Sarah, Simon and Maud began to walk toward the tables, their eyes trained on Norman. And as they got closer, the crowd parted to let them through. Matthew could tell they liked that very much. There was an aura of self-righteousness about them.

'We feel really hurt, Norman,' said Simon, once they had made their way over. He had a rugged face and a nose that came to a sharp point.

With a stern, unwavering look, Norman shrugged. 'What do you mean by that?'

'Oooh,' Maud squealed, her dark eyes penetrating Norman. 'did I hear a bit of lip in that, Norman?'

'No lip,' said Norman, 'I assure you. I meant no disrespect.'

Maud grinned, which Simon and Sarah copied.

'The reason we feel really hurt, Norman,' said Simon, 'is that you didn't invite the Westies to Wendy and Howie's party. Or perhaps the invitation got lost in the mail?'

Sarah and Maud laughed.

'Whatever the case,' said Simon, 'we're here . . . here to celebrate Wendy and Howie. It's not every day that children come back.' There was an odd twinkle in his eye. 'We thought we should show our respect and come. The rest of the Westies couldn't make it so I would like to apologize for them.'

'May I ask how you knew about what happened to Wendy and Howie and that we were having a party?' Norman asked.

Sarah replied to that with a look of astonishment. 'The Westies have never overheard so many children talk about something so much before.' She flicked her long hair.

'What about these Saviours, hey?' said Maud. 'Surely they can't be real.'

'Who knows,' said Chloe, 'they could be.'

Simon growled. 'Only stupid children would believe such nonsense.'

Unable to stop himself, Matthew blurted out with slight hostility, 'That's not very nice.'

Everyone turned to him with mouths open. Sarah,Simon and Maud were among the shocked, but quickly turned angry.

'Boy, do you know who you're talking to?' bellowed Simon, stepping in front of Matthew. 'What's your name?'

'Please forgive him,' said Chloe. She placed herself between Matthew and Simon, her worried eyes darting between the leaders of the Westies. 'He's new to Spring Heights.'

Simon gritted his teeth, looking as if he was about to do something violent, but soon calmed down. He said to Matthew, clearly not meaning it, 'Welcome to Spring Heights.' Then in a more joyful tone, he said, 'Now, are we going to get this party started or what?'

'It started already,' said Norman.

'This is it?' said Maud, looking unimpressed. 'We got all dressed up for this. I'm very disappointed, Norman.'

'What's on the tables?' Sarah asked.

'It's food,' said Norman.

Sarah, Simon and Maud sniggered.

'Are you sure it's food?' said Sarah.

'I'm sure.'

'Well, it all looks disgusting,' said Maud.

'Like vomit,' said Simon.

Matthew was raging inside. Anyone with half a brain could tell it was food.

'What's the stage for?' asked Sarah.

'Amanda's going to perform some magic tricks,' replied Norman.

'Really?' said Sarah. 'This may not be a waste of a night after all.'

'Yeah,' said Maud, 'I like me some magic.'

'Well, let's get it started,' said Simon.

The three leaders sauntered over to the front of the stage, picking up chairs along the way, and sat down. They were barely a foot away from it.

Amanda appeared at Norman's side and said, 'I guess I'm doing it now then.'

'I guess so,' replied Norman. 'You all right with that? Are you ready to go?'

'Please,' said Amanda, popping out a top hat from behind her back and putting it on, 'I'm always ready to go.' She turned to John. 'Now, you sure you don't want to be my assistant?'

John stormed off, muttering to Chloe that he would go and guard the secret entrance.

'We're waiting,' Maud said loudly.

Although nobody knew it at the time, except for herself, Amanda performed only half her magic set in front of Sarah, Simon and Maud, who, by the way, were unbearable throughout the whole thing.

The first trick had been a card trick. Maud didn't even wait to be chosen before jumping on the stage and taking a card from Amanda. After showing her card to the crowd, Maud placed it back into the deck per Amanda's instructions. She was then supposed to shuffle the deck, but instead purposely dropped it, scattering cards everywhere. Matthew thought the trick was ruined, but to his amazement, Amanda found Maud's card.

Amanda's next trick had her turn ordinary water into Brigg's fruit juice. Matthew watched as she poured a glass of clear water into a solid blue jug. Amanda then took the jug, gave it a whack with her wand, and emptied its dark red contents. Brigg was brought on stage to taste it and confirmed it was her juice.

Ten tricks later, and which included pulling a rabbit out of her top hat, sawing a rabbit in half, and making rings that were interlocked come apart, Amanda was done, or so she told her audience.

' . . . and I hope you all enjoyed yourselves,' bellowed Amanda.

'Well,' said Simon before anyone could give Amanda an applause. He, Sarah and Maud sprung up from their chairs, 'this has been a waste of time. Norman, if you ever do feel like inviting us to one of your parties in the future, don't. I'd rather gouge my eyes out. I bet Wendy and Howie wish they were still kidnapped now.'

To everyone's joy, amazement and bewilderment, Sarah, Simon and Maud left the celebration and the park as fast as they came. 'How odd,' Slink said to Matthew, referring to them leaving so early. 'Not really surprised but still.'

