jeans belt like this … now help me get this trapdoor up. Is there any handle? No, well, use that penknife thing you keep flashing every five minutes. At last we can use it for something.’
They struggled with the trapdoor and finally eased it up. Dust clouds went everywhere, making them both cough. Then Chloe took her torch and shone it down the square black hole.
‘What’s down there?’ asked Alex, peering. ‘I can’t see much, can you?’
‘Only a landing and some stairs, I think,’ replied Chloe. ‘It’s just an ordinary house.’ She felt excited. ‘Maybe we’ve found a way out, Alex.’
‘But what about Jordy?’
Jordy indeed was a problem.
‘If this is a way home, we’ll look for Jordy when I come up again, all right? We’ve still got to find the watch, so we can’t go back down again for ever. All I want to do is see where we are, in relation to our own house.’
‘OK, Clo. If you’re sure.’
‘I’m going down,’ she said, lowering herself through the trapdoor. ‘I’ll keep calling up, once I’m down there, so you’ll know I’m all right.’
Alex played out the string as his sister climbed down through the hatch and dropped to the floor beneath.
‘Are you down there yet?’
Her voice was quite faint. ‘Yes, I’m fine. More string, please.’
Alex unwound some more from the ball, playing it out as his sister moved cautiously around the landing below.
At that moment a thought occurred to Alex and this scared him as much as he knew it would scare Chloe and Jordy – he actually wanted to stay up here in Attica. He wasn’t ready to go home. This was an exciting place, full of adventures, full of strange creatures and the prospect of treasures. You can’t win treasures without going through risk. The treasures didn’t mean anything otherwise. And the risk could be enjoyed if you knew what you were doing. Alex was beginning to feel he knew what he was doing. It was actually too early for him to go down. The attic was willing to have him. And he was ready for the attic. It was a great place to spend time in.
A jerk on the string. He played out some more.
‘Clo? Are you all right?’
Nothing.
‘Clo?’
A faint whisper on a cold draught of air coming up through the hatchway. Was that her voice? Or was it just the rustling of something down below? This was a bad idea, going down there. Alex could feel it in his bones.
‘Chloe!’ he yelled, tugging lightly on the string. ‘Come on back up.’
No answer. Nothing. Just that cold draught.
Alex could do no more than just sit there, waiting and hoping. At least the string was still moving, so he knew she was still there.
‘Fishing?’ asked a deep voice.
Alex almost jumped out of his skin.
CHAPTER 14
Visit to the Underworld
Looking up, Alex could see a tall young stranger in long capes and hat, with thick leather boots. The stranger had two rats, one in each side pocket of his coat, their little heads poking out. On his back was a huge rucksack, homemade by the look of it, with a wooden frame built to fit his broad shoulders. His face was as creased as a well-used map.
‘N-n-no,’ stuttered Alex. ‘M-my sister’s on the end of this line – she’s down there in a house.’
‘Bad move,’ growled the youth, taking off his rucksack. The two rats leapt out of his pockets and came to peer down the hatchway at the landing below. ‘You ought to get her out of there, Alex.’
‘Y-you know my name?’
‘I met your brother last night. You won’t know what I am, but they call me a bortrekker. I know the ways of this world, Alex. I know where to go and that’s not one of them. Trapdoors – if they’re not to your own house – lead only to even stranger places than here. Get her out, now. Get her up or you may never see your sister again.’
Frightened by these words, Alex yanked on string. To his utter horror, it went completely loose. He reeled it in, finding a frayed break on the other end. The string had snapped. Chloe was down there alone.
There was a light on the landing of the house. It seemed it was evening. Chloe could see a faint pinkness to the sky through the landing window. For a while she simply stood there studying her surroundings. It seemed a very ordinary house. Very ordinary. A sort of mushroom colour emulsion on