Description: CHAPTER 1 It probably started that Wednesday afternoon, the one when it rained and the sun shone at the same time and there was that long, echoey tumble of thunder. I guess, looking back, you could say it was a sign--or a portent, as Granny C liked to say. When there was sun and rain at the same time, Granny C said it meant that, somewhere, a dog and a cat were getting married. But then again, Granny C smelt of stale lavender sticks and dust, and always wore strange clothes from the charity shop. Mainly tartan. Still, anyway, that''s probably when it started. The rain had stopped, but the sun was bright and sharp as a wasp''s wing, and Anna and Nils were walking home from the park. Nils had fallen off the "whizz-wheel"--that''s what he called it--and had scraped his knee a little, so he wanted to go home and get a Spider-Man plaster. They were walking along the dirt path that wound its way through Timberton Woods. Well, they called them "woods" but really it was just a small explosion of trees between the park and home. It was a bit odd they were there really, as there weren''t any other trees close by, just this thick cluster of dark oaks, sweet chestnuts and silver birches. The children were on the bit of the path leading into the woods, when they noticed a little man walking ahead of them. He was no taller than Anna--who wasn''t very tall for her age anyway--and was walking in a very determined and speedy manner. He splashed through a puddle on the path and wobbled slightly, looking rather like a discombobulated penguin trying not to drop his best fish. Nils raised his hand to point at the fast-moving figure, but Anna pushed it down and shushed him. One of their mum''s best friends had a sister about the same size, who told really funny stories and had dyed-blue streaks in her spiky hair. They had met her once when Nils was quite young, and she''d explained that she was a "little person". Something had happened to her when she was in her mummy''s tummy, so she didn''t develop like other people. She explained there was nothing to be scared of and how she was used to people staring at her, but Mum told them afterwards that it isn''t nice to stare or point or make fun of people just because they are a bit different. The little man really was hurrying along the path, but he kept stopping and muttering every now and again, so the children had nearly caught up to him just before the path entered the woods. Then they noticed the really strange thing. He had a dog lead in his hand, which trailed down to where you might expect to see a dog, but there was nothing there. The collar the lead was attached to was just sort of... hanging there. Now, that wasn''t the strange thing, as they had both seen novelty items like that before--you can get them in the party shop in town, the one next to the estate agents, and the lead is actually stiff plastic to make it look like you are taking an invisible dog for a walk. So, no, that wasn''t the strange thing. The strange thing was that, in the bright sunshine, you could clearly see the little man''s shadow and the shadow of the lead, but also the shadow of some sort of small dog trotting along besides him. The shadow of a dog that wasn''t there! At first, Anna thought the joke-shop leads were getting really clever, but then the dog (that wasn''t there) did some type of sneezy bark. The little man yanked on the lead, bent down to the dog and grumbled loudly. "Be quiet, Dimple! Bad dog. Bad, bad dog. I know you''re hungry, but we''re so late!" As he had bent down he had also half turned, so he saw Nils and Anna just behind him. "Oh crumblesnips," they heard him say, and then he quickened his pace and pulled hard on the lead. They saw the shadow legs of the dog that wasn''t there--Dimple, I guess--move briskly with a quiet little bark of annoyance. The little man and his accompanying shadows moved faster along the path. The path turned as it entered the woods and the children lost sight of him. "Come on," Anna said to Nils, "let''s catch him up!" and they broke into a slight run. Well, when they turned into the woods, the path straightened out and continued between the darkness of the trees, but they couldn''t see the little man anywhere. "Where''s he gone?" asked Nils. "Shh," said Anna, putting a finger to her lips and stopping Nils with her other hand. "Let''s see if we can hear him," she whispered, and they were both quiet and still. They heard nothing, apart from scattered birdsong and a slight rustle of leaves in the breeze. Nils bent down and picked up something from the path. "Do you think he dropped it?" he asked, handing the item over. It was a tiny book, which just fitted into Anna''s palm. The book was cracked, brown leather, and in fancy gold-leaf writing the title read: Gribblebob''s Book of Unpleasant Goblins and Other Unnecessary Shadowfolk

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