Chapter 1 

The Secret 

Sophie Sphere had always dreamed of escape. She stood in the middle of her new room and sighed contentedly. The room she was sharing with her best friend, Maryjane, was beautiful. It had soft silky beds and trees painted on the walls. It was the kind of place that she had always dreamed of. The man she was staying with was also an improvement on her real parents. For one thing, he wasn’t strict about clothes or manners. He just sort of got on with things in a quiet way. The one thing he got cross about is when people asked him about his wooden legs. The only thing Sophie really missed was her faithful dog, Prince. She got him as a puppy when she was born, and they had been inseparable ever since.  

Sophie had never liked school. But this was different; different from the long maths classes, different from the weeks of reading boring books to her mother. In these classes they learnt the most unusual things, like biology and science and best of all Galic. She was told that they learn Galic because many of the families in the area speak it and it might come in handy. Mr Bathwick (the man Sophie stays with) teaches the whole school and, from Sophies point of view, was amazing. He had a way of explaining that makes it sounds much easier and funnier. 

Soon after she arrived, Sophie began to find a routine in the beauty of her new life. She would spend the mornings exploring the house and reading the novels that she found there, the afternoons were spent gardening in Jim’s garden, and the rest of the day was spent in her favourite place in the world… school! However, the weekends were the best because she and her two friends, Maryjane and Elizabeth, would go down to the beautiful river and, as summer approached and the weather warmed up, they would swim! The water cooled them down considerably in the ever-rising heat. 

Every night, while Jim thought that they were in bed, Maryjane and Sophie would watch the stars and name the consolations. Their favourite was Orion, the brave hunter. Every evening at 10pm they saw a shadowy figure leave the house and disappear into the mysterious old school building, known as the soup kitchen. What was he doing when it had been boarded up for years? Why was he leaving so late at night? 

Sophie didn’t have to wait long to find out. One evening in late May Jim asked her to follow him, and he led her to the old falling down soup kitchen. She followed behind, quietly skipping for joy. Sophie had always dreamed of having an adventure. 

It was dark. So dark in fact that Jim had to bring his torch, which was never used when he went out. The old piles of cobblestones and rooftiles took the shape of ominous trolls in the gloomy light and seemed to jump out at Sophie. She hurried after Jim. 

He stooped by the door and paused. ’Sophie, you can’t tell anyone, and you mustn’t scream,’’ he muttered and then he pulled open the door. It was dark and all she could smell was deer meat and she gaged. One bright blue eye peered at her out of the darkness and suddenly she saw a white body with beautiful black spots appear. Jim explained that she was a snow leopard, and he had found her when his legs were blown off in the Great War. She was presumably being smuggled, and her owner had been killed in the bombing raid.