“You’re not going fishing!” bellowed Tyler’s dad.

“Well that’s not fair!” Tyler said in anger, stomping his feet.

“But why can’t we go?” asked Honey, Tyler’s twin sister.

“Because it’s too dangerous,” said mum, joining in the conversation, “You know that there are deadly creatures lurking in the lake.”

Tyler whispered to Honey “They’re just lying. I don’t believe them, I’ve never seen any.”

 Tyler was a brave daredevil, who could be very clumsy at times. Honey was brave and determined and very competitive especially with her twin brother Tyler. Honey was jealous of Tyler as he had been on many fishing trips with their father. She was curious to discover the dangers of the lake.

 As Tyler and Honey went up to their room after dinner Honey whispered to Tyler, “Why don’t we plan to go on a fishing trip?”

“You heard mum and dad, they said ‘No!’ ” replied Tyler.

“But its alright for you, you’ve been with dad. I’ve never been. Are you scared? Please come with me, it’ll be fun. But if you are too scared I’ll go alone…” Honey said threateningly.

“Ok, Ok I’ll come with you.  Stop pestering me. I’m not scared, I’m braver than you.”

 They waited patiently until their parents were in bed, then they crept silently and nervously to the garage. Once they had got all the equipment together they sneaked out of the door towards the lake.

 When they got there Honey’s first reaction was one of shock. “I can’t believe how huge the lake is!” she exclaimed.

“Look at that beautiful sunrise,” commented Tyler, pointing across the lake to the horizon.

“It’s breathtaking with the exquisite, golden sunrise and the reeds swaying gently in the wind.”

Looking around, Honey and Tyler saw the wonders of the lake: shimmering water, giant mountains, colourful fish, a golden sky and in the distance, silhouettes of animals.

 Eagerly Tyler pushed the canoe into the murky, flowing water. Cautiously Honey climbed in and Tyler jumped in behind her. He carefully picked up the oars and started to row out to deeper water. Honey felt both scared and excited at the same time. As Tyler rowed further she gradually began to feel relieved and relaxed, it was so calm and peaceful.

 “What’s that in the distance?” asked Honey

“What?” replied Tyler

“That dark, shadowy, ‘rock-like’ thing.”

“I don’t know I’ve never seen it before!” exclaimed Tyler puzzled.

 Honey and Tyler’s minds whizzed with questions but no answers came to them. What was the ‘rock like’ object? What should they do? Their minds couldn’t focus on anything but the mysterious object. Terrified, Tyler and Honey’s mouths became drier and drier, until they felt like sandpaper. Their minds generated more and more questions. Where should they go? Would anyone have noticed they were gone? An owl hooted in the distance and they felt as though there something was watching them.

 Eventually the twins summoned up the courage to speak.

“Maybe the legends are true.” whispered Tyler.

“There’s no point just sitting here,” complained Honey, “Let’s go and take a closer look.”

 Petrified but as silently as mice, Tyler and Honey began to row their canoe slowly towards the ‘rock like’ object. Rowing stealthily, they noticed something strange, more of the ‘rock-like’ thing had appeared out of the water. Gripping the oars tightly, Tyler’s hands grew clammy and Honey’s pulse quickened, the twin’s hearts thudded like bass drums and they started to sweat like burst pipes.

 All of a sudden, the current pulled them violently towards the object. “Maybe we should have listened to Mum and Dad!” muttered Tyler. Clinging tightly to the edge of their canoe to avoid being thrown overboard, Honey and Tyler tried to keep calm.

 Now that they were closer they sniffed the air and could smell mould, slime and a foul fishy stench. Grumbling, groaning and gurgling seemed to be coming from beneath the canoe. Water lapped against the edge of the canoe, splashing their hands, whilst seaweed was blown onto the bottom of the canoe. The canoe started to rock violently from side to side and a sickly taste rose up from their throats.  The murky water began to move in a mysterious manner and a shoal of fish swam frantically in the opposite direction to the mysterious, greeny-brown, ‘rock like’ object growing larger and larger until it was the most enormous and gigantic thing they had ever seen.

 “What is that?” asked Tyler frozen still like someone at the Arctic, his eyes wide with fear.

“I have no idea!” snapped Honey. “There’s no one out here! We’re going to die!”

 Telling her not to scream, Tyler shouted, “Just concentrate on the colourful fish and the beautiful sunrise!” Quick as a flash they furiously tried to row their creaking canoe in the same direction as the fish. They panicked that their canoe would be wrecked like something demolished by a typhoon. What should they do? Being pulled ever closer they saw the ‘rock like’ thing loom over them and open up before their eyes.

 Pulled in by a deadly current, Tyler and Honey found themselves in a perplexing place… a world turned upside down and inside out. Before their eyes they saw a bright yellow moon, sapphire grass and emerald sky. The aroma of cinnamon and mints was all around them. Just then Tyler tumbled backwards in to a patch of flowers, with green heads and brightly coloured stems. Noticing they were no ordinary flowers, he was covered in icing and smelt of cupcakes.  He had tripped over an orange bunny eating a grey carrot. 

Meanwhile, Honey was looking at all the fascinating things that surrounded her: golden go karts, diamond encrusted swings, grey rollercoasters on purple and red tracks.  Excitedly, she rolled down a grassy hill.  In the distance she saw the strangest sight… a rainbow, which was black, white and grey, leading to what looked like a pool of gold.  “This park is amazing!” she exclaimed while playing on the colossal slide again and again. 

Jumping on trampoline clouds, somersaulting and back flipping, Tyler shouted, “Look at me!” excitedly and then landed flat on his back.

Suddenly Tyler looked up because he could smell something horrifying.  At that moment he saw a crowd with pointy hats and strange looking bubbles popping above their heads. “Look, look Honey, we better get out of here before those witches see us and turn us in to f…f…frogs,” stuttered Tyler anxiously.

Hurriedly, trying to leave, they turned around to head back to the door but it slammed shut. They were trapped!

Honey and Tyler stood frozen in shock, they could not believe it. Suddenly the truth hit them like a blast of icy wind.  The people in the pointy hats were witches!

“Run!” shouted Tyler to Honey but the witches had now formed a circle around them and were closing in.

