rainforests during thesummer holiday and I recognise those strange sorts of palmtrees,” he explained.

“Oh look! There are thousands of giant purple ants marching ina line like soldiers towards that patch of flowers,” shrieked Sophie

excitedly.

“Let’s follow them and see which flower they will lead us to,”whispered Daniel. The children slowly followed the trail of ants towards the

beautiful flowers. The plants came up to the children’s knees and had bright

yellow petals with golden swirls. The leaves were soft and curved and, from a

distance, looked like fluffy feathers. Izzy could smell a gorgeous perfume that

reminded her of colourful wild flowers. She followed the irresistible scent and it

led her straight to one of the golden flowers.



The four children began to jog

along a straight bumpy path. Daniel

spotted a hairy brown monkey

jumping from tree to tree and from

vine to vine. He turned around and,

out of the corner of his eye, he

spotted a shadow behind a green

leafy bush. Daniel heard a rustling

sound and a low growl. At once, he

felt uneasy. Suddenly, the rustling

and the growling became louder. It

made the children jump and they

all turned towards the sound.

They couldn’t believe their eyes! The

bush parted and the children saw a terrible monster. It was a mean-looking

creature that stared at the children with cold, fiery eyes. It seemed to have a

bushy mane, a piggy nose and pointed fangs as long as daggers. The children

were absolutely amazed! The terrifying creature also had arms like a t-rex that

poked out of its body, which had a spotty pattern, like a cheetah. Perhaps the

most amazing thing about the monster was its eight hairy black spiderlike legs,

each with a sharp claw on the end. Its long tail, which was like a monkey’s, was

swishing from side to side. The children could tell that the creature was angry

because it was snarling madly and was baring its teeth. Saliva dripped from its

fangs. The children stared at the monster in a complete daze, fixed to the spot

and standing as still as statues.

Their mouths were wide open in surprise.


Izzy bent down to sniff it. Then, SNAP! The flower

pounced and bit Izzy’s nose. She screamed loudly,

“Owww! Help! The flower’s grabbed my nose!”

“I remember this flower from my Rainforest book.It’s called a Golden Snapper Plant,” shouted

Kieran. “I think it’s quite a vicious plant but it’seasy to escape from. You just tickle it!”

“What? Tickle it? With what? That can’t beright!” yelled Sophie and Daniel.

“That is right! Just pick a leaf and tickle itsstem then see what happens,” replied Kieran.

“Would someone please hurry up and try it!” sobbed Izzy.

Carefully, Sophie pulled a feathery leaf from the fearsome flower. She took a

deep breath and shuffled forward. She slowly began to tickle the shiny plant. At

first, nothing happened so Sophie tickled a bit quicker. Soon, the plant began to

shrink and shrivel and eventually it let go of Izzy’s red, sore nose.

“Phew, I’m glad that’s over. That was one spiteful plant!” said

Izzy in relief.

“Right, we must stick to the narrow pathways, not go near anydeadly plants and make sure we stay together,” decided Kieran.





“W… w… what’s that animal, Kieran? D… d… doyou remember if it was in your Rainforest book?” stammered Sophie.

“No. But just back up slowly and don’t aggravate it,” assured

Kieran.

“Actually, I’ve got a better plan. R-R-R-U-U-U-U-U-

N-N-N-N!” screamed Daniel.

The four children twisted around as fast as lightning and began to run for their

lives. They realised the monster was chasing them because the ground was

vibrating. Izzy soon became out of breath and stopped running. She yelled at

the top of her voice, “Stop, stop, wait for me!” The others whizzed

around and saw the creature behind her.



“Quick, run! You’ll get eaten!” encouraged the children. As Izzy spun

around, she was face to face with the monster. She saw its fiery eyes staring at

her and it licked its lips. Screaming with fear, she ran as fast as she could. Soon,

she caught up with the others. They scrambled through spiky bushes that tore

at their clothes but the monster simply flew over the spikes using its small

wings. Along the path, the children leapt over large bumpy rocks but the

monster just scurried over them using its long legs.

The children were becoming tired and worn out when they saw a wide,

muddy swamp ahead of them. It was too wide to jump over or run around

the side of it.

“A swamp! We’re trapped!” puffed Sophie.

“How are we going to cross this?” gasped Daniel.

“I don’t think we have a choice, we’ll just have to go through it,”panted Izzy.

“Hang on a minute,” said Kieran. “Look up above you! There arelong, thick vines that we can use to swing over the swamp.”The roar from the giant creature was getting louder and louder as it got nearer

and nearer. The children charged towards the vines and snatched one each.

The branches overhead creaked as the children swung over the sticky, smelly

swamp. The vines swished back and forth as the youngsters dangled in the air.

Kieran managed to swing to the other side first. He released his vine and

tumbled into a ditch. He was closely followed by Daniel, Sophie and Izzy.

Feeling relieved, they looked around to see what had happened to the monster.

It was still on the other side of the swamp!

“Ha, ha, you big, ugly monster. You can’t get us now! Na-na,na-na-na!” sang Sophie happily.

“Don’t tease it Sophie,” Kieran warned.

The creature snarled angrily at the children. All of a sudden, the mean monster’s

tail unravelled. The tail whipped upwards and the monster hooked the end of it

over a branch. The children stared in horror as it began to swing over the vile

swamp. The chase was back on!

Daniel clambered desperately out of the ditch but kept slipping backwards.

Finally, he leapt over the side, closely followed by the others. They dashed along




a stony pathway, crashed through thorny bushes and nettles and sprang over a

thick, mossy tree trunk that had fallen down and blocked the path. The children

could hear the monster’s footsteps thundering loudly behind them. Zooming

through the undergrowth, they spotted a wooden bridge just ahead of them in

the bright sunshine. They sprinted as fast as they could towards the bridge.

Then they stopped dead in their tracks. In front of them was a cliff edge. The

children bent down and peered over the side. It was the biggest drop they had

ever seen and they all felt dizzy. At the bottom, they could see rocks and

boulders crashing into the deep, raging water below.

“Quick, the monster’s catching up. We need to cross to theother side,” shrieked Sophie.

“But the only way across is on that old, rotten bridge,” Izzy

panicked.

The children looked towards the bridge. It was very tatty and was made from

old bamboo held together by dirty, frayed rope. They could see that some of the

bridge had rotted away because there were big gaps between the strips of

bamboo.

“It looks sturdy enough to me,” Kieran told the others. “Andbesides, the only other option is to climb down the rocky cliff!”“I’ll go across first as I’m the smallest,” said Sophie worriedly. Izzy,

Kieran and Daniel watched as Sophie nervously took a step onto the rickety

bridge. She walked carefully as if she were on a tightrope. The others could hear

the monster charging through the undergrowth behind them. Finally, Sophie

made it safely across to the other side.

“It’s safe for all of you to come across the bridge one by one, buthurry!” she called.

Daniel gently pushed Izzy towards the bridge.

“Ladies first!” he said.

Izzy stumbled and almost slipped through one of the gaps. Then she pulled

herself back up and started running towards the other side. Daniel and Kieran

watched as Izzy crossed. They heard footsteps behind them and turned around.

The monster was in their shadows! It pounced towards the boys. They quickly

rushed onto the wobbly bridge and ran as fast as their legs could carry them. As

they ran, they could hear wooden planks falling into the deep water below them.

“Run! Run! Quick! It’s behind you!” screamed Izzy and Sophie

frantically.

Kieran and Daniel hurled themselves towards the cliff edge and managed to

land safely on the ground. Kieran grabbed a large sharp stone and turned to




face the bridge. He smashed the stone onto the frayed rope again and again

until the fragile and battered rope finally gave way. The bridge began to

collapse. The monster, which was in the middle of the bridge, tumbled sideways.

The children watched as it was catapulted in a spiral down onto the sharp rocks

below before finally crashing into the raging river. The children caught a

glimpse of the battered snail shell on the monster’s back floating way.

“Hooray!” cheered the children.

“I’m so hot though!” puffed Kieran.

“I’m so thirsty!” whined Sophie.

“Listen everybody, I can hear splashing over there,” said Izzy,

pointing towards a green leafy palm tree. The children followed the sound and

it led them to a tropical, colourful spot. Graceful butterflies flew around the

exquisite flowers and exotic birds tweeted and chirped. However, the most

magnificent thing in the place was a beautiful waterfall. Shimmering fresh

water tumbled down into a glistening pool. The rocks sparkled brightly and the

children could see their reflections in the clear water. It looked so refreshing

that the children just couldn’t resist stepping into the pool. They gulped the

cold water until their thirst was quenched. Daniel lifted his feet and floated on

his back, staring up at the white fluffy clouds. Sophie, Izzy and Kieran thought

it looked very relaxing so they plunged in and soon all four children were

floating calmly. The gentle current carried them towards the crystal blue

waterfall. Water trickled and splashed onto their faces.

Suddenly, the sound changed. The gentle dripping became a loud rumble.

The water began to shake and a bolt of colour sprouted out of the waterfall.

The four children felt themselves being sucked into a big round hole. They

fell whooshing and whirling back through the spiralling pitch black tunnel.

They spotted a speck of daylight but the white fluffy clouds were blocked by

leaves. They stared towards the sky, realising that they were still on their backs

but were lying on the floor in the willow dome.

“I didn’t realise the willow dome was so adventurous!” chuckled

Izzy.

“It’s nearly home time, children. What beasts did you see?”asked Mrs Franklin.

“She will never believe the beast that we saw!” giggled Sophie.



the missing tileIt was 28th January 2011, a cold, frosty morning at Sunnymede

Junior School. A cloud of mysterious fog hung low over the

playground. Some of the children were running through the thick

mist trying to dodge each other while others were huddling

together to keep warm.

Meanwhile two children from Year 4, Will and Cleo, were sent

to the Log Cabin with a really important message. They dashed past

the Tutankhamun mosaic, which was mysteriously glittery that

day. Out of the corner of Will’s eye he saw a mosaic tile lying on the

floor. When he bent down and examined it, he noticed that on its

back were carved some golden hieroglyphics.

A low humming noise started to come from the mosaic… and

beyond!

“Shh… Did you hear that noise? Shall we move closer?” whispered

Cleo.



Cautiously the children crept

towards to mosaic. The tiles

started clicking like the sound

of crabs’ claws and the

children immediately noticed

that some of the tiles had

changed places. The mosaic

started to take the shape of the

Eye of Horus, then sand seeped

out of the eye like tears and an

eerie, blood-red glow beamed

through its centre. The glow

enveloped the children and the

bright light drew them closer

to a swirling portal. As they got

nearer, the humming noise

became almost deafening. The

children were dragged into the

portal.

It was like a never-ending

tunnel, swirling with colours.

Visions of history flashed and

whizzed past. When Will looked

at his watch he saw the hands

were mysteriously spinning

backwards! The children

tumbled past century after

century. Images of the new

Millennium, World War 2, the

Victorians, Vikings and Saxons

sped past them faster and

faster.

It all came to a sudden halt,

and the children crashed down

into a desolate, sandy desert.

Spluttering and spitting out

sand, they picked themselves up

and flapped their hands

vigorously to clear the dust

from in front of their eyes. As it

cleared, all they could see was

a blanket of golden sand

twinkling in the blazing

midday sun.

“Where are we?” whispered

Cleo.

Slowly the children turned

around and all the hairs on

THE MISSING TILE



the backs of their necks stood up

as they saw the breathtaking

sight of colossal pyramids.

“I think we are in Ancient

Egypt!” exclaimed Will.

They looked down in fear at

their hands and knees and saw

that they were no longer

wearing school uniform.

Instead, they were wearing

white cloth for clothes, they

were wearing sandals made

from animal skins and they

were even wearing make-up!

Will thought he looked pretty

silly but Cleo thought she looked

beautiful. Will desperately

tried to wash off the make-up in

the River Nile but without any

luck.

The children suddenly caught

sight of a strange shape alone

in the distance.

“Hey, I can see something on

the horizon!” said Cleo.

“Shall we run?” asked Will.

“No, it’s miles away,” replied

Cleo.

As the children trudged on

through the desert towards the

strange shape they felt as if they

were walking on hot coals. The

sand around them was

swirling and sweeping along

the ground in the refreshing

desert breeze. After they had

walked for hours they noticed

that the strange figure in the

distance was growing bigger

and bigger the closer they got.

At last the stunning, sandy

Sphinx was standing proudly in

front of them. Cleo noticed that

the monument was covered

with unusual carvings and

pictures and the children

recognised some of these as

hieroglyphics. After a while

Will realised that a part of the

message was missing and he

remembered that the tile that

fell from the mosaic in school

had some golden hieroglyphics

on it.

“Why don’t we see if our tile

fits into that gap?” questioned

Cleo.

So the children gently pressed

the tile into the Sphinx and

immediately it clicked into

place and completed the

writing. Suddenly the Sphinx’s

head started to move and a

dusting of sand fell onto the

children. His head ground

down to look at them, and in a

low, booming voice he growled,

“Who dares to wake me from my

deep sleep?”

Cleo and Will cowered and

whispered, “W… w… we are

responsible for waking you up.

We desperately need your help

to get back home!”

“You have added the last tile

to my riddle,” the Sphinx replied.

“But I can only grant you the

power to get back home if you

solve the puzzle. What’s dead

but alive, who is his guard… ?

and there you’ll find the key to

the portal!”

The children let out a great

gasp as the Sphinx’s feet started

to rise up into the air. In a

growling voice he said, “Climb

onto my back and we will

travel across the desert to the

tomb where you will find the

answers to my riddle.”

The Sphinx put out his mighty

leg so the children could climb

onto his back, and slowly and

carefully they clambered up

the rough side of the great cat.

The Sphinx’s claws dug into the

THE MISSING TILE



THE MISSING TILE

“HE WHO ENTERS

THE TOMB SHALL

NEVER RETURN

TO SEE THE LIGHT

OF THE SUN”

sand like sharp knives. As he

stretched his stiff, ancient body,

pieces of sand fell into the

flowing breeze. Cleo and Will

struggled to grip onto the

mighty monument, and their

nails scratched down the

Sphinx’s neck.

Faster and faster they

travelled, their hearts skipping

a beat as the majestic cat

silently bounded across the

desert. The wind seemed to repeat

the riddle over and over as

they raced across the sand . . .

And as the journey went on,

they felt themselves becoming

more and more puzzled.

At last the Sphinx stopped in

front of a tomb which looked

like it had been buried for

centuries. The outside of the

tomb was dusty and filthy. The

walls that had once been rigid

had crumbled away. It looked

very dangerous, and Cleo asked

the Sphinx, “Do we have to go in

there?”

“Only if you want to go

home!” replied the Sphinx.

Will and Cleo peered down

the cracked, worn steps into a

realm of complete darkness. The

children staggered as they

lowered the dusty soles of their

sandals onto the smooth sand

of the first step. They were

shivering and breaking out in

goose-bumps as they crept down

into the tomb. By the time they

reached the last crumbling step,

their hearts were pounding

with excitement. The gloomy

tomb was as dark as night. Will

slowly drew a candle from his

pocket and its warm glow

harvested the gloom and

darkness. The ancient walls

were covered with hieroglyphics

and curses were carved deep

into the damp stone.

The children’s footsteps echoed

through the cold chambers of

the tomb as they walked

further into the unknown.

