The House at the Edge of Magic by Amy Sparkes

Author:Amy Sparkes [Sparkes, Amy]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781406399905
Publisher: Walker Books
Published: 2021-01-07T00:00:00+00:00

What happened next was so quick that Nine barely had time to register it. There was a deafening clatter, a rush of colour – and a chaos of clutter poured out like an avalanche. A brass hooter, a troll-sized raincoat, a large collection of glowing hammers, a ‘Complete Family Set of Pop-Up Coffins’, strange-looking scientific instruments, cauldrons of various sizes, a picnic blanket, a ‘Vampire Starter Kit’, a massive leather-bound book, numerous pieces of parchment, an InkFree quill in a box, an oversized green woollen dragon…

Nine sat buried neck-high in the heap, catching her breath. Something on her left that looked like a blue ball of wool on legs scurried away. She stared at the pile that surrounded her, then she stared at Flabberghast and Eric.

“Years of tidying! That sign was there for a reason!” raged Flabberghast, waving his arms so wildly that the remaining arm of his armour fell off. “And now we’ll never find the trophy!”

“At least I tried!” Nine attempted to wriggle under all the clutter. A troll-sized pair of pants fell on her head. “Come on! DO something!”

Eric reached forward, scrabbling at piles of stuff until Nine’s shoulders were clear. Then he grabbed her with one hand, half-shaking, half-pulling her free. Nine wrestled herself from his grasp as soon as she could.

“I’m fine!” she snapped, clambering awkwardly over the mountain of mess. “Right, let’s find that trophy.”

“No, come back!” said Flabberghast.

But Nine was already inside the dark cupboard, scrabbling around. “Come on!”

“You mustn’t go in—”

“Stop making excuses and find that trophy! I need that ‘immeasurable wealth’ you—”

Nine stopped. There was a strange, juddering sound. The mountain of mess shifted beneath her, making her lose her balance. She fell back onto her bottom. Silence. Then another strange, juddering sound. The mess moved again.

“Flabberghast,” Nine said slowly, “what is going on?”

The wizard sighed. “The only way we could fit it all into the cupboard was to put a compacting spell on it years ago. The cupboard squashes everything up.”

“Everything?” squeaked Nine. Suddenly, there was a grinding sound as the walls of the cupboard began moving closer. Nine felt herself being lifted higher as the mess was pushed upwards. She tumbled left and right, trying and failing to keep her balance. As everything around was squished and squashed and shoved higher and higher, a flash of silver caught Nine’s eye.

“I can see it!” Nine gasped. She threw herself towards the trophy but it disappeared under a chamber pot decorated with stars. Nine fell backwards. There was a strange, sucking feeling as the mess in the hallway was drawn back into the cupboard. Large, glowing hammers flew around her. A small metal tripod hurtled towards her; Nine felt the sharp sting as it grazed her cheek.

“Come out!” yelled Flabberghast.

“I can get it!” Nine rummaged under a skull-embroidered cushion. Her hands touched cool, smooth silver – then she was tipped backwards, upwards, and her hair brushed the top of the ceiling. She rolled sideways but was pushed back against the wall. She lunged forwards again, reached out, grabbed it—

“MADAM!”

The cauldron bumped into her.

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