Free Zac and the Dream Stealers by Ross Mackenzie

no,” said Tom, smiling smugly. “Not if you don’t count this . . .”
    He reached up and yanked one of the unlit torches on the wall. For a second nothing happened. Then, with a loud grinding noise, a small section of the wall started to move outward, leaving a square hole in the brickwork.
    â€œFollow me,” said Tom, crawling into the hole.
    A moment later Zac heard his voice from the other side.
    â€œIt’s OK, Zac, honest.”
    Tilly smiled and nodded encouragingly.
    He knelt down and wriggled through the hole. When he was on the other side, Tom helped him up.
    â€œThanks,” he said, dusting himself off. “So what exactly — Whoa!”
    He was standing in some kind of laboratory. The shelves were packed with glass jars, all filled with powders, liquids, and body parts, like pickled eyeballs and spare toes. Textbooks, newspapers, and glass tubes were scattered all over the room.
    â€œWhat is this place for?”
    â€œWe’re not sure,” said Tom. “Top secret magic stuff, we think. It looks like one of the apothecary shops in town, only some of these things are just plain disgusting.” He picked up a small jar filled with a yellow-green gloop. “See what I mean? This one looks like it’s filled with boogers! And what about this?”
    He held up another jar. Zac peered at the contents and was amazed to see that it was crammed with row upon row of tiny sharp teeth.
    â€œWhat are those?”
    Tom studied the label. “Rats’ jaws,” he said faintly.
    â€œPut those down, Tom!” Tilly had joined them in the secret room, and stood behind Zac, scowling at her brother. “You agreed not to touch anything after last time.”
    â€œWhy?” said Zac. “What happened last time?”
    â€œOh . . . nothing,” said Tom dismissively.
    â€œNothing?” said Tilly. “You turned your hair bright orange! We were searching for the antidote for hours.”
    â€œLook,” said Tom, unscrewing the lid, “I’ve got to have one of these for my collection. How dangerous can they be?”
    The words had no sooner left his mouth than the top popped off the jar, and a set of needle-sharp teeth jumped out and attached itself to the end of his nose. Tom squealed and dropped the jar, which smashed on the floor, scattering shards of glass and rats’ jaws, several of which chased him as he ran around, yelling and waving his arms.
    â€œKeep still,” said Tilly. She found a pair of tiny tweezers on one of the tables, then headed for her brother, kicking a few sets of rats’ jaws out of the way for good measure. In one swift movement, she grabbed the offending set of teeth and pulled. Tom howled as the jaws lost their grip and flew across the room, where they landed on a high shelf and began to chatter angrily on the spot.
    Pale and shocked, Tom rubbed his freckled face. There were tiny bite marks on either side of his nose.
    â€œThanks, sis,” he said gratefully.
    â€œJust don’t open anything else,” snapped Tilly.
    Zac laughed and began carefully examining the contents of some of the other jars.
    S QUID’S U DDER read one label. E XCELLENT FOR C ONSTIPATION.
    F LIES’ W INGS AND F ROGSPAWN read another. F ANTASTIC FOR B REATHING F IRE.
    Two small jars at the end of the shelf were stacked one on top of the other. The first held bright red pills and the label stated clearly: S ALAMANDER AND S NAIL — S UPER FOR S HRINKING — T AKE O NE P ILL TO R EACH D ESIRED S IZE . The second contained bright blue liquid and read G ULLS’ B EAK AND G REMLIN G UNGE — G OOD FOR G ROWTH — T WO D ROPS S HOULD D O THE T RICK .
    â€œI wonder if these actually work,” said Zac. He turned back to look at the others, but a glint of silver on a nearby table caught his eye. A strange feeling began to build in his stomach. And then he saw it. There, among stacks of