Their throats were gripped with

fear as they read the curse in

front of them:



Will repeated the riddle:

“What’s dead but alive, who is his

guard…? and there you’ll find

the key to the portal!”

“I wish my mummy was here to

help us with this riddle,”

whimpered Cleo.

“That’s it!” gasped Will. “An

Egyptian mummy is dead, but

our mummies are alive!”

The children’s candle

illuminated the amazing sight

of the painted tomb walls. There

were paintings coloured red

and brown that showed Ancient

Egyptian life. There were

paintings of gods, paintings of

people farming and even

paintings of funerals.

As Will ran his finger over

the ancient images he noticed


THE MISSING TILE


there was a dog-headed god in

nearly every one. The god seemed

to be watching over the damp,

musty tomb.

“Wait a second, I’ve got it!”

shouted Will. “Anubis is a jackal-

headed god and he protects the

dead. So he must be the next

answer to the riddle!”

“Well done, Will! Now we’ve

just got to find the key to unlock

the portal and we can get

home,” said Cleo.

As the candle moved slowly

through the chamber like a

spotlight it revealed glimpses of

the jewels that were scattered

within. The children saw a

plastered wall and pressed

their hands against it to see

what was behind it. Suddenly the

middle of the wall crumbled

away to reveal a shiny, golden

sarcophagus. The children

couldn’t believe their eyes; it was

like looking at a solid wall of

gold. They both squeezed

through the gap, scanning the

floor and walls for a key.

Ancient furniture lay among

rubble from the crumbling

walls as the children searched

THE MISSING TILE



high and low for the key to open

the portal.

Will suddenly exclaimed, “In

Ancient Egypt they didn’t have

keys!”

“Oh no! We are never going to

get home now,” cried Cleo.

As the children crept into the

last chamber of the tomb they

stopped dead in their tracks as

a great, dark statue loomed up

in front of them.

“That looks like a statue of

Anubis,” whispered Cleo.

The candlelight lit up the

statue’s jet black head and his

eyes were a bright amber glow.

All at once Anubis’ fiery eyes

blinked. He moved his arm

upwards and it looked as if he

was going to grab them. Will

and Cleo seemed to have taken

five steps backwards.

In a deep voice Anubis

demanded, “Who are you to

summon me from my duty of

guarding the dead?”


THE MISSING TILE


“We have been sent on a quest

by the Sphinx to solve a riddle.

We have answered two parts of

it but we are stuck on the last

part,” quivered Will.

“We are looking for a key to

unlock the gateway home and

can’t find one anywhere,”

sighed Cleo.

“The key you are looking for

is no ordinary key. I hold the

only key in Ancient Egypt. It is

the key of life, called the Ankh,

and it will grant you the

power to unlock the portal

home,” replied Anubis.

The children removed the

Ankh that was hanging

around Anubis’ neck, and as

they did so a burst of swirling

colours appeared beneath

their feet. Soon they were

swallowed into the bright

whirlpool of colour.

They flew up through the

centuries, Will’s watch spun

forward in time and suddenly

the children were standing in

the corridor in front of the

mosaic again.

The clocks in school were the

same time as when they left,

children were still playing in

the playground and they still

had the message to deliver.

Will and Cleo looked at each

other in astonishment just as

Mrs Cooke walked past.

“Oh, there’s a tile missing

from the mosaic! I wonder

what’s happened to that?” she

asked.

The children smiled and said,

“You’ll never believe where

we’ve been…”

(And no one ever did!)


THE MISSING TILE



“James! Victor! Stop right there!” shrieked MrsHiggerbelly.

The boys hobbled determinedly downthe corridor as fast as they could with their

laces tied together.“Shouldn’t we have done this in the

playground?” asked James worriedly.“Yeah, she’ll make us miss all lunchtime if she

catches us,” replied Victor as he shuffled faster,dragging James along.

Jess and Holly were chatting, minding their ownbusiness, strolling down the corridor to fetch

their coats, when James and Victor seemed toappear from nowhere and smack straight intothe two girls as they came round the corner.

“Oi! Watch where you’re going!” moanedHolly, who wasn’t scared of Victor.

Jess lunged sideways, knocked off balanceby Victor, and wobbled against the stock-

cupboard door. The door swung open with a creak.“Quick! Mrs Higgerbelly’s coming! Hide in the

cupboard because we’re dead meat if we getcaught,” whispered James urgently. The two boysscrambled to the cupboard, shoving Jess and Holly

in first, and pushed the door to, just in time.Mrs Higgerbelly stomped angrily down the corridor

and noticed the door to the stock cupboard wasslightly open.

“I’d better lock that door,” she muttered underher breath, “before someone gets sucked in.Don’t want any kids to step on that secret tile!”

“What does she mean by that?” asked Jamesas the moody teacher slammed the door shut.Click, the door was locked!

The four children huddled together in the pitchblack. Jess and Holly nervously held hands.

“Has she gone yet?” whispered Victor. “I justwant to get out of here!”

He crawled forward, blindly feeling for thedoor, and bashed his head on the handle. Heyanked it down but nothing happened. He triedagain with all his strength, but it still didn’t budge.

“Guys, I’m not usually scared, but we’re lockedin!” exclaimed Victor.

The Stock Cupboard and the FlamefreezeSunnymedeBook2011:Layout 1 12/06/2011 15:21 Page 30


his eyes and saw bubbling streams ofblazing hot lava and a massive volcanoshooting out giant boulders. Victor feltready to faint but remembered he wasmeant to be the tough one so he stood upand peered around. The heat of thesteaming lava felt like itwould melt his skin.

“Come on, take alook at this!” saidVictor, shaking Jamesto make him gainconsciousness. Jameswoke up and threw up allover Victor’s brand newtrainers.

“Sorry,” said James, ashe tried to clean the shoeswith his sleeve.

Just then four six-foot aliens appeared outof nowhere.

“We should take them to our leader!”exclaimed one, smiling to let the boys seehis razor-sharp teeth.

“What???” they all yelled together.

“I’m not s-s-scared,” stuttered Holly as she stumbled back and stepped on the tile that Mrs Higgerbelly had mysteriously mentioned. The secret tile thatteachers were trained to avoid.

The tile crumbled into a thousand pieces and activated a rainbow-colouredwhirlpool anomaly. The room shuddered and the floor started to split, creatingan effect like a sandstorm swirling around the children. It sounded like a hundredbees swarming around the room, and before she knew it Holly was sinking intothe portal that had opened up.

Holly screamed as loud as she possibly could and grabbed Jess by the hand.This started a chain reaction, because as Jess plunged down, James dived forher, yanking Victor after him. Victor slid across the floor with his blunt fingernailsscreeching as he dug them into the tiles.

“What’s happening?” yelled Victor as the last of his body was sucked down theportal and his fingernails slipped off the edge.

Then the group of children swirled around like water going down a plugholeand James let go of Jess to cover his mouth to stop himself being sick. Therewas a flash of light and the children all closed their eyes. They tumbled as fastas a bolt of lightning, as if down a chute, and found themselves in a new world.

Victor and James landed with a sudden thud on a land covered withhundreds of thousands of miles of huge red rocks. Victor hesitantly opened

The Stock Cupboard and the Creatures of FlamefreezeSunnymedeBook2011:Layout 1 12/06/2011 15:21 Page 31


Their lips trembling, the boys looked up at the scaly monsters. The aliens’ tailsuncurled and coiled back up, releasing a delicious smell of bacon. The boys couldnot resist the smell and dizzily followed the aliens to a fortress made of lava.

Meanwhile the girls landed with a crash on rock-hard ice. They gazed aboutat the glimmering ice statues that surrounded them. They looked like lizardsfrozen into sharp icicles.

“Ow, ow, my leg really hurts. Help me, Holly, I might have broken it!” whined Jess,her face scrunched up in pain.

“Calm down! Don’t worry, I’ll help you,” said Holly worriedly. In the distance Holly glimpsed a glowing icy-white light coming from a glacier. “I can see a shimmer. Maybe it’s a rescue force,” Holly yelled. “Help!” She

screamed at the top of her voice, waving her hands wildly. Out of the corner ofher eye she saw a sudden movement. A fluffy teddy-like creature with biggoogly eyes peeked round a statue and tilted its head in confusion. It thoughtfor a second and then came a little closer.

Jess shuffled painfully over the ice, dragging her leg across the floor, whileHolly stood her ground. “Back off! Don’t come any closer!” she saidconfidently. “I’m warning you! I know karate and I’m not afraid to use it,” sheadded.

At that moment more sky-blue fuzzy things came out of hiding and gatheredround the girls. One said, “We won’t hurt you. We come inpeace. Would you like some hot chocolate?”

“Y-y-yes please,” stuttered Holly insurprise. “That’s really nice of you. Canyou get one for my friend here as well,because she’s hurt?”

The fluffy Sluffies picked Jess upand took the girls down a secret hole inthe ice which they uncovered bypushing a statue like a lever. They wentin a lift down to an ice city with amassive palace carved from blue andturquoise ice. This sparkled like acrystal in the centre of the kingdom.

Jess and Holly gazed about, lookingat the amazing sights of the city, theshining icicles and the crowdsof cute, adorable Sluffies.

THE STOCK CUPBOARD AND THE CREATURES OF FLAMEFREEzE


The girls were taken to King Sbarbarand Queen Flimoozy

of Icelus to healJess’s leg. The

Queen laid amagical snowball on

Jess’s shin and rubbedit in carefully.

“Rise up! Youcan do it,” saidQueen Flimoozygently.

“Thank you,your Majesty,” said

Jess gratefully, andshe curtseyed.

Another Sluffie gave aglass of hot chocolate toeach of the girls.

While the girls were sipping their cocoa, the boys were having trouble. James and Victor gulped when they saw the huge leader of the Zergoids.

Belazarus stuck out his forked tongue and hissed, “Good, just what weexpected. Two heart-stealers. We have been waiting hundreds of years for thismoment and now it has finally come.”

“We will obey your command, Master,”said the boys in zombie-like voices.

“Now, my slaves, you must go to theKingdom of Icelus and bring back their halfof the planet’s heart. It is hidden under theIce Palace, the most dreadful place inFlamefreeze. If we dared enter we wouldturn to stone, but you are not special

like us Zergoids so you can cross

the threshold safely.” A guard appeared in front of the children

with a blood-red hovering vehicle thatlooked like a massive surfboard withshelf-like seats.

“Now, be gone, and do your task.Go from Lava Mountain, follow themolten stream to the gateway andyou will find the Kingdom of Icelus.Steal the crystal and return it tome in one piece. We want it so wecan make our side of the planetmore powerful.”

“We will obey your command, Master,” saidthe two boys as they marched to the hovervehicle and slowly climbed up onto it.

“Azibador!” pronounced Belazarus,and the vehicle started to power upsilently. It sped down a ramp out of thefortress into the dark, dull air.

Whoosh! The boys were gliding over a river ofbone-burning lava on their way to the shining gatewayto Icelus when they smashed into the invisible forcefield that was guarding the entrance.





Suddenly the hypnotising smell of baconvanished and both boys began to feelnormal again. They fell to the floor with a

smack, causing an avalanche of ice.The statues on top of the palace

crashed down and shattered intothousands of tiny

pieces. King Sbarbarand Queen Flimoozy

were furious andwent to see what the

problem was. “Come on,” whispered Holly. “The boys

might have done it!”Jess and Holly followed silently behind,

hoping to see the boys. And there they were,smothered in snow!

“James! Victor! It’s us!” shouted Holly,running over to the mountain of snow and

digging them out. Jess helped them totheir feet.

“Where have you been?” Jessasked in a confused voice. Wiping offthe last of the snow, the boysexplained what had happened and thegirls told them about their adventures.

The Queen interrupted. “Comequickly! We must seeif the precious crystalis still in ourpossession.”

The King led theway through a secretmaze of carved ice to

a massive cave which contained a magical drill that could tunnel throughanything. The King, Queen and the four children got into the vehicle and sat onspecial seats stuffed with feathers. The King sat at the controls and flicked aswitch that turned on the motor, making the spiral break through the solid ice.

After five bumpy minutes they arrived at the centre of the planet and saw asparkling statue floating above the icy floor. They all leapt out and landed ona platform in the middle of nowhere. Hovering over the statue’s hand was aturquoise crystal. It looked like half of a heart.

“Wow!” the children said excitedly. The sound echoed around the spaceand the crystal began to shake wildly. All of a sudden they heard a crack andfour lightning bolts shot out in a flash towards the children. Jess, Holly, Victorand James were each smothered in a bubble of light. They all screamed andthe light faded.




“Victor, you have gained the power of shape-shifting, so you may turn intoall things,” said an echoing voice. “Jess, you have unlocked the power to walkthrough blazing hot lava. Holly, you have unleashed the ability to control anymind. For James, the power is teleporting, to take you and your friendsanywhere!”

“How did we get these powers?” asked Jess.The statue replied, “I gave you these powers to make the Zergoids and

Sluffies be friends again. Use them to get the other half of my heart from theLand of the Roaring Rocks and return it here so we can be one whole piece inhappiness! James, use your power to transport you and your friends to thevolcano at the Lava Fortress!”

“Hold my hands,” said James.“No way!” replied Victor, but the girls grabbed hold of him. James closed his

eyes and pictured Belazarus’ fortress and three seconds later they arrived. “Yes! It worked! Well done, James!” said Holly excitedly.

They stared at a massive building with skyscraper towers on each corner builtaround a volcano. There was also a huge gate and a moat of steaming lava.

“I don’t think we can get in past all the guards,” said Holly.“Yes, we can,” whispered Victor. “I can turn into a Zergoid and pretend that

I captured the girls. The other guards will open the drawbridge and James canfollow us in.”

He thought about the Zergoids who had found them that morning andsuddenly he began to grow taller and his skin changed colour and becamescaly. He grew a long spiral tail, a forked tongue and spikes from hisshoulders. The last things to change were his feet, which were covered ingreen slime.

Victor slowly approached the fortress, with Holly and Jess in front of him.He yelled out, “Open the gate! I have apprehended these two squirms andneed to take them to Belazarus.”

“Fine! Open the gates!” growled the Zergoid in charge of security. The gate creaked as it slowly opened and the drawbridge thumped down.

Victor stomped in with the girls. Meanwhile, James teleported himself to thetop of the volcano and stood on the edge of the crater. He was shattered, asteleporting was hard work. He fainted.

After fifteen minutes and a thousand steps, the others reached James.Jess ran to him and hugged him.




Victor and Holly peered over theedge and saw a small island in

the centre of the volcano. Itwas surrounded by bubblinglava and in the middle was theother half of the crystalheart. It was a blooming rosered and was guarded by sixmuscly Zergoids.

Victor slid down the insideof the volcano but he couldn’t

take the heat and soon had to climbback up, exhausted.

Jess said, “I’ll go. I can walk on lava!”Holly suggested that Victor turn

himself into a rope to lower Jess down, so heconcentrated really hard and became a thick

rope.“What about the guards?” asked Holly.

Suddenly a voice came: “Holly, use your power!”“I know. I’ll make the guards play Rummy!” said Holly.

So she thought hard and waves of energy like ripples inwater sped to each guard. Automatically they sat downin a circle and began to play cards.