Children had already left their seats and were about to start playing more games when, from the stage, Amanda boomed, smiling, 'I hope you all liked my Westies disappearing act. Now, onto my next trick.'

That got a delightful response.

'I hope it's not bringing them back,' shouted Norman, as everyone happily took their seats again.

'I wouldn't dare,' replied Amanda.

Once everyone had settled down and stopped talking, Amanda went on with her performance.

'Living down in the basement of our city's museum,' she said in an eerie voice, 'I come in contact with many mysterious and worldly gifts. Some of these items are kept hidden from the public, for they are dangerous, teeming with ancient powers.' She carried a small table draped with a blood-red table cloth to the front of the stage. 'Tonight, I will show you some of these gifts. Don't be frightened, though, for I won't release all their powers . . . just enough.'

From her pocket, she pulled out a handkerchief and spread it flat on the table. She then waved her hand over the handkerchief three times before violently ripping it off. A tiny wooden box carved with hieroglyphs was now on the table. 'Behold,' she said to oohs and aahs, 'the Chest of Chaos.' There were more oohs and aahs. 'The writings tell us it was created a long time ago by an evil and most powerful wizard, for the sole purpose of destroying the kingdom of a king who had wronged him. Inside this chest are deadly storms, murderous ghouls and goblins, diseases and many other horrible things.'

'Did the wizard destroy the kingdom?' asked a child in the front row.

Looking at the boy in all seriousness, Amanda replied, 'No, the wizard didn't get his wish. The king found out about his plan and killed him before he could do any harm. But as you can see . . . the chest survived.'

'Are you going to open it?' the same child asked nervously.

'Just for a brief moment,' said Amanda. 'Don't worry . . . I'm fairly positive nothing too horrible will find its way out. Let me just say . . . if anyone is afraid and wants to leave, now is the time.'

Not one child in the audience moved a muscle.

'Excellent,' said Amanda. 'Shall we proceed? Good.'

Amanda took a deep breath and placed her hands over the box. She closed her eyes and began reciting an incantation of words Matthew did not understand. He was pretty sure they were made up.

Ten words into the incantation, something happened. The box and the table began to shake, and it got even worse with every additional word. And when Amanda stopped the incantation, the shaking abruptly stopped.

In an instant, the lid of the box sprung open with a pop, and from it, blinding sparks of white and orange flew up into the air. There was a chorus of shrieks, and not just from the younger children, with many shuffling back as far as they could go.

Matthew remained rooted to where he was, not wanting to miss a thing.

The sparks turned a scarlet red before ebbing into nothing.

A deafening silence, punctuated by a spooky stillness, fell all around. This was short lived, for the sound of wind bellowed from the box, followed by the patter of rain.

Just then, huge gusts rocked the stage. The curtains lashed violently all around, Amanda's hair blew over her face and a few props were knocked over.

Matthew was sure water was going to shoot out the box next, being that the sound of rain was getting louder, but he was dead wrong. Instead, a mass of cockroaches crawled out and were tossed off the stage by the wind, finding their way into the audience.

The place went berserk. Children, Matthew being one of them, jumped onto their feet and began flailing around as if crazed, trying to dodge every insect that came their way. Eventually the cockroaches disappeared into the forest.

The gusts of wind, and the noises coming from the box eventually ceased.

'I think all of you would agree that I've shown you enough of what the Chest of Chaos holds,' shouted Amanda, looking as relieved as everyone else.

There was a loud wail of approval.

Amanda was about to close the box when a rabbit ran across the stage. Everyone laughed as she started to chase it.

'The wind must have knocked her cage over and dislodged the lock,' said Amanda, trying to trap the rabbit against the curtain. 'Drat.' The rabbit had got away.

A young girl at the front shouted, 'There's something coming out of the box?'

She was right. It was a hand. It was a foul, disgusting looking hand, with long gnarly fingers stained with blood and flesh peeling away.

The young girl shouted for Amanda, but Amanda, busy with trying to catch her rabbit, took no notice.

The hand, which had begun to feel the air, started to rise, revealing a skinny and grotesque forearm covered in boils and mossy black hair. As the older children chuckled at this, the rest of the younger children joined the young girl, eager to get Amanda's attention. Again, Amanda didn't take any notice.

Matthew knew she was doing it on purpose, sure that the rabbit escaping was part of the act.

Amanda finally caught the rabbit and returned it to its cage. She then turned to the audience, where she gave a look of surprise at the fuss the younger children were making. Surprise turned to horror as her eyes were guided toward the box. A crooked knobbly elbow was pointing in her direction.

'A goblin,' Amanda squawked, to which the younger children squealed. 'W-why d-didn't anyone say anything.'

'We did,' the younger children all said.

Amanda gulped. 'If it gets out, we're all doomed.'

'Do something,' howled the young girl.

Amanda nodded anxiously. But as she pulled out a wand from her pocket, her face filled with determination.

