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thinking about her every move, wondering what was going to happen next, knowing that this was all the beginning of some pretty strange adventures.
    They looked casual, relaxed, not in a hurry at all, as if what had happened so far and this strange house perched over some ice caves with frost on the ground in summer were every day occurrences with them.
    Cameron had brought the trunk full of guns into the house with them. He had left the trunk in the front hall next to a large elephant foot full of black umbrellas.

• The First Breakfast •
    Just about the time breakfast was ready, Magic Child came into the kitchen. She was wearing exactly the same clothes that Miss Hawkline was wearing. Her hair was also combed the same way and she wore patent leather shoes that shined like coal. You could not tell the difference between Magic Child and Miss Hawkline.
    They were the same person.
    “How do I look?” Magic Child said.
    “Fine,” Greer said.
    “You sure are a pretty girl,” Cameron said.
    “I’m so glad you’re back,” Miss Hawkline said, suddenly stopping breakfast to rush over and throw her arms around Magic Child again.
    Greer and Cameron sat there, staring at these two identical visions of beautiful womanhood.
    Miss Hawkline went back to the few minutes that took care of cooking breakfast and putting the food on the table where soon they were all gathered eating the first of many meals that they would eat together.

Book 3
• The Hawkline Monster •

• The Death of Magic Child •
    “Is anybody else going to have breakfast with us?” Greer said as he prepared to take his first bite of food. He was thinking about the flash of light he had seen in an upstairs window. He thought that the light was caused by a person.
    “No,” Miss Hawkline said. “There’s nobody else in the house except us.”
    Cameron stared at his fork. It lay beside a plate that had a delicate Chinese pattern on it. He looked over at Greer. Then he picked up his fork and started eating.
    “What do you want done?” Greer said. He had just finished swallowing a big mouthful of carefully chewed ham. Greer was a slow eater. He liked to enjoy his food.
    “5,000,” Cameron said. He still had some food in his mouth, so his words sounded a little bit lumpy.
    “You have to kill a monster that lives under the house in the ice caves.” Miss Hawkline said, looking over at Cameron.
    “A monster?” Greer said.
    “Yes, a monster,” Magic Child said. “The monster lives in the caves. We want him dead. There’s a basement with a laboratory in it above the caves. An iron door separates the laboratory from the caves and there’s another iron door that separates the laboratory from the house. They’re thick doors but we’re afraid someday he’ll break the doors down and get upstairs into the house. We don’t want the monster running around the house.”
    “I can see that,” Greer said. “Nobody likes monsters running around their house.” He was smiling softly.
    “What kind of a monster is this?” Cameron said.
    “We don’t know,” Miss Hawkline said.
    “We’ve never seen him,” Magic Child said.
    Ever since they had arrived at the house, Magic Child’s personality had been changing. She was rapidly becoming more and more like Miss Hawkline. Her voice had been changing and the expressions on her face had been changing. She was growing closer and closer toward Miss Hawkline’s way of talking and moving and doing things.
    “But we can hear him howling in the ice caves and banging on the iron door with what sounds like a tail,” Magic Child said, in a very Miss Hawkline manner.
    Magic Child was becoming Miss Hawkline right in front of Greer and Cameron’s eyes. By the time breakfast was over they were not able to tell the difference between them. Only their places at the table could tell who was Magic Child and who was Miss Hawkline.
    “It’s a terrible sound and we’re afraid,” Magic Child said.
    Greer was thinking