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‘Do you want to go out for dinner? Just the two of us?’ asked Bob He was hu coo out when it was obvious he was itching to get at a keyboard or a guitar

‘No thanks, Dad,’ said Arthur He really wanted to be alone so he could check out the Key and the Atlas ‘I’ll grab a snack later, if that’s okay I ht just check out one’

They both knew that was just Arthur being kind and letting Bob go and work on his song But that was also okay with both of them

‘I’ll be in the studio, then,’ said Bob ‘Buzz ot your inhaler?’

Arthur nodded

‘We et a pizza later,’ Bob called out as he headed down the stairs ‘Don’t tell Mu the stairs slowly He was breathing fine, but eak after five days of lying around in the hospital Even a few flights of stairs was hard work

After locking the door in case his older siblings returned, Arthur put the Atlas and the Key on the bed Then, without knohy, he turned off the light

Moonlight shone through the open , but it was quite dark It would have been darker, but both the Key and the Atlas gloith a strange blue light that shimmered like water Arthur picked theht

Without any effort on his part, the Atlas flipped open Arthur was so surprised he dropped it back on the bed It stayed open, and Arthur watched in aer and wider, until it was about the saes were blank for a an to appear, as if an invisible artist was hard at work The lines were strong and sure, appearing faster and faster as Arthur stared It only took a few seconds before he realised he was looking at a picture of the House he had seen A picture so well realised that it was alraph

Next to the picture a handwritten note appeared:

The House: An Exterior Aspect as Manifested in Many Secondary Realms

Then another feords appeared, writtenappeared, with an arrow that pointed to an inked-in square on the outer wall

‘"Monday Postern,"’ Arthur read aloud ‘What’s a postern?’

There was a dictionary on the bookshelf above his desk Arthur pulled it out, while keeping an eye on the Atlas in case it did so

It did Arthur had to put the Key down to get the dictionary out, as it was too jammed in with other books As soon as he dropped the Key on the desk, the Atlas sla the life out of him In less than a second, it had also shrunk back to its pocket notebook size

So you need to have the Key to open the Atlas, thought Arthur He left the Key where it was and looked up postern in the dictionary

Postern n 1 a back door or gate 2 any lesser or

private entrance

So there was Monday’s gate in the otherwise seaht about it The picture of the House and the indication of an entrance was clearly an invitation of sorts Soo into the House But could he trust the Atlas? Arthur was pretty certain that Mister Monday and Sneezer were enemies, or – at the very least – not friends He wasn’t sure about the whirling type, the words in the air that had taken over Sneezer and then given hiiven him the Key too, or at least had tricked Mister Monday into doing it But as theirits purpose?

There was only one way to find out He would take a look at the House as soon as he could, either toh Monday’s Postern Depending on what he saw there, he’d tell Ed and Leaf and get their help They would probably be able to see the place, he thought After all, they’d seen the dog-faced searchers when the assistant principal couldn’t

In the meanti spot he knew In the belly of the life- size ceraon that sat on the rooftop balcony just above his bedrooe lizard really – was hollow, but its er than Arthur’s to reach inside

No sooner was this mission acco the place fro on Arthur, she insisted that Bob ee froether Emily was happy and relaxed, because Arthur was okay and because for the first ti frantically to develop a vaccine or cure for so, but it looked to be a reasonably quiet one froo look at the House failed its first test when he was not allowed out of his own house

‘You have to take it easy,’ his , television, or the PC, that’s it At least for the next few days We’ll take another look at the situation next week’

Arthur frowned, but he knew better than to argue It was going to drive hi there, but he knew he had no choice If he sneaked out now, he would be grounded for aactive,’ E ‘But it’s only for a while Give yourself a chance to get stronger I think a day at school will be tough enough for you on Monday’