The Lost Gargoyle Series 3-Book Bundle. Philippa Dowding

you? I mean there are dozens of stores just like that one, near the street car lines. It could take us months to check them all, Gargoth.”

      There was only silence behind her. And the occasional sniffle.

      Katherine dashed to the Broadview bus, then ran all the way from the Castle Frank station to her piano lesson with just five minutes to spare.

      As Katherine entered the timeless luxury of her piano teacher’s house, and the big oak door to the panelled piano room slid with a “shush” behind her, she realized she hadn’t thought of something: what was Gargoth going to do while she had her piano lesson?

      Elaine, her teacher, was waiting at the piano bench for her. “Hello, Katherine! Just in time. How was your holiday?” she asked, happy to see her student.

      Suddenly aching with worry and tired from her run, Katherine said, “Oh, sorry, Elaine! I just have to call my mother!” She bolted back out into the hallway, slid the door shut behind her and picked up the phone on the table. As she was dialing her mother, she whispered to her backpack, “Gargoth, you’ve got to be really, really quiet during my lesson. Can you breathe in there?”

      Gargoth whispered back. “I will be quiet as long as you play well. I cannot endure poor piano playing.” Katherine caught a note of a sniff in Gargoth’s tone, just as though he was reminding her that he had listened to Mozart himself play, one of the greatest pianists the world has ever known.

      Katherine sighed. There was nothing for it. Gargoth would have to listen to her piano lesson and stay perfectly quiet. Katherine left a message on her mother’s voicemail at work, propped her backpack up outside the sliding oak door and walked in.

      “Katherine, are you okay?” Elaine asked her. She seemed a little worried.

      Katherine really liked her piano teacher. She was a grandmotherly lady who dressed beautifully and who really enjoyed teaching kids how to read music. She’d been a piano teacher for thirty-five years, but unlike many others, she had never grown tired of the job. And she picked great music for Katherine to learn.

      “Yes, yes, I’m fine. Thanks. Just a little tired.” She smiled.

      “Where’s your music then?” Elaine asked, expectantly.

      Music. Oh no, it was in her backpack! “Oh, yes, how silly of me! I’ll just get it.” She slid open the heavy oak door one final time and looked over at her backpack. To her dismay, there was her music sticking out the half-closed top, clutched in an all-too familiar claw.

      She snatched it and slid the door closed once again. Luckily, Elaine hadn’t seen her music waving above her backpack in the hallway. She could breathe again.

      Sadly, this wasn’t Katherine’s best lesson. And Elaine didn’t want to say anything to Katherine, but she was sure that every time Katherine hit a wrong note, which for some reason was rather frequent, her backpack sneezed. Or grunted. Or maybe it made a noise like the wind in the leaves.

      They were both relieved when the lesson was finally over and Katherine’s mother beeped the car horn from the driveway.

      “Thanks, Elaine. Sorry, I didn’t really practice much over the holidays. I think I’ll be better next week. Bye!”

      Katherine grabbed her bag and dashed out the door to find her mother waiting. She was careful to stash her backpack in the trunk for the ride home, and she didn’t really care if certain individuals found it cold and uncomfortable back there.

      Luckily, when they got home it was dark, and Katherine had enough time to sneak Gargoth into the backyard before her mother checked on him.

      Katherine didn’t speak to Gargoth or even venture into the backyard for several days after that adventure. She was too shaken.

      Chapter Nineteen

      Candles by Daye

      The next week, Katherine and Gargoth agreed on two things: he would stay hidden in the backpack during the entire time he was in each store, and he would wait outside in the bushes during her piano lesson.

      Making the first change was easy. They just needed to make some adjustments to the backpack. Katherine made two eyeholes in the fabric so Gargoth could peek out and check each store without being seen.

      The second change was much harder and more dangerous. Each time Katherine arrived, breathless, at Elaine’s house, she would take off her backpack and let Gargoth scramble out into the bushes by the front door. They had some very close calls, including one awful night when Elaine had been watching from the window and insisted on checking the bushes carefully for what she thought was a large “rodent”.

      Luckily she hadn’t seen too much, most importantly where the “rodent” had come from, and Gargoth was able to hide from her in the bushes.

      Getting him back in the backpack after the lesson was just as difficult, but since it was dark by the time her mother arrived, Gargoth could usually climb into it unseen. He was actually getting quite good at jumping onto Katherine and into the backpack as she bent next to the bush he was hiding in, pretending to tie her shoe.

      It was a difficult time for them both. It was made even more difficult by the fact that they were having no luck finding the right store. But neither of them gave up. Winter was slowly turning to spring, but somehow neither Elaine nor Katherine’s mother figured out that the little gargoyle was hiding in Katherine’s backpack.