Glasruhen Gate by Catherine Cooper

though he knew she was hungry, and wanted her breakfast, he couldn’t get out of bed.
    The knock on his bedroom door meant he must have fallen asleep again.
    ‘Jack, are you up? If you don’t get a move on you’ll be late.’
    ‘Won’t be long,’ Jack replied as he swung his feet out of bed.
    The next half hour was frantic as Jack washed, dressed, fed Orin and bolted his breakfast. By the time he got to school he felt exhausted. He didn’t remember much about any of the morning lessons, he’d dozed through most of them. Luckily, nobody seemed to notice.
    At lunchtime, Jack got permission to use the library. He found a quiet corner and got out his Book of Shadows. He hoped there’d be a message waiting for him and wasn’t disappointed. He waited eagerly for the words to appear:
    dont tell Nora or Elan you no abowt the

    dont for get it’s a see kret
    Jack laughed when he’d read Camelin’s message. He wondered if he could magic a spell checker into Camelin’s book for him. He was about to write back when another message appeared:
    We know where Coriss is.
Camelin caught a Dorysk last night and found out for us.
Nora and I have thought of a special gift for her,
one she won’t be able to resist.
    Jack looked around to see if anyone was watching before he took his wand and answered both messages. To Camelin he wrote:
    I won’t forget.
    And to Elan:
    What’s a Dorysk?
    He wondered if he might learn any more from her, but she told him to look in his Book of Shadows and said Camelin would tell him all about it on the way to the Mere Pool later.

    The afternoon went quickly. Jack felt fine by the time he met Elan, and they were soon on their way to see Coriss. Jack looked over the seat into the back of the car. The picnic basket was there, along with the wrapped cauldron plate and another package about the same shape and size as the base plate of the cauldron.
    ‘Has Camelin flown on ahead?’
    ‘In here,’ came a muffled reply from the picnic basket.
    ‘He’s been very quiet in there,’ said Nora. ‘I think he’s crumb hunting!’
    ‘So where are we going?’
    ‘Camelin will tell you all about his meeting with the Dorysk. He was really lucky to find one, they’re masters of disguise and very hard to catch,’ explained Elan.
    ‘It wasn’t easy. I was out for hours scouring the countryside.’
    ‘You’ll never believe what happened. He tricked the Dorysk into telling him where to find Coriss,’ added Elan.
    ‘I’m telling Jack, not you. Can I come out now?’
    Camelin lifted one of the flaps and poked his head out. Jack held it open so he could hop out.
    ‘Are we going far?’
    ‘Naw, it’s just the other side of Beconbury. We’ll be there in no time.’

    Camelin was right. It wasn’t long before Nora turned off the main road into a small country lane and then into a car park. Instead of parking near the other cars, Nora drove towards the opposite end before switching the engine off. They were next to a low stile. A damaged signpost indicated the way to the Mere Pool. Not far away, Jack could see small boats bobbing around on a lake. Several sailing dinghies with brightly coloured sails sped through the water.
    ‘Ready?’ asked Nora as she picked up the cauldron plate and passed the other package to Jack.
    ‘Ready,’ they replied.
    ‘I presume we’re going somewhere a bit quieter,’ said Jack.
    ‘We are,’ agreed Nora. ‘Camelin will show us the way.’

    The Mere Pool was secluded and overgrown. It was surrounded by tall slender trees whose leaves quivered in the gentle breeze. The water in the pool was still, apart from an occasional ripple moving across the surface. It looked deep and forbidding, Jack was glad he wasn’t alone.
    Nora stopped by the water’s edge. Instead of kneeling down and putting her lips to the water she took a heavy coin from her pocket and flipped it into the pool.
    ‘That should bring her up,’ she laughed. ‘I doubt anyone’s thrown a Roman coin in