Ignaz finds a tiny silver key with a blue pebble under the rug, and he and Hania begin searching the house for the lock it belongs to.
Ignaz liked his room best in the morning, when the sun made bright squares on the floor and even the dust seemed to sparkle. That day, something looked odd near the door. His rug had slipped a little to one side.
He knelt down to push it straight. A tiny silver key slid out from underneath, with a smooth blue pebble tied to it. Ignaz stared. The key felt cool in his palm, as if it had been hiding there a very long time.
"Hania! Come quick!" he shouted.
His older sister rushed in and stopped short when she saw the key. She turned it over in her fingers, then smiled in a way that made Ignaz’s heart jump.
"Maybe it opens something special," she whispered.
So they searched. They tried the letterbox, the old cupboard in the living room, and the toy box by the sofa. Nothing happened. The key did not fit a single lock.
At last they sat down in the hallway, breathing hard. The key lay between them on the floor, shining in the thin strip of sunlight. Then Ignaz noticed something behind the tall plant by the wall.
A narrow line. A tiny crack.
He leaned closer. Behind the leaves was a little door he had never seen before.