When Simon finds a strange brass bell on Mrs Eve's desk, a single ring gives him and his friends uncanny powers. Then a cloaked stranger appears in the schoolyard with a suitcase nobody can explain.
On Monday morning, Primary School No. 7 was noisy in its usual way. Voices bounced along the corridor, and Mr Jan, the caretaker, was zipping up his bright jacket by the entrance. But Simon had the uneasy feeling that something in the building had shifted before the day even began.
The moment he walked into the classroom, he saw it: an old brass bell on Mrs Eve's desk, polished to a dull shine, engraved with tiny marks like lightning. Simon had never seen it before. He was still staring when Mrs Eve tapped it once with a pencil.
The classroom changed in a blink. The colours in the room seemed to ripple. Books hopped on the desks. Zosia gasped as a soft glow rose from her hair, bright as neon. Philip froze, his eyes widening, because he could suddenly hear whispers drifting through the wall. Simon swallowed hard, then looked at the brick beside him and saw straight through it, as if the wall had turned to mist.
Nobody spoke for a second. Then all three of them looked at each other at once, their faces full of the same question. Could one little bell really give them powers?
When Mrs Eve stepped out of the room, they could not resist testing what had happened. Zosia lifted her hand and made the whole classroom shine. Philip pressed his ear to the door and heard teachers talking in the corridor. Simon leaned toward the teachers' room and saw shapes moving inside, sharp and clear, as though nothing stood between him and the other side.
Then the bell rang again.
This time it sounded wrong. It was lower, deeper, almost urgent, like it wanted to warn them. Simon jerked his head toward the window. In the schoolyard stood a cloaked figure he had never seen before, holding a large suitcase in one hand. The figure was staring straight at their classroom window.
Simon felt his stomach tighten. The stranger slowly raised his head, and in the next second, the suitcase gave a faint metallic click.