Jess abseiled down the ‘Victor rope’ and dartedacross the volcano to the island. She grabbed the ruby

crystal and dashed back to her friends.By now James had regained consciousness and was

ready to teleport them back to Icelus.In a flash all four were back with King Sbarbar and Queen Flimoozy.“Now, put the heart back together. Jess and Holly take the crystal of

the Zergoids and place it together with the Sluffie crystal. Victor andJames push the pieces into position,” said the statue.

The children did as they were told and the two crystals connected

together with a magnetic force. There was a giant wave of air as the pieces linkedand the inner core glowed purple. As the crystals morphed together the planetreacted and a deadly silence came over Flamefreeze.

Slowly the planet was engulfed in a purple light.

There was a sound like wind chimes thatgradually became the sound of laughterfrom both sides of the planet. Theviolet glow faded away and thewhole planet had combined tocreate a peaceful place withskies of blue. Rivers andwaterfalls of shallow warmwater flowed through aland of volcanoes thaterupted withmarshmallows and hotchocolate. There wereareas of glossy greengrass and soft squishysnow. Growing all aroundwere flowers with crispybacon petals. It was a landof heaven for both Sluffiesand Zergoids.

“Thank you,” said the statue.“You are our heroes and have savedthis planet.”




The group happily steppedback into the drill and reversed out,

back to the surface. They were met by the royalfamily of Icelus and the Zergoid army, who were

feasting and celebrating. They partied untilmidnight, eating bacon lollies and chocolate

cake, and drinking fizzy cocoa.

“I think we should go home now,”said Jess. “Our mums will be lookingfor us!”

“Yes, we should,” agreed James.So they all said good bye, and the King and

Queen thanked the children again. Then they allheld hands, and James concentrated andsqueezed his eyes shut. Quick as a flash they were

back in the stock cupboard, which looked as ifnothing had happened. But when Victor triedthe handle, the door was still locked.

“Guys, we’re still stuck. I wish I still had my

powers then I could be a key!” said Victor. All of a sudden his hand began tomould into a key shape. He put it in the lock and turned it. The door squeakedslowly open and Mrs Higgerbellyswung round at the sound.

“Holly, use your mind control!”whispered Victor urgently.

And all at once MrsHiggerbelly was back flippingdown the corridor and round thecorner.

The four children rushed outof the cupboard and closed thedoor.

“Let’s go for lunch,” saidJames, laughing.

They strolled happily down thecorridor arm in arm. Behind thema mysterious glow came aroundthe door, with a sound like ahundred swarming bees!




Nothing would have happened if they hadn’t opened thatdrawer!As Chantelle walked slowly along the corridor with her head

down, she was dreading what was just about to happen. She peeredinto the classroom with her sky blue eyes that sparkled in the sunshineto check whether the teacher was there, and then nervously openedthe door. Instead of the teacher, her best buddy Tom was waiting. Tomwas very small and had an old faded zigzag scar on his right hand, inwhich he was holding his wonky orange glasses. The glasses hadbecome wonky when he sat on them a couple of weeks ago.

The day before, however, they had both been in trouble for the samereason. When Chantelle had popped open a bag of crisps, a few hadhit Tom on the head. Tom thought they had been meant to hit him, so he

threw a sandwich atChantelle. The teachercaught both of themhurling food at eachother and shouted, “Youwill both miss playtimetomorrow morning. I willsee you in class afterassembly!” Chantellewas really angry butTom wasn’t bothered.

From the door Chantellerushed to her drawer to

The UnderseaAdventure



retrieve her Homework Diary, because the teacher wanted towrite a note home. Then she heard a scream. She

turned around quickly, but Tom had suddenlydisappeared! She peeked into Tom’s drawer

and saw his shoes poking out – but noTom. She tried to pull the shoes

back but that only madematters worse because shefell in behind him.

Suddenly she found herselftwirling around and down a hugehole at the speed of lightning. Sheflapped her arms about as she tried tograb hold of Tom. “Help me!” criedTom desperately. With all her mightChantelle grabbed onto Tom’s ankle,and at that point they slowed downand started to float.

Both children opened theireyes and gasped. They

were in pale bluewater with an electric

blue whirlpool in the distance.There were some fish darting around

with luminous tropical colours, splashing theirtails, which wobbled like jelly. Other fish had

beautiful flippers that flapped like little birds’ wings.

Then as they turned to each other, Tom and Chantelle sawthemselves developing into fish. Tom was devastated to see

himself as a Jack Knife fish with black and vibrant yellow stripesrunning across his body, which was now in the shape of a boomerangwith a round head. He looked at Chantelle, who had changed into aBlue Gem fish and was flapping her sparkly blue and green finsfrantically to swim to the surface of the water. Chantelle was horrified,but Tom was bubbling over with excitement. “Yay, I can breatheunderwater – and I can swim upside down too!” he yelled.

Tom held fins with Chantelle and dragged her deeper into the warmsea. But gradually the water started getting colder and they realisedthat they were in a dark cave. The cracks at the top of the cave let insome light, which was reflected in the mini crystals that wereembedded in the rocks. The amber rocks looked like fiery flames. Therewas a small blue hole that they swam towards but they couldn’t feelanything.

THE UNDERSEA ADVENTURE


When they got there they squeezed through one at a time into amassive wave, and in the blink of an eye they shot to the surface.Suddenly Chantelle’s fin was hit with a heavy rope. Tom swam over tocheck if she was OK and without realising it they floated into a fishingnet. They both screamed.

As their heads broke the surface of the sea Tom and Chantelle were

amazed to find they turned back into children. Chantelle wasdelighted to be human again, but Tom was heartbroken; his dreamhad evaporated. The fisherman was annoyed to see children in hisnet as he thought they were after his fish. He threw them back intothe deep dark sea.

Then they saw pale grey fins darting towards them. Chantellescreamed! There were sharks thrashing about in the water, makinglots of noise. But soon the sound was drowned out by the mighty roarof a speedboat engine. “We are saved!” exclaimed Chantelle. Theyhad been rescued by a man with a dull grey beard who smelledstrongly of ‘Lynx’ shower gel. “Hello!” he called. “Grab onto this poleand I’ll pull you out!” They both clenched the pole tightly and theman was able to haul them onto the speedboat.

“Hey, what are your names? My name is Jackie Joe,” he shoutedabove the sound of the engine. Both children noticed that Jackie Joewas wearing some very strange clothes for the driver of aspeedboat. On his head was a red pointy wizard hat with someChinese-style symbols and over his clothes he had a bright whiterobe.

“Hi! My name is Tom and this is Chantelle. Thanks for saving us!”said Tom, shivering. “Here, have this,” said Jackie Joe, taking off his robe and giving it tothe children.

As Chantelle turned her head around, she noticed somethingsparkling under one of the boat’s planks. She slowly reached out andgrabbed it. It was a valuable sapphire ring. She was about to give itto Jackie Joe when Tom nudged her.





“Don’t say anything,” whispered Tom. And he snatched the ring fromChantelle and put it in his pocket. “What are you two whispering about?” asked Jackie Joe.Thinking quickly, Tom asked, “What are those symbols on your hat?”“They show that I am an international free-running champion,” explainedJackie Joe, steering towards the shore.Chantelle screamed as the boat hit the shore. It stopped suddenly andJackie Joe and the children were catapulted out onto dry land.

They scrambled quickly to their feet, groaning about their bumps andbruises. As they walked quietly across the stonybeach, Jackie Joe heard someone singing “TheMuffin Man” with a quirky Irish accent. He turnedaround quickly and saw running towards themsome small men with curlyorange hair wearingwaistcoats as green as grassand huge round glasses. Theywere leprechauns, and theywere not

happy. Jackie Joe and thechildren began to run, butthe boldest leprechaunyelled, “You can run, butyou can’t escape us!”

Jackie Joe and the children rushed to one ofthe tall buildings that were standing nearby.Jackie Joe put on his spiked free-runningshoes. A

t

the

s

peed

of

light,they sprinted

up thestairs


and climbed out onto the roof.

The leprechauns followed them but by the time they arrived onthe roof Jackie Joe and the children had already jumped acrossto the next building. As the leprechauns rushed to the edge ofthe roof they were pushing and shoving each other so muchthat half of them fell off. The other five managed to leap the gapsuccessfully.

Meanwhile, Jackie Joe led the children to two zip wires that ranfrom the roof of the next building down to the beach. He helpedChantelle onto one, while Tom got onto the other by himself.“Whee,” he shouted as he slid down the wire. Jackie Joe leaptup and put one foot on each wire as he ran down, with sparksflying from his shoes. Then Chantelle panicked and lost hergrip. “I’m falling!” she screamed, but Jackie Joe managed to



Totheir su

rprise,the middle of the head

openedup.Sothechildrensaidtheir

goodby

esto Jac

kie Joe and in a flash theydisappearedintotheanom

aly.Asif

bymagic t

hey found themselvesbackinthe

class

room.

grab her arm and hold her safely until they reachedthe ground. Without pausing for breath, they rushed

into the sea and began to swim.

Under the waves they caught a glimpse of someruined buildings in the distance above them. Thechildren swam quickly into a cave, following

Jackie Joe. The water started to get lower and soonthey were able to wade on to the land. There theysaw a city made up of a temple and some brokenfoundations. The temple was the only building stillupright and all the surrounding buildings wereembedded in the sand.

They walked over to the temple and inside they sawa stone head that was slightly cracked in places.One eye was a sea blue sapphire but the otherwas blank. Next to the head was a sign saying,“DO NOT DISTURB MY SLEEP!” Tom walked overto the head and said cheekily, “Oh old wise one,can you show us the way home?” To his surprise,the head replied – in a language that left himbaffled. But now the symbols on Jackie Joe’s hat

began to light up in dazzling colours and Jackie Joeanswered the head in the same language.

Tom and Chantelle looked from Jackie Joe to the stone head.“What did it say?” asked Tom.

“It said, ‘Put your hat on the symbols on the wall’,” translated JackieJoe, putting his hat on the wall.




To their amazement they saw that the symbols matched! “The head says, ‘Now put the sapphire in my other eye’,” continuedJackie Joe. “What sapphire does it mean?”Tom pulled the sapphire ring from his pocket and placed it in the empty eye socket.


Totheir su

rprise,the middle of the head

openedup.Sothechildrensaidtheir

goodby

esto Jac

kie Joe and in a flash theydisappearedintotheanom

aly.Asif

bymagic t

hey found themselvesbackinthe

class

room.

“Where have you two been?” asked their teacher.“Well…”



It was a blazing hot summer’s day and the children in Class 5 wereeager to get out for lunch. They stared at the clock, counting downthe seconds till the bell. 3… 2… 1… Finally, it was break and for

the first time this year they were allowed onto the field. They werebursting to get out, and when the teacher eventually released themthey charged out of the door.

“Fred and Claire! Don’t forget it’s your turn to tidy up the bookshelvestoday,” reminded Miss Ing. Fred stopped in his tracks and groaned.He had already made it half way down the corridor in his desperationto get outside and avoid doing his boring job. Slowly, he trudged backinto the hot, stuffy classroom and sank into his chair.

“It won’t take too long. Then you can go out for lunch,” finished MissIng.

Fred wasn’t convinced. Sunlight was beaming through the classroomwindows, covering everything in a warm, golden blanket, and hecould already hear children screaming and laughing on the field. Hefrowned with disappointment and sank even further into his chair.At that moment the phone rang in the corridor. “Ah, this willprobably be for me,” Miss Ing stated as she began to leave the room.“I won’t be a moment. Make sure that the bookcase is nice and neatwhen I come back.”

Leaving Fred and Claire alone in the classroom, Miss Ing went to takethe phone call.


Two Sides to Every StoryTwo Sides to Every Story



As soon as she had left the room Fred turned to Claire and moaned,“I hate this job!”

“Don’t worry. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we’ll getoutside,” reassured Claire. “You never know, this could be fun!” Withthat, she went to the bookshelf and began to neaten up the books. Fredlooked longingly out of the classroom window. Sunlight was stillfilling the room and from where he was slumped he could see hisshadow looking just as grumpy as him.

All of a sudden, he jumped up and with a mischievous grin he startedto wander around playing butterflies with the Sun. “That wasn’t quitethe fun that I was thinking of,” Claire remarked as he fluttered hishands cheekily in front of her face. “Ah, thank goodness for that! Ican see a cloud coming that will block the Sun for sure. Now you cancome and help me.”

As the cloud floated across the Sun, the room went into shade, butFred carried on playing butterflies in front of the bookcase.

“You can stop being silly now. The Sun’s gone in. Get out of the wayand start helping.”

But instead of moving Fred edged closer to the bookcase. “Hey, who’schanged the colour of the Sun? My butterflies are multi-colourednow!” he muttered.

“What are you going on about? The Sun’s gone in. There’s no light tomake your shadows,” stated Claire.

“Yeah there is. Look! You’re just trying to ruin my game,” said Fredangrily.

He could see a rainbow of colours creeping through the gaps betweenthe books on the bookshelf. The shafts of light were gleaming andglistening in the darkness that the cloud was making and all Fred couldthink about was his favourite flavours of ice-cream. “I can see mint-choc chip! I can see raspberry ripple! Mmmm, toffee!” drooled Fred.

Claire stared at him suspiciously. “Are you trying to trick me? I can’tsee anything apart from all these books!” Ignoring him, she rolled hereyes and carried on with their job. She was used to Fred and hisslightly weird moments where he daydreamed about food. She triedto forget this recent outburst and set about removing a handful ofbooks from the middle shelf.

Instantly Fred saw even more light pour out from the bookcase, like adisco ball showering the room in multi-coloured brightness. He stoodas still as a statue, watching the magical glow streaming through thebooks. Gasping with delight, Fred blabbered, “I really can see ice-cream over the back of the bookshelf! Honest! At least, I think I can.”

“Don’t be daft!” Claire replied in disbelief, continuing to tidy morebooks off the shelves.

Each time a new shaft of light broke through a fresh gap, Fred’sexcitement built up to the point of exploding! Unable to containhimself any longer, he barged Claire out of the way in hisdesperation to see all the swirls and flavours he was experiencing.In total confusion Fred reached out to grab at the back of thebookshelf to try to touch the wonderful patterns. As he stretched heknocked some of the books on the shelf. As if by magic the booksdisappeared through the glowing light. Shocked, Fred staggered

TWO SIDES TO EVERy STORy


The Title of the Chapter


forward and his hand followed the books straight through the backof the bookshelf.

Claire gasped as she saw the books, and Fred’s hand, disappear. Asquick as a flash she yanked Fred back to see that he was alright.Amazingly, she witnessed his hand come back through unharmed.“Are you OK?” asked Claire in shock. “Your hand just disappearedthrough the back of the bookcase!”

“I’m fine,” replied Fred, “but I don’t think it’s ice-cream!” CautiouslyClaire picked up a ruler and moved towards the bookshelf. Sheprodded a few more books and they too completely vanished into thinair. “I think you’re right, Fred. That’s definitely not ice-cream. Let’sfind out what it really is.”

Claire and Fred frantically started pulling the books off the shelves tosee just what was going on. As the shelves were cleared, Fred beganto get a better view of all the swirls and colours that had taken overthe back of the bookcase. Every time new lights shone out hedescribed what he could see. Each time, in their excitement to emptythe shelves, more books accidentally fell through, Claire’s belief thatsomething was there strengthened. By the time all of the books andshelves were on the floor Fred could see the full effect of themysterious spirals.

