Emily Feather and the Enchanted Door by Holly Webb Page B

worriedly into her eyes. “Are you OK? You look wobbly.”
    â€œI’m fine.” Emily stretched out on the rug next to her and peered at their magazine. “I guess you were right; I was melting indoors. It’s much nicer out here.”
    â€œYou could have brought us a drink, Ems,” Lory complained.
    Emily rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. Lory was so bossy sometimes. Lark was a bit more easy-going, but now that her sisters had turned thirteen, they seemed an awful lot older than they had only a few weeks ago. Too old to hang around with their little ten-year-old sister, a lot of the time.
    Arguing with Lory and Lark was pointless. They always worked as a double act, and it was impossible to get the better of them. They were both staring at her now, and smiling, their heads together. The same smile, even though they weren’t identical twins, and didn’t, at first glance, look that much alike. Lark’s streaky brown hair was nothing like Lory’s golden blonde, and their eyes were different too; Lark’s were much darker. But now they couldn’t be anything but sisters.
    Emily twirled a strand of her own dark curly hair around one finger and peered down at the magazine. The girl in the photo had dark hair like hers, with a pretty scarf tied round it. She’d like something like that.
    â€œAre you going shopping in town later?” she asked Lark hopefully. “Can I come too?”
    Lark and Lory looked at each other thoughtfully, and then Lark said, “Maybe…”
    â€œShe means no,” someone called from above their heads, and all three girls yelped in surprise. Lory threw the magazine at the red-haired boy leaning out of the tree above them.
    â€œWere you spying on us?”
    â€œOnly a little bit,” Robin said, laughing. He flipped round so that he was hanging off the branch by his knees, and Emily shuddered.
    â€œDon’t do that! You’ll fall!”
    â€œNo, I won’t…” Robin pushed against the tree trunk, so he was swinging. “I never fall,” he added smugly. “Unless I want to.” He swung his hands back up again, to grab one of the thinner branches, and then dangled himself down, kicking at Lory’s magazine, which was stuck halfway up the trunk. “There! Got it!” It fluttered to the ground, and Robin dropped after it, landing sprawled across Lark and Lory’s knees, and giggling as though it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.
    Emily stared down at him. She didn’t look a bit like Robin either. He had blazing red hair like Eva, their mother, and light blue-grey eyes, and the same sharp chin and pale colouring as Lark and Lory. As he lay there giggling and wriggling away from Lark, who was tickling him, Emily could see his perfect white teeth.
    She curled her knees up, wrapping her arms around them, half-watching her sisters teasing him. Then something landed in her hair, and she squealed, and Robin rolled away, hooting with laughter. “Serves you right for daydreaming!” he spluttered.
    â€œWhat is it? What is it?” Emily shook her ponytail frantically, batting at it with her hands. “Did you drop a spider on me? I’m going to strangle you, Robin Feather!”
    â€œIt’s only a caterpillar…” Lark said soothingly, picking something out of Emily’s curls. She knew how much Emily hated spiders.
    â€œNo, it isn’t.” Robin rolled his eyes. “She’s so scared of crawly things, I wouldn’t even drop a caterpillar on her. It’s just a catkin.”
    â€œSo it is,” Lark agreed. “See, Emily? Nothing to be scared of.”
    Emily growled, still running her fingers through her hair, just in case. But she felt better, a bit now that Robin had teased her. It was such a little brother thing to do. She was just being silly.
    Of course she belonged.

Emily and her best friend Rachel wandered home from