disappeared. There was the sound of bumping and the corner of a mattress, sheet still atop it, appeared in the doorway. Aiden grinned, hopped off his bed and helped pull it into the room, laying it on the floor at the foot of the beds. Scarlet dashed back for the bedding and returned with Nat in tow.
“I’ll sleep on this one, Nat, if you want the other bed.”
Nat smiled and timidly climbed between the sheets, hugging her hot chocolate. Aiden sat on his bed, smiling happily, a sparse covering of flamers on his ears and the top of his head.
“I can’t believe I’m having a sleepover! I’ve never had a sleepover.”
“And we have midnight feast supplies!” Scarlet laughed, opening the biscuit tin. They munched, drank and chatted.
Nat and Aiden were filled in on details about the house fire and Scarlet remarked on how amazing it was that the teachers could make doors appear wherever they wanted.
“I don’t think it’s wherever they want,” Aiden said. “I think it has to be through natural materials, like wood. Have you noticed how much wood there is in the rooms and corridors of the school?”
“Aiden,” Nat asked, “when you locked the door in the library, could you still see it?”
“Yes,” his eyes widened, “but it was red. All the other doors were silvery white. This one turned red straight after.”
“But how do the doors get there in the first place, do you think?” Seb asked, brushing crumbs from his pyjama top.
“I think they’ve always been there; we just can’t see them,” Aiden said.
Seb shook his head. “That can’t be. Alice said Mr Duir and Mr White carried me and Scarlet through a door in the wardrobe in my room. That won’t have always been there. I know it’s wood, but it’s a chopped down tree – they can’t simply have been lucky enough that this bit of wood happened to have a door in it!”
“Maybe they were. In the library I could actually see several more doors in some of the walls but also in the space within the room. I think they are all around us, even where there are no solid objects and all it takes is for the presence of something natural – a wooden slat, a bush, a tree, a patch of grass, a fountain – and they can be opened. I suppose we could ask the teachers on Monday.”
Seb watched a couple of fairies dancing on Nat’s knees. She smiled at them then asked, “Where is Alice?”
“Mr Duir told him to go … to meet Dierne,” Seb said.
They all sat in silence for a few minutes, then Scarlet shouted, “You brought your tin Aiden, didn’t you? Get it out! Let’s see if there are any doors in here.”
Aiden reached under his pillow and pulled his tin out. Scarlet bounded onto the bed and squeezed up next to him then patted the bed. “Come on Nat, Seb …”
Aiden clicked the tin open and all four stared into it.
“I’ll be honest,” he said shyly, “I tried it when I got home. It didn’t work.”
All Seb could see in the tin were five berries and their own curious faces staring back at them.
“Well what did you do differently in the library?” Scarlet took the tin from Aiden and examined it.
“Nothing, I just opened it and the lights and lines appeared.”
“What was different then …?” Nat’s question hung in the air.
After a moment she suggested, “We needed to see the door.”
“Yes, of course. We needed to see, not just wanted to. Maybe that’s how it works,” Aiden said. He paused, then sounding despondent, added, “If that’s right, it means the next time it happens we’ll be needing a door, so we’ll be in trouble.”
“Does it have to be a bad need? Couldn’t it be a good need?” Nat asked. “I mean, it would be good if Zach was with us and, actually, to be a group we need him with us. Why don’t you try finding a door to Zach?”
“Okay.” Aiden sounded uncertain. He opened the tin once more as Seb thought that it would be good if Zach was with them. Then Aiden beamed and Seb’s heart leapt. Aiden’s face now had a pink glow to it.
“Well?” Scarlet shouted.
“Well,” he smiled. “Look!” He pointed towards the room door. The others stared at it but could see nothing. Aiden pointed again. “There is definitely a door there.”
Seb couldn’t see it.
“I think, Seb, you have to make it appear. Do you remember Mr Duir in the Five Springs? He lit up the column above the spring and the door appeared,” Aiden said.
Scarlet squealed. “He’s right! It must be right. Go on Seb, lift your hand.”
Slightly embarrassed, Seb lifted his hand and then they all groaned as they saw the bandage wrapped around it.
“Oh, were you hurt?” Nat asked as Scarlet tutted.
“The nurse said it was something minor. It doesn’t hurt at all.”
