A young woman came in.

"Um…hello, miss Jenkins." She said "I'm Euphemia. And it's time for breakfast. You could have had a bath, but you woke up rather late." Euphemia turned and Amelia followed her out of the room and down quiet, green corridors. At last they reached a room with a table in it. On one side of the table sat a boy and a girl, both small and chubby and plain. On the other side sat a boy of about nine and a girl of a few years older, both with curly blonde hair.

"Hi!" said the younger, blonde boy "You must be Amelia! I'm Cat, this is my…er…sister Janet and my second cousins Roger and Julia." Amelia wondered why he said "my cousins" instead of "our cousins" and why he had hesitated to say that Janet was his sister.

"Hi…" she said, suddenly coming over all shy at these strange, old fashioned, English people that she was apparently related to. She sat down at the table and looked at her plate. It had bread on it.

"Marmalade?" Janet pushed the jar towards her.

"Thanks."

"Tea? Coffee? Cocoa?"

"Coffee please."

After a few minutes of silent eating, Julia spoke up. "Are you a witch? Because I'm a witch and Roger's a warlock and Cat's an enchanter."

"Right. Well, that's why I'm here…I guess…to learn magic, I mean." Amelia said, awkwardly. Luckily, the door opened behind her and broke the tension.

"How nice it is to come in and not find fighting! You don't know how much trouble you've saved us, Janet." Amelia looked round to see a youngish man in a red silk dressing gown which changed to green and blue and purple when light fell on it. "And you must be Amelia!" he said "I'm Chrestomanci! And I presume you've met my children Roger and Julia, and my cousins' children Janet and Cat?"

"Er…yes…I have" she was amazed. She hadn't expected to find any other children here (especially not magic ones) and she had always imagined Chrestomanci as a dark, shadowy figure in billowing robes. This tall, flamboyant man was another matter, and he slightly reminded Amelia of Howell.

"Well, good morning all children!" Chrestomanci swept out of the room in a blur of silk dressing gown.

"You'll probably start magic lessons on this afternoon," remarked Roger "That's when Julia and I learn it."

"What about Cat?" wondered Amelia "I thought you said that he….?"

"Oh, Chrestomanci gives Cat lessons every day, with our friend Marianne. She stays in the village with her parents at the weekend but she'll be coming later." said Janet proudly "Because they're so advanced, especially Cat." Cat blushed and became very interested in his marmalade at this.

The door opened a little while later and Mr Saunders came in, announcing that it was time for lessons. Amelia managed to impress him with her maths and even, to her surprise, English. Afterwards, Cat went off for his lesson in magic with Chrestomanci, Roger and Julia stayed for one with Mister Saunders and Amelia and Janet wandered out into the grounds of the castle.

"Miss Jenkins" It was Euphemia, coming up behind them.

"Yes?"

"There's a woman in the small drawing room to see you." When they reached the Small Drawing Room, Amelia discovered that it was not small at all, quite the contrary. The table was spread with a magnificent tea and behind it sat a young woman Amelia had never seen before in her life.

This woman had long reddish gold hair which hung loose over her shoulders. She was wearing a dark green dress the same style as the ones worn here.

"Hello." She said "My name is Sophie and I need to talk to you."

Amelia sat down and took a biscuit. "Why?"

"Because you need my help. But first I should explain" she took a deep breath "Do you, by any chance, know a man called Howell Jenkins?"

"Yes, he's my cousin. Do you know him?"

Sophie gave a weak smile "Well yes, I've been married to him for eight years."

"What? But… I mean, you…? And Howell….? He didn't…? Never….?" Amelia spluttered, staring at her newly discovered cousin in law.

"Yes, he's like that, isn't he?" Sophie looked apologetic.

"Yes." Amelia was calming down now. "So…but…I've seen him since then!"

"Yes, he does randomly go off with no explanation…." Sophie bit into her slice of cherry and walnut cake. "But I'm not here to discuss Howl – sorry, Howell."

"Why did you just call him Howl?"

Sophie sighed "It's a long story…"

"Sorry, what where you saying?"

"Well, to cut a really long story short, Howell is the royal wizard of Ingary which is a country in another world. And he helped concur another country and now that country's rebelling and they have a secret gang of soldiers who have the pleasant job of kidnapping every member of Howl's family. Including you. And if they don't come quietly, the soldiers have permission to kill. Do I make myself plain?"

Amelia said, quietly "Perfectly so."

"Which is why" said Sophie "Howl insisted that you come and live with us."

Amelia had seen this coming. "When?"

"Today. And I'm sorry to just turn up and spring this on you, but I got the feeling that Howl did not want you to be kidnapped."

"That's nice of him." Amelia made an attempt at humour "Where is Howell?"

"Oh, working for the king – that man never gives him a break!"

"Ok, I'll go…pack….I guess…." She got up and walked to the door.

"Oh, and Amelia," said Sophie "You don't mind small children do you? Sorry about not telling you all this sooner. About me and Morgan and Ellie, I mean."