 “Go, go, go!” yelled Tyler again. They ducked under the witches and using the last of their will power, bolted for the door! As soon as they thought all hope was gone, the door clicked and swung open. They were free.

Then they found themselves falling through thin air down, down, down.

 “What’s going on?” shrieked Honey.

“I don’t know,” came Tyler’s reply over the howl of the air. “Where are we going to land and what will Mum and Dad do when they find out?” wondered Tyler aloud.

THUMP! They landed in a tangled heap of arms and legs on their very own king sized bed!

Honey turned to Tyler and said, “I can’t believe it! We managed to escape the witches!”

“I’ve never been on a fishing trip like that before!” joked Tyler, grinning.

“Shall we go and see where Mum and Dad are, and if they noticed we were gone?” asked Honey.

They sped down the stairs and raced into the kitchen. There was no sign of Mum and Dad, but out of the corner of her eye Honey saw something. “What’s that on the table?” she asked Tyler. It was a scrap of paper that said ‘Come into the garden. Love Mum and Dad’.

They rushed into the garden and found Mum and Dad in the middle of the lawn, standing next to a wooden hutch. They didn’t look angry, in fact they looked excited. Mum said, “Guess what’s inside the hutch?”

“Usually a rabbit lives inside a hutch,” explained Tyler.

“Correct!” replied Dad. “Go on then, look inside, whatever’s inside is yours to look after.”

Honey and Tyler skipped up to the hutch and carefully opened the door. Their jaws dropped. Inside, sitting on a bed of straw, was an orange rabbit gnawing on a grey carrot…….

by Year 4 pupils from St Edmund’s, Chase Bridge, Lowther, Heathfield Junior and St. Mary’s primary schools

Our grandparents have moved back to the city.  We inherited their grand house in the country.

I was walking back to the house for the first time in years, through the wood that had brought me so many nightmares.

I glanced back at the forbidden tower – it was the same dangerous place as when I was a child, and the window was still shattered.  Then, all my memories came flooding back to me.

It all began during our summer holidays many years ago…….

It had been raining recently, but today was the first sunny day.  The six of us lived in London, but had gone to visit our grandparents.  They lived in a big house in the country.   All the aunts, uncles and cousins were there.  We didn’t want to waste our time indoors, so we decided to go out for a picnic to explore the woodland.  We caught a glimpse of the sun reflecting off a lake.  We decided to settle down and have our picnic there.

As we were about to start our picnic, we noticed an ancient, abandoned tower, covered with ivy.

Suddenly, an old woman appeared out of nowhere and started hobbling towards us.  “Go back!” she squawked hoarsely, “stay away from the tower.  Nobody who goes in there ever comes back!”

Evie suggested, “maybe we should tell our parents what we heard”, so we rolled up our picnic rug and headed home.  When we got there, we told our parents about the mysterious old woman.  They said she had given us good advice.  We could tell they were holding something back but we didn’t ask.

That night a storm occurred and the wind howled mournfully around the house and the rain bounced off the windows.  The next day we dressed hurriedly because we were desperate to explore the gloomy tower we had discovered the day before.  We sneaked downstairs and slipped quietly through the door.  As we were running towards the wood, we saw the tall tower looming in the distance.  When we got closer, we saw it was no longer covered with ivy, as it had been blown away in the storm.  We now noticed the sunlight bouncing off a shattered window.  A thick, wooden door lay at the bottom of the tower.  “Let’s go in!” said Robbie, excitedly.  “No, no, it’s too dangerous!” chorused Evie and Georgie.  “Oh, come on!” pleaded Matty.   “Too late to go back now” mumbled Clodagh. Conor and Robbie sprinted towards the tower, so we had no choice but to follow. When we got there, they were already turning the handle on the door.

As soon as we turned the handle, the door creaked open. We nervously stepped inside. We looked all around. The room was dark and gloomy. There was a shattered, broken window in the corner. Only a small glimmer of light came from it.

“Don’t worry,” said Matty producing a pocket knife. “It has a torch attachment to it”. He shone the torch around the room and we discovered that the only thing in the room was an old table with a dusty surface. We wandered gingerly around the room, the floorboard creaked beneath our feet. Without warning, Robbie tripped and landed with a thud. Matty shone his torch at Robbie. “Ouch… that did hurt,” groaned Robbie.

“I really do think that we should get out of here,” said Evie, wearing a worried expression. “What did you trip over? The floorboards are perfectly stable. Was it a stick or a box? Or was it just you?” she questioned endlessly.

“It was this,” replied Robbie, holding up a dusty black brief case. Evie took it from him and opened it.

Suddenly, a scream came from upstairs. None of us had seen the staircase in the corner of the room and we realised that there was a second level to the tower.

“What do you think is up there?” I asked.

“Let’s get out of here,” panicked Evie.

“We can’t the door handle just fell off in my hands,” I replied.

Just then we heard another loud scream. This time it seemed to be shouting for help. “Do you think it might be a ghost?” whispered Georgie nervously.

“Whatever it is, we have no choice, there’s no way out down here, so we’ll have to go up there!” Matty answered impatiently.

Slowly, we all sidled, one by one, up the winding staircase. I was so scared I could hear the pounding of my heart through my chest. Every minute of moving up the staircase, we wanted to turn back. We were all quietly regretting coming to the tower.

When we reached the top of the staircase, we could just about make out the outline of a rotten wooden door. The yelling and screaming started again, this time even louder. Matty tried the rickety brass door handle. The door was locked!

Suddenly Matty had a brain wave. He carefully took out his penknife, picked the padlock and leant against the door. The door flew open. There in the corner of the room sat a small scrawny child. When he saw us, he jumped up and scuttled away.

“It’s ok,we’re here to help,”  Evie said reassuringly.

“Don’t worry. We are all scared too!” added Georgie.

“Who are you?” trembled the child, who was now anxiously backing up against the wall.

We all introduced ourselves and the little boy said his name was Eddie. In the dim light, I could just about see that his clothes were shredded and dirty. He was painfully thin.

After a long silence the boy started to tell us how he had been imprisoned in the tower for many days. He said an old woman had warned him not to go there and that he regretted not listening to her advice.

“We were warned by her too,” I said sadly.

