Two stone lions, sitting on a ledge high above the gateway, guarded the castle. The snakes would eat out of Igraine’s hand. Swallows nested under the roof of the tower in spring, and water-snakes lived under the blue water-lilies in the castle moat. (There may have been a few more ‘greats’ in that Igraine wasn’t sure.) The castle was not large it had only a single tower, which leaned over sideways, and the walls weren’t much more than a metre thick, but Igraine thought it was the most beautiful castle in the world.Wild flowers bloomed between the paving stones in the courtyard of Pimpernel Castle. Her mother’s great-great-great-great-great-grandfather had built it. The tower cast its shadow over the courtyard, the doves were preening on the battlements, and a horse snorted down in the stables.Pimpernel Castle had belonged to Igraine’s family for over three hundred years.
The sun was already high in the sky above Pimpernel Castle.
That’s not a good omen.’Barefoot, she went over to the window and looked out. ‘A spider on my nose,’ she muttered, throwing the covers back. One gulp, and it was gone.‘Did I say anything about eating it?’ Igraine wiped cat-spit off her cheek and pushed Sisyphus off her bed. Shoo that spider away!’The cat raised his furry grey face from Igraine’s stomach, blinked, stretched – and snapped up the spider from the end of her nose. Igraine was scared stiff of spiders.‘Sisyphus!’ she whispered in a trembling voice. She opened her eyes and there it was, sitting right on the end of her nose, a fat black spider.
Igraine woke up because something was crawling over her face.
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