Chapter Two

Dad and Mum spent all dinner talking about Jack's computer. Dad wants to get him a new one but Mum thinks that all he does is play games on it, so he should just stick with the one he has now. I agreed with Mum and Jack kicked me under the table. I glared at him and he stuck his tongue out at me. Mum sighed and told Jack to do the kitchen.

"Aw, Mum!" he groaned. "Katie started it! Why doesn't she have to wash up?"

"Because she didn't do anything rude," Dad replied.

"Yes she did! She." But as I hadn't actually done anything rude, Jack shut up and started clearing the table, glaring at me. He accidentally dropped a fork on me and stained my shorts. Mum told me to go and get changed for bed and to leave my shorts in the laundry. I nodded and went up to my room.

The first thing I noticed was the sheet. It was on the floor. Someone had been up here while we were eating. My stomach lurched when I realised that no-one could have been and if somebody had broken in, they wouldn't just pull a sheet off a wardrobe and leave again. Then I noticed the mirror.

The one on the right was shimmering different colours, as if it were a television searching for the right channel. I peered closer and gasped as something came into focus. I couldn't believe it. It was a face. A female face, staring back at me. She had no hair and in her ears were three diamond earrings. Her lips were painted bright red and her eyes were lined with mascara. As I stared at her, she smiled broadly, her eyes crinkling up and her lips stretching.

"Hello," she said cheerfully. "You must be the new master."

I screamed.

I saw the face's eyes flick to the door, then as it swung open and Dad, Mum and Jack charged in, she disappeared and I was left staring at a perfectly normal mirror. Mum put her arms around me while Dad stared at me cautiously.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

I searched for something to say, but it was impossible. What could I say? I'd seen a face in the mirror? It talked to me? Said I was it's master? They'd think I was as mad as Mum. I swallowed deeply and sighed.

"I saw a cockroach."

Dad and Jack laughed and Mum stifled a giggle. "It's ok, darling," she managed to say. "They don't bite."

I blushed and ushered them out of my room. I shut the door behind them and went back over to the mirror. It was perfectly still now, nothing strange about it at all. Maybe I had imagined it all. The face, the talking. Maybe I was just tired.

I decided that was it so I put the sheet back over the wardrobe and curled up in bed, staring at the ceiling, willing myself to go to sleep. But I wasn't tired. Not tired at all. I shut my eyes tightly and waited for sleep to take over.

"Katie."

My eyes snapped open and I sat up, looking wildly around my room. There was nobody there. I lay back down and rested my head on my pillow, my heart pounding in my chest.

"Katie."

I sat bolt upright and stifled a scream. The sheet was on the floor again and the mirrors were uncovered. The right hand one was no longer still. The face was there again and it was speaking my name. "Katie, come to me. Don't be scared now."

Slowly, as if I was being magnetically called, I got out of bed and went over to the wardrobe, staring at the face. She smiled when I sat down on the end of my bed, terrified.

"Now then," she said softly. "That wasn't very hard, was it?"

I swallowed hard, rubbing my eyes, hoping I would wake up and this would be just a bad dream. But when I opened them, the face was still there, looking at me curiously.

"I'm real," she said, amused. "Rubbing your eyes won't make me go away."

She suddenly smiled and I jumped slightly. "Isn't this exciting?" she giggled. "It's been so long since I've talked to anyone. Ever since Earl stopped coming, I've been silent as a mouse." She looked up, thinking hard, with a slightly confused look on her face. "But then again, not like the mice from Tubton, because they are so loud. And annoying. Never thought I'd see such annoying mice. But then again, I didn't have to face them, did I?"

"I'm sorry," I whispered, interrupting her, "but why.what's going on?"

The face smiled again. "You have been chosen by my past master to be my new master. Isn't it thrilling?"

I stared at her, confused. "But why me? Are you some sort of genie? Am I like Aladin?"

It was her turn to look confused. "Aladin? Is.it.a Hugh-Man too?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry," I said.

The smile returned to her face. "Are you ready to go?"

"What do you mean, go?" I asked nervously.

"This is a very special wardrobe," she said. "Not ordinary at all. You see, through this wardrobe you can enter different worlds. This is the Wardrobe of the Worlds, made by the ancient Gods to allow Hugh-Mans to help those worlds." She paused, then went on. "You see, in the other worlds, they have problems. Much bigger than the ones on Earth. They have threat of danger, people wanting to take over the worlds. That is where you come in. You save them - stop the evil and save the innocent."

I was confused. "But what do I do? I'm only Katie Clarketon. I'm no super hero."

The face smiled. "Oh but you are. You have been Chosen. That is enough to give everyone in all the worlds faith in you. It has been a long time since a Hugh-Man has come to them, and they will be so very excited."

The face suddenly grew a bright blue colour and I felt the light radiating on my face. I gasped but felt myself get to my feet and stumble towards the left mirror. I was being pulled to it and there was nothing I could do to hold me back.

With a loud bang, my bedroom door swung open and someone grabbed me by the arm. I heard something yapping about around my ankles, but the light was getting brighter and I couldn't step backwards. Then, with a great flash, I felt myself pulled free from the floor and I hurtled into air, twisting and turning and racing on with great speed.

There was a thud and I landed on a pile of grass. Moaning, I sat up and looked around me. I was nowhere near home. I could tell by the landscape. You didn't get lushious green grass like this in Australia. I heard a groan and I turned around quickly.

Jack was rubbing his back behind me and lying in the grass next to him was Peetree, stunned by otherwise all right. He stopped rubbing and looked up at me, confused.

"What the hell just happened?" he asked. Then he looked around. "And where the hell are we?"

I shook my head. "I don't know and I don't know."

I looked around for someone - anyone, but there was nobody around. I sighed and helped Jack to his feet. Peetree was yapping around our ankle.

"I wish there was someone who could tell us where we are," I said - and then I gasped.

A small boy, around eight or nine, had just come running up the hill towards us. It was impossible that I hadn't seen him a few moments ago when I had checked for people. He stopped when he saw us and grinned.

"You interrupted me," he said. "I was watching television when your wish came. I guess it hit me first."

"My.wish?" I stared at the boy closely. He seemed to be a bit strange.

"Your wish," he repeated. Then he smiled and walked past me. Jack and I followed, intrigued by this strange person. I gasped. There was a little town at the bottom of the hill. It was beautiful. Houses were built in lines with flowers of all colours along the front. But the biggest, most spectacular thing was a huge fountain in the middle of the town. Water shot up ten metres into the air and it was lit up on the different layers in rainbow colours.

The boy turned to us and motioned to the town with his hand.

"You wished that someone would tell you where you are," he said softly. "So here I am. Welcome to the World of Wishes."