“I think the scientific term is an ‘anomaly’. The books have to be goingsomewhere, but where?” Claire thought. “Do you think we should getMiss Ing…?” Before she could finish her sentence Fred had clamberedacross the books and disappeared through the back of the bookcase.

Claire stood there staring at where Fred had once been. To her it wasjust a plain, red piece of wood. She had seen nothing that her best

friend had seen. And now he had vanished, just like the books. AsClaire was about to go and get help, she began to hear Fred’s voiceshouting at her to follow him. Before she could call for Miss Ing, Fredreappeared, grabbed her arm and pulled her through.

As Fred and Claire stumbled through the anomaly they foundthemselves in a dark, gloomy corridor. Candles flickered dimly, barelylighting the space around them. Torn pictures hung on the dusty wallsand cobwebs covered the shadowy corners. An old grandfather clockstood tall between two closed doors, its slow tick echoing in the eeriehallway.

Claire spun around to head back through the anomaly that hadbrought them there but all she could feel was a broken bookcase,littered with ripped books. “It’s not there. It disappeared the momentI pulled you through,” Fred whispered. “And I can hear scary noisescoming from that room.”





Claire turned and looked down the hall to where Fred was pointing.She could see a glow of light behind the door and as her eyes adjustedshe began to hear the screaming Fred had noticed.

The floorboards creaked as they slowly tiptoed towards the room toinvestigate the mysterious sound. The closer they got, the louder thenoise became, and Fred’s confidence began to crumble. “When’s adoor not a door? When it’s a jar…” he laughed nervously under hisbreath. Claire calmly patted Fred on the back to reassure him thateverything would be OK and they both peered round the door.

An old lady was standing at a kitchen table with her back to them.She was dressed in rags and a scruffy apron was tied loosely aroundher waist. In her hand was a large knife which she was rapidly movingfrom side to side. The old lady was screeching and wailing at the topof her voice as if she was in pain. Every so often she stopped to cackle,which sent a shiver down the children’s spines.

Fred and Claire stared wide eyed as the knife flashed up in the air,leaving a trail of red in its wake. Suddenly they began to look aroundand noticed red handprints covering the walls and cupboards.Smeared over the floor were red footprints leading to where the oldlady stood. Over by the dirty window, the sink was splattered witheven more red, which was dripping down to form a puddle below.

Without looking up, the old lady stopped her dreadful shrieking andout of the blue she spoke to the two trembling children. “I’d love tohave you for dinner,” she croaked as she waved her knife in theirdirection. Slowly twisting, the old lady turned to Fred and Claire andflashed a smile at them. Her face was covered in red and the thickliquid was dribbling down onto her apron.

Frozen with fear, the children looked on as the old lady stared rightback at them. In the background the ticking of the grandfather clockwent silent. Without warning there was a loud clunk, and the half-hour chimes sprang into life. The old lady jumped and the knife fellout of her hand, clattering to the floor. Fred and Claire yelled in terrorand shot down the corridor. They crashed through the front door andkept running.

“Come back!” called out the old lady in confusion. “I thoughteveryone liked tomato ketchup sandwiches.” She watched as thechildren ran into the forest at the end of her garden. With a sigh sheclosed the door and walked back into the kitchen. Turning off theradio she had been singing to, she looked around at the mess. “Lookat the state of this kitchen! I’d better clean up before I have my lunch.”

Fred and Claire found themselves running deeper and deeper into theforest. After a few minutes they came to a clearing and Fred collapsedagainst a large oak tree. “You said this would be fun,” panted Fred.“For once, I wish I was back at school!”



The Title of the Chapter


“If you hadn’t gone through the anomaly in the first place we wouldn’tbe in this mess,” replied Claire, looking over her shoulder. “At leastwe’re away from that house now.”

“But now we’re in a horrible, overgrown forest. What if we meet athree-headed mmmmonster?” Fred stuttered.

“We’d need to say ‘hello, hello, hello’!” frowned Claire.

“OK, but what if we come across a mmmonster with six arms?”stammered Fred.

“We’ll just stay calm and try not to get carried away,” Claire sighed.“Listen. There’s no such thing as monsters. We need to focus ongetting home!”

The children looked around the clearing. Surrounding them werethick, prickly bushes stretching across unused paths. Trees toweredabove their heads, leaving the forest cold and dark in the midday sun.As the trees swayed in the slight breeze, shadows moved about theforest floor, leaving Fred and Claire feeling even more uncomfortable.“I hope we find the anomaly thing soon,” said Fred quietly.

“I agree. But I won’t be able to see it,” Claire reminded him. “So let’sget moving and hope you see another one.”

They chose the clearest path and set off. After a while they cameacross a clearing in the forest. Fred, feeling very hungry, slumpedagainst a large oak tree. “This is all just a little bit familiar to me.Haven’t we been here before?” questioned Claire.

The children tried again, this time choosing a different path. Theywalked and walked, further and further, until they got to yet anotherclearing. “Isn’t this the same place?” groaned Claire, noticing the tree.



“I’m starving!” Fred moaned as he clutched his rumbling tummy.

Claire looked over at Fred and gave him an understanding smile. “Iknow, but we’ve got to keep going. Surely we’ll find a way to get homesoon. Come on, there’s one more path to try and hopefully that willbe the right one.”

They trudged over to the path Claire had suggested and followed itswinding trail back into the shadowy forest. Even though Fred knewthat he was supposed to be looking out for the multi-coloured swirlsof the anomaly, he couldn’t help but search for food.



It wasn’t too long before he found what he was looking for. In amongstthe overgrown bushes Fred spotted the biggest blackberry bush he hadever seen. He stopped and gazed in wonder at the large, juicy berrieshanging from the thick branches in front of him. Within a few secondsFred had scoffed all the berries within reach. Out of the corner of hiseye he spied the fattest, most delicious-looking berry of them all.Reaching out to pick the sweet prize, he toppled forward anddisappeared into the thorny bush.

Hearing the crash, Claire whipped around only to find Fred gone.Calling out, she desperately began to try to find him. She rushedaround, retracing her steps, looking high and low for a sign of wherehe could have vanished to.

Suddenly, Claire heard rustling in a bush behind her. “Fred..?” sheasked nervously as she slowly turned around and moved towards thenoise. Before she could take another step, a gap appeared in thebushes and a filthy hand reached out, grabbing at Claire’s wrist. Shescreamed and fell backwards onto the leafy path. As she looked upshe saw a terrifying figure emerge through the thorns. Groaning as itmoved, it had dark goo dripping from its mouth and its feet draggedheavily along the floor. Brown slime covered the creature, leaving atrail behind it as it shuffled closer to where Claire had fallen. Themonster raised its arms in her direction…

“Ahhhhh! It’s a ZOMBIE!” cried Claire in horror.

“Where?” panicked Fred, his mouth full of blackberries.

“Ahhhhh!” repeated Claire as she saw even more goo spray out ofthe creature’s mouth.

“Where is it? Where is it?” spat Fred in complete terror.

“Ahhhhh!”“Where!”

“AHHHHHHHHH!” they both screamed,running around in all directions.

BUMP! Claire landed back on the floor with a thud. She lookedup and saw an old lady carrying a basket, smiling sweetly down ather. The old lady held out her hand. Helping Claire up, she asked,“Are you alright, my dear?”

“Help me! Please help me!” Claire pleaded.

The old lady patted Claire reassuringly on the shoulder and turnedher around so she could see ‘the zombie’.

Fred was still racing around in circles, screaming at the top of hisvoice, covered in mud and leaves… and blackberry juice.

“Oh,” Claire whispered, starting to turn red. “Oops. I knew it wasn’ta monster really.”

They watched on as Fred continued to run up and down the path,screaming at himself. Just as they were about to stop him, Fred losthis balance. Cringing, they both watched him tumble across the floorand come to a halt at their feet. “Hello, Mr Zombie. Have youfinished?” asked Claire in embarrassment.

“That’s OK,” said the old lady. “It must be very strange for you both,being here.”

Claire paused for a moment, then turned to face the old lady andlooked closely at her. Taking a step back, Claire gasped, “It’s you!From the house! All that bl…” She stopped as the old lady reached




into her basket. Fred stood up and they both stared in terror as shepulled out something dripping with red.

“Ahhhhh!” yelled Fred as he began to run up and down the pathagain.

“Here,” said the old lady, offering Claire a plate. “You must be hungry.Have one of the ketchup sandwiches you watched me make back atthe house.”

“Ketchup… sandwich…” Claire repeated.

“Ahhh… huh?” blurted Fred as he skidded to a halt.

The old lady sat them both down in the clearing and set out the picnicshe had prepared. She explained about the mess in the kitchen and

apologised for any frights they had been given. As the old lady toldthe children about previous visitors she had met, Claire passed Freda handkerchief to clean himself up. As he wiped his face the old ladynoticed his green eyes.

“So you are the one with the special gift! Those green eyes of yoursare the reason why you can see the anomaly. And you must have beenvery puzzled by it all,” she said, turning to Claire.

“That explains a lot. I did get confused when he said he could see ice-cream,” nodded Claire.

“Well, I had noticed that Fred likes his food,” remarked the old ladyas she watched him gobble down a few more sandwiches. “But nowI think you’ve had far too much excitement for your first visit. We’dbetter get you home.”

Realising that things weren’t exactly as they had imagined, thechildren enjoyed the sounds of the birds and the smell of the plantsas they followed the old lady back to her house.

As they left the forest, sunlight shone in their eyes and they could feelthe warmth dance around them. Hills stretched as far as they couldsee and the old lady’s house stood by a calm, flowing stream thatglistened in the sun. The house was actually a beautiful cottage. Ivyclimbed the walls and neat flowerbeds lay in colourful rows in thegarden. The curtains were now open and a gentle wisp of smokepuffed out from the chimney above.

“I managed to finish my spring clean,” said the old lady proudly. Shegot out a large gold key and opened the door.





The hallway had been dusted and the cobwebs were gone. Apatterned rug lay on the corridor floor and new pictures hung onthe walls. They could see one of the doors open by the grandfatherclock and inside was a comfortable-looking chair by an openfireplace. Fred and Claire looked around them, shocked at howdifferent it was now from how it had appeared before. They turnedtowards the bookcase.

“Fred? Can you see it?” Claire asked wistfully.

“Ah, that reminds me,” said the old lady. “Here’s a little somethingyou could use in the future. It’s not just a green hairband. Put it onand have another look at the bookcase.” Claire tied back her long,blond hair and stared in amazement at the shower of colourspurting from the anomaly in the bookcase.

“Thank you,” she murmured, unable to take her eyes off the sparksand flashes.

The old lady smiled. “Hurry along now. I’ll see you again soon.”

Fred and Claire waved as they stepped through the bookcase andfound themselves back in their classroom. They turned around,seeing the anomaly disappear, and grinned at each other.

“Wow, that was amazing! We’d better make sure we do it again,”exclaimed Fred.

Claire looked over at the clock. “Oh, the time hasn’t changed at allsince we went through the anomaly!”

“What?” said Fred, looking at the clock. At that moment their teacherwalked back into the room and noticed the books all over the floor. “Ithought you wanted to go out to play, Fred. Haven’t you finished yet?”

“We’ve been gone for ages. Haven’t you realised we’ve been missing?”Fred blabbered.

“Is that some kind of joke?” she replied.



The Knight’s ShieldChapter 1 : The Disco | Chapter 2 : The Knight and the Princess | Chapter 3 : The Tournament

Chapter 4 : Trapped! | Chapter 5 : Back Home




Chapter 1 : The Disco

“Wow! This disco is great,” shouted Michaela and Charlie over all the noise andscreams in the school hall.

After they had had a dance they went to get an ice-cold lemonade. They saw a redflashing light in the Upper School corridor and suspiciously strolled up the stairs.

“Oh, what is that? I think I can see fog over there,” shouted Michaela. Charlie spun around quickly to see what she was talking about. They saw the faint

outline of a ghostly knight on a dark brown horse and they followed it to the UpperSchool corridor.

“Wow!” whispered Charlie under his breath.“How did that get into school?” wondered Michaela. But when the ghost turned around the corner, it disappeared. “Please hurry up. This is getting creepy,” whispered Michaela. “Shhh… Michaela, we must stay quiet,” grunted Charlie. Then Jay wandered out of the boys’ toilet and spotted them!“Where are you going? You know the Upper School area is off limits!” shouted Jay.“Be quiet Jay! Something weird is happening. Follow us,” muttered Charlie quietly.

When they turned the corner the children could not see the ghost any more butthe Year 6 painting of a shield opened up and the knight came walking out of it. Hestopped and stared at them. Then the knight turned around and walked back to theshield and in a flash he had disappeared through it. The children followed the mist heleft behind. Jay looked up at the clock – it was 8:35pm.

THE KNIGHT’S SHIELD

Then they suddenly got suckedinto

theshieldandspunroundlikeahelicopter’spr

opel

ler,

and all the colours from the shield started

toflashandmeanwhileeveryth

ing

st

arted to swirl!




Chapter 2 : The Knight and the Princess

Before they knew it they were falling out of the mysterious shield.“WHERE ARE WE?” shouted Jay, looking at the woods which surrounded them. There was a path leading in front of them and also behind. Which way should they go? Either side of the path was thick with trees.“Come with me. We’re going right, but we must stick together,” announced Jay.

Suddenly they saw a handsome knight coming towards them on horseback. “What are you doing? It’s my wood, so get out!” declared the knight.

Michaela stepped forward. “Please Sir, we are lost. Can you help us? It seemsstrange to meet you here – have we travelled back in time?”

The knight revealed that they had travelled back to Medieval England and that itwas in fact March 1399. They were amazed and rather frightened.

The knight thought for a moment and kindly replied, “I can lead you to theedge of London but you will need to go to the castle and present a letter ofintroduction to the king.”

The children began to follow the knight. They were feeling a little worried atthe thought of going to London without their parents, but it was also veryexciting.

High above, an eagle was floating on the breeze. All of a sudden it swoopeddown through the tree tops in search of food.

They hadn’t walked for too long, maybe about half an hour, when the treesthinned out and they found themselves in a clearing with a little stream runningacross it and a tiny wooden footbridge stretching over the stream. In the distancethey could hear a trumpet being blown. This meant they were close to thecastle.

The knight stopped. He turned to say goodbye and good luck to his new friendsand rode off back into the woods. The children hesitated for a while then satdown on the grass to write a letter to the king.




The children walked up to the wall that surrounded the castle and spoke tothe guards at the huge metal gates.

“Could you take this letter to the king, please?” asked Michaela. “Weneed his help.”

“Wait there and I will see what we can do,” replied the guard. Nervously the children waited outside for the guard to return. In a few

minutes they heard a pretty voice. “May I be of any help?”Turning their heads to the sound, they saw standing before them a beautiful

princess. The boys were speechless but Michaela quickly curtseyed, as shehad learnt to do in ballet class, until the princess told her to stand up straight.

“My name is Catharine. What is your quest?” she asked, with her blueeyes sparkling at them.

