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didn’t seem to be a lock of any sort, the box remained firmly closed.
    Simon shook his head. “It’s no good – I’ve triedeverything. I even tried to get my penknife in and prise it open.” He rummaged in his drawer again and brought out his Swiss Army Knife to show her – the end of the blade had been snapped off cleanly.
    Cat frowned at the box, and then ran her fingers over the symbols on the top.
    â€œThere’s something about these,” she said. “They look familiar. I’m sure I’ve seen them somewhere before… Maybe they’re a clue about how to open it.”
    â€œShould we show it to Mum, do you think?” said Simon. He looked at her with a very neutral expression.
    Cat met his gaze. “We should, you know,” she said. “After all, it must have belonged to Great-Aunt Irene. So it’s Mum’s, really.”
    There was a moment’s silence.
    Then Cat raised one eyebrow. “But… she did say we could have anything we wanted from Great-Aunt Irene’s things. And neither of us has chosen anything yet. So…”
    â€œâ€¦ we could choose this,” finished Simon.
    They grinned at each other, then Cat dug in her dressing-gown pocket and pulled out the cardAlbert Jemmet had left. She twirled it in between her fingers.
    â€œYou know, I really didn’t want to move here,” she said. “I thought it would be boring. But right now I’m beginning to think it might have… interesting possibilities.”

Chapter Five
    The Great Forest was old, and peculiar. It had always been part of the kingdom, but the forest had its own laws, and you couldn’t enter it without magic. Very few people had ever met any of the folk who lived there, and those who had couldn’t agree on what they looked like. Some said they were tall and thin, with faintly green skin, while others swore they were short, fat men with long beards who smelled of the earth. The innkeeper who’d pointed out the way to Dora and Jem said the only forest folk he’d ever seen had been three inches high, with wings.
    It had taken them about an hour to reach the edge of the forest from Bridbury. Now the outer trees loomed above them, large and forbidding, and the way forward appeared to be barred bya tapestry of dark thorny brambles and vines growing between the trunks.
    â€œNow what?” said Jem, dumping his pack on the ground. “We can’t get through there. What a waste of time. We’ve obviously gone the wrong way.”
    Dora slipped her own pack off her shoulder and flexed her fingers. “You have to use a finding spell to see the path,” she told him. “The Druid showed me.”
    â€œOh, of course!” said Jem, his face clearing. “That’ll be why I had to have you along, instead of just going by myself. To do the magic. Well, come on then, Dora, get on with it.”
    He grinned at her, and Dora wondered if he knew how annoying he was being. She suspected he did, and that just made her feel even more cross. Trust Jem to think that he was the messenger and she was just along to help him, when it was completely the other way round. And he might need her, for her magic, but she wasn’t sure exactly what she needed him for.
    Dora turned to face the forest, a scowl on her face. She held out her hands and said the exact words of the spell the Druid had shown her.Almost immediately, a path appeared in the gap – it was narrow, and slightly ghostly, a pale ribbon slipping in between the gnarled trunks and on into the cool shadows. Jem hesitated, looked at Dora with one eyebrow raised, then shouldered his pack and strode forward with a cheerful whistle.
    Dora trudged after him, seething. There he was, swaggering his way through the Great Forest whistling, when everyone knew that you had to be extremely respectful and extremely humble in the Great Forest. Expecting Jem to be humble was like