‘Blast!’

Tempted for a moment to just forget it and swim back to the shore as fast as he could, Arthur gazed across the lake at the people swimming.

‘Come on, you can do this,’ he mumbled to himself. ‘It’s not that deep.’

‘That’s right, champ—you’ve got this,’ purred the cat. ‘Now, please hurry up before any of those pickle fish decide that I look like a tasty snack.’

‘Pickle fish? I think you mean pike, and I doubt they’d be interested in you.’

‘Maybe, maybe not, but I bet there are plenty of other monsters lurking in here.’

‘Cat, relax, will you?’

Glancing into the murky water, and unable to see any further than his waist, Arthur took a deep breath and dove down. Although it was only a few metres, the water pressure made it hard for him to reach the bottom, always pushing him back towards the surface. In the end, he had to make half a dozen attempts before he finally found it.

‘Ouch!’ meowed the cat, as Arthur burst out of the water, gasping and tossing something on to the Styrofoam platform.

‘I found it.’

‘Yeah, you don’t say. I swear you just aimed it right at my nose!’

‘No I didn’t. C’mon, what do you reckon, then?’

‘I reckon it looks like a piece of junk.’

‘Noooo, Cat, don’t say that. The fish seemed to think it was important though, didn’t it?’

‘Or did he? Maybe he just said the first thing that came into his little fishy head, to escape a good frying.’

‘OK, but you know he could’ve just lied and swam off.’

‘Doesn’t mean anything. I have a funny feeling that fish might be tricky, like birds.’

Back at the jetty, Arthur hauled himself up and set about examining what he’d found. Jet black and about the size of his fist, at first glance, the box had seemed to be exactly that—just a box. It even occurred to him that perhaps the cat might have been right, after all. But, as he rubbed it clean with the bottom of his T-shirt, a faint edge appeared around the sides of it. Giving the impression of being a lid, there were words written above it.

‘Hey, this is weird,’ he said, showing them to the cat. ‘It says, “To open what is both known yet unknown, speak this word times three.” What do you think that means?’

‘Not a clue, just open it already.’

‘I’ve tried, but it won’t budge. Look.’ And holding it so the cat could see, Arthur tried to pull the top off.

‘My turn, then. Give it here, weedy.’

‘To you?’

‘Well, I don’t see anyone else asking.’

‘All right, keep your whiskers on.’

Placing the box down, Arthur watched as the cat dexterously held it down with one paw and attempted to cut around the faint line of the lid with the other.

‘Yow!’ he hissed, breaking a claw.

‘See! What did I tell you?’

‘But I was close, I reckon.’

‘Sure, you were, Cat. Come on, this is useless. We need some real tools.’

Stuffing the box into his pocket, and gathering his things together, they headed back to the cottage. The big cranes, which had been removing the twisted wreckage from the railway tracks, had gone. Now, with only a few men and machines left to finish up, it was clear it would soon look as though nothing had happened.

‘See that?’ he said, without really meaning for it to sound like a question.

Halting by the garden gate, Arthur peered through a crack. Spying that the coast was clear, he slipped through, darting between apple trees, until he reached the tool shed about halfway down the slope. The key, as always, was under the rusting watering can.

‘Come on, come on!’ he mumbled, trying to coax the old lock whilst at the same time keeping a wary look out. After a rather unfortunate incident a few years ago when he’d almost, accidentally, demolished it, he’d been banned from ever entering again. The door swung open with a click.

‘Cat—quickly!’ he whispered, closing and barring it behind them.

Built about the same time as the cottage, the shed had gradually become lopsided over the years and now resembled an old barn. Doubling as a storage area, there were pieces of furniture, planks of wood, tiles, and all manner of bits and bobs that someone had once thought might one day be useful, piled up against two of the walls. In the centre was a large, heavy, wooden work bench. Arthur placed the box on top of it.