Between them the three children told the princess everything that hadhappened to them. She told them to go to the Tower of London to meether father, the king, who was at a tournament, and said that he might helpthem. She kindly lent them her horse so they could take turns at restingwhile the others walked.

They set off. Dark clouds spread across the sky and raindrops began to pit-patter on the ground. It was muddy and slippery but they still made it to thecity of London about two hours after they left the castle. They wereapproaching from the east.

Chapter 3 : The Tournament

“I know where we are, I’ve seen this before. We are near the Tower of London!”exclaimed Charlie.

“It looks almost the same now as it is in 2011,” Michaela said as she walked quicklytowards it.

“How about we follow all these people?” shouted Jay over all the noise.They walked along with the crowds, hoping to get into the Tower and find the

knight who could lead them back to the magical shield.

“I am so tired I need to sit down,” grunted Jay, dragging his feet. “Here are some seats, so let’s sit down for a bit,” answered Michaela.The noise from the Tower was getting louder the nearer they got.“I’m hungry. We need some food. Where can we find some round here?” shouted

Jay over all the noise. “Come and get your apples, only 2 farthings for ten,” shouted a man standing by

a wooden stall. “Have you got any hamburgers?” called Charlie. “Get away unless you’re buying,” yelled the man.The children walked away with their tummies rumbling!




Michaela looked around in confusion. Then the three children caught sight of ahuge wooden gate.

“What is that loud noise?” moaned Charlie. They walked towards the big wooden gate. They carefully peeped round the

corner and saw thousands of people seated in tiered rows. They were shouting andchanting. In the centre of the arena were men on horses charging towards eachother.

Suddenly a child ran over to them. She was a short little girl. She had long blondhair with a plait hanging down over the side of her shoulder and red rosy cheeks.She was wearing a long yellow dress with a white ribbon on the side of it.

“What are you wearing?” she asked. “Are you from the royal family?” “We have been sent here from the castle to find a knight to help us find our

shield,” explained Charlie. He told her the tale of their travels from 2011 but then they didn’t know what

to do next. The little girl told them to come with her so they could talk to herfather, who was a knight. He could introduce them to the king and see if they couldget the help they needed.

Nervously they approached the king and waited for him to tell them what to do.The king carefully explained that he had experienced something with a flashingshield before and the only way to make the shield open again was to win acompetition!

“You have to enter a jousting competition and win. Otherwise, you will haveto be servants in my castle,” declared the king.

“But we have no idea how to joust,” exclaimed Jay. “Very well! I will have to get one of my knights to teach you,” the king replied.“I will do the joust,” whispered Charlie nervously.“No, I will do it. I am stronger than you,” said Jay. “OK, then Jay is doing the joust,” answered the king. “Follow me and I will lend you my horse and show you what to do,” announced

the knight. “OK, sir,” called Jay.



The knight led them to the armoury to show them the lance they would need touse. As they entered the room they all stopped and stared up at the wall.

Michaela excitedly shouted, “Look at that shield over there, it’s exactly the sameas the one at school but it’s not flashing!”

The knight brought a lance over for Jay to hold. “Wow! That’s very heavy,” said Jay.“Well, you’d best get used to it because you need to ride a horse while you’re

holding it,” laughed the knight.

They spent the rest of the afternoon on the training field, practising. Jay was verygood at riding because he had lessons at home, but holding on one-handed provedto be a little more difficult than he expected. As it got later and the sun was goingdown the knight declared that Jay would be ready to compete after a meal and anight’s rest.

The next morning, after an uncomfortable night’s sleep in the stable, they had a quickwash and made their way to the armoury for Jay to get dressed for the joust.

When it was time for the competitionJay was very nervous. As the childrenwalked out they could hear the crowdscreaming as they were waiting for thenext joust.

“Are you sure you know what youare doing” asked Charlie.

“Yes. I am sure. Just trust me on this,OK?” answered Jay.

A very frightened Jay sat upright on hishorse and trotted into the arena. He tookhis place at the end of the jousting trackand prepared for battle. The flag camedown to start the race and Jay kicked hishorse and set off.

Michaela and Charlie were screaming,“Go, Jay, go!”As the knight opposite Jay charged

towards him, Jay suddenly pulled on thehorse’s reins and turned round and ranaway. He was terrified of being hurt.The king stood up in the royal box anddeclared that Jay was disqualified.





Chapter 4 : Trapped!

“How do we get home now?” asked Michaela. “You can’t go home because you lost the tournament, so into the kitchen with

you! You are now my servants until we can think of another contest you can win,”the king told the three worried children.

Jay, Charlie and Michaela went into the kitchen and wondered what they shoulddo now. The annoyed chef was not happy to have three children in her kitchen.

The children were given their orders by the chef, who told them to feed theblacksmith in the armoury. So they began to bake a cake. Then they started to thinkof a plan to poison the blacksmith because in the armoury with him was the shieldthey needed to use to get home but they knew he would never let them enter as thearmoury was out of bounds to children.

While the cook was busy on the other side of the kitchen cooking a chicken for theking’s feast, they put some mouldy milk in the cake and a rotten banana.

While they were waiting for the cake to cook they tried to come up with ideas forcontests they might be able to win. Charlie suddenly remembered that he had donefencing lessons in the infants with the Little Musketeers club.

“I might be able to win a sword fight against another child. I wonder if they havea children’s competition when the adults have finished?” said Charlie thoughtfully.

“Fantastic idea, Charlie,” said Michaela. “Let’s go ask the king.”

The chef was getting fed up with the kids’ chatting and told them to hurry up andget out of her kitchen. When the cake was cooked it smelled delicious so they had toremind themselves that it had mouldy milk and a rotten banana in it! Then theyhurried away.

Carrying the cake to the blacksmith, they went the long way round through the fair.They walked past a table with loads of cakes on it.

“Look – a cake contest,” shouted Jay.

The children walked away holding up a small trophy and looking very pleased withthemselves.

“We still need to get this to the blacksmith. He’s expecting it,” said Michaela.

“Yum! Cake! I have not had cake in a long time!” exclaimed the blacksmith. After he had eaten the cake he ran off, ignoring the children. “I think he has tummy ache,” giggled Michaela. While he was distracted they grabbed the bright red

flashing shield from the wall and ran back to the kitchen.

They placed the shield on the floor and looked at eachother, all thinking the same thing. How does this work?

Then they noticed that there was a crack of light on theshield that was getting bigger and bigger.

Recipe for the Cake8 Mushy BananasRotten Cheese – 1 slice ofMOULDY Milk – 3 pints ofPoison – 7 spoons ofChocolate Icing – half a bowl ofFlour – 5 cups ofSugar – 2 bowls ofFudge – 1 cup of

What to do now1. Get a big bowl.2. Put all the ingredients in a cake tin.

3. Stir the ingredients until there are no more lumps in the bowl.4. Then put it in the oven for 25 minutes.

5. After 25 minutes take it out and leave it to cool down for 5 minutes.6. Now it’s ready to eat.Hope you enjoy your revolting cake.




Chapter 5 : Back Home

Suddenly, with a loud crash, Jay, Michaela and Charliefell out of the shield and tumbled onto the floor.

“We did it! We’re back at the disco!” yelled Charliein amazement.

“Woohoo! We’re back!” cried Michaela and Jay. “I thought we were in there for three days, but look

at the clock! We’ve been in there for only one minute,”said Michaela in shock. The clock showed 8:36pm.

“Wow!” said Jay in surprise. Jay thought that he imagined the whole adventure

but then he felt something bulging out of his pocket. Heput his hand down to see what it was and pulled out asmall metal trophy. Engraved on the side were thewords: Cake baking winners of 1399.

The three children ran down the corridor and quicklyinto the toilets. Michaela told Jay to give her the trophy so she could hide it in herbag until they decided what to do with it. They were all feeling a little confused.

How could this have really happened in thespace of one minute? Yet they had the trophyto prove it was real.

“We can’t tell anyone about this yet becausepeople won’t believe us. We need to gettogether over the weekend to discuss what todo,” Michaela sensibly arranged with the boys.

“Come to my tree house tomorrow morningand don’t forget the password. The new word is TROPHY,” announced Charlieimportantly.

Running quickly, they slipped back into thehall, hoping that all their friends hadn’t missedthem in the disco. It was time for the final dancebefore the parents came to collect them.

Jay asked Michaela to dance with him and as they danced close together theywhispered about their exciting adventure.


Beep, a-beep, beep, beep,

a-beep, beep, beep,

a-beep, beep! The noise seemed to pierce her very skull. “Oh, it can’t be

school time already,” grumbled Jamie. “Why can’t the weekends

last longer?”

As if in answer, her mum called from downstairs.

“Jamie-Lee, sweetie, time to get up, Pickle.”

Jamie didn’t answer, but just pulled the duvet up

over her head. She hated her mother’s pet names!

“Pickle,” she sighed. “Why Pickle? It’s so

embarrassing!”

Her hand fumbled for the snooze button as

she tried to get comfortable without exposing her

eyes to the light. Just five more minutes, she thought.

But it was not to be.

“Jamie-Lee, hurry up my love, you don’t want to be late!”

“Coming, Mum,” she mumbled.

“Jamie-Lee, do I have to come up there?” mum called

yet again.

“I said I’m coming, for goodness’ sake!”

“There’s no need for that! Now just get a move on, I’m not giving

you a lift again. If you’re late you’ll have to deal with the consequences.”

“OK, Mum… Sorry, I’m getting up.”

“Breakfast’s on the table,” called her mother as a last reminder.

The Locket Anomaly



Suddenly Jamie realised it was Tuesday, show and tell day. This made

her tumble out of bed. She wanted to be able to get up and dressed without

a fuss, but no, her hair was a mess!

“Oh no, look at my hair! It’s awful, it looks like a bird’s nest,” Jamie said,

in shock.

“Jamie, come NOW!” exclaimed her mum.

“Coming. Just getting dressed,” yelled Jamie in reply.

She grabbed her phone and texted her best friend Ashley. R UWEARING A SKIRT 2DAY XX?

Then she went to her wardrobe and picked out her best school outfit.

Will this be OK? she thought to herself as she studied how her reflection

looked. Just then a text reply appeared on her mobile. YEAH, I AM. MEETU AT THE SHOP ON THE CORNER TO WALK TO SCHOOL was

Ashley’s reply.

YEAH OF COURSE. C U THERE, Jamie sent back.

She quickly finished getting dressed and finally sorted out her

beautiful, long golden hair into a neat pony tail and snuck across the

landing to her mum’s bedroom.

BANG! The box fell to the floor, the vibration echoing through the house.

“Woops!” Jamie whispered.

As her mum was about to speak, Jamie shuddered. She knew she was

going to be told off.

“Jamie, what was that?” mum asked calmly. Jamie took a long, slow

breath of relief.

“Dunno, wasn’t me!” She knew it was bad to lie, but thought it might be

acceptable just this one time. She needed to find something, anything to do

with her dad, in two minutes flat or she would have nothing for show and

tell and no way of shutting Lauren up! She picked up the jewellery box and

was about to replace it on the shelf when she saw something she

remembered. An old locket, a slightly dirty old locket; she knew it, but

couldn’t quite place where from. She opened it and there, looking back at

her, was a picture of her dad, or at least she thought it was her dad.

Perfect, just what she needed! She heard mum’s footsteps coming up the

stairs; she grabbed the locket and hurried out of mum’s room into the

bathroom. Mum walked past and into her room. That was close, Jamie

thought.

Jamie cautiously tiptoed down the stairs, hoping she wouldn’t get caught.

“Pickle, where are you off to? You haven’t had your toast yet,” mum

moaned, following Jamie down the stairs. Jamie bent down and quickly

slipped the locket into her shoe, carefully making it look like she was

tying her lace.

“Just doing my shoes,” Jamie replied nervously, limping along the

hall in agonising pain as the locket dug into the sole of her foot.

“Oh darling, you’re limping, show Mummy,” her mother said caringly.

“No, no, it’s fine, don’t worry. It’s fine, Mum. Gotta go, bye!” Jamie

staggered out of the door.

As she left she received a text message: C U OUTSIDE THE CORNERSHOP. 5 MIN LUV U XXX.

On the way Jamie passed Mr Short, who muttered “Good morning.” She bent

down to stroke his dog Pebbles, taking the locket from her shoe and

transferring it cleverly to her pocket. She arrived at the corner shop and saw

Ashley waiting for her.

“Well, did you get it?” enquired Ashley.

“Yep, look.” Jamie retrieved the locket from her pocket and showed

Ashley. “And look, there’s a picture of my dad inside.”

“You can’t see much behind that glass, but it should shut Lauren up. Is it

gold?” Ashley asked, giggling.

“I reckon so,” said Jamie with a smile. Slowly her smile faded. “I wish I’d

met him.”

“Come on, cheer up, let’s get to school.” Ashley flung her arm round her

friend and they headed off.

THE LOCKET ANOMALy



“Look at this, guys. I took it from my mum this morning!” Jamie gloated to

her friends, presenting the grubby gold item, which glinted in the morning

sun, with pride.

“WOW! That’s beautiful,” gasped her friends. “It must have cost a

fortune.” In the distance the bell rang for the start of school.

“Let’s line up,” said Jamie. “I’ll fill you in later!”

Jamie and her friends wandered slowly across the playground in a huddle,

whispering excitedly about the morning’s gossip. Jamie couldn’t resist

taking out the locket once again. It was beautiful, even through the dust.

It had a thin, shiny silver rim, with a golden centre. Even better, inside

was a picture of her dad, the only picture of him she could ever

remember seeing.

She’d been spotted. “Where did you get that from? It’s gorgeous!”

said Kayla, looking over her shoulder.

“Oh, it’s only something from my mum’s jewellery box. She wouldn’t let

me have it, so I took it from her this morning. I need to show Lauren!” Jamie

replied as Kayla snatched it from her hand for a better look. Jamie and her

friends chatted for a while as slowly the classes filed into line.

“Hey, everyone’s going in now, here, have it back, before Mr Johnson

spots it!” Kayla thrust the locket back to Jamie and she slipped it quickly into

her pocket and rushed into the class behind her friends.

As Mr Johnson started the register Jamie-Lee could hardly contain herself.

In a few minutes she would be able to prove to Lauren that she DID have

a dad!

Lauren was Jamie’s worst enemy. She had been bullying Jamie for what

seemed like forever, in fact since the very beginning of their school lives

together. As the register finally came to an end Jamie jumped up. “Mr

Johnson,” she called out, not really thinking clearly. “I have a show and tell.”

“Jamie, since when do children shout out at me from the other side of the

classroom? Sit down, we need the early bird done before anything else is

even discussed,” Mr Johnson replied angrily. Jamie sat slowly back in her

chair. She hated early bird but she had to get through it.

“Ah, oh, Mr Johnson, please can I do my show and tell?” Jamie whined.

“Oh, yes, let’s waste our time, when we could be learning, listening to you

blabber on about how cute your cat is,” Mr Johnson groaned sarcastically.

“Oh please, Mr Johnson. Jamie’s show and tell is really sick,” Ashley added.

“They can’t even use the language correctly,” muttered Mr Johnson.

“Sick? Can my life get any worse? This job and speed dating every night, just

to be rejected.”

“Please, Mr Johnson,” the class chorused.

“OK, just get on with it!” Mr Johnson slumped in his chair, shaking his head.

