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"Well, now I can iine how you felt at the time And I suddenly understand why you wished you were dead"

"How stupid could I get! You sat with ht, not after the way he’d behaved And you told me to brushto Abba’s ‘The Winner Takes It All’ played in an endless loop"

"I can play that song for you," offered Lesley, "if it’d make you feel any better"

"It wouldn’t But you can hand etable knife Then I can commit hara-kiri" I let myself drop on my bed, and closed my eyes

"Girls always have to be so drarouchy because someone hit him on the head, and you think it’s the end of the world"

"It’s because he doesn’t love ly

"You can’t know that," said Lesley "With Max, unfortunately, I did know, because half an hour after he du in the cine like that He’s rather … changeable, that’s all"

"But why? You should have seen the way he looked at me! Kind of repelled As if I was a … a woodlouse! I can’t bear it"

"A o, you said you were a chair" Lesley shook her head "Coht: love comes in at theand co a tre, when she had just arrived and ere sitting coether, Mr Bernard had knocked athe never usually did--and put a tea tray down onladies," he had said

I’d looked at hi seen him up on this floor of the house before

"Since you were asking about it recently, I took the liberty of searching in the library," Mr Bernard had gone on, studying us gravely with his owlish eyes above the rilasses "And as I expected, I found what I wanted"

"What is it?" I’d asked

Mr Bernard had lifted the napkin on the tray to reveal a book lying there "The Green Rider," he had said "If I re for"

Lesley had jumped to her feet and picked up the book "Oh, but I’ve already looked at this in the public library," she said "It’s nothing special"

Mr Bernard had sently "The reason you say that, I think, is that the copy you found in the public library was never the property of Lord Montrose However, this one may interest you" Then he left the room, with a little bow, and Lesley and I had fallen on the book at once A piece of paper on which so had fluttered to the floor Lesley’s cheeks had turned red with excitement

"Oh, my God, it’s a code!" she had exclaimed "How absolutely wonderful! I alanted to find so like this Now all we have to do is find out what itfrom my curtain rail "I’ve heard that before I think it fits the category of famous last words…"

But it hadn’t taken Lesley five ures related to separate letters in the text "The first nue, the second is the line, the third is the word, the fourth is the letter, get it? Fourteen, twenty-two, six, three--that’s page fourteen, line twenty-tord six, and the third letter in that word" She shook her head "What a cheap trick! People use this code in every other kids’ book, as far as I remember Never mind, that means the first letter is an f"

Impressed, Xemerius had nodded "Listen to your friend"

"Don’t forget, this is a matter of life and death," said Lesley "You think I want to lose ht after a bit of snogging?"

"My own opinion exactly!" That was Xe and find out what Lucy and Paul discovered instead," Lesley went on forcefully "If you get sent to elapse to 1956 again today--and you’ll only have to ask Mr George to fix that--you randfather! What a crackpot idea to go out to a café! And this time you must write down all he tells you, every last little detail, understand?" She sighed "Are you sure he said Florentine Alliance? I couldn’t find anything useful online about that We just have to get a look at those secret writings left to the Guardians by Count Saint-Germain If only Xemerius could move objects, he could search the archives--he’d si"