The Little Secret by Kate Saunders

and blustery, and spookily empty, and felt like the edge of the whole world. Where was the wonderful castle she had been promised?
    â€œNo,” Staffa said. “We stay in the car. The crossing doesn’t take long.”
    â€œWhere are we going?”
    â€œTo our island.”
    â€œYou OWN an island? Seriously?” Jane hadn’t known such a thing was possible.
    â€œIt’s too late to get to my home, so we’ll be spending the night with Mr. and Mrs. Prockwald, at their farmhouse.”
    Jane whispered, “Is Prockwald’s wife like him? I mean, does she talk?”
    â€œAll the time,” Staffa assured her. “And she’s an excellent cook too.”
    Prockwald drove the car right onto the flat boat. It pulled slowly out into the sea. Jane looked out of the window, and saw nothing but gray sea all around them, as if the car were driving on water. In the gathering darkness, rocked by the waves, Jane and Staffa both fell asleep.
    *   *   *
    Jane woke slowly, with a feeling that something wasn’t right. They were driving again, on a bumpy road. There was some kind of light shining through her closed eyelids. Was it already morning?
    She opened her eyes. Outside the window, everything was black. But the inside of the car was filled with an eerie silver light, extremely bright and as sharp as a blade.
    It was pouring through a hairline crack in the painted box.
    Jane was very scared. She wanted to wake Staffa, but she could not move or speak. The box was not on fire, because this light was too steady and too bright to come from flames, and there was no smoke. Could there be something electrical hidden inside the box, which they had switched on by mistake? She wished she knew more about science. Perhaps they were carrying something radioactive — she was sure she had heard about radioactive things glowing in the dark. Had Lady Matilda left them in charge of a nuclear bomb?
    Calm down, she ordered herself. Nobody puts a nuclear bomb in a painted box — not even Lady Matilda was that crazy.
    She hissed, “Staffa!”
    And the eerie light was suddenly gone.
    From the other side of the car, Staffa asked, “What is it?”
    â€œOh — I thought you were asleep — didn’t you see it?”
    â€œSee what?”
    â€œThe light in the box — there was light inside the box —”
    Staffa chuckled. “Jane, you’re the one who’s been asleep. You’ve been dreaming.”
    â€œIt wasn’t a dream, honestly. The light went out when I said your name.”
    â€œThat’s because you woke yourself up. You were dreaming.”
    â€œI was not!”
    â€œThere’s no light in that box,” Staffa said. “I wish I could open it, to show you.”
    â€œWhy can’t you open it? What’s inside it?”
    Staffa shrugged. “Family papers, I think. To tell the truth, I don’t exactly know. But I can promise that you were dreaming when you saw that light of yours.”
    â€œWell —” Jane was still convinced that she had seen it, but began to wonder if her senses were playing tricks on her. She had to admit, it was a lot more likely to have been a dream. On the other hand, there was something very strange about this vacation, and it was getting stranger by the minute.

THE HOUSE AT THE EDGE OF THE WORLD
    They stopped very suddenly, at a house marooned in a sea of darkness. Staffa carefully unfastened the box’s seat belt, and gathered it in her arms.
    Light spilled out of the open front door. Someone had come out to meet them. Jane could only guess it was a woman from her rounded shape — she was wearing builder’s overalls, and her face was wrapped in black scarves, like Prockwald’s. She helped both the girls out of the car, while her husband took their bags out of the trunk.
    â€œHello, Mrs. P.,” Staffa said, giving the scarves an affectionate