“At the base of the back wall, between the skirting-board and the floor, the corner of something was poking out. It was pure fluke that she noticed it, because the skirting-board and the floor were both white, and the poking-out corner was white too. She crouched down and slid it free. It was like the back of a white credit-card, with a black magnetic band running across it. She turned it over. It was like an identity-card, except that there was no writing. At the left-hand end there was a picture of someone's face. Rather a disconcerting face: pale, white-bearded, with mournful, haunted eyes. People always look bad in identity-card photographs, but this face was especially ghoulish-looking. And she had the odd feeling that she'd seen it somewhere before.”

It's Christmas Eve, and Dora is trapped in a huge tower-block in the middle of London. She's lost the puzzle box, and she still can't find her Dad. But at least she's got Adam with her again.

The ninth chapter of twelve.

http://www.edwardpicot.com/puzzlebox/
(If you don't see links to all nine chapters when you get to the Puzzle Box index-page, click CTRL + Refresh to update the page.)

- Edward Picot
http://hyperex.co.uk - The Hyperliterature Exchange
http://edwardpicot.com - personal website