Together, we wandered around the small room, looking for an escape route. Robbie was passing his hand along the stone wall, looking for a secret opening or another way out. Eddie sat very still but shivering in the middle of the tiny room. It was freezing cold.

“There must be a way out,” mumbled Clodagh.

We carefully crept back down the stairs. The light was vanishing fast. It was starting to get dark outside. However in the dimness, we noticed the open briefcase.  Inside was a velvet pouch.  Pulling at its drawstring, Georgie discovered a smooth silver key with an engraving. Unable to make out what it said, we all wondered hopefully which lock it might fit into.

I looked up at the shattered window. It was now dark and gloomy outside. At that very moment, just for a split second, a flash of lightning lit up an eerie despicable face. Its monstrous green eyes beamed in, onto us. We were terrified. Our curiosity started to drip away from us like a leaking tap.

Suddenly there was a thunderous knock at the door.  We all jumped in fright. Eddie screamed and hid behind Evie’s leg. Creaking footsteps could be heard coming up the stairs. We all dived under the table. Then we heard that familiar, hoarse squawk as the door unbolted. “Oh no we’re done for, she’s coming in!” Evie whispered frantically.

“Calm down children, I’m sorry I scared you.” Yes, it was the old woman, but she seemed less scary this time. “I warned you not to come here, it is a very dangerous place.” Her voice, although still croaky, was now more kindly. She went on to tell us that the tower was forbidden because of the evil spirits there. She explained that many years ago, the tower had been a place of interest, for tourists or holiday makers. One day, while exploring it with her three children, she had had her back turned for one minute and then they were gone! All three of them: Rachel, Jacob and Edith. With tears welling up in her eyes, she admitted that she had become ragged with worry and had, since that dreaded day, always endeavoured to warn children away from the tower, even if it meant frightening them.

“What do you think happened to your children?” enquired Robbie anxiously.  “Do you think those evil spirits snatched your precious children?”

Alarmingly, another bright green flash of lightning flooded the gloomy cold room.  By its light we saw a deathly figure gazing at them from the back of the room.  We froze with terror; shivers of fear cascaded down their spines, our hearts beating like a drum.  Into that silence a deafening roar and a blood curdling scream echoed inside our brains. Clasping our hands over our ears, which seemed to be exploding, we heard the old lady shriek, “Hide, children, the spirits have returned to their lair!”

Diving under the table we discovered the key which had been dropped in terror.  The lightning struck again, this time lighting up the engraving on the key. The words seemed to appear on the wall, however before we could read them, we seemed to attract a ghastly figure who yelled, “Give me my beloved  key!”

The dazzling light of the full moon suddenly shone through the cracked window, illuminating the engraving on the key. It was a warning telling us to listen to the voice as it was there to help us.  Immediately a hovering door began to appear on the stone wall of the dusty room.  As we approached it cautiously, the door swung open, shockingly, inside we could sense the spirits guarding the frightened children of the old lady…

The old lady ran into the room and hurriedly embraced her long lost children. The ghostly figure drifted to the far side of the hidden room, where he indicated the outline of a spectacular door with a silver lock.  Moonlight glinted through, inviting us to fit the key into the lock.  “If you leave now, I can rest for eternity”.   Nervously, Matty tried the key in the lock. It worked: the door creaked open into the green and fresh wood.  Hearts beating, we tumbled out of the eerie place, hoping we would never set foot in that tower again, we sprinted to the grand house.

After that, we always avoided the forbidden tower, but never spoke about that terrible day.  It shattered my dreams. What should I do with the tower now that it’s mine?

“That place has so many bad memories for me, I could never step foot in there again.” croaked the old woman hastily.

“How about we burn it down?” questioned Evie

“Great idea Evie,” I commented.

“I definitely agree with that!”

“I guess there is one thing to do,” suggested Conor quietly.

We all looked at each other. We all knew that tower could no longer survive. It had too much of an eerie, scary feeling about it. So later that day we crept back to the tower during the dark night, and set fire to the base of the tall tower.

Next morning we woke up, surprised to see the tower standing as it had been before it was burnt down to ashes.

“I think the tower will never go away, but whatever you do warn people away from it as long as you live.” screeched the old woman .

The memories of the tower are now distant, but now I am safe and sound… Or am I?

by Year 4 pupils from Orleans, The Russell, Sheen Mount, and Stanley primary schools

Wilf paused for a moment. He peered at the curved row of houses heading away from the docks towards the smoke-billowing factory. The arches of the crumbling bridge cast a shadow over the bustling market below. Aromas of oil, sea-water and smoke penetrated the air. However, the sudden chime of bells brought him back to reality. He had a job to do! He turned away from his window and ran downstairs, picking up his bag of tools and his coat as he left the house.

Arriving at the docks, a little out of breath, Wilf stared at the beautiful, blue, calm sea. He started to imagine what this mysterious journey would be like – what was going to happen, could he survive? He gazed at the huge old ship which was made from the finest wood in the land. He was tingling with excitement but also he had frightened butterflies in the pit of his stomach. A quick shiver ran down his spine!

Slowly he climbed aboard the majestic ship…….

As the wooden planks creaked beneath his feet, Wilf thought about the chain of events that had brought him here. He was working as a carpenter for Roberts & Co Ltd, who owned and built the Victorious, the beautiful ship that was now sailing slowly away from the shore. Imagine his surprise when Mr Roberts had approached him and shown him the plans for a voyage of discovery to the New World. Mr Roberts was a very rich man, with an interest in natural history. It was his ambition to lead an expedition to search for new species of exotic animals. Wilf had felt honoured and excited to be chosen.

It wasn’t at all how Wilf had expected it to be. The food was plain and simple, but not to his taste. He found it terribly hard to get used to the pitch and roll of the ship. He slept in the dark bowels of the old creaky ship, with about fifty other men and boys, on his uncomfortable, mouldy hammock that he had to string up himself every night. The noise of the ship and the other men snoring prevented him from sleeping and irritated him.

However, there were good points. In the evenings he enjoyed spending time with his crewmates on the deck, watching the dolphins splashing in the crystal clear water as the sun set over the hazy, pink horizon.

