Excerpt
by: Helen Laycock

From inside the room she could hear Mrs. Moonsong’s voice. ‘For goodness’ sake, boy, get down from the roof.’ Joe had got Macbeth and was peering in at her through the tiny roof window, struggling to prise it open from outside.   
 

‘It’s useless. Save yourself. I’ll never fit through that small window, and besides, I can’t climb up to it, or down from it. Please, just get down.’   

Joe disappeared with Macbeth under his arm. Izzy, meanwhile, heard the key drop. She lay down and peered under the crack at the door.   
 

‘Izzy! Go!’ pleaded Mrs. Moonsong.   
 

‘I’ve nearly got it!’   
 

Izzy grabbed a piece of card from the desk and swiped it under the door. She heard the key scrape. Again and again, she swiped at it, getting it closer and closer until she could just see it, an enticing strip of metal wedged under the opening.   
 

As quick as a flash, she grabbed the old dog, new tricks magnet off the side of Mrs. Moonsong’s computer. It gave her just enough pull to draw the key through slightly. Jabbing it with her fingernail, she slid it out completely. It was cylindrical, the type that is used when a door needs an extra security lock. Izzy’s dad had fitted something similar on an internal door to their garage. Her hands were trembling as she frantically inserted it into the lock and heaved on the door. It began to open. On the other side, Dylan slid across the floor in front of it.   
 

‘Oh, Izzy! Quickly! We need to help Dylan, too!’   
 

Izzy spun round and ran on to the landing with her jumper pulled up over her face. She grabbed the light upstairs wheelchair and skidded back to her needy friend. Hauling Mrs. Moonsong in, she hurtled to the stairlift, helped her in and sent it down, running alongside, bumping the wheelchair down, straight into the billowing smoke.   
 

Thank goodness there was no power cut here.   
 

At the bottom, she helped Mrs. Moonsong back in, using only her sense of touch to guide her in the darkness.   
 

But, quickly becoming disorientated and unable to find her way to the front door, both Izzy and Mrs. Moonsong soon became submerged in a sea of blackness.   
  

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1. Why was Joe on the roof?   
   a) He liked the view of the city
   b) He was running away
   c)  He was trying to help Mrs. Moonsong

2. Who or what do you think Macbeth was?   
   a) Joe’s brother
   b) a pet
   c) a book

3. Why was it important for Izzy to get the key? 
   a) Mrs. Moonsong was locked in the room
   b) Izzy was locking Mrs. Moonsong out of the room
   c) It was the key to the front door

4. What was going on in the house? 
   a) they were moving to another house
   b) there was an earthquake
   c) the house was on fire

5. How did the story let you know that Mrs. Moonsong needed help to get out of the house? 
   a) it said that she was very old
   b) it said she needed a wheelchair
   c) it said that she was being held captive in the house

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Special thanks to Helen Laycock for providing us this excerpt from her wonderful book.