Jamie began, “My show and tell is this golden locket.” Some of the girls

‘ooh’d’ at the mention of gold. “Inside is a picture of my dad,” said Jamie

proudly, looking straight at Lauren and sneering. “It was taken just after I

was born.”

“It’s tricky to see,” said Mr Johnson, suddenly taking an interest. “I’ll put

it on the visualizer to blow it up a bit.”

“Thank you,” replied Jamie, still not taking her eyes off Lauren.

“The window is a little dirty. If you hold it, Jamie, I think I can pop it open

to give us a good view.” Mr Johnson went to his drawer and rummaged about

until he found his glasses screwdriver. “This should do it,” he commented as

he held the clasp.

“Please be careful,” begged Jamie.

“Here we go. You can open it now. See, I told you I’m an expert!” smiled

Mr Johnson.

What exactly happened next was rather confusing. The class screamed

and there was a flash of shimmering blue light like a puddle of water. Next

second the puddle had imploded, Jamie was gone and Mr Johnson was

swearing!

* * *

THE LOCKET ANOMALy



“What on earth…?” Jamie was in a small room, facing a door. She was sitting

on a toilet! She couldn’t get her head straight. Breathe, breathe, she told

herself. As she calmed slightly, her thoughts cleared.

I was in my class, it was show and tell. Mr Johnson opened the locket,

then everything went… bright blue. Another flash of blue and I’m here,

wherever here is. She felt like crying, but there was only one thing for it: to

open the door directly in front of her.

There were noises on the other side of the door, voices. That was a little

more comforting. She opened it a crack and screamed!

“Arth you al wight?” the vampire enquired as he removed his teeth.

“Sorry, can’t speak with these in. Are you OK? I didn’t mean to give you a

fright.”

“I… I… I thought you were a real vampire!” Jamie stammered.

“Really? Thanks for the compliment. I didn’t think my costume was that

good. I’m Tom, and you must be the new girl who’s just moved into number 27.”

“I’m Jamie,” replied Jamie.

“Jamie! That’s funny because the couple who live here, Jane and Peter,

have a baby called Jamie. Nice to meet you, Jamie.” He shook her hand. “It’s

great of you to help with the party. If you want a drink or anything, help

yourself. The kitchen’s through there on the left. I’ve got to go, I need to help

Mary with some tables. Catch you later.” Tom disappeared into the garden.

Jamie walked slowly towards the kitchen door. She pushed it hesitantly

and it creaked. As it swung open, to her surprise she saw people

everywhere: adults running in and out with plates of food; children playing,

dressed in spooky costumes and wearing masks. There were people hanging

lanterns and spraying fake cobwebs from corner to corner. “Excuse me,”

Jamie interrupted. “Do you know where I am?” Nobody answered. She tried

again, only louder, but still there was no answer. Suddenly the front door

burst open and a bunch of kids came rushing in. Two of the children looked

strangely familiar, but she couldn’t be sure.

Where am I? wondered Jamie. She gazed around the room, and things began

to look more and more familiar. Was that actually a photograph of her and

Gran on the wall? The glasses and sparkling eyes where the same as her

Gran’s, for sure. Panic and confusion were quickly spreading through

Jamie’s body: she knew this house, she had grown up here! Jamie rushed up

the stairs, heading towards where she was sure her bedroom would be. She

burst through the door. In the far corner of the room was a cot. Jamie walked

slowly towards it.

Lying silently inside was a beautiful baby girl. “W… w… w… what, w… w…

who?” she stuttered. As her eyes drifted around the familiar but different

room she became aware of music for the first time. It was the baby’s mobile

and she recognised the tune! It was then she noticed the teddy, HER teddy!

Then it all came flooding back. This was her house, her room, her mobile

and her teddy. Could it be? Was the baby girl actually her? She sank to the

ground in shock.

Jamie shot a glance at the calendar hanging above the cot. It was the day

her grandmother had told her about, it was Halloween!

Jamie felt the familiar smell of lavender rise in her nostrils. She remembered,

clearly, sitting comfortably on Gran’s knee telling her how wonderful she

smelled. It was as if she was above the picture on the wall, gazing down on

the vision of herself and Gran. As she watched silently, she saw that in fact

she was crying and Gran was comforting her. She strained to hear their

conversation.

“But why don’t I have a dad?” she was asking Gran. “Why don’t I? It’s

not fair!”

“My darling Jamie.” Gran was hugging her tightly. “You do, you do, it’s

just sometimes silly things happen in life and adults can’t sort it out so they

decide it’s best for them to be apart. Jamie, it’s not your fault. You mustn’t

think it is.”

“But if it’s not my fault, what happened?” Jamie sobbed. Gran looked into

Jamie’s face and seemed to be weighing up what she could tell her.

THE LOCKET ANOMALy




Right, so I’m in MY house, in the past, with all my family and I’m supposed to

be some girl from down the road. Is this a bad dream or what? Jamie

mumbled to herself. What should she do next?

Somehow she had to stop that woman from kissing dad! She needed to

frighten her off, but how could a small girl who was even terrified of little

spiders scare a grown woman? She thought for a while… Spiders, that was

an idea… Most women were scared of spiders and there were plenty of

Halloween plastic spiders about. All she needed was some of them and a

way of dropping them on the woman and a costume so no one would

recognise her.

She shut the cupboard door as quietly as she could. She had found a sheet

for a ghost costume, and now for the next bit of her plan. As she walked

down the hallway, lots of people carrying plates of sausage rolls, pasta and

cakes barged past her. She got dumped with piles of plates full of treats and

didn’t know what to do with them. Everyone was rushing around to get

everything done as quickly as they could, while guests were still arriving.

She placed a scary-looking pumpkin that had been passed to her in a

position on the table.

When she knew that no one was watching she moved silently around the

house collecting what she needed to put her plan into

action: some spare plastic spiders and a leftover

piece of cobweb. “That will do the trick,” Jamie

mumbled, “she’s bound to be scared

of spiders. So let’s get to work!”

Jamie crept quietly up the

stairs to the area on the landing

where the ‘kiss’ would take place.

She carefully hung the cobweb

high enough to be out of sight,

scattered the plastic spiders on it

and trailed a thin piece of web over the

THE LOCKET ANOMALy

“It happened at a Halloween party when you were just a baby,” Gran

began. “Your dad had had a few drinks and kissed a woman in the same

costume as your mum. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, your mum saw

them at the top of the stairs.”

Jamie just looked at Gran, shocked. Gran continued: “Your mum thought

your dad was having an affair and refused ever to see him again. I don’t

know if he was or not, but your mum wasn’t feeling well after you were born

and that was her decision.”

“But if it was only a kiss…” Jamie looked pleadingly. “It might have just

been a mistake… possibly?”

“It might have been. Anyway, that’s what happened. It wasn’t your fault.”

Gran undid the beautiful locket from around her neck and it slipped

slowly into the palm of her hand. “I want you to look after this for me,

sweetheart,” Gran requested.

Jamie was slowly drifting back to where she was crouched in

the corner of the bedroom. Her eyes were drawn to the crisp white

calendar once more. There was a large red circle around the 31st

October. It was Halloween, the dreaded day when it all went wrong.

* * *

Jamie wandered around the house, desperately trying to find her parents.

“Oh, hi!” said a familiar voice from behind. Jamie span round. “You must

be the new girl from down the road. What’s your name?”

“Um, I’m Jamie,” she replied, in shock. This was her aunty, she was sure.

“Oh really?” The lady looked surprised. “My niece is called Jamie, she’s

upstairs sleeping I think. Well, it’s a very pretty name and it’s very nice of

you to come and help at the party.” She passed Jamie a large plate of

sausage rolls for the table. Jamie found a space for them then hurried into

the garden to find some peace and quiet to think. She remembered her

secret corner.


THE LOCKET ANOMALy


landing to her bedroom. She tested the plan, tugging gently on the web, and

watched as the spiders jumped around above the stairs. “It’s gonna work!”

she blurted out excitedly.

Jamie crouched behind the door waiting for the moment to arrive. She

heard the toilet flush and dad came out of the bathroom and headed towards

the stairs. At the very same moment a woman in the same costume as her

mother headed up the stairs. They spoke quietly to each other, and Jamie

strained to hear their conversation in vain. They approached the trap. Now

was her moment! She tugged hard on the web, closing her eyes.

“Aaaaahhh!” The scream hit her eardrums.

“Yes!” she whispered. But the scream turned to laughter. She peeked

round the door.

“No, No, NO! It didn’t work!” Jamie began to panic. “That woman is going to

kiss dad. I must stop them!” she gasped. She turned round, searching for

something, anything to use. She caught sight of a safety pin.

“I’m sorry,” she whispered, “but this is an emergency.” She scratched

the baby’s leg with the pin, a little too hard, drawing a trickle of blood.

Instantly she felt a pain on her own thigh and then a second later a scream

echoed through the house. She suddenly realised a fault in her plan. If dad

comes in, I’m standing here with a pin! Her wardrobe was in the corner of

the room and she dived towards it and pulled the door behind her. Dad

arrived a second later.

“What’s the matter, Pickle?” Dad picked up the baby. “Come on now, it

can’t be that bad.” Dad rocked the baby in his arms and felt the blood. “How

did that happen?”

At that point mum arrived. “What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Jamie seems to have scratched her leg,” replied dad. Mum

looked in the cot and found the pin.

“Your mother hasn’t been trying to use old-fashioned nappies again, has

she?” she asked accusingly. “And who was that woman on the stairs wearing

the same costume as me?”

“What? I don’t know… Wasn’t that you I was talking to? Ooooh, what was

in that punch?”

“Well, at least Jamie seems to be calming down. Put her down on the mat

and I’ll get the antiseptic cream.” Dad did as he was told.

“Now, get a cup of coffee to sober up, then take this pin and find your

mother!”

“Yes, dear, sorry. I’ll have a word.” He kissed mum on the cheek and

stroked Jamie’s tummy. “See you later, Pickle.”

Hiding in the wardrobe, Jamie rubbed her leg. It really hurt! A small

amount of blood had started to run down her skin but it was already drying.

I don’t get this, she thought. I scratched the baby… and now I’m bleeding

because…it’s me I scratched. The realisation hit her like lightning, thoughts

crashing into her head one after the other. What happens now? Have I

changed everything? There was no kiss, so... Are mum and dad still

together? She wanted to jump out of the wardrobe and scream, to hug mum,

find dad and explain everything. But... but… what now? She was here and so

was the baby her. How would she get home, home to her own time?

Mum left with the baby and once she heard her footsteps beginning to fade

down the stairs, Jamie left the wardrobe. She made her way downstairs and

out towards the back door, barely noticing anything or anyone she passed.

She was in the garden. It was peaceful out here and she sat down in a chair

where her den would be in later years… hopefully. She felt tears welling in

her eyes. What am I going to do? she thought, her head in her hands. She felt

utterly alone and utterly lost and barely noticed there was someone else in

the garden. An old lady wandered over; it was Gran!

“What’s the matter, dear?” enquired Gran.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied.

“I see… That’s a lot of tears for nothing. Why are you here by yourself?”

She thought that in her own time Gran would have been able to help her.

Gran always helped her and understood.

“I was just thinking about stuff,” Jamie stated, as if to no one in particular.


THE LOCKET ANOMALy


“Can I help?” Gran enquired. That was just like Gran, always trying to

help everyone.

“I don’t think so, but thanks for the offer,” Jamie said, feeling a little better.

“I’ll just leave this, then. You never know, it may improve things. It was

lovely to meet you, by the way.”

“You too, Gran,” Jamie replied without thinking. She looked up and saw

Gran smiling.

“See you again sometime,” Gran said. And with that she went indoors.

Jamie looked down, and on the seat next to her Gran had left… the locket!

Jamie looked round. With her grandmother gone, the garden was silent. She

held her breath and opened the locket. The windows were closed and she

tried to ping one open with her nail… FLASH! She was surrounded by blue

again and memories, thousands of memories flooding into her head. The day

at the beach, building castles with dad. The three of them playing pick-up

sticks in a caravan. The zoo, the circus, more and more her head filled with

experiences she’d had, but had never had. The tears flowed quickly now,

pouring down her cheeks.

“Hey, what’s the matter, Pickle?” Dad was at her door. She flung herself

at him, burying her head in his chest.

“Oh, Dad! I love you so much!”

“Hey, hey, what’s all this about? I was only coming up to tell you to

brush your teeth.” Dad looked totally bewildered. The memories of her now

normal life with both her parents were still crashing into Jamie’s brain.

“Come on, brush your teeth and I’ll tuck you up.” Dad carried her to the

bathroom. “You can be so soppy sometimes. Come on, let go and do your

teeth.”

Jamie wouldn’t release her dad and kept on hugging him.

“Come on, bed time. This is silly, what has got into you?” Eventually her

dad got Jamie into bed, but it took her ages to get to sleep.

* * *

Woah, that was the weirdest dream ever! was the first thought that entered

Jamie’s mind as she woke in the morning. She slowly sat up and then saw the

picture on the wall at the bottom of her bed.

“Dad!” She screamed it at the top of her voice, jumped out of bed and felt

a twinge in the top of her leg. There was the scab, how she loved that scab!

“Are you alright?” The voice was her mother’s from downstairs.

“Yeah, I’m fine, I’m more than fine. It wasn’t a dream!” replied Jamie.

“What wasn’t a dream, Pickle?” called mum.

“Don’t worry, Mum. I love you!” Jamie was shouting now as she tore down

the stairs in her pyjamas.

Mum and dad were both there and she flung her arms around both of them.

“Isn’t it wonderful? I love you both soooo much!”

“We love you too, Pickle. Are you sure you’re alright?” Dad rumpled her

hair affectionately.

“Yep, I’m fine, so fine. I’ve never been better,” Jamie replied.

“Well, come on, let’s have breakfast together and then you’d better get

ready for school,” said mum.

Jamie had never been so happy. They were a family again. She

remembered not having a dad and the locket but also having a dad at the

same time, it was weird… But Wonderful!

The doorbell rang. Ashley came rushing in as soon as mum opened the door.

“Jamie!” shouted Ashley, at the top of her voice. “Come on, come on,

we’ll be late!”

They rushed out of the house, chatting all the way. Finally, as the bell

sounded, they hurried into school, just in time. Quickly the girls put their

things in the cloakroom and rushed into class. Jamie remembered the

register being called, but after that maths, English, science all seemed to

merge together in a blur. The next thing she could clearly recall was the bell

for the end of day. She gathered her things and wandered into the

cloakroom to pick up her bag and coat. Finally, home time, she thought

to herself.


THE LOCKET ANOMALy

“Hey, Jamie,” called Mr Johnson from along the corridor. “You left this in

my classroom yesterday.”

Mr Johnson handed Jamie a bright golden object… Her locket!

“Thank you so much,” Jamie replied.

“Personally, I can’t believe anyone would let anything so precious be

out of their sight for a moment!” exclaimed Mr Johnson. She nodded in

response.

Jamie strolled along the corridor staring at the

beautiful item in her hand. It looked

somehow different from yesterday,

more shiny and new.

As she approached the

school gate she looked

up, as if her eyes had

been pulled away from

the locket. There waiting

patiently, sitting on a

bench just outside the

school, was Gran.