“Let’s have a look!” Scarlet grabbed his hand and began picking at the end of the bandage. Dressing removed, she thrust his hand back to him. “Nothing: not a scratch, not a burn, not even a splinter,” she said disapprovingly.
Seb lifted his hand to his face to examine the delicate lines and suddenly beams flashed around the room, reflecting the muted light from the flamers and from Aiden’s glowing pink face. Now Scarlet grabbed it again and this time tilted it to shine the light onto the bedroom door. As the reflected beam hit it, the shadow of another door appeared inside the frame of the bedroom door, and just below the handle shone a silver knob.
Scarlet was already leaping across the room. “Well done, Aiden.”
He walked over to join her, gazing into the compact tin. “Actually, there are three more in the room, several outside in the corridor and more in your room, if I’m reading this right.”
Scarlet seized the doorknob then seemed to hesitate, removing her hand from it.
“Should I … or is it meant to be you or Seb who opens it, Aiden?”
“I think we all can,” Aiden said, not making a move to touch the doorknob. “Miss Angel and Mr West came through the one in the Five Springs. The Caretaker used one in the library …”
Scarlet shrugged and grabbed the knob again. “Okay, here goes …” With a twist of the knob and a tug, she pulled the door open. A black void appeared in the space of the physical door. “Who’s coming?” She looked back at their nervous but eager faces. Everyone was.
A Surprise for Zach
There was a massive thud as the dumb-bell Zach had been holding hit the floor and he stared at the door that had just appeared, rising out of the wooden headboard of his bed. The door was flung open and a wary looking Scarlet stepped through, overbalancing slightly as she trod from a firm floor onto the bouncy surface of Zach’s untidy bed.
“Are you okay, hon?” A woman’s voice shouted from downstairs.
Zach, putting a hand out to support Scarlet before she toppled off the bed, called back, “Yeah Mum, just dropped my study book!”
Aiden and Nat followed Scarlet through the doorway as a commotion outside Zach’s room began.
“Mum, Mum! I heard monsters!” Gretel sobbed.
“Oh, you all made it then?” Zach grinned at Seb as he stepped gingerly onto the bed and off onto the floor. “Good going guys!” Zach laughed. “Managed to wake The Dominator.” Gretel’s cries beyond the door got louder.
“Actually, Zach, that was you! And for goodness’ sake, put a top on!” Scarlet hissed at him, trying not to stare at his well-defined muscular frame. He was bare from the waist up and wore only boxer shorts on his bottom half.
“Excuse me? Whose bedroom is this? I didn’t invite you here. You might try knocking next time too; I could have been doing anything!” He grinned and put his hands on his hips, towering over her as she perched on the edge of the bed.
“Zach, what are you doing in there?” His mum rapped on the door.
“Should we hide?” Aiden whispered.
Zach was unconcerned. “The Dominator dominates,” he said, nodding his head towards his bedroom door where his mother could be he
ard trying to calm Gretel.
“Just FaceTiming with Seb and Scarlet, Mum. You take care of Grets. Sorry I woke her.” The noise outside decreased as Gretel was taken back to her bedroom. “So, are any of the teachers coming?” Zach asked as the door sparkled then shrank away to nothing. “That answers that question.”
“You did it, Aiden!” Scarlet smiled at Aiden who looked pleased with himself.
“Did what?” Zach began twirling his stick.
“He found a door and Seb opened it, Zach. Not only that, he managed to find one that led to you.”
“Great,” Zach said, then frowned. “What were you all doing together?” He eyed the four in their nightwear. “Were you having a sleepover without me?”
Scarlet launched into a summary of what had happened.
“So you guys get to sleep in the Three Bears’ Cottage and I have to stay here – hardly fair!”
“It doesn’t really matter though, Zach,” Scarlet said. “Now that Aiden knows how to open the doors we can join you, or you can join us, any time.” Looking around his cluttered room she screwed her nose up. “Actually, looking at this pigsty it’s probably better you join us!”
“Ordered chaos, I like to think.” Zach brushed off the insult. Seb tended to agree with his sister’s description; he had been here many times and failed to see any order at all in the chaos around them. Noticing the scrutiny the others were giving his room, Zach decided to distract them.
“So, what next?”
Seb realised he hadn’t thought that far. It was exciting to know they could open a door and go through it to wherever they needed but what about after that – did they need to do