Beyond Platform 13 Read online

  CONTENTS

  PROLOGUE

  CHAPTER ONE: LINA LASKY

  CHAPTER TWO: MAGDELENA

  CHAPTER THREE: THE MISTMAKER

  CHAPTER FOUR: THE GUMP

  CHAPTER FIVE: BEN

  CHAPTER SIX: NETTY PRUDDLE

  CHAPTER SEVEN: THE LITTLE LAKE OF MIST

  CHAPTER 7 ½: THE P.S.

  CHAPTER EIGHT: THE ROCK MONSTERS

  CHAPTER NINE: THE HUMAN

  CHAPTER TEN: THE SWAMP

  CHAPTER ELEVEN: THE PRISONERS

  CHAPTER TWELVE: TREVOR

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN: PLATFORM THIRTEEN

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN: THE TUBE

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN: THE ROBBERS

  CHAPTER SIXTEEN: THE PIGEONS

  CHAPTER SEVENTEEN: THE CAFE

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN: THE SCHOOL

  CHAPTER NINETEEN: THE BALDING

  CHAPTER TWENTY: THE MOUNTAINS

  CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE: THE HAIR ROLLERS

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO: THE DROP

  CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE: THE AUNTS

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR: THE TIME!

  CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE: THE END

  ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

  PROLOGUE

  No one noticed the young woman in bright blue boots walking along the platform at Vienna Central Station. I suppose you could argue she was easy to miss: just an average-height teenager with a long black bob and mismatched eyes of green and brown. She had always hated how human she looked, but even she had to admit it came in useful sometimes.

  A man with a face as angry as crumpled paper was the only one to spot her. She was in his way, so he barged straight into her, as if the platform belonged more to him than it did to her.

  ‘WATCH WHERE YOU’RE GOING, LADY!’ he shouted as they collided.

  Odge Gribble didn’t break her stride as she turned and said, ‘It’s hag, actually.’

  CHAPTER ONE

  LINA LASKY

  Lina Lasky believed in almost every kind of magic. She believed in wizard spells and witches’ potions and sometimes even in the people who pull rabbits out of hats, depending on the party. She saw mermaids in her dreams and trolls dancing with vegetables. Once, when daydreaming, she’d imagined the fluffiest of mystical creatures, plump like a little pillow, with a whiskery nose and huge black eyes – a little bit like a seal, only without the flippers. She’d immediately refashioned her pom-pom backpack to look just like her vision.

  All her friends had stopped believing in magic long ago, but that’s the thing about magic – it’s only real if you believe in it. Though Lina didn’t know it, the things she imagined were very real – even the trolls dancing with vegetables.

  ‘If magical creatures are real, then they must be hiding somewhere,’ Lina said to her mother and father one day over breakfast. There’s no better time to discuss magic than over some good cereal or toast. ‘A hairy hag or a fairy wouldn’t be able to blend in, so they must all be somewhere else. A place we haven’t found yet.’

  Of course, her parents barely listened; adults rarely do when you speak of magic. The more wrinkles a person has, the less tolerance they have for things like that. They want proof.

  ‘We have a surprise,’ her father said, trying to change the subject.

  ‘We’re taking you to see your aunt in Salzburg for your birthday! A whole long weekend, all of us together!’ Lina’s mother grinned as she handed over the train tickets. ‘Surprise! Oh, and I’m almost positive that your aunt’s neighbour is a hag,’ she added, hoping to sweeten the deal.

  ‘That’s a terrible thing to say about Mrs Frampton,’ her father scoffed.

  ‘It’s a huge compliment, actually,’ Lina corrected him. ‘I would do anything to meet a hag! They can grow hair out of their ears and tell the weather with their eyelashes – or, at least, that’s what the stories say. I’d say Mrs Frampton’s more of a witch, though.’

  ‘Oh really, Lina!’ Her mother laughed. ‘Your imagination is something else.’

  Lina paused, her fork hovering over her plate. She did occasionally worry she might be wrong.

  ‘Right – come on, Lina,’ her father said. ‘Grab your seal backpack.’

  ‘It’s a magical being,’ Lina said, hugging her backpack defensively.

  ‘Of course, magical being,’ her mother said with a small smile.

  Her father took her plate away and pulled out her chair. ‘Come on, you magical being, or we’ll miss our train.’