Jamie hurried

towards her and hugged

her tightly. “Jamie,” Gran whispered quietly

in her ear. “Where is your lucky locket,

darling? Why aren’t you wearing it today?”

Jamie opened her tightly clenched fist,

revealing the locket to Gran. She looked

hard at it. “Do you want it back?” Jamie asked,

hoping the answer would be no.

“No thank you, darling,” Gran insisted. “That

locket and I have been through our own adventures

and now it’s time for you to have some fun of your own!”

Jamie whispered under her breath, “I think I already have.”

“I know,” Gran answered with a knowing grin on her face. She winked at

Jamie and they left for home together.

It was Friday, the weekend… and that meant family time.



“Come on, everyone! You should at least be painting your bridge bynow,” exclaimed Mr Gregory, flattening the creases in his pristinewhite shirt.

“Arrghh! I’ve just started painting the pond and I haven’t even drawn thewaterlilies or the bridge yet,” groaned Scarlet, quickly dipping her thin brush in thepale blue paint palette. Her emerald green eyes concentrated hard on her painting.As Scarlet glanced up to see all her previous paintings on the colourful displayboards, the sun peered through the blinds, causing a golden ray of light to shine onher slightly tanned face. Along her button nose she had as many freckles as grainsof sand on a beach.

“Finally I have finished the pond!” whispered Scarlet happily to her friends asshe flicked her plaited, chestnut brown hair over her shoulder to avoid getting it inthe paint. Scarlet’s hair was so long that at first glance people might think she wasRapunzel. She had the most striking hair in the whole school.

Suddenly the bell rang, sending an ear-deafening noise through her head. “I hope Mr Gregory doesn’t get too stroppy just because I haven’t finished,”

grumbled Scarlet to her friends.“It’s worse for me! We’re at the same stage but you’re a teacher’s pet. All the

teachers love you,” teased her best friend Annie, making kissing noises.

Out of all her friends, Annie was Scarlet’s favourite. Theyspent most of their time together. Scarlet was a happy girl whoalways had a smile. She was enthusiastic, full of energy andpopular at school. She loved art so much and had a talent fordrawing. Her friends were always amazed at her work.

As Scarlet’s class was dismissed everyone charged out of theroom, throwing their white aprons, crumpled and messy, in anuntidy pile on the floor and leaving Scarlet behind.

“Come on, Scarlet. You need to go out too,” encouraged MrGregory, pulling on his old-fashioned grey blazer.

“Can’t I just finish the waterlilies?” asked Scarlet, flutteringher eyelashes cheekily.

“Oh alright then,” sighed Mr Gregory. “But just ten moreminutes because I need to eat too and I have an important phonecall to make. I’ll be back in a few minutes to check on you.”

“OK,” replied Scarlet, and she carried on painting using avariety of colours for the waterlilies. As Scarlet finished her lastwaterlily, she sighed contentedly. She lifted up her painting and

PaintingsPortals&Pencils



looked at it proudly, even though itwas not finished. Then she picked upher paintbrush to make a start onpainting the famous green bridge,resting her head on a paint-coveredhand. As Scarlet worked away shefiddled with her diamond earrings andtapped her black patent shoes on thefloor. She could hear the shouting fromthe field where everyone was playing.

Scarlet looked down at her picture,thinking it was just as good as the real

Monet’s waterlily painting. Suddenly she started to feel a cool breeze against herface and through her glossy fringe. She shuddered and looked to see if the windowswere open, but they were closed. “Where is this wind coming from?” thought Scarlet,looking around the classroom. She walked in the direction of the wind, but to hersurprise as soon as she walked away from the painting she could not feel the coolbreeze anymore. “How strange,” she thought as she sat down at her painting again.

She picked up her brush and carried on working. After a while the wind startedto get stronger and stronger and Scarlet struggled to hold her paintbrush still. All ofa sudden it flew out of her hand, making a smudge on her work. Scarlet gasped.Suddenly the breeze stopped. “Did the breeze come from my painting?” wonderedScarlet as she reached over to pick up her paintbrush.

Scarlet stared at her picture. To her surprise a waterlily bud she had only just paintedslowly started to open. She blinked and rubbed her eyes. “Did that really happen?”she gulped. “Or was it my imagination?” All of a sudden the water in the paintingstarted to move and ripples appeared on the surface. Before she knew it, the wholepainting was coming to life. The waterlilies, which had now opened up, drifted downthe pond. The trees were swaying from side to side. Everything Scarlet had paintedwas merging into one big blur! All she could see were green, yellow and blue swirls!

Scarlet screamed, but she couldn’t hear herself over the noise of the rapidswirling. She could feel herself being swallowed into the painting. As she was slowly

whirling through this portal, she could hear the sound of water colliding againstrocks in the distance. Scarlet felt like she was in a washing machine. She keptspinning round and round. She had never been this scared in all her life.

Suddenly a bright light glared through the swirling colours. Scarlet squinted,trying to make out what was ahead of her. Then she hit something hard. The spinninghad stopped and she was on the ground. Opening her eyes slowly and lookingaround, Scarlet saw that she wasn’t at school any more.

Scarlet stood there beside the calm clear water of the pond, watching the clumps offloating pale green lily pads gently swaying from side to side in the midday breeze.Large white and light pink lily flowers dotted the lily pads. A broken green bridgestretched over the pond. It slowly dawned on Scarlet that the scene before her wasexactly like the painting she had done in Mr Gregory’s art class.

Scarlet was amazed. She thought it was unbelievable that she could be in herown painting. The sound of the water lapping against the bank calmed her and slowlyshe started to feel more relaxed in this tranquil place. The weeping willows dangledover the pond and its water reflected all of the different shades of green from thetrees, which were swaying gently. By the water’s edge, dragonflies were gliding by,dodging the tall bulrushes that stood so proudly.

“Wow!” Scarlet thought, getting down onto her knees. “This is something I don’tsee everyday!” The lush green grass was neatly cut apart from around the edges ofthe pond, where it flopped into the water. Scarlet started to explore. She could feelthe warm sun beating down on her back. She took off her black shiny shoes and claretsocks. Then she dipped her toes into the refreshing water.She looked at the green bridge ahead of her. “Iwonder what’s on the other side?” shethought. Scarlet sighed, got up andput her socks and shoes back on.

Scarlet stepped tentativelyonto the unsteady greenbridge. It made a slight wobbleand creaked loudly. “Is this bridgesafe to go over?” wondered Scarlet,

PAINTINGS, PORTALS AND PENCILS




beginning to worry. “Will I make it to the other side?” She was so busy looking at the other end of the bridge

that she did not notice it was breaking under her feet. Sheglanced down quickly, and to her horror she saw that theplanks of wood were giving way under her. She clung tothe rail of the bridge for dear life and panicking made agiant leap back onto land. “Splash!” The broken,rotting pieces of wood hit the bluey green waterlily

pond. “Oh no! What’s happened?” asked Scarlet

out loud. “I wonder if it’s because I hadn’tfinished painting the bridge and that’s why itbroke? What am I going to do now?” shegasped, scratching her head. “I need to getover there somehow. But how?” She thought

and thought but nothing came to mind.

Blinking through her hot tears, she saw in the distancea strange figure slowly trudging towards her. As thisfigure limped along, its jet black cloak drifted fromside to side as the soft winds blew beneath it. Its facewas hidden in its pointy hood. “Who is this mysteriousperson?” thought Scarlet, as the hairs stood up on the

back of her neck. The figure took down its hood, revealing a man.This man had bright blue eyes that could light up a stormy day. His black, wiry

hair looked like a bird’s nest that had fallen out of a tree. The smell that rose fromhis body was as though a skunk had sprayed him millions of times. His skin waswrinkled and dry like an old, shrivelled leather boot. His long twig-like nose twitched.With him he had a black leather briefcase. Scarlet was anxious, wondering what wasinside it. She took a few steps back, frightened to death.

Slowly the man opened the odd case and Scarlet peered in. She saw an unusualglow. What was this baffling light? The man took an amazing, glowing pencil out ofthe case and handed it to Scarlet silently. “Use it well,” he said in his deep voice.Then he strode into the darkness, his black cloak hovering in the air behind him.

Puzzled, Scarlet stared at the pencil, which was all thecolours of a rainbow and was thicker than a normalpencil. She didn’t know what it was but she was eagerto find out what it did and immediately tried tofigure it out. Waving the pencil manicallyaround, she randomly decided to draw abutterfly in the air to see what would happen.There was a big flash and a beautiful golden butterflyunexpectedly appeared out of the blue! Staring at the fluttering butterfly, Scarletwas astonished. She felt thrilled with joy. She thought the pencil was so cool andshe wanted to keep it forever!

“I need to do something about this broken bridge,” murmured Scarlet. “What aboutthe magic pencil? I could use it again!” she cried excitedly, pulling the pencil out ofher dirty school skirt. Her beautiful eyes concentrated fully on her pencil as she drewthe bridge exactly the way it was before it collapsed,but properly this time. It looked much moresteady.

She put the pencil back in her pocket,and holding her pocket closed to makesure the pencil didn’t fall out, she steppednervously onto the bridge. She clutched theside tightly and carefully walked across.Each step she took she did cautiously.“Please don’t collapse again!” beggedScarlet, breathing heavily. “One morestep!” she encouraged herself. For thelast step she jumped off the bridge.

“WOW!” gasped Scarlet. “Thispencil can draw anything! It maycome in handy for what mightcome my way in this unusual land.” Hershaking hand came away from the rails of the bridge.



As she trudged through the gooey mud, Scarlet saw a movement in thebushes ahead of her. “Hello, is anyone there?” she whispered in a shakyvoice, and ran to a tree to hide. When she peered from behind the colossaloak, she saw a magnificent golden wing. It curved through the air in a perfect

arc. The creature looked like something out of an Ancient Roman myth. The beasthad strong muscular horse’s legs with a human torso and hairy arms. Itsshimmering wings glowed as it scratched its chest. The beast spun round and glaredat Scarlet, its eyes bulging with hate and spite. Scarlet froze to the spot in pure horror.

The beast hesitated for a second then lunged towards her, roaring. The noise wasdeafening. Scarlet dived out of the way to the safety of a nearby bush. With immensestrength, the beast smashed down the tree, which made an enormous crash as itslumped to the ground. The monster’s gnawed nails grabbed Scarlet’s blazer.

“Are you trying to get past?” yelled the beast, beating its hooves on the ground. “Um… uh…” gulped Scarlet, her heart pounding in her chest as if it were trying

to burst free from her ribcage.“You are trespassing on my home!” screeched the creature, flapping its huge

golden wings.The beast suddenly took off into the air and circled Scarlet’s head. Scarlet grabbed

her magic pencil and started to draw the distinctive shape of a sword. She yanked itoff the ground quickly and took a wild swing, but foolishly she hit a tree. She cursedto herself. As she struggled to pull out the sword, the creature came forwards,sensing an opportunity.

Scarlet closed her eyes and mustered her strength to blindly beat it off. As thesword came free the creature made a vicious attack with its hooves but it hit a rockand smashed it in half. Scarlet stumbled over a tree stump and landed hard on herback. She thrashed the sword around madly, attempting to strike the monster down.There was blood spilling out of the creature. Scarlet gripped her sword and with onealmighty breath she slashed her weapon and the creature dropped to the ground.

Scarlet stood there as fear took over her body. She shuddered as shegazed around her unfamiliar surroundings in bewilderment. Her normallysmiley face was pale and tired. She was not in the waterlily paintingany more. She was in a picture that she didn’t knowand certainly did not want to know.

She was in a forest, but there was something different about this forest. It seemedthere was no life and all the colour had been sucked out of it. Tall, grey, bare treessurrounded her for miles and miles. They loomed over her, casting giant shadowson the ground. Charred branches drooped down and there were deep claw markson some of the trunks. One tree had an actual claw lodged in its bark.

Intrigued by what she saw, Scarlet yanked the claw out and examined it. It waslong, thin and very sharp. Black blood was smeared on some of the rocks nearbyand silvery grey ash was scattered over the ground. Huge bird footprints were etchedin the ash. A charred smell lingered in the air. It seemed as though the forest hadbeen on fire.

Scarlet felt small and scared, vulnerable to whatever lay around in the forest.But still she trudged on. She kept looking behind her to check no one was there. “I know what I can do,” she whispered to herself, thinking that this was worse thanher scariest nightmares. She took out her pencil and drew her teddy bear and a

blanket and held them tightly. She was still frightened and did not know whereto go. “Help, is anyone here? I’m lost. Help!” screamed Scarlet. For amoment she thought someone was replying to her cries but it was only theecho of her voice.




Suddenly, the silence of the forest was broken by the ear-splitting screech of aphoenix. The massive bird landed, filling the air with the smell of burnt charcoal.The phoenix, in all its glory, had sun-gold flames sprouting from its back, head, wingsand tail. It had red unblinking eyes that sparkled like rubies.

Before Scarlet could react, the phoenix launched a massive fireball at her. Scarletscreamed as she jumped out of the way onto the wet grass. The fireball just missed,singeing her hair! Scarlet was absolutely petrified! Then the fiery bird tried to swipeher with its burning talons.

The talons caught Scarlet’s school uniform and it started to burn. Quickly, Scarletwhisked out her magic pencil and drew a fire extinguisher, which she proceeded tospray all over herself and the phoenix. Scarlet realised this was a mistake as thefoamy spray hit the phoenix in the face. The screech from this terrifying bird was soloud trees fell over. The phoenix blasted flames in all directions, creating a forestfire. Scarlet started spraying the fire and eventually put it out. But that gave thephoenix time to get back to full strength.

Then Scarlet had an amazing idea. She drew a fire hose and aimed it at thephoenix. It screamed in shock and flew away, squawking in pain. Scarlet slowlystumbled off, relieved to have escaped the phoenix and to have survived the wholeordeal. But to Scarlet’s horror the phoenix came back for more. It launched a redhot streaming jet of fire at her. But Scarlet was prepared and launched more waterat it. The spray hit the phoenix in the face and it slumped to the ground. Its eyesrolled, then closed. The mighty phoenix was dead!

As Scarlet crept warily through the forest, jumping over fallen trees and dodginglow-hanging branches, she gazed at the misty woodland ahead. She spotted an oldrun-down cottage at the end of the forest path. The cottage walls were a worn messof peeling cream paint. A thatched roof, bare in places, clung onto the cottage. Thedoor was hanging off its rusty hinges. But somehow it could still close and lock.




A young, pretty womanwearing a red dress appearedfrom behind a bush, her blueeyes sparkling in the blazing sun.

“Would you like to come intomy cottage for a rest?” asked thewoman with a smile.

“Yes, please,” replied Scarlet,feeling that perhaps this wassomeone who could help her.

The young woman led Scarletinto the cottage. The coolness of theinterior hit her warm skin. Her eyestook a while to adjust to the

dimness of the room and soon she was able to see the mismatched furniture. Thewoman went into the kitchen and opened a small cupboard. She got outsome chipped china cups and put them on the table.

“Just getting some firewood!” called the woman as she steppedoutside. Scarlet heard a key turning in the lock of the door. She ranto the dusty window and saw a cloud of grey smoke graduallyform around the lady. As it blew away Scarlet saw that thewoman had turned into a witch! Gone was the pretty, smileywoman and in her place was a hunched old crone withfrizzy grey hair that fell past her shoulders.