Life went on like this for a few months, until one day a monstrous, and somehow sinister, ship loomed into view …

Dark, gloomy clouds enveloped the sinister ship like a circle of vicious sharks. As the ship got closer, the clouds got even darker and slowly concealed the sun from view. The wind began to cry. The waves began to fight. The lightening lit the sky like a beacon. Silently crying for help, Wilf’s heart mirrored the chaotic rocking of the boat. With every clap of thunder the ship crawled closer, Wilf stared open eyed at the horror before him. A decrepit pirate ship. Wilf’s life flashed before his eyes.

The boat got closer still. Canons as black as coal glistened in the moonlight. Suddenly, a small, round ball shot out of the canon like a meteor. The ship juddered; Wilf hugged the mast pole like his life depended on it while watching his crewmates being carried away by death. It was over. Slowly the ship started to sink. The pirates had won. A disorderly pirate, grinning from ear to ear, threw a lifeline to the remaining crew. Reluctantly, they all climbed aboard to await their fate.

Looking around him, Wilf could sense the ghosts of previous victims. The so called ship was wrecked, cracks everywhere in the creaking planks. Wilf had goosebumps as he contemplated what his future might hold. With that, he was shoved forwards into a line with his former crewmates. A pirate with a wooden leg inspected them all, dragging his dead leg behind him. Each of them was intensely questioned about why they were aboard their ship, what they were doing and who did they write to back home. Once the interrogation was over, the pirates huddled together deep in conversation. Eventually one of them shot off inside…what was he doing? Imagine Wilf’s shock and surprise when the door reopened and there stood Mr Robertson with an evil grin on his face…

Wilf had a very bad feeling about this.

Slowly, Mr Roberts edged towards him. His beautiful daughter, Elsa, crept behind him, quietly whispering in his ear. Anxiously, Wilf wondered if they would all walk the creaking wooden plank and plunge into the darkest, deepest bottomless depths. Would they come out alive? Would their story ever be passed on?

“Father,” Wilf heard her say softly. “These boys would be good for slaves.”

“Mm, they could help me with my plan to collect unusual animals,” he murmured maliciously.

Elsa’s blue eyes glittered in the sunlight as her father stroked his chin thoughtfully. Mr Roberts looked even meaner than before.

It went silent.

Nobody said anything for the next five minutes.

Only the sea and the howling wind could be heard on the creaking boat.

Elsa put an end to this quietness. “You must help my father!” she shouted at the top of her voice. “Then you will survive,” she added more calmly.

“Hey, you lot. What are you doing?” came a booming voice from the stern. The grumpy pirate came stomping back to the deck.

“These people are my slaves,” Mr Roberts informed him.

Good news. They weren’t going to walk the plank. Bad news. They were going to be slaves. Wilf couldn’t decide which was worse. Suddenly, Mr Roberts grabbed hold of the waistcoat of the nearest pirate and threw him down into the rat-infested hold below. Once gone, Wilf heard shouts from Mr Roberts and whimpers from the pirate. Evil and sad at the same time.

A shadow appeared out of nowhere. What was it? Where did it come from? More importantly, why was it on the ship?

The murky, mysterious shadow loomed closer to Wilf and the other newly-employed, terrified slaves. Wilf opened his mouth wide in horror as the shape of the shadow became clearer. What looked like a twisted, decaying mermaid crept dangerously towards Mr Roberts and Elsa.

Elsa gasped, “What is that mysterious creature?” as it slithered towards them.

Mr Roberts gazed at the ghastly, sickening creature with revolting ivory teeth, eyes like the devil, a velvety tail and a trail of slime following behind. This was not part of his wicked plan.

The remaining pirates inched closer towards the rails of the ship. Ready for any opportunity to escape. Mr Roberts shot them a ‘Don’t move another muscle’ look. The obnoxious wimps of pirates froze with terror in their hearts.

Furiously, the slimy creature crept around the rusty, creaky ship. It was as if it was looking for something. Wilf wondered what the intent of this creature was. Did it want to hurt us? Did it want to help us? He hoped it was the latter. A shiver went down Wilf’s spine. There were feelings of dread in the pit of his stomach.

The miserable creature smelled terribly of mouldy seaweed and was as ghastly as anything you’ve ever smelled. Wilf looked at the other slaves. They all had the same look on their faces – disgust.

A creaky voice started quietly, “There will be no slaves on this sea…this is the sea of Freedom.” Everyone on the ship turned – where was the voice coming from? Mr Roberts and Elsa sped to the side of the ship and peered over the edge. There, swimming before their eyes was a beautiful mermaid. “What are you?” they screamed.

“My name is Glinda, Queen of the Sea” the mermaid replied. “On land I become a terrifying, slimy creature, under the sea I am mesmerising. You have entered my ocean with ill-intent and evilness in your heart.”

Mr Roberts looked shocked. “Wh-wh-what do you mean?” he shuddered.

Deliberately, the mermaid spoke, “Free these people and you can continue your journey to the wild-lands. Keep these people enslaved and FEEL MY WRATH!”

Mr Roberts fell back at the shock from the screaming mermaid. Elsa just stood still and spoke softly, “Let them go father. We should return them home.”

Wilf and the other slaves looked at each other in hope – could this terrible nightmare be coming to an end?

He swallowed the lump in his throat and took a big breath.

With a sudden start, Wilf awoke with a fright. He rapidly looked around the gutters of the ship. There was no mermaid. There was no Mr Roberts and there were certainly no pirates.

Wilf heard a bell overhead.

“BREAKFAST!” cried the ship’s captain. “Let’s go, you hungry goats”.

by Year 4 pupils from Lowther, Sheen Mount, Stanley and Darell primary schools

“WXO… Repeat, Agent WXO…. Do it NOW!”

As the city slept, bathed in the soft glow of moonlight, a number of Parliament’s most influential minds were gathered in a secret meeting room, huddled together like a tribe of penguins pecking at a single fish. They were locked in intense discussion, having all received the same devastating information earlier that day. Consequently, they were unaware of the figure lurking in the shadows, eavesdropping on their hushed conversation.

“If word were to get out about this, rumours would spread like wild fire and an immediate press conference would need to be arranged,” stated one of the government officials urgently, mopping his brow. “Although time is limited, we need to tread carefully.” There was much nodding and murmuring of agreement from the others.