  Lina grabbed her backpack from the car boot and slung it over her shoulder. She’d teamed it with a chunky jumper, jeans and her favourite silver trainers. She didn’t like the station at that time in the morning.

  ‘It smells of coffee and damp hair.’

  ‘Your mother has taken time off work especially for your birthday, Lina,’ her father whispered. ‘Try to be a little more enthusiastic.’

  Lina dragged her feet along the platform, and then she saw her, just up ahead – a teenager in bright blue boots. Lina watched as a man rudely barged into her. But then the most peculiar thing happened: he bounced off her as though she were nothing but bones and magic. The teenager turned and mouthed something at the man. Something that looked a lot like—

  ‘HAG!’ Lina shouted.

  And then everything went black.

  CHAPTER TWO

  MAGDELENA

  There was a finger click, and the lights came back on.

  ‘Where’s everyone gone?’ Lina cried, staring down the empty platform.

  The hag looked confused. ‘What do you mean, where’s everyone gone?’

  ‘The people,’ Lina spluttered. ‘My parents!’

  ‘You brought your parents on a secret royal mission?’ the hag asked with a raised eyebrow. ‘Well, I suppose you are young. Much younger than I thought you’d be, actually …’

  ‘Are they gone forever?’ Lina asked, suddenly feeling very worried.

  The hag looked up Lina’s nose. ‘Are you unwell? Have you got the Dribbly Ribblets? The Spotted-tongue Munchflu? Terror Tibtoms?’

  Lina stared at her, completely bewildered, before eventually replying, ‘I hope not.’

  ‘I used Lost Laces,’ the hag explained, holding up some shimmering silver laces. ‘All I had to do was give them a little pull, and we became invisible to everyone, and everyone became invisible to us. They’re all still here – we just can’t see them, and they can’t see us.’

  Lina watched as a coffee cup sailed past her head.

  ‘The less the humans see, the better. It’s safer if we keep this meeting a secret, I’m sure you’ll agree. The laces don’t last long. Bit of a gimmick, really. That old witch who likes to sunbathe with the mutant mermaids on our island invented them. I think her mermaid friends were annoyed that she spent so long inventing a magic product they could never use.’

  ‘Oh,’ Lina said, ‘because mermaids don’t have feet and have no need for shoes or laces. I get it.’

  The hag scrunched up her face. ‘No. Mutant mermaids do have feet – that’s what makes them mutant. They were annoyed because they have fins for hands, so they can’t tie shoelaces. Anyway, don’t worry about the temporary vanishing nature of the Lost Laces. Hans, my ogre friend, is bringing the stronger stuff for the big journey later, so you will be completely hidden.’ She eyed Lina’s backpack. ‘Ben is going to be so pleased to meet you. When I sent you the letter, things were bad – but now they’re even worse.’

  Lina stared at the hag. ‘Ben? Letter?’ But the hag wasn’t listening.

  ‘Time to go. Magdelena is collecting us. I told her we could walk, but she insisted. I’m sure her reputation precedes her here in Vienna.’

  Lina nodded slowly, though she had no idea who the hag was talking about. ‘Yes – I�
��ve heard Magdelena is a very … funny woman.’

  ‘Funny!’ The hag laughed. ‘Ha, you’re a scream! She’s bossy and sometimes terrifying, and she’s certainly not a woman. Now, HOLD ON, PLEASE. It’s going to get ROCKY.’ She offered Lina her arm.

  Lina grabbed hold of it, bewildered and half expecting the ground to explode and some sort of wondrous troll woman to burst from the floor. But it wasn’t that at all.

  A tiny ghostly carriage no bigger than a cat and pulled by two aged ghost pigeons squeaked along the platform slowly, before eventually grinding to a halt in front of them.

  ‘I’m just messing with you!’ the hag said, patting Lina’s back. ‘You don’t need to hold on. Magdelena’s tiny.’

  A ghost rat wearing a chunky pearl necklace poked her head out of the carriage door.

  ‘Hello, Odge! Still no ear hair or warts, I see.’

  The hag shrugged. ‘I live in hope!’ She took the ghost rat’s paw in her hand and stroked it with her thumb. Her bright blue nail polish matched her boots perfectly. ‘It’s good to see you, Magdelena. It’s been too long.’

  Lina stumbled backwards in disbelief and tripped over a suitcase.

