“Mum…” Willow looked up at her mother while she stood at the sink staring into their back garden.

Her mum turned and looked at Willow, smiling. “Yes, darling.”

“Can Naomi come over?”

It was Saturday so Willow had no school. She’d finished her homework the night before so the weekend was hers to do with as she wished. It had been raining all morning so they weren’t going anywhere. Christmas was looming and they’d done all their present shopping before the high street and out-of-town retail parks got too busy.

“If it’s okay with her mother.”

Willow grinned and ran to her room to call her friend. They’d messaged back and forth for hours but it was quicker to speak to her and her mum about coming over.

*

After the call, Willow ran downstairs. She was keeping fit with all the running! “Yes! Yes!” She puffed out some air and imagined a cloud of sparkling gold rising to the ceiling. She looked up.

Her mother laughed. “Roll on spring cleaning!”

Willow looked back at her mum. She never understood why spring was associated with cleaning. Of course her mum cleaned all the time, not just in spring. Well, not all the time but as much as was needed. Spring was a lovely time of year so why people had to stay indoors to clean when it was so much nicer to go outside, even if it was only to their back gardens, Willow didn’t know. She guessed she’d find out one day.

Her mum held up their kettle. “I’m going to make some hot chocolate if you’d like some.”

“Can I wait until Naomi’s here?”

“Sure.”

Willow sat at the kitchen table playing the latest version of Animal Crossing on her phone while she waited for her friend to arrive. She loved any kind of adventure and all the better if it had anything to do with animals. She hadn’t decided exactly what she wanted to be when she left school but knew it would have something to do with pets; a vet, perhaps a zoo keeper, seeing as she didn’t live too far away from Whipsnade, England’s biggest zoo. Next to her was her sketchpad where she’d draw all the animals she encountered on her adventures, some on her phone, others in real life.

The sound of the radio in the background kept the pair company until the doorbell went.

*

“I’ll get it!” Willow rushed to the hall before her mum had the chance to offer.

Willow waved to Naomi’s mum who was still sitting in her car. She smiled, waved back, then drove off.

The friends hugged, Willow grateful that it had stopped raining so Naomi’s jacket was dry. Naomi shrugged it off and Willow hung it up. She was also grateful that all the hooks had a big top hook and smaller one underneath so she could reach those easily.

They had a strip on the wall behind the dining room door where Willow had been measured on each of her birthdays so she knew she was growing but she had to stand on her tiptoes to reach the top hook. Maybe she wouldn’t need to by her next birthday.

“So…” Naomi said, eyebrows raised.

Willow remembered she’d asked her mum not to make her a hot chocolate until after Naomi arrived. Willow didn’t really want one at that moment but she had a plan, and being warm would help.

“Hot choc?” Willow asked. Naomi nodded and grinned.

So they went into the kitchen where two mugs were sitting waiting for them, steam rising like the moment before the genie appears from Aladdin’s lamp.

“Thanks, Mum!” Willow called but could see she was in the back garden, hanging out some bed sheets, clearly making the most of the gap in the rain. It also indicated to Willow that she could put her plan into action as soon as they’d finished their drinks.

*

Willow knew their garden was magical. Next to the shed, which doubled up as tool storage and Willow’s outdoor/indoor sanctuary, they had what her mum called a ‘wild area’, left to the creatures that roamed the Buckinghamshire countryside. Most people would think that meant birds and bugs but Willow knew differently. Because Willow had seen them. She’d decided after something that had happened at school that Friday that it was time she told Naomi. Not only tell her but show her too.

The girls had met the day they’d started school that September although they’d become besties when Naomi had come to Willow’s aid when their class bully had rounded on her.

With her bush of thick black hair, equally beefy eyebrows and stubbly chin, Bertha was intimidating as she loomed over Willow’s desk. Their teacher, Mrs Kindling, had left the room briefly to do some photocopying, leaving Bertha in charge. Or rather Bertha had taken the opportunity to put herself in charge. She growled, low and menacing, like a dog in a horror film but worse.

