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the opening easily and once on the other side, stood up and waited.
    Sam hunched his shoulders to pass through and after scrambling to his feet, had to stoop to keep his head from hitting the ceiling. Nell picked up the small red torch she always kept there.
    ‘How come you never showed me this before?’
    ‘I don’t know. I guess I liked the idea of having my own secret passageway.’
    ‘Maybe it was used for smuggling.’
    ‘Yeah, maybe, I’ve sensed strange things all over Cape Hollow lately.’ She ignored his disbelieving look.
    As they came to the library entrance, she switched off the torch and didn’t have to wait long before her eyes adjusted to the darkness. When she looked at Sam and put her finger up to her mouth to tell him to be quiet, there was no reaction.
    He looked around as if he couldn’t see her.
    She slid a panel silently to the side to let some light in and repeated her action with her finger on her mouth.
    He nodded.
    They crawled from the passageway to behind the heavy desk. With only enough space to sit on the floor with folded legs, they hunkered down. Nell knew they were secure in their hiding place.
    The first voice was small and whiny. ‘But, Uncle …’
    There. That had to be the smaller girl. Nell knew she wouldn’t like her. Who did she call Uncle?
    ‘No, Cay-meka!’ said Nell’s father.
    So the younger one’s name was Cay-meka and she was her father’s niece. Huh. Another relative Nell knew nothing about. Funny name though. Nell held her breath as footsteps moved close by.
    ‘Dar-seldra, you must understand my reluctance.’ Nell’s father again. ‘I will wait until her birthday. There is no reason to suspect anything will go amiss.’ There was a pause before her father spoke again. ‘Kandar came earlier and warned me my Asisa’s family is searching for Nell. I will go to Corl and find out which relatives want to see her and send word for them to contact me before I will allow them near her.’
    Nell frowned. Corl? That must be where her mother was from? Nell had never heard of it and she made a mental note to check her computer to find out where it was.
    She glanced at Sam. He seemed to be concentrating hard on the conversation; his expression, as baffled as Nell felt. She tried to make sense of what was said. Why couldn’t her mother’s family meet Nell anytime? Why would her father have reason not to let them? They had just as much right as her father’s sister and niece.
    The whiny voice interrupted Nell’s thoughts. ‘Mother agrees. Don’t you, Mother?’
    Both Nell and Sam’s eyes bulged as they mouthed
‘Mother?’
to each other.
    Having only caught a glimpse of the visitors before they vanished inside, Nell recalled the images in her dreams. The girl called Dar-seldra couldn’t possibly be the whiny one’s mother. She didn’t look much older than Nell.
    Sam opened his mouth as if to say something.
    She put a finger over his mouth to stop him. Her father spoke again.
    ‘Dar-seldra will do as I say, and so will you, Cay-meka.’
    ‘But it is the law.’ Cay-meka appeared not to want to give up.
    ‘Did you not hear me, niece?’ Nell’s father boomed.
    Her father had never been so angry before and what were they all talking about? What law for what? Feeling as if her head would burst any second, she shut her eyes. She had to concentrate on the conversation.
    ‘Yes, Uncle.’ Cay-meka’s whine had turned into a sulk.
    How could he have kept so much from Nell? Didn’t she matter to him at all?
    ‘I will go before the council, explain my position and find out who is looking for Nell.’
    What did the council have to do with any family problems? Nell couldn’t sit still any longer and craned her neck around the base of the statue. The short girl, Cay-meka, had turned her back to the other two, and with folded arms, faced the wall of books. All three were similar with their fair hair and bronze skin and Nell had no problem believing they were related.