  ‘Oh, that’s my case,’ Odge said, grabbing it and throwing it into the carriage. It shrank down to just the right size and slotted neatly inside.

  Stunned, Lina grabbed a floating cup of coffee and downed it. She knew adults drank coffee to wake up, so maybe it would shake her out of this strange dream. It just made her feel a bit sick.

  Odge leaned down and stared into the carriage. ‘Plenty of room for us!’

  ‘It’s rat-sized!’ Lina cried. ‘There’s no room for us at all!’

  Magdelena looked down her nose at Lina. ‘Are you sure she’s the right one?’

  Odge swivelled Lina round and showed Magdelena her backpack. ‘Positive! That’s a fluffy mistmaker, all right!’

  ‘A what?’ Lina whispered.

  ‘Subtle,’ Magdelena said sarcastically. ‘The humans won’t suspect a thing.’

  ‘Word on the Island is she’s an elusive character – likes to hide away. We weren’t sure she would even come,’ Odge mumbled to Magdelena. ‘Bold fashion choices, though! Although I had heard she likes elaborate hats, not backpacks. Rumours are so rarely correct.’

  ‘Well, it’s now or never. The laces are wearing off,’ Magdelena said, nodding at a man’s moustache appearing behind them. ‘If you want to travel to the Island, we need to get out of here now.’

  Lina’s eyes lit up. ‘Island? Is that where you all hide? You’re a hag from a secret island!’

  ‘She’s only the most famous hag,’ Magdelena scoffed. ‘She saved our prince, dear girl!’

  Lina gawped at Odge.

  Odge scuffled her blue boots awkwardly; clearly she wasn’t fond of the attention.

  ‘Everyone knows Odge Gribble!’ Magdelena went on. ‘She’s a very big deal. You’re lucky to meet her. Everyone wants to meet Odge.’

  ‘You did get my letter, didn’t you?’ Odge asked, standing in front of Magdelena to stop her talking. ‘I did sign it Odge Gribble, and I did say I would meet you right here.’

  It was in that moment, as her parents started to fizzle back into view, that Lina Lasky had a decision to make.

  ‘WHEEEEEEEEEEE!’ Lina cried, as they tore through the streets of Vienna in a ghostly carriage steered by a gossiping dead rat.

  ‘And Mariella Crockit blocked all the toilets in the hotel this morning by trying to smuggle in her mermaid friend. I said, Mariella Crockit, I’d possibly accept a freshwater mermaid at my hotel, but not a sewer one! I think in the last nine years they’ve forgotten just what kind of establishment my hotel is!’

  Odge chewed on her bottom lip and nodded absently. Lina could tell she didn’t approve of Magdelena’s snobbery.

  ‘And you would not believe what Netty Pruddle’s mother got up to yesterday afternoon.’

  Lina watched as Odge snapped to attention.

  ‘Netty Pruddle’s mother?’

  Magdelena let out a long sigh. ‘Yes. She only went and trotted downstairs to the spa! I said, Mrs Pruddle, as one of the wartiest hags we have ever known in our community, I would kindly ask you to refrain from getting back massages from humans. It’ll raise suspicions! To be perfectly honest, Odge, this year, with everything going on on the Island, it has been quite trying.’

  ‘I thought Mrs Pruddle was helping to get everyone organized to battle the harpies?’ Odge said, leaning forward as the carriage rattled past huge human shoes stomping the pavements. Each footstep echoed in Lina’s ears and made the carriage bounce.

  ‘Mrs Pruddle has had to scale back her involvement since her daughter was selected to compete to be a handmaid to the new harpy …’ She paused and gagged. ‘Queen. They worried it might affect Netty’s chance of winning if her mother had disappeared with the rebellion, so instead she’s pretending to be on a spa holiday here. I wish she had chosen another hotel.’

  Odge punched the air, sending her fist through the roof of the carriage. Once any part of you exited the ghost carriage, you were once again back to normal size. So anyone walking along the Philharmoniker Strasse at that very moment would’ve seen a fist attached to nobody at all, sailing triumphantly through the air. Luckily no one did, or this story would have been over before it had barely begun.

  ‘Netty’s my hag friend,’ Odge said excitedly to Lina. ‘And she did it! She got into the competition! She’s on our side. She’s going to infiltrate the harpy lair by pretending to be a maid. She’s our very big eyes on the inside!’

