The Secret of Platform 13 Read Online Free PDF Page A

skin. They come out in lumps and bumps or develop a rash and it was to test the ogre’s skin that the doctor had taken him behind the screen. Now he came out, carrying his black bag and beaming.
    ‘All is well, Your Majesties,’ he said. ‘There will be no ill effects at all.’
    Hans followed shyly . The ogre always wore leather shorts with embroidered braces and they could see on his huge pink thigh a patch of pure, clear nothingness.
    But he was looking a little worried.
    ‘My eye?’ he said. ‘I wish not seed in my eye?’ (He spoke in short sentences and with a foreign accent because his people, long ago, had come through a gump in the Austrian Alps.)
    Everyone understood this. If you have only one eye it really matters.
    ‘I don’t think anyone will notice a single eye floating so high in the air,’ said the Chief Advisor. ‘And if they do, he could always shut it.’
    So this was settled and the Palace Secretary handed Cornelius a map of the London Underground and a briefcase full of money. There was always plenty of that because the people who came through the gump brought it to the treasury , not having any use for it on the Island, and the King now gave his orders.
    ‘You know already that no magic must be used directly on the Prince,’ he said – and the rescuers nodded. The King and Queen liked ruling over a place where unusual things happened, but they themselves were completely human and could only manage if they kept magic strictly out of their private lives. ‘As for the rest, I think you understand what you have to do. Make your way quietly to the Trottles’ house and find the so-called Raymond. If he is ready to come at once, return immediately and make your way down the tunnel, but if he needs time—’
    ‘How could he?’ cried the Queen. ‘How could he need time?’ The thought that her son might not want to come to her at once hurt her so much that she had to catch her breath.
    ‘Nevertheless, my dear, it may be a shock to him and if so,’ he turned back to the rescuers, ‘you have a day or two to get him used to the idea, but whatever you do, don’t delay more than—’
    He was interrupted by a knock on the door and a palace servant entered.
    ‘Excuse me, Your Majesties, but there is someone waiting at the gates. She has been here for hours and though I have explained that you are busy, she simply will not go away.’
    ‘Who is it?’ asked the Queen.
    ‘A little girl, Your Majesty. She has a suitcase full of sandwiches and a book and says she will wait all night if necessary . ’
    The King frowned. ‘You had better show her in,’ he said.
    Odge entered and bobbed a curtsey. She looked grim and determined and carried a suitcase with the words ODGE GRIBBLE – HAG painted on the side.
    The Queen smiled – almost a proper smile now that she was soon to see her son. ‘Aren’t you Mrs Gribble’s youngest?’ she said in her soft voice.
    ‘Yes, I am.’
    ‘And what can we do for you, my dear? Your sisters are well, I trust?’
    Odge scowled. Her sisters were very well, showing off, shrieking, flapping, digging the garden with their long fingernails and generally making her feel bad. But this was no time for her own problems.
    ‘I want you to let me go with the rescuers and fetch the Prince,’ said Odge. ‘I wrote a letter about it.’
    The King’s secretary now stepped forward and said that Miss Gribble had indeed offered her services but he had felt that her youth made her unsuitable.
    The King nodded and the Queen said gently: ‘You are too young, my dear – you must see that yourself.’
    ‘I’m the same age as the Prince,’ said Odge. ‘Almost. And I think it would be nice for him to have someone young.’
    ‘The rescuers have already been chosen,’ said the King.
    ‘Yes, I know. But I don’t take up much room. And I think I know how he might feel. Raymond Trottle, I mean.’
    ‘How?’ asked the Queen eagerly .
    ‘Well, a bit muddled. I mean, he thinks