“I will cook you in my house and eat you for dinner!”snarled the witch, a sly grin appearing on her warty,wrinkled face. As she laughed her long nose bounced upand down and her black eyes glinted evilly at Scarlet.

“Cook her, cook her, big old house! Turn up the heatand watch her try and get out!” cackled the witch, wavingher wand. Scarlet screamed and banged at the door. Shelooked all around the cottage to find a spare key. Thenshe spotted the back door. She ran over to it and triedto open it by pulling on the old wooden handle. It was

no use, the door was locked. She pulled out her magic pencil andstarted to draw. She drew a key that looked like a toothbrush withonly two clumps of bristles. She tried it in the door,but the key wouldn’t budge. She drew another one,this time with three teeth. Scarlet tried this in thedoor but it still wouldn’t budge.

After ten minutes Scarlet was beginning to feelas hot as if she was under the blazing heat of thedesert sun. She had drawn tons of keys but noneof them had worked. She glanced worriedly outof the window. The witch had vanished but haddropped something on the floor. As it glinted in the sunlight Scarletrealised what it was. “The key!” she exclaimed, jumping with joy.

Scarlet started to think about how she could get the key. She whipped outher pencil and started to draw. “Done!” she said, staring proudly at her

creation. Grabbing the nearest crooked chair, Scarlet swung it with all hermight at the window, her heart pounding as the glass shattered intoa million pieces. She picked up the fishing rod she had drawn earlierand cast the line through the broken window. “That fishing trip withdad really paid off,” she thought as she hooked up the key with

precision first time. As she reeled it in, the witch stormed outfrom the trees.

“Oi!” shouted the witch, angrily. She ran to get the keybut it was too late. Hastily, Scarlet drew a magic wand.

“Be gone!” she cried in a small voice. A puff of smoke filled the air and the witch disappeared with

a flash. Scarlet darted to the front door and

unlocked it. Everything looked normal. Shewas wandering back through the forestwith a dozen thoughts in her headwhen suddenly something crossed hermind. “When would she get home?”





Scarlet began to run. Suddenly she stumbled upon a hedge that was bigger thana double-decker bus. “Where am I?” shrieked Scarlet, peering up at the blunttriangular-shaped green leaves leaning over her. “Hello, is anybody here?” shewhispered nervously, edging closer to the hedge, but there was no reply.

Scarlet wanted to go back home to her warm cosy bedroom. Her eyes releaseda couple of tears, which rolled down her cheeks. She felt so lost and alone. Butshe was not going to give up. She was strong. So she tiptoed over to a gap in thehedge and walked through. Ahead of her was another opening in the hedge so

she ran towards it. Then there was another opening and another untilshe stopped and looked around. It dawned on her that she was in amaze. She was frightened because the openings in the hedges haddisappeared behind her so even if she wanted to stop she could not.She just had to keep going.

“Wait!” she cried. “With my magic pencil perhaps I can rub outsome of the hedges to get to the end!” She reached into her pocketand got out the pencil. Somehow the pencil made her feel better.She started to rub out the hedge but as soon as she had rubbed itout it would re-grow really quickly. It was impossible to penetrate,so she had to keep going through all the openings of the maze.

Finally she reached the middle and found a ruby. It was quiteheavy and very big and shiny. “Wow! This is the shiniest ruby I haveever seen,” gasped Scarlet. “I wonder what this is for?” she muttered,looking at the ruby closely.

She carried on strolling around the hedges and looking roundthe corners until she was stopped in her tracks by a man. The man’sface was hidden by an indigo mask but Scarlet could see that hewas old because of his wrinkled hands.

“May I get past you, kind sir. I need to get home,” mumbledScarlet, not quite sure what to make of the man. He did not answer.The only thing he did was put out his hand. Scarlet was a bitworried. She stepped back and hesitated and then she rememberedthat she had a ruby. She opened her hand, revealing the gem. Butthe man ran up and grabbed the ruby out of her hand and then lether go past him.

“You may pass, Scarlet, but be careful. You have many dangersto look out for,” muttered the old man. Scarlet looked at him warily.

“How do you know my…?” But before she could finish the oldman had vanished, leaving a trail of gold dust. “Wow, this is a strangeworld!” exclaimed Scarlet. She thought hard. “Shall I follow the trailof the gold dust or not? It could be a trap,” she wondered. Then shedecided. “I will take a risk and follow the gold dust.” So she keptfollowing the gold dust and soon she was back in the forest.



Scarlet tiptoed quietly through the forest, which now looked as if it was getting its colour back. Shewondered what was going to happen next. She checked her pocket, feeling with her fingers for theoutline of the pencil to make sure it was still there. Her amazing pencil meant everything to her andit had got her out of dangerous situations.

She could hear the wind blowing against the trees and the birds calling to one another. It felt sopeaceful, though she sensed that something was following her. Scarlet tensed up. She noticed thetrees had an unusual-looking bark on their trunks. Suddenly she heard a mysterious noise and turnedcautiously. She looked at the trees again and noticed parts of the glistening green and brown barkquivering then peeling off.

Scarlet gazed around her at the rustling shapes that started to seem like over-sized butterfliesemerging and beginning to fly towards her from all directions. Startled, she leapt back in fright. Therewas a flutter of fierce butterflies closing in on her so forcefully that she had to scramble to her feetand run as fast as she could away from them. There were hundreds of them following her throughthe forest all the way to a mound of dead leaves and mud.

Scarlet leant back onto a soft, wet, comfortable bed, catching her breath. The huge butterflieshovered in mid-air above her. She had to think very quickly. The butterflies began to attack her withfuriousity, jabbing where they could. Scarlet whipped out her amazing pencil and sketched an outlineof a wooden door with a big knob, then opened it and ran though. She slammed the door and drewa key and locked it. She leant against the door, breathless. Her head hurt. When she opened her eyes,she saw that the bridge and the waterlily pond were ahead of her.





Scarlet stumbled to the bridge in despair. “How am I going to get back home?” shewondered as she fiddled with the magic pencil. She sat on the dark green bridgeand started to sketch her classroom, beginning with the tables and chairs, thechildren and the teacher. Then she started to draw the more detailed bits of thepainting, such as the teacher’s mug and the bookshelves. She felt like Monet, sittingon the riverside painting a picture of the classroom. “Well,” she sighed. “I neverexpected this to happen in a million years. I hope it works.”

Suddenly, the small picture began to glow and then it started to grow! The painted people inside the picture began to move. Swirls, spirals and colourswere wibbling and wobbling and Scarlet could hear the voices of the children andthe teachers.

What happened next was astonishing. Scarlet was engulfed by a bright whitelight and she disappeared!

Suddenly she was lying on the floor of the classroom in a heap. Everyone wascompletely dumbfounded that a little girl had fallen onto the classroom floor.Scarlet’s eyes were fuzzy from the bright light but all in all she was OK. People weremurmuring as she picked herself up. “What happened? Are you OK? You were goneone minute, and back the next!”

But Scarlet felt so happy to be back in the safety of the classroom, in the realworld! She walked over to her painting and saw that her bridge was completed. Buton the bridge was the magic pencil, its colours reflecting onto the pond. Scarletsmiled to herself as she remembered the pencil’s magic powers.




Class 3JTeacher: Judy Joyce

Lou-Lou Barnes

Toby Bott

Nicole Bruce

Jacey Byrne

Daisy Cove

Nicole Dovey

Samuel French

Ciaran Hassall

Charlotte Hawker

Sam Jeanes

George Kerr

Mason Lee

Fern Locks

Kimberley Mileham

Mia Morrison

Joshua Norwood

Bobbyjoe Porter

Molly Saltmarsh

George Sparrow

Oscar Tune

Alex Warren

Jack Wheller

Georgie Wind

Ethan Wood

Ryan Wood

Class 3DTeacher: Lisa Dines

George Adams

Nisa Akyel

Milly Bowman

Shannon Braddick

George Burgess

Bobby Burgoyne

Thomas Dacey

Thomas Dodge

Lily Dyer

Harry Egglesden

Oliver Everett

Rhiannon Featherstone

Jack Godfrey

Charlotte Griffiths

Riley Guy

George Hawker

David Hopkinson

Jessica Jordan

Tanya Lindfield

Jack Martin

Edward Redgrave

Kimberley Riches

Joe Rudd

Isabella Smith

Camelia zekri

Class 4WTeacher: Vikki West

Alex Alavoine

Padraig Bailey-Sra

Charlie Byrne

Joshua Carr

Sammy Cook

Dominic Crew

Saffy Devlin

Molly Doyle

Ella Duggan

Charlie Fitzpatrick

Bradley Fox

Charlie Holland

Eleanor Jarmy

Sean John

Nikola Koza

Kieron Lerendu

Riley Millard

Madeleine Pickard

Samuel Popham

Lucy Pushman

Jamie-Lee Saunders

Samanta Saveikyte

James Stamper

James Wilks

Toby Williams

Acknowledgements


Class 4H

Teacher: Nicky Hathaway

Jasmine Bissett-Jury

Amelia Braby

Grant Bradley-Case

Ben Chown

Aaron Cooper

Sam Cornish

Florence Crew

Kay Davidson

Chelsea Fullman

Laurence Hervey

Oliver Hunt

Georgia Hurst

Millie Johnson

Ryan Kirby

Louis Lamb

Gracie McAuliffe

Jayden Millard

Samuel Morrison

Mia Riches

Erika Rogers

Joshua Simkins

Nathan Smith

Cameron Southwood

Will Stock

Thomas Storey

Class 5SHTeachers: Ann Swaysland

and Gillian Hough

Adam Bradley

Molly Brazier

Joshua Breading

Jodie Bunce

Kealei Carpenter

Lucy Close

Louis Everard

Ellen Fox

Maddison Harper

Aaron Hawes

Skye Haynes

Hannah Holland

Wiktoria Janiak

Charley Kerr

Ashlea King

Jimmy McAuliffe

Gwynnie Mitchell

Kelly Palmer

Khloe Parker

George William Pyne

Rory Quinn

Ben Roberts

Kelsey Saltmarsh

Carina Sousa

Mattie Stentiford

Harry Stevens

Alfie Warr

Class 5V

Teacher: Ben Varley

Lewis Attridge

Archie Barker

Joseph Boutel

Macy Bradbrook

Mia Breading

Thomas Cantwell

Chloe Castle

Harrison Chapman

Alexander Dowsett

Hannah Ford

Alfie Goldsworthy

Eddy Gray

George Hales

Megan Hawker

Amber Hedges

Cara Houlton

Jayden Kear

Cayce Lamprell

Heather Locks

Paige Lowrie

Conor Lyons

Kelly-Louise Mathieson

Elsie Moore

Victoria Sparrow

Emily Stevens

Samuel Thompson

Lauren Turner

Jack Warr

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


Class 6C

Teacher: Jacky Colgan

Keiran Bell

Becky Biscoe

Aaron Chapman

Grace Cooper

Michael Cooper

Molly Egglesden

Joel Ellis

Robbie Evans

George Godfrey

Megan Hales

Amelia Hart

Lily-Jae King

Charlotte Knight

Colin Knight

Dominic Lewis

Chloe Martin

Lewis Mason

James Mullis

Drew Mumford

Kieran Oakley

Chelsea Ratford

Georgia Riches

Tommy Sorrell

Max Tune

Jack Wornham

Class 6J

Teacher: John Jackson

Jordan Andrews

Shaun Austin

Sam Berry

Katie Burton

Tyler Crawford

Matthew Cruse

Eleanor Dorman

William Dovey

Nicola Farndon

Megan Fox

Sidney Frankham

Tyler Freeman

Oliver Gleeson

Jack Goldsworthy

Jena Harkness

Charlotte Hennessy

Elliot Hervey

Samuel Hume

Bradley Mileham

Matthew Norman

Harvey Taylor

Leanne Taylor

Harry Vanson

Jack Watson

Tahlia Watts-Lewis

Faye Willis

Class 6K

Teacher: Catharine King

Hannah Badger

Thomas Betts

Jed Bowman

Samuel Cappaert

Keelan Carpenter

Connie Davies

Kieran Dyer

Catherine Fashanu

Megan Fitzgerald

Anya Harris

Chloe Jury

Calum Lightfoot

Amy Loss

Bethany Logan

Danielle McDonald

Connie Morgan

Hannah Morgan

Lucy Nurcombe

Amy Pavitt

Ellie Rudd

Aidan Sansom

Loucas Savvides

Joseph Simkins

Rebecca Solomons

Kai Warren

Matthew Welsford


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS


Additional Teachers:Carol King

Jo Lyon

Peter yaxley

Learning Support Assistants:Linda Brugioni

Debbie Bryan

Jackie Hatch

Julie John

June Martin

Kerry Morris

Wendie Stevens

Alice Warner

Wendy Whybrow

Office Team:Sue Farrow

Jane Lyon

Sarah Stock

About this book:Out of this World is the culmination of a collaboration

between Sunnymede Junior School and Royal Opera

House Education in Thurrock as part of the 2010–11

national Creative Partnerships programme.

From January to April 2011 Sunnymede was buzzing with

book-mania. Storyteller Danya Miller made regular visits

to the school to inspire the children to write. Artists Rachel

Anderson, Ceri Davies and Kat Hall led classes in book-

binding, paper and making. Editor and writer Vicky

Wilson led workshops to help staff develop strategies for

creating the class stories, as well as advising on the

minutiae of publishing. Graphic designer Chris Hall held

sessions to encourage an adventurous approach to

illustration and design, as well as translating the final

artwork into printable form.

The project was coordinated by creative agents Maria

Turley and Maureen Fell, working with headteacher

Karen Cooke and deputy head Jacky Colgan.

The visiting artists and writers undoubtedly provided

inspiration and technical know-how, but all the words

and pictures in the book, as well as the design of its pages,

were created by the students, working with their teachers

and LSAs. We wanted to motivate the children to improve

their writing skills and, at the same time, provide an

opportunity for staff to work as a team on a whole school

creative project. We believe the finished product

demonstrates phenomenal success on both counts.

Headteacher:Karen Cooke

Creative Practitioners:Rachel Anderson

Ceri Davies

Chris Hall

Kat Hall

Danya Miller

Vicky Wilson

Creative Agents:Maureen Fell

Maria Turley



Out of this WorldSunnymede Junior School O

ut of this World

–S

unnymede Junior S

chool –2011

What happens when Henry, Jake and Rosie are sucked

through the nozzle of an abandoned hoover into Rosie’s

painting of a snow-capped landscape haunted by a hideous

snake-headed monster? Or when James, Jess, Victor and

Holly fall through the stock-cupboard floor into the warring

realms of the Sluffies and Zergoids? Or when a loose mosaic

tile brings Will and Cleo face to face with the enigmatic

Sphinx? Or when Jamie-Lee travels back in time to save her

parents’ marriage?

Out of this World contains nine exciting adventure stories,

each written and illustrated collectively by children from

Sunnymede Junior School in Billericay, Essex. Read and enjoy

them – and discover the secret worlds of the imagination

that lie behind the walls of a school just like yours! £9.99

SunnymedeCover2_Layout 1 09/06/2011 10:35 Page 1

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Out of this World

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