Beyond Platform 13 by Sibéal Pounder

Author:Sibéal Pounder
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Pan Macmillan UK

Trevor grinned. ‘It wasn’t for me. I don’t like what the harpies have done to this island. I’m also a huge Ben and royal-family fan. They say you’re leading the rebellion and are going to help us all,’ he said, brushing the gloop off Odge’s blue boots.

‘I probably won’t help your friends,’ Odge replied, to the sounds of ‘FIND ’EM AND KILL ’EM!’ below. ‘They aren’t the nicest creatures, are they?’

‘Some of them aren’t so bad,’ Trevor said. ‘I think they’re just afraid of being hunted by the harpies or thrown out themselves if they don’t do what they’re told.’

‘Pah!’ Odge said. ‘That’s no excuse. Imagine if they all decided not to fight for the harpies – they’d be without an army and much easier to stop. Not standing up for what is right is the worst kind of bad, if you ask me.’

Trevor bowed his head, but said nothing. There wasn’t anything to say.

‘You’ll stay here until light, and then I will come and collect you. The tree is safe and magic.’ He snapped a branch, making it sprout more leaves to completely conceal them. ‘They won’t look for you here – the trees are too tall. They’d never imagine you could get to the top without magic. Now I must go back to Swampton and pretend I’m one of them.’

He waved and whispered, ‘Ben forever!’ before flying off, taking his distinctly musty smell with him.

Lina lifted a leaf and peeked out. The fairies were walking two to a row up and down and around the swamp, searching every inch of it.

‘It’s actually quite fun to watch them, isn’t it?’ Odge said with a satisfied smirk. ‘Look at them searching in completely the wrong place.’

Lina looked around the tree. The branches curled up and around each other creating a cosy, leaf-lined room. ‘I’m so glad Trevor exists. We would’ve never got up here without his magic. We would need to fly to get so high!’

‘That’s the problem with these swamp fairies and harpies,’ Odge groaned. ‘The flying – they’re impossible to stop when in the air.’

‘What if Mrs Smith wasn’t airborne?’ Lina asked, an idea coming to her.

Odge shook her head. ‘Flying high is what she does – if she sees you, the first thing she does is rise up and fly around. And you can’t defeat her that way. You saw them in action.’

Lina lay on her back and sighed, dangling her arms at her sides. She felt like she had the answer right there, but just an inch out of reach. She thought of meeting Odge and their journey here. Her stomach rumbled at the memory of the delicious chocolate torte. She snapped back up, her eyes wide. ‘Odge,’ she said urgently. ‘Odge?’

‘Yes?’ Odge said, not taking her eyes off the swamp fairies.

‘At the hotel, when we were eating torte, before Ray got huge, you told me about your aunt in London. Do you remember?’

‘Yes,’ Odge said absently. ‘She’s the only one in my family who lives in the human world.

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