A/N: Hello again, sorry this took a while. Well I had written it ages ago, complain to my beta not me ;) but thanks to witchintraining anyway :P

- CHAPTER TWO -

Kathy jumped into the bed that she shared with Nan, shivering and her face still white with shock. She glanced up at the framed picture on the table beside the bed. It was of the Thirteen Magical Treasures of Britain, with a line at the bottom saying 'These treasures will remain in Merlin's safekeeping until the day when Arthur wakes, and returns, and is once again crowned king'. Did this mean Arthur had been reawakened on the Isle of Avalon and was coming to reclaim the throne? Or was Merlin in trouble? Had he left his invisible glasshouse to try to get help? She rolled over to look at Nan.

"Nan? Wake up, Nan. Nan!" Kathy prodded her sister.

"What?" growled Nan.

"I've got something to tell you."

"What?" She yawned loudly.

"You've got to wake up. I've seen him." Kathy whispered, her voice suddenly frantic.

Nan opened her eyes blearily. "You what?"

"Listen, you've got to listen! I've seen him."

"Who?"

"Merlin. In our barn. He's come back."

"Kathy, are you sure?" Nan gasped; instantly awake. "What are we going to do then?"

"I don't know," Kathy sighed. "But I expect he'll tell us."

"What does he talk like Kathy?" Nan asked.

"Well, he didn't say much; he just told me who he was." She hesitated, before continuing, "I think he was very tired."

"Well, he would be, wouldn't he?" Nan whispered, "Is he stopping?"

"He didn't say."

"D'you think he'd like to see me in morning?"

"I don't know." Kathy said quietly.

"I expect so." Nan smiled slightly in the darkness. "Funny, isn't it, him coming to our barn? It's like a miracle."

"Come on then, we better get to sleep; we'll have to go and see him in the morning." Kathy blew the candle out, but it was a long time before she got to sleep.

xXxXx

They tiptoed out of the house at first light, racing across the yard to the barn. But as they got to the door, Nan hesitated.

"Come on. Hurry up." Kathy said.

"I don't think I want to after all, Kathy." Nan whispered.

"It's all right." Kathy smiled. "I promise."

Nan nodded, and then asked sheepishly, "Are we to curtsey?"

"Oh I expect so," Kathy laughed, "but I don't think he'll mind."

They crept into the barn, Nan walked half-hidden behind Kathy until they came to where he was lying asleep in the straw. They stood silently looking at him for a few moments, and then Kathy threw an overcoat over him and pulled Nan out of the barn.

"He didn't look much like he does on the Chocolate Frog cards," Nan remarked.

"Well he's a wizard, it's probably a disguise," Kathy said, "or he could be a Metamorphmagus like Dad's cousin Olwen. But he told me who he was, and I believe him."

"He was asleep in our barn!" Nan said excitedly.

Kathy suddenly turned to her. "Here! It's got to be a secret. You're not to tell nobody. He'll tell us. When he wakes up; he'll tell us what to do." They hurried into their house as their father came roaring around the corner on his tractor.

He stopped the tractor and shouted at Eddie who was messing about with his traps. "Eddie! Eddie, what are you doing?"

"Doing, Mr Bostock?" Eddie stood up, trying to look innocent.

"I thought I told you to shift that calf!"

"Yes, well, I was waiting on you, you see," Eddie shifted his weight uncomfortably from one foot to the other.

"Look, I told you to shift her yesterday." Mr Bostock sighed, "It's too drafty in that little pen; she's worse this morning."

"Yes, well, I was on me way to shift her." Eddie said awkwardly, "I was waiting for you to look at her, see."

"Well, I've looked at her," Mr Bostock said, "so shift her up to the big barn; I'll get Weaver in to have a look at her. And if something like this happens another time don't wait for me. Just do what I say when I say it, or you might just find you'll be the one who has to stay in that pen."

"Right! I'll do that now, then. Right." Eddie hurried off reluctantly to fetch the heifer.

Back in the house, the girls were trying to sneak a small loaf of bread from the kitchen. "What are you doing?" Charlie asked his sisters. "Are we going to play with Jackie Greenwood today?"

"One of us might be." Kathy spoke curtly. "Two of us aren't."

"You rotten cows, what are you doing?" Charlie growled at them.

"Ask no questions, get no lies told." Nan smirked.

"You rotten cows, you're nothing else." He shouted angrily, but his sisters ignored him.

"You watch your tongue boy." Charlie received a smack from his aunt as she went through the kitchen.

"It's always me." He sighed, "I always get it. Well, I'm off to hide, then. And no following."

"We don't want to follow you," said Nan sweetly.

"Well, you better not, then," Charlie shouted as he ran out the door. "Rotten cows!"

Kathy and Nan raised their eyebrows at him and ran out onto the yard. Eddie was leading the calf across the yard, making Kathy's eyes widen.

"Eddie? Eddie! Eddie! What are you doing?" she shouted.

"Well, what does it look like?" Eddie looked up, "Thought the house was on fire or something did you?"

"Isn't she any better?" Kathy asked, stroking the calf's flank.

"No, she eats too much, like somebody else I know." Eddie scowled.

"Are you taking her into the barn? Can I put her in?"

"You trying to get my job or something?" he frowned at her.

Kathy hesitated and then started speaking very quickly. "No! No, but me dad says I got to work more. He says I'm useless, and I'm not, see. It's just that nobody lets me. So, will you let me? Please, then I can tell me dad."

"You know how?"

"Yes! Yes, I've seen how you do it, seen how clever you are." Eddie stood up a little straighter, and missed Kathy winking at Nan; he never could resist a bit of careful flattery. "Then...then you could go and have a look at your trap; there's something in it, I think. I saw as I come along."

"In me trap?" Eddie looked over to his trap excitedly.

"Aye! That big old wood pigeon, I think. The one you've been after."

"Right. That's right. Long as you know how." He thrust her the rope and twisted his hands eagerly, "In the trap now, is he? Right. I'll have him."

Kathy led the calf into the barn, and tied her up in a stall, before joining Nan standing over the sleeping man.

"Does he always sleep?" sighed Nan. "He doesn't look well, does he? He looks poorly."

"Is he like what you thought?" Kathy asked.

Nan simply shrugged.

"I'm glad he came to our barn though, aren't you? He could have gone to Jackie Greenwood's."

Suddenly the barn door burst open and Charlie ran in, anxiously turning his head to make sure he wasn't being followed. He did a double take when he saw his sisters, who were both standing in front of the man, trying to block him from his view.

"Shhh! Go on! Go on out of here!" hissed Kathy.

"Why should I? It's my barn as much as yours. Anyway, I want to see my kitten." He bent down to look through their legs.

"Who's that? Who's that fella?" he exclaimed.

"It's not a fella," Nan said indignantly. "It's Merlin."

"Is he dead?"

"Course not."

"That isn't Merlin." Charlie said loudly.

"Well, it is, mister clever Dick."

"Merlin wore a long dress, and a big pointy hat, and he had a really long beard."

"Well, Dad still wears robes when he's going somewhere posh. And anyway, that was a long time ago; he can change his clothes if he wants." said Kathy.

"Is it? Is it really him?" Charlie whispered.

Kathy nodded. "Listen! It's a secret. You're not to tell anyone. Because we don't know yet what he wants us to do. And we've got to look after him."

"Merlin in our barn!" Charlie said excitedly. "Merlin in our barn!"

The three children ran from the barn and up along a hill, jumping and dancing together. They collapsed in a laughing pile on the hillside.

"I think something very important and magical is going to happen to us soon," Kathy whispered. "After all, we were the ones he chose."