Pure Dead Magic: Part 1

By DEBI GLIORI

From an upstairs window peered three pairs of eyes. The six eyes watched as a plump woman negotiated the moat, apparently unaware of the murderous Tock who dozed in its depths.

'That's the third one this week,' observed a voice.

'Fourth, if you count the one that Tock ate for breakfast,' said a second voice.

The third pair of eyes blinked. Too young to speak, their owner wondered if this one could change nappies and sing the right kind of lullaby to hush a witch baby to sleep.

Having spotted the sleeping crocodile as she crossed the moat, Mrs McLachlan climbed the steps, sat heavily on a stone gryphon guarding the front door and gazed around. She rooted in a battered handbag and produced a crumpled newspaper advert and a pair of reading glasses.

Publisher: Random House

Price: $16. 95

Age group: 10 plus years