in the house. While Jack and William set out in the storm to try to get help, Mary and Alice stay with Phoebe and try to protect her and the baby from an evil rat which is attempting to prevent the birth from taking place. While William is trying to get help he discovers he can speak to and travel with animals within the valley and he does this for the first time with a fox called Cinnabar. Alice also experiences this with a local stray dog called Spot (towards the end of the book Mary also travels with an animal, Jasper the Owl). Together they prevent the rat from interfering and a baby called Stephanie is born in Golden House by the fireplace. The Magician explains that the rat was being influenced by another Magician in his own time named Morden. It's explained that Stephanie and therefore Phoebe are distant descendants of Stephen Tyler and Morden does not want the Tyler family line to exist within Golden House. The holiday is over and the children leave the house, but are able to arrange for Spot to become the family dog before they leave. Book 2 The Door in the Tree (1991) The map drawing in book 2 is essentially the same as what is in book 1 except everything has panned further out, so more of Golden Valley can be seen. Running through the centre of the map, through Golden house itself is a wide wood trail with a large tree in the centre. At the top a standing stone is shown and beyond that the beginnings of a lake. On the left hand side of the map is another wood trail which is narrower and leads to a quarry. On the right a parallel trail leading to a small house with four fields on either side. The children go back to Golden House to spend their Easter Holidays in Jack and Phoebe's care. Reflecting the drawing at the front of the book, they discover that the left path has become a dark and dangerous place where animals in the valley go to die. The right path leads to a small farm owned by Meg Lewis, an old lady whose family used to own Golden House. She lives alone and spends her time at the farm and looking after the nearby local badger set. The children discover a secret