The Secret Corridor

“Mitch!” Graham cried, spinning around to see his granddaughter scrambling down the stairs. “What are you—?” “No! What are you doing?!” Mitch demanded, looking wildly from her grandfather to the man strapped to the chair. He was well-dressed in plaid trousers and a wool blazer, but his clothes were ripped and covered in mud and…

There were too many horses. There was too much hay. There was too much poop. The gold-paved thoroughfare leading from the village to the Chateau du Soleil was covered in it. Horse-drawn carriages of all shapes and sizes descended on the palace, kicking up waste that piled in wet clumps along the street. The butler…

“Reece!”  “Come on Mitch!” Reece shouted from below. “Time for a history lesson!” Mitch peered her head into the hole. “Reece!” she called, making her way down a rickety stepladder. “I can’t see anything! Where are—” With the click of a lamp chain, the room was flooded with light. “Whoa!” Mitch exhaled, jumping off the…

Mitch’s head was spinning. In the last half hour, she had learned more than she had in the past two days trying to piece together her grandfather’s stories and arguments with her great-uncle. She closed her eyes and tried to focus, but she couldn’t shake the strangeness of it all. This morning, she had boarded…

“Come in! Come in!” a boy’s voice shouted over the sound of footsteps thundering down a staircase. Mitch, Graham, and Oren started back as the door swung open wildly. A boy about Mitch’s age stood in the foyer, covered from head to toe in black soot. He wore enormous goggles with bright blue lenses and…

The young man resting in the shade of the fig tree looked thoughtful as he surveyed the river below. The waters were high. The king’s gardens would get a good soak. He watched the water spill into the shallow canals and snake its way across the desert basin, through the arched vaults leading into the…

Mitch was sure the little canoe was going to tip over into the jaws of the alligator leering at them through the rotting leaves. Graham and Oren continued to argue over whether the pirogue was pronounced pee-row or pee-rhuguh. “You big-city bonehead—it’s pee-row! Everybody knows that.” “You’ve been butchering words with that lazy tongue all…

Mitch had just enough time to toss her glowing backpack into the brush before Graham stepped into the clearing. “Mitch!” he cried with relief. “What on earth—” “Oh granddaddy!” Mitch cut in, running to his side. Graham’s face was strained with worry and fatigue. He leaned heavily on his walking stick and tried to catch…

The mob pressed upon the golden gates of the palace. The faces of the villagers were red from cold and twisted in anger. They spit the king’s name into the frost and thrust their fists, farming tools, and torches high into the air. “Majesté!” they screamed at the palace. “Majesté!” The people were hungry, and…

As the bus pulled into the driveway at Dry Creek Middle School, Mitch felt her stomach tighten into a familiar knot. She tried to appear concentrated on the textbook spread out on her lap, but Mavis and Shawn were talking loud enough so that she could hear. “So who do you think she’ll cast a…