Once again, something happened Matthew wasn't expecting, and probably neither was anyone else. He thought Amanda was going to wave her wand and cast a spell or something, but what she did made everyone laugh, even the younger children. Amanda ran over to the box and started beating the goblin's arm with her wand until it retreated back inside.

'That was close,' Amanda announced, and she slammed the lid of the box shut.

The next item Amanda brought out, or rather rolled out on a trolley, was a sarcophagus. Called the Pharaoh's Passage, the sarcophagus, according to Amanda, was used by the pharaohs of Egypt to transport themselves anywhere they wanted. All you had to do was think very hard of where you wanted to go, enter the sarcophagus, close it, and you were transported.

'Here I go,' Amanda announced, and she entered the sarcophagus. The audience was hushed as she did this, waiting in anticipation to see her disappear before their very eyes. Everyone was staring at Amanda with no regard for anything else.

Matthew watched Amanda snap her fingers, to which the sarcophagus closed with a thud before quickly opening again.

Amanda was gone. Heads swivelled all around, hoping to see where she had disappeared to. An entire minute went by and there was still no sign of her.

'Where is she?' the young girl from the front said. All eyes looked to her. 'Maybe something happened? Maybe the sarcophagus malfunctioned and it transported her somewhere far away? She hopped onto the stage and began walking around the sarcophagus, inspecting it and calling out for Amanda. Eventually, she stopped and turned to the audience as if to say something. She didn't. Rather, a big smile graced her face and she pointed over everyone's heads.

Amanda was standing on top of a table with a look of gratification.

'That took a bit longer than I had expected,' boomed Amanda over cheers. She jumped down and returned to the stage.

Matthew began to wonder about the young girl.

Amanda's last item was called the Carpet of Thieves. Caked with much dirt, its colors of red and blue barely visible, it was the size of an unfolded newspaper. Although Amanda told her audience she had found it hidden away inside a secret compartment of a mysterious stone statue from the Middle East, Matthew knew otherwise, seeing the stub of a label sticking out from it.

Holding up the carpet for everyone to see, Amanda said, 'Today, thieves have many ways of getting in and out of places. Two thousand years ago, a group of thieves led by a terrible and feared little girl called Tamira, used this. Let me tell you, the Westies and the Mongraw Gang would love to get their hands on this, I can assure you. Seriously, if Bank Robber Rob had this, he would be rolling in money right now.'

'Why did you have to bring that up?' shouted Bank Robber Rob jokingly.

'I'm sorry, Rob' said Amanda, smiling. 'I was just trying to get the point across.' She walked to the table and placed the carpet down on top of it. 'All right . . . I need a volunteer who is not afraid of heights.'

Hands rose with excitement and whispers of what Amanda was about to do filled the air.

Amanda began to slowly walk around the front of the stage, looking carefully at each child who wanted to volunteer. It didn't surprise Matthew at all whom she picked.

'If you would be so kind and sit down on the carpet please,' said Amanda, and the young girl did. Amanda continued, standing back, 'Now, what I'm about to do takes an enormous amount of magic. So first I'll need to gather as much of it as I can from the environment. This process may take a while so I ask for your patience.'

Amanda began to walk around the table with her arms outstretched, wiggling her fingers madly. A wild dance, which included shaking her head and doing a few somersaults, proceeded that before she stopped dead, her eyes closed.

Nodding with a smile, Amanda said, 'If you listen carefully, you can hear it. You can hear the magic. Can you hear it? Can you hear it? If you can't, let me show you.' She opened her eyes and seemingly grabbed something from the air. Then bringing her hand toward her, she opened it up for her audience to see.

An electric glow pulsated on her palm. Then all over the stage came more and more pulsating lights, until eventually, the whole place was flickering furiously. Matthew could have watched it for hours, for every second brought a new display, but before long, the lights, to his and everyone else's dismay, drifted off and faded into nothing.

Now standing still in front of the table on the stage, Amanda began to slowly raise her arms by her side, the carpet levitating with them. Matthew watched the young girl, her face full of pleasure, rise up until the carpet came to a stop, appearing as if it was resting on top of Amanda's top hat.

The standing ovation was immediate and Amanda lapped it all up with bow after bow.

'Thank you. Thank you,' Amanda shouted, bringing the young girl back to the table. 'Before I leave, though, there is one more trick I would like to show you.'

She took off her top hat and tossed it up. As it spun around in the air, hundreds of tiny silvery balls flew out. And as they hit the ground, each one gave out a booming crack. If that wasn't startling enough, grey smoke mushroomed from each ball, engulfing the stage and grassy clearing.

A lot of shouting followed and continued until all the smoke had dissipated.

'Whoa.' Matthew rubbed his eyes in disbelief at the scene in front of him. Everything was gone. The stage was gone, Amanda was gone and all her props were gone.

'HEY,' yelled an angry Apricot from somewhere, 'WHERE ARE MY SHEETS?'

Despite the appearance of the Westies, the party was heralded as a huge success. All the children from the Free Territory who had shown up had said it was one of the best times they had ever had in their lives. Matthew enthusiastically agreed.