[Lyra Greenleaf]

Elena opened her eyes and stared nervously up at the house. Even though when she first came, she had thought it was strange she suddenly realised that she was very worried about it, as well as everyone in it. There was a horrible sick feeling in her stomach every time she thought about her Papa.

The house itself seemed to show very little wrong with it. There seemed to be a lot of damage in the garden, smashed windows and the door was lying face down on the path but there was no sign or- Elena sniffed- smell of burning. There was also no red stains, which had to be a good thing.

Fiona had moved to the doorway, staring into the dark passage- despite the long walk it had not yet come to dawn. The sky was still a sort of inky-blue, almost black and only moonlight allowed Elena to see what she had of the state of the house. Inside there was no moonlight. Elena felt her heart jump into her throat at the thought of what might be waiting inside.

There could be monsters! she thought fearfully, trusting what she had heard that the bad men had been driven away. But the most important thing to do was find Papa. Trying her best to ignore her fears Elena went to stand beside Fiona. Although she was almost completely in the shadow Elena could see enough of her face to see that she also looked worried, so she reached out to squeeze her hand. Fiona squeezed back, then pulled her arm away. Together they walked through the doorway.

Elena walked forward slowly, trying to remember the placement of different objects. Fiona knew better, of course, and walked off quite fast, reappearing with a candle. In the soft light Elena could see the damage- quite a few things knocked over or broken and some things seemed to have gone missing. Fiona looked upset, but she seemed restless too. There was no sign of anyone. Together the girls moved to the stairs.

The rooms upstairs did not seem to have been damaged. Elena wondered why, but was most concerned about the people. They weren’t in any of the rooms upstairs and the girls went back down. Finally Fiona yelled out to see if anyone answered, but still no-one did.

Feeling numb Elena walked outside and sat down in the somehow comforting moonlight. He wasn’t here then. What did that mean? Perhaps he had been taken like she and Fiona and Rian had been? Perhaps he was
dead. Elena could feel a sob building up in her throat, but she was interrupted by a small shadow coming towards her. It was Porridge the squirrel. Elena held her hand out to him, almost happily. He hopped on, and Elena saw that he had blood on one of his small front paws. She held him up to the moonlight and saw a sliver of glass in it.

“Fiona!” she called loudly, forgetting that they were supposed to be quiet outside. Fiona came running. Elena showed her Porridge’s paw.
“What shall we do?” she asked, with tears staining her face.