Hello! Polly and Digory are about to head off on (what they think will be) a little adventure, but Digory's odd uncle has other plans.

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Chapter 4

Polly took a sip of her water and toyed with the fork in her hand, thinking about Mrs Kirke and how frail yet lively she had seemed, how Digory's eyes had been fierce and yet gentle when he looked at her. She was remembering the tear tracks on his face the first day she'd met him.

Eventually her mother cut into her thoughts. "Polly? What are you thinking about now? You've hardly touched your meal." She admonished wearily, having given the same lecture many times to little effect. Her daughter was, and always would be, a dreamer.

"Hmm?" Polly said, coming back to the present with a jolt.

"What were you thinking that is more important than your meal?" Her mother repeated with a despairing look.

"Oh, nothing! Sorry. I was just thinking about the people who've moved in next door,you know-the woman you said you were going to visit." She explained."I met her today."

"Did you?" Mrs Plummer raised her eyebrows. "And?"

Polly sighed and put her fork down. "She's very ill, you can tell, but she's – well she's lovely. You'll really like her, Mother; she doesn't act like an invalid at all."

Mrs Plummer nodded as she began to clear the plates away, seeing Polly was not going to eat anymore. "That's good, I shall visit her tommorrow."

Polly stood up and stretched then grabbed her book and began to head back outside but her mother stopped her.

"Isn't there a son?" She asked shrewdly.

"Isn't where a son?" Polly replied absently.

"Mr Kirke. She has a son, doesn't she?" She pressed and Polly turned a faint shade of pink.

"Yes." She said shortly and a knowing look came into Mrs Plummer's eyes as her daughter subconsciously glanced outside.

"Ah. Well run along then." She said, practically shooing Polly into the garden. "Have fun!"

Polly found herself unceremoniously pushed outside and turned just as the front door shut. She raised her eyebrows, slowly walked over to her favorite tree and sat beneath it to wait for Digory.

Digory hadn't eaten lunch at all, instead he and his mother had played cards, they were coming to the end of their 5th game of gin when she raised the subject of Polly.

"Polly seems like a lovely girl." She said with a glance at Digory who coughed slightly.

"Yes." Was his short reply.

"And very pretty, don't you think?" She pressed, her eyes twinkling.

"I suppose." Digory answered.

"That beautiful hair! Gorgeous skin as well." She went on and Digory gave her a pointed look as he laid down his last card.

"Gin." He said.

"Ah, well at least you won one game." His mother teased. "Go on then, have fun!"

Digory kissed her forehead and walked out of the room, checking for his uncle before running down the stairs and out into the garden.

It seemed almost second nature to walk up to the wall and look for Polly and sure enough she was there, sat under a large tree reading a book. The sun wove with her 'beautiful hair' and made it look as black and shiny as a ravens wing. Digory hopped up onto the wall and swung himself over and she looked up with a smile as he jumped down onto her side.

"Hello. As you see, I made it home safely." She joked, her green eyes glittering.

"Better safe than sorry." Digory smiled.

They looked at each other for a minute and then Polly snapped her book closed and looked down, a faint blush staining her cheeks, Digory looked away.

"Um, thank you for visiting my Mother, she – she really liked you. I think it was nice for her to have some female company." He said awkwardly, still looking away.

"It was my pleasure, she's really nice Digory." Polly said quietly, aware that it must have been hard for him to allow her to see him with his mother, at his most vulnerable.

He nodded and when he looked back at her his face had lost the strain that Polly associated with his mother and he was back to his usual self.

"So what shall we do?" He asked, leaning against the wall.

"I don't know...have you seen the area? I'll show you around if you like, but there's not much to see." Polly offered.

"My aunt showed me most of it, I think. But the only thing I've been interested in is the empty house next door to mine – the one I thought was yours the first day we met." He said with a crooked grin and Polly laughed.

"Yes, it's always intrigued me too. I've thought that perhaps it's something exciting...it has some mysterious story." She agreed, her eyes sparkling.

"We could try and look inside!" Digory moved closer to her in his excitement and she had to adjust the angle of her head slightly as he was so much taller than her.

"Yes! Although...we couldn't go in the front door." She mused and then suddenly an idea came to her and she gave a little shout of excitement and grabbed Digory's hand, pulling him with her into her house.

"I know how!" She said excitedly and he grinned.

"I would say lead the way but...you already are." He joked, allowing himself to be pulled along.

They were just about to climb the stairs when Polly's mum poked her head round the door of the lounge and they stopped in their tracks. There was a moment of surprised silence and then Mrs Plummer's eyes dropped to the pair's clasped hands and smiled.

"You must be Digory." She said kindly and he flushed. Polly quickly let go of his hand.

"Yes, sorry to intrude I -" He began but she stopped him with a wave of her hand.

"Oh it's quite alright. I'll leave you to it." She said, going back into the lounge. Polly rolled her eyes.

"Come on." She lifted her skirt slightly and ran up the stairs with Digory close behind her.

Once they were at the top of the stairs she began to root around in a cupboard and eventually emerged, flushed and slightly disheveled, with a small step-ladder which she carefully propped under a trapdoor.

"It's my annex." She explained. "This is the only way to get up there."

She was having trouble unfolding the ladder so Digory stepped in, easily setting it up and gesturing to Polly that it was stable.

She thanked him, slightly embarrassed at her lack of strength, and wasted no time in climbing the ladder and opening the trapdoor. She smiled at him before clambering into the 'annex' and the next thing he saw was her hair as her head appeared through the gap.

"Your turn!" She said with a small laugh.

Digory rolled his eyes at her giddiness and climbed the ladder, hoisting himself through the gap unaided as Polly had disappeared.

"Polly?" He said quietly into the darkness. There was a swift crackling noise and then a match flared to life, revealing Polly surrounded by unlit candles. Digory blinked and then smiled slightly as he looked around: the annex was small but didn't feel claustrophobic despite the piles of boxes (Polly hastily explained that they were for seats) and the low beamed roof. All around were books, they lay everywhere – closed or open and facing down, obviously placed there when Polly had gotten distracted, there were scarves of deep rich colors draped from the beams and surrounding the room and candles everywhere you looked. It took several glances to take it all in and Polly avoided looking at him whilst she lit the candles, Digory got the impression she'd never shown anyone this place before.

"Have you read all these?" Digory asked, indicating the books. Polly sat down on a box and looked around the room.

"I've at least started all of them, and I intend to go back to them when I have time." she answered. "But that's not why I brought you here. Look." She got to her feet with a mischievous look in her eyes and walked over to a deep purple scarf, as Digory watched she pulled it aside to reveal a passageway.

" I found it ages ago. It goes between the three houses." She said in a voice just above a whisper. "Mine, yours and-"

"And the empty house!" Digory finished with a grin. "Genius. If you're not too scared of course." He added with a teasing grin.

"Me? Of course not." Polly said with her nose in the air. Digory raised an eyebrow,

"Then why haven't you gone along the passageway before now?" He asked shrewdly and she narrowed her intense eyes.

"Lets just go."

"Ladies first." Digory grinned, enjoying her kittenish anger. She rolled her eyes again, grabbed a candle and walked through the opening without flinching, leaving an impressed Digory to follow suit.

Both were more unnerved than they cared to admit by the darkness and echoes of the passageway but each out on an air of indifference.

Neither was fooled.

Eventually Polly stopped and Digory stumbled slightly, looking at her inquisitively.

"I think we're here."