-PART TWO-

“Stone?” Her voice echoed round the house as everything stopped. She stared around herself then back at him. But he was a wearing a dazed smile, holding a cup of pumpkin juice as he looked at her with insane, wide eyes.

“Kimmy!” His voice made her jump as it echoed high and childish around the hall. Then laughs erupted. The laughs of children. Not an echo. Individual laughter from unseen spirits all around her.

“Stone! It’s me, Katherine. The woman you met outside the shop a week ago!” She walked over to him and his eyes followed her wildly, wide and sparkling with delight. That’s when she noticed he was wearing long, childish robes. His hair was messy and playful. His feet bare. As if he was a child.

“Kimmy you’re so funny!” He giggled. More laughter came and Katherine, though not scared, was confused once more. Taking him by the shoulders, she looked deep into Stone’s wide blue eyes.

“What’s happening here?” She said in a low voice. “Or rather, what did happen here?”

He laughed again, rasping and tight as he turned as if to address the unseen inhabitants. “Did you hear that? She wants to know the story!”

There were childish chants; “She wants to know the story, she wants to know the story!” Then all of a sudden, Katherine felt movement and then hands were reaching towards her. As they touched her, the arms became skin, and the bodies beyond that began to appear. Children of all sizes bloomed before her very eyes as she tried to withdraw from their touch. Suddenly, the children were the same height as her. Suddenly, Stone was only an inch taller than some. Suddenly she was dressed in a pale blue frock with her red curls skewered at the back of her head.

It was clear to her then. She had entered the party.

Stone’s face was round and chubby as hers was unrefined and his hands felt sticky as he took one of hers in his. “Kimmy you mustn’t try and scare us like that! The teachers will be back soon and Laurence will protect everyone, you’ll see.” He beamed a sweet, eleven year old smile and Kathy barely recognised the handsome, grave young man she had known before. Unsure, Katherine allowed herself to be lead over to a taller individual and tried to guess what was happening. She knew she’d entered a capsule; the last moments before the terrible happening took place, but she wanted to know what was going on. By the sound of it, the teachers had gone off in search of something. But what was that something.

“Laurence, tell Kim we’ll be fine.” Stone was insisting. Laurence himself, who looked to be some sort of prefect, did not look sure at all. Pale and awash, his eyes filled with unease. He looked down at her warmly, though and tried his best to hide the emotions he was obviously feeling.

“Kim, they’re going to find him. You just can’t tell anyone about this, ok?"

Katherine, still in her adult state of mind, knew this was the opportunity to delve further into the mystery and get some answers. "Tell who? Who shouldn't I tell?"

Laurence looked at her sharply but answered in the same tones. "You can't tell the ministry, ok? If they come, you can't say anything. This is for your father, Kim."

Her father...why? She put the question to the uncomfortable older student. "What does my father have to do with it?"

Leon and Stone both stared at her. "Kim are you alright?" Stone asked nervously. "You seem."

"Who is my father?" She cut across. She was older than Stone, she had realised that now. About thirteen, she imagined, and he was rounder and about eleven. Were they friends?

"My Uncle...Sir Mitchell Falke." Stone answer. Katherine then realised what he was getting at. Two wizards had founded Falkestone, Sir Mitchell Falke and Sir Everard Stone. Meaning...meaning that here, right now, she and Stone were cousins. But why was stone here in the first place? How was he linked?

"Stone, how old am I?" She said sharply, turning round.

He looked at her, suddenly scared. "Kimmy..."

"How old am I, Stone?"

He looked terrified. "My name's Peter..."

"Peter, just tell me how old I am!" She shouted, panic rising in her body. She'd been found on a road. A remote road with no memory twenty miles from Falkestone Hall. Aged thirteen years old. An unlucky number.

Laurence, as Peter remained silent, stepped behind her and put a frozen hand on her shoulder. "Kim, it's your birthday. You're thirteen."