Willow looked up, unsure why Bertha had picked on her that particular day. “What?”

“You know what,” Bertha had snapped.

Willow shook her head.

“You looked at me wrong on day one.”

Willow frowned. “Day one?”

“Day. One.” Bertha pronounced each word slowly, as if Willow spoke a different language, then sighed, her stubbly chin wobbling, reminding Willow of a cornfield they’d driven past on holiday that summer.

“I don’t remem–” Willow started to say but then both girls turned as someone coughed behind Bertha.

Naomi. Eyebrows raised. She did that a lot. She had lovely shaped eyebrows unlike Bertha’s bushes. They reminded Willow of the prickly hedges they’d encountered when going blackberry picking on the last day of school holidays.

Naomi just looked at Bertha, said nothing. Bertha visibly swallowed, her chin wobbling again, before she scurried back to her desk, moments before Mrs Kindling returned.

*

Sitting at the kitchen table, the friends chatted while drinking their hot chocolates, blowing on them to help cool them down. They’d just put their jackets on when Willow’s mum came back into the room.

“We’re off to the shed!” Willow announced.

Willow’s mum smiled. “Okay. Have fun.” She winked.

“Thanks, Mum.” Willow hesitated but then turned to Naomi who nodded and followed her into the garden.

*

As had happened several times before, Willow dialled the combination on the shed’s padlock but it didn’t unclick. It never did when she was there alone. She’d hoped it might with her friend there but alas…

Watching, Naomi offered to go back to the house to get Willow’s mum.

“No, it’s okay,” Willow said. “Just wait a second.”

As they waited, there was a rustling in the undergrowth to their left.

A head appeared. A scary but silent roaring head.

Naomi squeaked and shot behind Willow. She was calm and said a simple, “Hello Leo.”

Next to Leo, a rhinoceros’ head appeared. “Hello Ronnie.”

Then one by one, three other animals appeared – a tiger, snow leopard and camel – just their heads but anyone would assume that their bodies were in the undergrowth behind them.

“Leo, Ronnie, Timmy, Sasha, Cleo…” Willow nodded at each name as she went down the line, “meet Naomi.”

Naomi, peering round behind Willow’s back, squeaked a “Hello”.

Willow counted. “Five… four… three…”

“What are you doing?” Naomi asked, stepping out from behind her friend.

“You’ll see. Two… One.”

The ordinary wooden six-foot-by-four-foot shed disappeared, almost in a puff of grey smoke. In its place, the undergrowth had revealed a door, still with a padlock but much older and grander than the one on the shed.

“It always does this,” Willow explained, an arm round her friend in case she felt she needed any comforting, “but I can never figure out how to get the door open. You see there’s a–”

Before she could say any more another face appeared, this time in the middle of the door.

“That’s never happened before,” Willow said.

Naomi gasped. “Isn’t that…”

Both girls recognised the bush of thick black hair, equally beefy eyebrows and stubbly chin. While the animals had been silent, this face most certainly was not. Back was the growl, low and menacing, like a dog in a horror film but worse.

Willow and Naomi, standing side by side, said, “We’re not afraid of you,” together without any kind of rehearsal then looked at each other.

The-face-that-looked-like-Bertha frowned, tilted its head, then it too disappeared in a puff of smoke, but this time pink and purple, not grey.

The door clicked open, just a little.

Willow realised she hadn’t needed the hot chocolate to feel warm. The braveness she felt was warming her enough for both of them.

“Push, Naomi!” Willow cheered as the friends pushed open the door and stepped forward.

*

Willow’s mum watched the two girls disappear through the door. She didn’t panic. She knew they’d be back. She’d lived in the house all her life and had gone through the same door many times, once she’d worked out the secret ‘code’. Delighted that Willow had finally got it, Mum knew they’d have a very interesting conversation after Naomi went home.

***