Snippet 5

Chapter 10 - Gifts and Secret Places - sneak preview (full book available on Amazon - kindle and paperback)

A part of the wall to his left, which he once assumed was just an ordinary blank space, was, all of a sudden ... not there anymore.
In its place was an archway to another but much wider passageway than the one he was currently standing in: it was as if all of the bricks that were previously there in the space of the archway had been taken away, but no person could have done that in just a matter of seconds without Jason noticing.
He stared in wonder at the open passageway. Before him was a very short path leading to another stretch of wall with an archway in the middle, only this one did look much fancier and less like someone had pushed through it quickly " this one looked like it was purposefully built there, it had funny symbols around the edge of the curved bit at the top (which was painted gold) and leaves and moss protruding out of the cobble stones in the wall.
Jason walked forwards tentatively, trying with all the bravery he could muster to approach the second archway " on the other side of which there was a very large square, about five times the size of the court he found earlier.
He was standing underneath the archway and looking at the scene in front of him " only there was too much of it to take in.
For a start, there were hundreds of people walking around the square; it seemed like there was a huge market going on because there were loads of stalls everywhere too; but what really caught Jason’s attention was the fact that some of these people did not look right at all ... one man walked past him, and he did a double take, because he was almost the exact size of the nearest lamppost " as tall and as large as two Jason’s put together, maybe three if he tried to measure him. He could not believe his eyes.
The man caught him looking at him as he walked past and, sneering, locked eyes with him for a few seconds before carrying on walking to his destination.