Year 5 Narrative Sample: The Map in the Wall

The crack in the library wall was exactly the width of a pencil. Priya had noticed it six weeks ago, on the first day of term, when she had pressed her back against the wall to avoid Declan Shaw and his football. She had not thought about it again until the day the pencil rolled in.

She watched her favourite pencil — the blue one with silver writing that said THINK DIFFERENTLY — disappear into the crack. She expected it to clatter down behind the plasterboard. Instead, there was silence. Then, after a long moment, a faint orange glow.

Priya pressed her eye to the crack. What she saw made her stomach drop. On the other side of the wall was a room that had no business being there. It was the size of a wardrobe, lit by a single candle stub, and every centimetre of its four walls was covered in a map. Not a printed map. A hand-drawn map in seven colours of ink, with tiny words written along the rivers and mountain ranges.

She pushed gently on the wall. A section swung open on a concealed hinge. Priya stepped through, and the smell hit her first — old paper, beeswax, and something faintly metallic. She stepped closer to the map and squinted at the script. The words were in English, but the places were not. "The Drowned Kingdoms of Solath." "The Seven Spires." "Here the compass fails."

"I thought you might find it eventually," said a voice behind her.

Priya spun around. The school librarian, Mrs Okafor, stood in the opening, holding the blue pencil. She was smiling, but it was not the smile Priya was used to. This one was older, and wider, and knew far too many secrets.

"What is this place?" Priya asked. "A beginning," said Mrs Okafor. "If you want it to be."