Unexpectedly, there was a sudden creak of loose floorboard, and all eyes darted to where the sound had come from, only to see a black clad figure emerge from its hiding place. Before anyone could utter a word, the lights went out. Darkness lingered.

Without warning, there was a bang, a shriek and once again the city lay silent.

In a matter of seconds, but what seemed like an eternity, they stood frozen, staring at one another. Suddenly, it dawned on them that they had to evacuate the building quickly, as they were clueless to what the bang was. Frantically, they gathered up as many of their secret documents as they could and dashed to the door. Whilst running for the exit, one of the members of parliament yelled at the black clad figure, “Hey you come with us!” Surprisingly, he followed. Sprinting for the door, coughing and spluttering, due to the room filling with smoke, one of the men without knowing dropped some of the secret documents.

Once outside, under the glow of the street lamps all eyes turned to the black clad figure, who was trying to escape. After grabbing him by the wrist, one of the members of parliament de-masked him to find it was Robert, an ex- member of their team. Everyone gasped.

” W..w..why are you here? What do you want? What did you hear?” demanded, yet whispered the Head of Parliament. “I have just arrived so I didn’t hear a thing,” muttered Robert. Suddenly, sirens were heard and got louder and louder as they came closer. Panic reigned, until the Head of Parliament addressed the rest of the team and suggested that as they did not believe Robert, the black clad figure, that they should stay put, blaming him for the bang.

Skidding to a halt, the police arrived and quickly got out of the car. Sprinting, Robert once again tried to escape. The police shouted freeze but he did not stop. Huffing and puffing, he ran as fast as a cheetah but the policemen still caught him. They placed him in hand cuffs and shoved the struggling man into the car. Some moments later, they then turned their attention to the members of parliament and began to question them. The men anxiously explained to the police that they heard the bang so came out of their homes to investigate and saw Robert running from the scene. The police decided to arrest Robert and take him to the police station for further information.

“Now he is out of the way, we can continue with our plan to kidnap the Prime Minister,” exclaimed the Head of Parliament. However, unknown to the parliament members and police, Robert’s accomplices were inside the smoky room urgently gathering the secret and important documents that were dropped in the hurry to get out.

While being driven rapidly to the police cell, Robert began to think about his plan to escape. Unknown to the police, he had a secret tracking device in the sole of his shoe. He activated it! In a blink of an eye, his team received the crucial information about Robert’s location. As soon as the bright red dots stopped moving across the map of London shown on their smartphone screens, his team knew that he had been taken to a high security police station.

Robert’s accomplices had been scanning the documents. They were shocked at the evil plot in front of them. How could the politicians plan to commit such a terrible crime? The group were going to kidnap the Prime Minister from 10 Downing Street and take him directly to the Bank of England through a network of secret tunnels. They were then planning to scan his fingerprints to allow them to enter the vault which held the entire gold resources of the United Kingdom. How evil!

“Operation Jailbreak everyone!” exclaimed one of the team.

As the team’s car shot through the packed streets of London, one of the team put on his disguise: glasses, wig, suit, tie and moustache. Now he looked just like a lawyer.

Skidding round a corner, the car came to a halt outside the police station and the ‘lawyer’ quickly made his way to Robert’s cell; Cell 101 in the highest security corridor.

“I’m the lawyer for the prisoner in Cell 101. I want to discuss with him what he should say in court,” he explained politely to the policemen on duty. The officer in charge led him to the cell where Robert was being held prisoner and then as the law forced him to, left them alone to talk.

The ‘lawyer’ slowly walked into the cell, making sure that no policemen were watching. He handed over to the prisoner his special business card which Robert recognised immediately. It was one of his team! He put his fingers to his lips as a signal for Robert to be quiet and then took out a red pen, opened the lid and pressed the pen against the wall. Instead of ink squirting out, a strange blue, gooey substance appeared on the wall. Robert recognised it as a tiny explosive charge.

The two men silently backed up against the wall furthest from the explosives. The ‘lawyer’ pressed the button on top of the pen to detonate the explosives that were attached to the wall.

The explosion punched a hole in the wall, just big enough for the two men to slot through.

“Stay here,” exclaimed the ‘lawyer’, but a policeman suddenly burst in and started to attack them, throwing punches and shouting for help. The policeman was quickly disabled and they made their escape through the hole in the wall.

“Phew! That was close. I thought we weren’t going to make it,” shouted Robert as they slipped through the gap made by the explosion.

On reaching the street the first thing they saw was a bright light shining at them. A police searchlight had found them, but quick as a flash they darted back into the shadows and melted into the darkness. They had to get back to the others before it was too late and their plan foiled.

Where were the others? The plan had been to kidnap the Prime Minister and use him to get the gold from the Bank of England. They had to find them. As they walked down the street, they saw two people approaching.

“Mummy look – that’s the man I saw on the news before we came out. He’s the one the police are looking for!” said Lola, looking frightened and anxious.

As the two men started to run, a large black Mercedes pulled alongside them and a voice from within sent shivers down their spines. Before they knew it they were bundled into the car – there waiting for them was … Joyce Granger, the Deputy Prime Minister – the real power in Parliament.

“Good evening, gentlemen. I have been expecting you.” said Joyce Granger, “Shall we get on with it?”

Both men were too stunned to speak. What was she doing here? What did she know? Whose side was she on? These, and hundreds of other questions flashed through their mind as they headed for…the Bank of England…

Driving through the familiar streets of London, Joyce Granger began to talk.

“Don’t worry, I know all about the plan to kidnap the Prime Minister” she stated. The two men remained silent. “You don’t know whether I’m on your side do you?” The two men glanced at each other, nervously.

Before long they screeched to an abrupt halt outside the Bank of England.

Fearfully, the two men leapt from the car. “Follow me”, demanded the Deputy Prime Minister. Reluctantly, they followed her into the monumental building. As they walked through the grand entrance both men were grabbed viciously from behind. “You trusted me, how silly”, sneered Joyce Granger.

For the second time that day, Robert experienced a loud bang and all the lights went out. The men froze in fear. A different voice spoke from the shadows.

