seen. Carvings of trees and birds swept across its surface. Trying the handle of the door, Charlie was annoyed to find that it too wouldn’t open.
With her mouth set in a determined line, she went from door to door, trying the handles and getting more and more frustrated as each successive door failed to open. Finally she found herself back at the smaller door that had led into the room.
‘Fine then, don’t open! See if I care!’ she grumped aloud.
Taking a last look at the strange room with all of its bewitching carvings, she sneaked back through the little door and hurried to check on her grandmother.
2
Cookies, Croissant and a Dark Visitor
Mr Crow sat alone at his desk. He was cracking his knuckles and using his long, ink-stained fingers to pick his nose. On sudden impulse the lawyer stood up and walked over to the enormous steel safe that loomed in one corner of the room. Entering the safe’s combination, he opened the door and stared at all the money stacked high inside.
‘Lovely, lovely,’ he crooned. His dark eyes blinked slowly as he ran his knobbly fingers gently up and down each bundled tower of notes. With the smell of money still lingering in his nostrils he locked the safe and returned to his paperwork and nose-picking. But his concentration was broken a few moments later when the safe gave a little tremor. Looking up, Crow stared at the steel casket with puzzled concern.
His safe certainly shouldn’t tremor.
Giving it a sharp look, the lawyer returned his attention to Charlie’s latest bank statements.
Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the safe shake and quiver for a second time.
Knitting his brow in puzzlement, Mr Crow stood up to investigate. Reaching for the door, he yelped and then fell over on his backside in alarm as the safe began to clamour and boom as though caught in an earthquake.
As the noise coming from the safe reached a crescendo, the study lights began to flicker and dim. Suddenly it fell silent, although not for long.
‘Open the door,’ commanded a voice that issued forth like rumbling thunder.
Crow stared at the safe. It sounded like the voice was coming from inside, but that was impossible.
‘Open the door, you bumbling Human, or face my wrath!’
The blood drained from Crow’s face. ‘Who’s that speaking? Who’s there?’ squeaked the lawyer.
‘You chittering, chattering fool! Open this Portal or I shall suck the marrow from your spindly bones and squish your brain!’ threatened the dark, growling voice.
The lawyer’s hands shook as he reached for the safe’s lock and entered the combination. With a violently trembling arm, Mr Crow pulled back the door.
The money had disappeared. In its place a dark shadowy figure emerged … and kept on emerging and emerging.
It was a man, or at least it looked like one. But Crow had never seen anyone as large as this before. The figure almost filled the room, towering over the desk and making the lanky lawyer look tiny in comparison. For the first time in his life Crow felt fear. Fear that snatched at his bladder, fear that sent cold waves screaming up his spine and locked all his muscles into a spasm. This … thing that now stood in his study could not be Human.
‘You will do as I warrant, you little wretch,’ spoke the hulking figure. ‘Fail to please me and I shall tear your skin into lengths, rip your hair into twine and use your fingernails as buttons. I will make you into a garment to be worn. Do I have your attention, you little squashy maggot?’
‘Yes, yes, yes!’ stammered Mr Crow. ‘All my attention, all of it, you’ve got it, yes, yes.’
‘Stop your babbling.’
Mr Crow’s jaw clamped shut. He stared at the menacing figure. It was almost as wide as it was tall, wrapped head to toe in black bandages, its head covered by a heavy cowl. Crow quailed as he stared into the dark depths of the hood’s shadow.
‘There is something that I desire and you, little maggot, shall be of use in my hunt for it.’
The figure continued to talk. Mr Crow, dwarfed by the hulking figure, grovelled and nodded his head in quick agreement as the newcomer laid out his demands. At one point Crow interrupted, ‘But how will I recognize this if I’ve never seen one before?’
‘I will send one of my Shades with a sketch of its likeness. You may bide your time until then, but bear this in