  Lina was about to respond when Magdelena put her foot on the brakes and catapulted them from the carriage into the Sacher Hotel’s foyer. Lina looked up to see the hotel porter looming over them. She quickly untangled herself from Odge and jumped to her feet.

  ‘Act natural,’ Odge whispered to Lina. So Lina pretended she was inspecting the ceiling.

  ‘Ah,’ the porter said with a disapproving glance. ‘Welcome back, Miss Gribble.’

  Lina watched Magdelena and her carriage disappear down the corridor and through a wall. The porter clearly hadn’t noticed the ghost rat; Lina thought he looked like the kind of person that would scream in such situations.

  All around them, people dressed in their finest clothes glided past. Lina stood tall, trying to look as grown up as possible.

  ‘Finished sightseeing so soon?’ he said. ‘Shall I carry your bags to your room?’ He eyed Odge’s suitcase first and then Lina’s fluffy backpack, stifling a smirk. It didn’t exactly fit with the grand hotel, but then she had made it herself, which was more than she could say for all the other people with bags in there.

  Odge glanced at the clock above the lifts and frowned. ‘We’re too early, but we don’t want to loiter upstairs – it’s too risky.’

  ‘I beg your pardon?’ the man said.

  Odge stiffened as she seemed to realize she’d been thinking aloud. ‘We’ll be taking cake in the cafe before we go upstairs.’

  They sidestepped awkwardly past the man.

  ‘We can’t hang around the gump,’ Odge explained as they took the corridor to the hotel cafe, passing well-watered plants and well-watered people.

  ‘Gump?’ Lina mumbled.

  ‘Yes, the gump!’ Odge said. ‘I think everyone assumes the only gump in Vienna is in the mountains, but there is also the special one, right here in the hotel. It was mostly used by important people from our magical island – royals, trolls with award-winning hair, people like that. Vienna is the only country in the world with two gumps; everywhere else just has one.’

  ‘And you use the gumps to get to your island?’ Lina asked excitedly.

  Odge stopped dead in her tracks. ‘Of course! What else would you use a gump for? And, yes, although calling it the Island is quite formal. Us young ones just call it Mist.’

  Lina wiggled with excitement. ‘So a gump is a portal to another world – a magical world called Mist.’

  �
�Well, obviously,’ Odge said. ‘Now, shall we have some milk and chocolate cake before we save the world?’

  Lina gulped. ‘Pardon?’

  Odge grinned. ‘I saved a prince, and – now I’ve found you – you are going to save our island.’ She spotted Lina’s panicked expression. ‘Oh, don’t worry! After cake.’

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE MISTMAKER

  Lina was trying to work out just who Odge thought she was as they took a seat in the sumptuous cafe and were brought tall glasses of milk.

  They sat in silence, staring at each other.

  ‘Nice boots,’ Lina eventually said.

  Odge opened her mouth wide. ‘Mank moo, mey match, my meeth.’

  At the very back of Odge’s mouth, Lina could see she had a bright blue molar.

  ‘Your back tooth is blue!’ Lina cried. ‘Is that a hag thing? You don’t look much like a hag.’

  ‘And you don’t look much like the world’s oldest and only mistmaker expert.’

  ‘Mistmaker expert?’ Lina took her chance. ‘Well, actually … about that – I think you’ve got the wrong—’

  But Odge interrupted her. ‘For a long time, I wished I had boils and warts scattered across my face in fun patterns, and long ear hairs that I could braid, like my older sisters. It was all I wanted. But then I grew up and realized I might not be hag perfection, but who cares. I took all the time I used to spend wishing I could look different, and instead I started doing fun things, like rock-monster climbing, dancing with my friend Gurkie and eating delicious snacks. I’ve got a list of ones to try and everything.’ She took out a notebook and scratched Torte in Vienna off the list.

  ODGE’S DELICIOUS SNACK LIST OF HAG PERFECTION

  Han-some Cheeses Choc-Cheese Chunk

  Gurkie’s Carrot Cake

  Cor’s Enchanted Trifle

  Fish and Chips with Ernie

  Tea and Toast in London

  Torte in Vienna

  The waiter arrived with the chocolate cake and placed it down on the table delicately and with all the precision of a world-class surgeon. Odge fell forward and smooshed her face into it.