“No, silly you Ms Granger, thinking you could take power from me”, the lights flickered back on and there stood the Prime Minister with a crowd of security guards and police.

“You fool”, cried the Deputy Prime Minister, “this place is about to blow!”

Right on cue a huge explosion ripped through the Bank of England.

by Year 4 pupils from Buckingham, St. Osmund’s, Chase Bridge, Holy Trinity, Lowther, Stanley and Darell primary schools

The imposing, jagged cliffs, which led to MI5’s secret lair, were sliced by a smooth, black tarmac road.  As Kirstie zoomed down the road, as fast as a bullet, she could feel the petrol tank vibrating on her black, shiny motorbike.  With the visor up on her glossy, black helmet, decorated with bright orange and red flames, she could hear the wind whistling past her ears.  In her mirrors, Kirstie could see a trail of thick, white smoke blasting from the exhaust behind her. Kirstie was wearing a dark, smooth leather all in one and heavy leather gloves.  When on the road with her trusted bike – Kirstie could achieve anything, as she was the top MI5 agent on the force!

Kirstie’s bike was no ordinary bike – it was a completely unique, one-off model of Honda Fire Blade 900cc. It had been adapted and customised to suit the work of an MI5 agent. The motorbike had many hidden gadgets that made it unique. These included a Taser, to electrify the enemy, concealed in the headlight of the bike, specific voice activated software to control the bike with no hands, on the rear of the bike an oil spray/stinger/smoke screen to prevent people pursuing you and finally in a secret compartment on the petrol tank, a gravelling hook to help you ascend tall buildings or terrain.

As Kirstie approached the entrance of the familiar tunnel, she could see the dimly lit, orange glow from the lights.  After travelling one kilometre – halfway through the tunnel – Kirstie swerved to take the camouflaged, sharp left turn that led to MI5’s Headquarters.  She was on her way back to Headquarters, to share the great news with all her fellow agents, after successfully completing her last mission.  As Kirstie walked away from her parked motorbike, two figures emerged from out of nowhere and hurled a gas bomb at Kirstie’s feet. She heard glass shattering and a slow hiss. A putrid pumpkin and stale socks stench ascended into the air around her. Before she knew what was happening, she blacked out and plummeted to the floor.

It was many hours until Kirstie finally woke up. She slowly opened up her bleary eyes, blinking as they adjusted to the darkness. Kirstie felt sleepy and groggy, her head was pounding like a drum. Soon her eyes got used to the dark and she began to make out some shapes around her. At first she thought they were boulders but then…one of them moved!

Kirstie quickly realised she was not alone but was unsure about who her fellow captive was. However, before too long she saw a familiar shape glinting in the low light.

She recognised the shape immediately, it was a special commendation medal she had given out only last month to her friend and fellow agent Bella.

Kirstie felt a huge sense of relief, she and Bella had been on many dangerous missions together and had saved each other’s lives more times than they could remember.

“Bella, Bella is that you?”

Kirstie did not get the reply she expected. Instead there came a series of muffled grunts. Kirstie moved closer to where the sound was coming from. To her horror she realised that her friend had been gagged!

Kirstie edged over to Bella. She couldn’t reach her because their cage was separated by a row of solid metal bars.

Kirstie scanned across the rest of the dull, wet cave. She could hear the dripping of water, but apart from this there was no noise. She was pretty sure they were now alone.

On the far side of the cave she saw a terrible sight; the wreckage of her beautiful bike sat sadly in a heap still smoking and smouldering. However she quickly noticed something that could be useful, positioned on the floor directly under it…

Under the black, crushed, smoking motorbike lay a small circular gas bomb.  Kirstie had an idea.  She thought she could use her Tazer 2000 to burn the bars and fetch the gas bomb.  Just then, she heard the sound of loud, firm footsteps getting closer and closer.  It was an ominous thud! thud! thud! thud!

“Bella, can you hear me? Are you ok?” Kirstie muttered to her trusty agent.  There was no response- just a grunting.

The Tazer 2000 was like no other invention.  It was small yet deadly.  This device had the potential to electrocute anything, produce any weapon or identify objects.  If it fell into the wrong hands it would self-destruct.

The agents could still hear the pounding footsteps edging closer and closer.  Carefully, Kirstie lifted the Tazer 2000 out of her left back pocket and pressed the button to release the laser.  She pointed the device at the bars and burnt through the metal in a circular motion.  The bars dropped, crashing to the rock-hard, solid ground leaving the fume of toxic steel.  Kirstie squeezed through the gap, leapt to grab the gas bomb and suddenly froze!  She spotted in the corner of her right eye, the haunting silhouette of two men.  Everything stopped.  There was dead silence in the cave apart from the distant rumble of a steam engine overhead.  Kirstie snatched the gas bomb whilst Bella produced two gas-masks from the Tazer 2000.

“Stop right there!” came a booming voice from the shadows of the cave.  “You’re not going to get away that easily.”  The voice was very familiar to the two secret agents.  It was the deep, serious voice of Mr Evans- the deputy head of MI5!

Without warning, Kirstie launched the gas bomb into the air.  It flew through the atmosphere like an arrow and landed at the feet of the two men.  BANG!! Everybody’s heart skipped a beat.  The two men fell to the ground, as Kirstie and Bella placed their gas masks over their bruised and battered faces.  They could not believe their eyes.  Lying helplessly on the floor was Sir John Hicks who had recently been promoted to the head of the organisation.  They were gobsmacked!

“Is this a dream?” Bella asked nervously.

“How can our bosses be responsible for this terrible crime?” replied Kirstie.  “They have betrayed us.”

The two agents did not have a moment to spare.  Without a thought they dragged the men out of the cave and up the jagged cliff face.  The wind was blowing a gale but this did not stop them in their tracks.  Out of the Tazer 2000, Kirstie produced a length of rope.  Bella quickly tied it around the wrists of the two evil men before they could stir from their daze.  Within seconds, they had pulled the men onto the track and tied them securely to the rails.

“Is this the right thing to do Kirstie?” asked Bella cautiously.  Kirstie did not reply.  All they could hear was the distant echo of the train, pounding towards them.  The men’s eyelids started to flicker open…

At once, Sir John spotted a tiny, metallic glint of light that caught his attention for a moment and realised it was a sharp, reliable, shiny pen-knife hidden under a small, yellow, glittering rock. He wondered why it was there but had no time to think. He wriggled free but did not have time to free Mr Evans because the powerful, echoing of the train was getting louder as time was ticking. He ran away, without a thought.

