The Goblin King

“Well, I can’t see it.”

Sophie ran towards him, scrambling over the fence. “I left it just there.” She pointed, but to her surprise the space between the tree roots was empty. She stared. Was Sam playing a trick on her? Sophie checked his face. “You really haven’t got it?”

“I swear I haven’t.”

They both began to hunt around, but there was no sign of the key anywhere. Sophie bit her lip, her eyes wide. “It’s gone!”

Sam’s face paled. “What’s your grandpa going to say?”

Sophie felt sick. Grandpa Bob was not the kindly type of smiley grandpa lots of her friends had – he was grumpy with sharp blue eyes and a grey, grizzled beard. He usually ignored Sophie unless he was telling her off. He much preferred Anthony, Sophie’s twin brother. Sophie gulped. She had no idea what Grandpa was going to say – but she had a feeling it wasn’t going to be good!

“It can’t have just gone,” she said desperately. “Let’s look again!”

Getting down on their hands and knees, Sophie and Sam began to search.

Deep in the heart of Shadow Woods, Ug the Goblin hurried through the trees. His head was toadstool-shaped and brown rags covered his knobbly body. His snowy-white skin was flaking and tinged black at the edges. He chortled, hardly believing his luck. He’d done it! He’d got the key! After all these years of watching and waiting! And he hadn’t even had to go near the house. Those two stupid children had practically given the key to him – leaving it sitting right where he could take it.

“Dimwits, numskulls, worm brains the lot of them!” he crowed. “But not me. I knew it was the right time to try to steal it. Ug’s not King of the Ink Cap Goblins for nothing. Ug’s the cleverest and craftiest goblin in the world!” He puffed his chest out. “Ug got the key to the gate. Oh, yes, he did!” His coal-black eyes shone gleefully. Now the shadow creatures’ fun could really begin!

Chapter 2

Anthony the Annoying

Sophie stared out of her bedroom window. It was getting late and beyond the garden fence the woods were very dark. She hadn’t told Grandpa yet about the key being lost. He had been out all day with Anthony, and she was still hoping the key would turn up before he discovered it had gone.

Maybe I’ll find it tomorrow, she thought hopefully.

Tomorrow. Sophie felt a rush of excitement. Tomorrow was her tenth birthday. Being ten sounded so much older than being nine. What presents would she get? She’d love a new skateboard! And a football, and some games for her DS...

Her bedroom door opened and Anthony strolled in. He looked quite similar to Sophie, with thick, blonde hair and a slim, athletic build, but his eyes weren’t green and friendly like hers. They were pale blue and smug.

Sophie frowned. “Hey! Don’t just come in without knocking!” She went to the door and pointed to the notice she had stuck there. “Private. Keep out. Or you’ll be sorry!” she read.

“Ooh, I’m so scared.” Anthony rolled his eyes mockingly. He started examining the things on her desk. “I thought you might want to know about my day with Grandpa,” he said, flicking through the pages of a tae kwon do book.

“Well, I don’t,” answered Sophie.

“Really? ’Cos we had a brilliant time,” gloated Anthony.

Sophie and Anthony were being looked after by their grandfather for a couple of months. Their parents were archaeologists and often had to go away to work. When that happened, Grandpa moved in. He often took Anthony out to do ‘boy-stuff’, leaving Sophie at home with the housekeeper, Mrs Benton. Most of the time, Sophie didn’t mind. She loved Mrs Benton and she had much more fun playing with Sam than she would have had being with Anthony and Grandpa.

“You’d have loved it,” Anthony went on. “We went climbing on the rocks in the Outwoods and went on the rope swing there. Then after that we had burgers and ice-cream sodas for lunch.”

It did sound fun, but there was no way Sophie was going to admit it. “Big deal,” she said airily.

