Chapter 3

Chapter three, The girls stood on the circular landing at the top of the tower with puzzled expressions on their faces. "If there is a secret room, there's absolutely no way up to it from here," said Sienna. On one side was their dorm– Ruby– and on the other side was Topaz dorm where four boys, Sam, Reuben, Archie and Nawaz, slept. "There isn't a hidden door anywhere out here," said Lyra, tapping the wall between the dorms. "And we've checked our room," said Ivy. "We didn't find any hidden doors in there." "What about in the boys' dorm?" suggested Sienna. "We should probably ask them before we go and look," said Evie slowly. "If we don't touch anything of theirs, I'm sure it'll be OK," said Sienna. Lyra nodded. "We can't give up yet. First rule of exploring. You have to take risks!" Turning the door handle, she went inside. The boys' room was a mirror image of the girls', but decorated in blue and gold rather than red. There were four beds, each with a blue-and-goldcoloured duvet. There was a fluffy gold rug on the floor and blue-and-gold curtains at the windows. On the chest of drawers beside each bed, a lamp glowed with a golden light. Next to their lamp, each boy had put photos of their family and pets, and they each had a shelf for their books, magazines and school folders.

Lyra's nose wrinkled at the lingering smell of sweaty feet as she picked her way across the floor. A tapestry of three unicorn foals hung on the wall. Could there be a door hidden behind it? She pushed it aside. No, there was just solid wall. The girls checked every centimetre of the room but found nothing. "There's no entrance here either," said Lyra in frustration. She really wanted to solve the mystery! "Time to give up," said Ivy, going to the door. "I vote we go and make a hot chocolate in our lounge." "We can't just abandon the search!" protested Lyra. "I vote for hot chocolate too," said Sienna. "With marshmallows," agreed Evie. Lyra gave in and led the way down the spiral staircase. At the bottom of the staircase were two lounges, one for Topaz dorm and one for Ruby dorm. On the wall between them was a large tapestry of a magnificent unicorn with a golden mane standing beside a forest pool. A tear trickled down the unicorn's face. Her name was embroidered at the bottom: Daybreak. The strange tapestry had caught Lyra's attention on their first day at the school, making her wonder who Daybreak was and why she was crying. She looked at it as she waited for Ivy and Evie to catch up. Evie had almost reached the bottom when she missed a step. She clattered down the last three stairs and landed on her bottom.

"Evie! Are you OK?" Lyra rushed to help her up. "I'm fine." Evie turned bright red as Lyra helped her to her feet. Lyra glanced down and noticed a tiny carving scratched into the stone on the rise of the bottom step. "It's Daybreak!" she said in surprise. "That unicorn on the tapestry over there. It's definitely her. Look at the teardrop on her face and the pool of water at her feet. But why would someone put it here?" There was a circle round the picture and Lyra ran a finger over it. To her astonishment the circle depressed slightly. She pressed harder. "It's a

button!" she cried. With a grating sound, a section of the wall behind the tapestry slid back. Sienna and Ivy squealed and raced over. Pulling aside the tapestry they saw a second spiral staircase, smaller and darker than the one they had just come down.

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"Look at that!" said Sienna in surprise. "I knew it." Lyra could hardly breathe with excitement. "It has to be the way up to the secret room! Come on, let's check it out." Cobwebs festooned the staircase like bunting and the steps were covered in a thick layer of dust. "No one's been up here in ages," Lyra commented as she climbed. At the top they reached a small room with a window set in the curved wall. The stone walls and the dark wooden floorboards were bare and the window was grimy. Lyra stared around the gloomy room. It was really weird to think she was standing above Ruby dorm in a space that looked like it had been forgotten about for years. "There's nothing in here," said Sienna disappointedly. "Why bother to hide a room and not put anything exciting in it?" She and Ivy went to the window and looked out while Evie hovered anxiously in the doorway. Lyra walked around the room, looking carefully. When a floorboard under her foot gave way slightly, she jumped back, thinking the wood must be rotten. She peered down at it. The floorboard looked fine, so she knelt to investigate. One end of the board dipped below the level of the others. Then her sharp eyes caught sight of something strange. At the other end of the floorboard was a hinge. She almost hadn't seen it because it was made of dark metal and blended in with the wood. "Can we go back down now?" asked Evie uneasily. "We might get into trouble." "Wait!" said Lyra, pulling a penknife from her pocket. It had lots of useful tools in it including a screwdriver. She wriggled the flat end of the screwdriver under the end of the floorboard and levered it up, revealing a cavity. Lyra's heart beat fast. She lay down and reached into the space. "What are you doing?" asked Sienna, coming over. Lyra's fingers closed on a piece of paper, and she gasped. "I've found something!" she said, pulling it out. The other three crowded round. "What is it?" Ivy asked eagerly. Sitting back up, Lyra smoothed the rectangle of paper out. It was thick