Kirstie and Bella turned around and all they could see was a faint shadow zooming towards a deserted island not far from where they were. They assumed it was Sir John… but, it was too late.

They slowly walked away, heads hung in shame, until they stumbled upon a great, large building made of big glass panes and long, skinny, metal poles. They both glared at it in confusion.

The girls zoomed inside and they could not believe their eyes. There were many new weapons and materials. Soon after, they began making an underground base to start tracking Sir John. It took days of hard work to finish but they were now ready to set a mission to stop Sir John.

However, they did not know what was waiting for them…

Little did they know, deep underground Sir John was scheming. He was concocting a maniacal plan in order to blow up the entire base of MI5 with the help of his specially designed Destructor Ray. This Ray was designed to have the power of a nuclear bomb and would destroy anything in its path. Sir John laughed an evil laugh, he knew he was invincible and nothing could stop him. In fact, he was so confident in his scheme he thought there would be no harm in calling Kirstie and Bella in order to gloat.

Brrrrrrrr. Brrrrrrrrr.

There was a vibration in Kirstie’s pocket. She gulped. She knew whoever was calling did not just want a friendly chat. Nervously she lifted the phone out of her pocket and stared at it. Should she answer it? She knew whoever was on the other end of the line was bad news.

“H.. h.. hello,” Kirstie stuttered.

“Hello Kirstie,” a familiar voice replied. “Listen girl, and listen good. I’m going to blow up the MI5 headquarters and there is nothing you can do about it.” Sir John let out an evil chuckle.

“But why? So many innocent lives will be lost,” Kirstie pleaded.

Sir John stopped laughing, “My friend was innocent too! That didn’t stop you trying to kill us.”

“But you kidnapped us! Why would you do such a thing?”

“That was a training exercise you stupid girl!” snapped Sir John – and you took it upon yourself to kill my friend. In fact, he was more than just a friend. Mr Evans was my…he was my…he was my brother.” A small sob escaped from Sir John’s lips. He slammed the phone down, consumed in anger.

He knew he would have to get on with it, no more time to think and no going back.

He returned to the control panel, his steely eyes fixed straight ahead as he began to press buttons and turn dials in order to engage the ray. He moved like a robot, mechanical and determined.

After 5 minutes it was ready. There was just one final thing to do in order to exact his revenge. He knew it was the right thing to do. Those girls had killed his brother. No going back now he thought. His hand reached for the red button when suddenly he heard a noise behind him…

by Year 4 pupils from Buckingham, Heathfield Junior, East Sheen, St. Edmund’s and St Mary’s primary schools

Sitting on gran’s tatty sofa, Lucy and Ben were bored again – no surprise there. Every summer, at the beginning of August, the nine year old twins were removed from their house in London forced by their parents to spend the holiday with their gran somewhere near Cambridge. She seemed to live in the middle of nowhere but always said she was from ‘somewhere near Cambridge’. Gran was a fragile but charming old woman who loved to knit. Every time the twins arrived to visit, gran had made another pair of woollen slippers for them. Even though it was always too warm to wear them, the twins smiled politely and thanked gran. Leaving gran’s house was always difficult because she couldn’t go too far without taking a break. Besides, she had a decent sized garden and mum and dad loved just relaxing and talking. So the twins usually played in the confined space of the garden. At least they were able to mess about with Winston (the hairy cocker spaniel with floppy ears) that gran seemed to have had for years.

On the second day of their visit, Lucy asked, “Can we please go out for a short walk? Ben and I are both nine years old now so we can look after ourselves.”

Their mother looked at her father with a strange glint in her eye. Then their father looked strangely at gran. Gran smirked and replied in her slightly shaky, fragile voice, “Why don’t you go out for an hour or so. There isn’t much trouble to get into around here. There are only a few forested areas and not much else for miles. I don’t have any neighbours either so there’s nobody you can disturb.”

Mum and dad both agreed, “Don’t go too far though” explained dad.

“Make sure you’re both back for lunch in an hour!” shouted mum.

However Lucy and Ben barely caught the end of mum’s words because they were too anxious to get out and play. Winston rushed out of the house with them. They were off! Winston was jumping around and barking as if he’d never been out of gran’s sight.

Then Winston ran further and further away. Ben and Lucy worried and that worry began to grow into fear that they might lose the dog. They raced after him into the woods. Running deeper and deeper into the woods, the twins finally caught up to Winston. He was in a tiny clearing in the woods. Standing completely still, Winston was growling and staring at something. What was it?

Just in front of them was a small, ginger cat. Quick as a flash it darted up one of the enormous trees surrounding them. Clink, clink. There was a faint sound above them. As the breeze rustled through the ivy they heard it again.

“What’s that?” asked Lucy.

Craning their necks, they took a closer look. Suddenly the sunlight reflected off something. What was it? Carefully, Ben climbed up, focused and unaware of the rough edges of the ivy leaves as they scratched him. Something sparkled for a second and then just as quickly it was gone again. A moment later he caught sight of it again and reached up and grabbed it before tumbling to the ground.

“It’s a key!” exclaimed Ben.

“But what’s it for?” wondered Lucy out loud. “What a strange place to keep a key, there must be a door here somewhere.”

Within minutes they were searching, using their hands to pull back the thick, dense curtain of ivy, the long, dark vines draping from the tall trees. It was so overgrown it was as if no one had been there for one hundred years. All of a sudden Lucy felt something hard and rough. She gave one last tug and saw it.

“Over here. Quick. I found it!” yelled Lucy.

In front of them was a solid, old oak door. As the trees creaked in the gentle breeze, they edged closer and closer. Bravely, Ben extended his arm and gingerly put the key into the rusty, old keyhole.

“It won’t turn,” he cried in dismay.

Together they used all their strength and suddenly the door gave way with a loud groan. A bright flash of light blinded them as they tumbled through to the other side.