But her brother wasn’t finished yet. “Before we came home we went to this big outdoor shop. Grandpa bought me a backpack and penknife, a torch and some rope—”

“What?” Sophie burst out, unable to stop herself. She loved stuff like that – and Anthony knew it. “Did Grandpa get me anything too?”

“No.” Anthony laughed. “But I guess that’s ’cos you’re just a girl.”

Sophie clenched her fists angrily.

Anthony grinned. “I reckon Grandpa’s planning on taking me camping. You’ll get to stay here and have a lovely time doing lots of girly things with Mrs Benton,” he sniggered. “You could play tea parties together or bath some ickle-wickle baby dolls…”

Sophie gave an enraged yell and leapt at him.

Anthony scrambled over the bed, grabbing a football card from her bedside table as he did so. “Hey, thanks, I need this one!”

“Give it back!”

But Anthony just darted round the bed, past her and through the door.

Sophie glared after him. She wanted to go to his bedroom and snatch the card back, but she’d be bound to be the one who got into trouble. Anthony was very good at making it seem as if she started any row between them.

There was the sound of footsteps on the stairs, and then Mrs Benton came in with a tray. On it was a glass of apple juice and a peanut butter sandwich. “I thought you might like a bedtime snack, Sophie-duckie. You didn’t eat much at teatime. You’re not missing your parents, are you?” the housekeeper asked anxiously.

“Thanks, Mrs B. I’m OK,” Sophie replied. The reason she hadn’t eaten much was she had been worrying over Grandpa finding out about his missing key. She wished she could tell Mrs Benton about it, but she knew Mrs B would make her tell Grandpa. Sophie felt sick at the thought.

“Maybe it’s just excitement about your birthday then.” Mrs Benton smiled fondly at her. She had round, pink cheeks, and had been cooking and cleaning for the Smith family since the twins were babies. “I can’t believe you’ll be ten tomorrow, Sophie. You won’t be too big for a cuddle, will you?” She opened her arms.

Sophie grinned and hugged her. “I’ll never be too big for that, Mrs B.”

When the housekeeper had gone, Sophie shut her door and got into bed with the sandwich and a book. When she finally got sleepy, she brushed her teeth, turned off her light and snuggled down under the covers.

For a moment, the missing key popped into her head. She forced the thought away and concentrated instead on her birthday.

I hope I do get a new skateboard, she thought. Her parents knew it was the only thing she really wanted. Shutting her eyes and imagining herself doing loads of awesome skating tricks, she fell fast asleep.

When Sophie woke in the morning, she felt cold and shivery. As she got out of bed, a wave of dizziness swept over her. “Oh, no,” she groaned. She didn’t want to be ill on her birthday!

Putting on a pair of jeans and a t-shirt, she went downstairs. When she reached the kitchen, she saw Anthony unwrapping a present. Grandpa was sitting beside him watching, and Mrs Benton was bustling around cooking breakfast.

“Happy birthday, poppet!” Mrs Benton exclaimed, sweeping over.

“Happy birthday, Sophie,” Grandpa greeted her, his blue eyes sharp above his grey moustache and short beard. As usual, he didn’t look very much like a grandfather. He was slim and fit and dressed all in black, apart from the grey fishing waistcoat with lots of pockets he usually wore.

Anthony held up a digital watch for Sophie to see. “Look what Grandpa’s got me! It’s got GPS. That means it can tell you where you are and how to get places. Isn’t it cool?”

Sophie looked enviously at it. She hoped she’d get one too, but she was sure she wouldn’t.

“And this is for you, Sophie,” Grandpa said, handing her a present wrapped in pink ballerina paper. Sophie’s heart sank. From the paper she could tell that Grandpa had given Mrs B some money to buy something for her. It felt like clothes. She sat down with the present, still feeling a bit faint.

Grandpa turned back to Anthony. “So, are you feeling OK this morning, Anthony?”

“Yeah, I feel great,” Anthony replied.

Sophie blinked, shaking her head. She seemed to have stars dancing in front of her eyes.