• Don't you just hate it when you're really stuck into a book and you just can't peel yourself away until you force yourself to go to sleep well after midnight, and then the next day you wake up only to miss the bus to school while you're jogging with all the speed you can muster?

    Well, Mags hated it and felt it too as that very thing had just happened to her.

    She watched, devastated, as the 8:00am bus to Huntingdale High School shrank steadily into the distance; the last bus that would get her to school on time. The next one was due to arrive in another 30 minutes and she cursed silently to the moron who thought up the bus timetable for Smith Street, Kensington.

    Elated, tired and grumpy, Mags sat underneath the bus shelter and rested her chin upon an upheld palm. She thought of the most plausible excuse she could use on her teacher, Mrs. Mahoney, but there came none for Mrs. Mahoney, her home room and English teacher, was extremely sharp witted and could see through anything, even steel (Well, that's a bit exaggerated but to put it simply, even the best liar will be caught out).

    Five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes passed and slowly, Magdelene's imagination began to wander. Her thoughts drifted back to the engaging book she had stayed up until late the night before about forbidden romance, action and adventure. It was about a young boy who was accidentally given a set of keys to unlock a hidden and dangerous world.

    Slowly, she reached inside and pulled out the library book from within the polyester folds of her school bag. It was leather bound and black with a few scratches around the edge. On the front of the book in big silvery print it read, 'Keyworld' in ornate lettering. The name of the author was severely rubbed off and Mags could only make out one or two letters but not enough to catch a glimpse of the name.

    Yes, she had asked the librarian for the author's name but to no avail - they simply did not have that on record, strangely enough. But the book was intriguing, it's cover old and mysterious, and so Mags borrowed the book and had read through its soft paper pages ever since.

    As she flipped through the pages of the book, resisting the incredible urge to continue from where she left off from the night before (she was afraid she wouldn't be able to stop reading again), Mags came across a page with a beautiful detailed black and white picture of a decorated double doorway.

    The base of the double doors seemed to look like it was made of wood and it had black iron intertwining like vines across its surface. The twin doorknobs were a pair of roses and the door handles their stem bent into a circular shape. On either side of the double doors were extremely detailed tapestries; one depicting a beautiful woman sitting on a crescent moon and the other depicting a strong looking man standing inside a ring of flame.

    Curious, Mags looked around for a description but there was only an italic caption which read, "Knock Twice".

    Strange.

    It was a short description and completely missed the point. Was the door called 'Knock Twice' or was there some other obscure meaning? Just for kicks, Mags tapped her finger twice upon the image of the door and waited. But nothing happened.

    Of course nothing happened, Magdelene scolded herself but when she inspected the page closer, she noticed a slight difference and almost dropped the book in shock.

    The caption beneath the picture no longer read, "Knock Twice" but instead read, "Harder".

    Not really trusting her eyes, Mags ran her finger and rubbed it over the changed text. It felt normal enough but she was absolutely sure that the words had read "Knock Twice" and not "Harder" only moments ago.

    What should she do? Obey the words in the book? Was it such a stupid thing to do?

    Then, without thinking, she curled her hand into a fist and knocked the image of the door twice, this time hard, and for a brief moment she thought she heard the distant echo of her knuckles rapping on a hard wooden door.

    And so began the amazing adventures of Magdelene and her journey through the world of Keys.