The Fog Boggarts. Linda Chapman

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       The Shadow Woods...

      Very few people ever enter the Shadow Woods. The crooked trees press closely together, their branches reaching out like skeletons’ arms. Strange whispers echo through the quiet air, and eyes seem to watch from the shadows. Anyone who does go in soon leaves, their skin prickling with fear. For these woods are like no others. Hidden deep within them is a gateway to the Shadow Realm – a dark and chaotic world where all the mischief-making creatures like goblins, boggles and trolls live.

      Many hundreds of years ago, the Shadow Realm creatures could pass freely between our world and theirs, but they caused so much trouble that it was decided the gateway between the two worlds must be shut for good. Yet no one knew how to do this, until a locksmith with magical powers made an iron key and then slotted a gem from the Shadow Realm into its handle. The secret had been found! The locksmith forced as many shadow creatures as he could back into their own world and locked the gateway firmly behind them.

      From that day on, the locksmith became the Guardian of the Gateway, watching over the precious key and stopping the few shadow creatures left in this world from causing too much trouble. As he grew old he passed his powers on to his grandson, who in turn passed the powers on to his. For hundreds of years, the Guardianship has passed down from grandparent to grandchild, and the gate has always remained safely shut.

      But now for the first time, disaster looms. The shadow creatures have stolen the iron key! Luckily, there was no gem in its handle when it was taken, but there are six gems from the Shadow Realm hidden somewhere in our world. If the shadow creatures find any of them, they’ll be able to slot them into the key and open the gateway, letting hordes of villainous creatures loose to cause mayhem and trouble.

      Only one girl stands in their way… and her name is Sophie Smith.

       Chapter 1 King Ug

      Ug, the King of the Ink Cap Goblins, sat on his tree-stump throne and held up a cracked looking glass. His reflection gazed back at him: small beetle-black eyes, a dome-shaped head that looked like a toadstool and a white crumbling body covered with black blotches.

      Ug smirked. “Oh, yes!” he crooned, tweaking a flake of skin off his chin. “I really am the most handsome creature in the whole of the Shadow Woods. And the bravest. When I open the gateway, all the other shadow creatures shall be proud to call me king. All I need is one little shadow gem.”