“Bzzz,” buzzed a lone bee on a nearby rose bush as the sweet scent wafted over whilst the sound of birds chirping filled the air. The smell of fresh country air filled their nostrils. There was something very familiar about it. Quietly they crawled to the edge of the bush and peered out.

Silently, they crept through the door, closer and closer towards the bright light that seemed to come from nowhere. The light suddenly dimmed and Ben and Lucy found themselves in a room, off which led three passages. BANG, the secret door slammed closed behind them and vanished from sight! Lucy was mortified, her heart pumping like an angry bull,

“We’re trapped, now what are we going to do?” screamed Lucy. Ben, however, was trying to hold himself together and be brave – he was a boy after all!

“Don’t worry Lucy, I’ll get us out of here.”

Suddenly the lights flashed on again and in front of them they saw, engraved on the wall in blood, a riddle. It read:

‘How many legs do you have in the morning, the afternoon and the evening? This will determine which passage you take.’

“What does that mean?” questioned Lucy in a panicked voice.

“Be quiet, I’m trying to think,” replied Ben sternly.

Out of the shadows, a man unexpectedly appeared before them. He had old, musty hair with a battered top hat perched on top, his eye sockets looked so empty it felt as if nothing was there. Despite the fact he held a walking stick, he was surprisingly nimble on his feet. He had a grizzly leather jacket slung over his right shoulder and when he opened his mouth, his teeth were all missing. The hair rose on the backs of Ben and Lucy’s necks like static electricity, Ben tried to scream but nothing came out of his mouth. Lucy grabbed hold of what she thought was Ben’s arm but when she looked down she was horrified to find she was holding onto the old man’s wrinkled arm. He held up the two fingers that were remained on his hand and then disappeared back into the shadows. The children were left paralysed with confusion and fear. A voice then spoke from the shadows saying,

“Ben, I am your future self, if you fail to solve the riddle, you’ll end up trapped in the shadows like me. Your future will depend on how you answer this riddle. You have two minutes before your destiny is altered forever. Those two minutes start now!”

“I’ve got it, the riddle is linked to our ages. In the morning we are a baby so we have four legs when we crawl, the afternoon we have two legs and are standing up, and in the evening we have three legs as we have a walking stick. Which passage shall we choose to retain our life?” shouted Ben excitedly.

Lucy turned to look at Ben, bewildered by what he had just said, she couldn’t understand how he had solved the riddle so quickly. Before she had time to question him, they heard Winston bark from the depths of the middle passage. They dived into the passage without thinking about their choice and heard a reassuring voice echoing behind them,

“Good luck, be happy with your choice. I hope your life is better than mine.”

The passage was damp and murky, running was hard-going as it was boggy and sticky. Ben and Lucy began to feel very unsure as to whether they had made the right choice or not. They couldn’t see anything in front of them but were reassured by the cries of Winston that they heard echoing around them. After a few minutes, an outline of Winston appeared. Lucy tried to pick him up but her arms passed straight through him. A barking could still be heard far off so they continued to follow the sound. The noise seemed to be attracting them like a magnet towards a glimmering light. As they reached the light, the barking stopped. Where was Winston? More importantly where were they?

As Lucy and Ben exploded from the passage they found themselves back in Gran’s garden but something was different and they were about to find out how their lives would turn out if they didn’t act quickly…

Around them was not a garden they were familiar with, it looked a bit like gran’s but it was muddy, overgrown and choked with weeds. Ben started to move slowly and cautiously around the garden, inspecting every leaf, with a confused Lucy trailing behind him.

After wandering around, for what seemed like forever, Ben caught sight of the door to the house. It was not its usual red, but, instead, a rusty brown. Ben and Lucy started sprinting towards it, when they plummeted down a hole that had magically appeared. The hole was dark and murky, just like the passage in the room…

Suddenly, Ben and Lucy hit a pile of soft leaves. Wobbling, Ben looked up and saw his future self.

“Ben” he croaked, his voice echoing all around the room. “I’m putting a spell on you; it will make you look like me, because you picked the wrong passage.”

Lucy screamed. As the man was raising his arm, he stopped, looked at his hands and whispered “M…my powers, they’re gone.”

The man smiled at them and turned to start messing with his glass jar. Lucy then nudged Ben and nodded at the door, it looked locked.

“Shall we see what’s out there?” asked Ben. “It might be dangerous.”

“Anywhere but in here feels like paradise to me.” whispered Lucy.

Ben and Lucy quietly stumbled to their feet and ran out of the rust door. As soon as they got out sunrays beamed onto their faces. Great, they were back in gran’s garden.

The sunlight was blocked by a dark, black shadow and in front of them they could make out that the figure was gran.

“Where were you my children?” Gran muttered in a trembling voice.

Ben looked down at the floor and started to speak with an anxious tone. As a bead of sweat formed on his forehead, he replied, “We were just exploring in the woods.”

Gran frowned, tilted her head and looked them straight in the eyes.

“I know what you have been up to. You have found the door haven’t you?”

Ben was curious about how Gran knew about the door. If she knew about the door, she knew about the passageway.

Gran revealed a mystical book which she pulled out from under her shawl. The book appeared to be ancient, covered in golden zig zags with letters they did not recognise. Ben and Lucy gasped as they saw the ginger cat reappear. The cat displayed his claws and his sharp teeth, he made a vicious hissing sound. Suddenly the cat started to change his form. As Ben looked closely he saw that the cat was turning into him! He was turning into the Ben of the future! Ben and Lucy’s blood ran cold as they witnessed Ben’s future form.

Gran acted quickly and turned to face the being. She strongly raised the book into the air. The book flashed as if lightening was filtering out of it. Ben and Lucy were astonished and their jaws dropped with fear. Gran stood her ground. Bold. Triumphant. Fearless.

Whilst Gran held the magical book out the being was blinded and disintegrated in front of their eyes. The children could not understand what had just happened.

Gran informed them that as a child the door would often appear and she would step through it and enjoy the alternate world. One day she had come across the book and knew it was powerful. She had vowed never to return because once the book was returned the door would be no more. Gran handed Ben the book and whispered, “Keep it safe my dear, this is not the end!”

by Year 4 pupils from St Edmund’s, Heathfield Junior, Holy Trinity, East Sheen, Chase Bridge and St Mary’s primary schools