Excerpt:
With the sun streaming in through a dusky skylight, it didn’t take long to spot the hutch. It was over in a corner by a couple of cases, with some wallpaper samples and an old role of carpet. David made his way across the joists, teetering slightly at every step. Lucy, who’d been banned from entering the attic on the grounds that she’d get her jeans dirty, watched from the top of the landing ladder.

“Is it OK?” she asked, as David crouched down to examine the hutch.

“Perfect,” he said, dragging it toward him. “Soon we’ll – Ooh,, what’s that?”

“What?” said Lucy, coughing into her fist.

“Light,” said David, “Coming in from somewhere. Hang on a sec.” He crossed two joists and moved the roll of carpet. A beam of light skimmed the floor of the attic. “There’s a hole in the brickwork,” David reported, leaning forward for a closer look. “And…oh, gosh.” His words faded into silence. Lodged in the rafters, close to the hole, was what looked at first like an old bird’s nest. But it was bigger than a nest, and rounder, too. No bird had made that. It was a squirrel’s drey.

“Can I see?” begged Lucy, when David told her.
“ No,” he said firmly. “You stay there. It looks abandoned anyway.” He crouched lower and squinted out of the hole. “Hah, I can see the sycamore tree. That must be how the squirrel got in; it climbed up the tree, then hopped into the roof. Clever. I bet it’s really cozy in – waargh!
“Hhh!” squealed Lucy, gripping the ladder as David unexpectedly tumbled backward. A cloud of dust puffed into the air as he landed a thump that made the ceiling shake.

“Are you all right?” Lucy cried.

“Yes,” said David, getting to his feet. He dusted down his clothing and picked up the hutch. “I saw a bird outside. A crow, I think. It landed on a branch while I was looking through the hole. Its eye sort of filled the space. It was dark and beady, made me jump, that’s all.” He licked a finger and tried to rub a mark off his sweatshirt. “It probably nests around here. I found a crow’s feather in the garden once, and – oh, what was that?” He broke off and started at the attic floor.

“What’s the matter?” asked Lucy.

“I heard a fluttering sound downstairs. I think there’s something in the Dragons’ Den.”

“I’ll see,” said Lucy, hurrying down the ladder. “Lucy, wait.” David clambered down after her. “It sounded like a small bird – a sparrow or something. It’s probably best to let me have a look. Here, take this.” He handed her the hutch. Then he was past her and into the den.

He peered around the shelves of green-eyed dragons, at Guinevere resting on her stand, at the stained-glass ornament dangling in the window. Nothing remotely birdlike moved. “That’s odd,” he said. “I’m sure I heard something.” He moved closer to the shelves. Lucy dashed in front of him.

“I know!” she exclaimed. “It was a sparrow. They shake around in the gutter sometimes. Mom says they have a bath in the dust.”

David walked to the window and craned his neck upward. “Hmm. Might have heard an echo in the roof space, I s’pose.”

“Yes,” said Lucy, looking pleased with herself.

“Let’s go and do the trap now, shall we?”

David clicked his tongue. “Of course, there is…another explaination.”

Lucy braced herself.

“Could have been a dragon flying around.”

Lucy went white and bit her lip.

“I’m joking,” David laughed, tousling her hair.

“Come on, we’ve got work to do. Bring a small chunk of clay down, will you?” And he swept through the door, still chuckling to himself.

Lucy breathed a sigh of relief. She let her gaze pan slowly sideways – to the shelf by the door where Gruffen normally sat.

“Typical,” she muttered.

The dragon wasn’t there.