Want to know more about The Stolen Child? Here’s a little taste of what’s to come...

They sat back to back, resting their heads against the post at the centre of the wheel, feet spread out in front of them. The wind was picking up, rattling the chains on the swings and climbing frames. Dead leaves skated across the grass, making little pirouettes as they danced. Every now and then the merry-go-round creaked beneath them.

“Did you really come to protect me?”

“To protect you. To bring you home.”

“And if I don't want to go wherever this home is?”

“Then I'll be by your side, wherever you do want to go.”

Through the bars, her hand found his. His grip was firm and sure.

“Justin... Who are you, really?” she whispered.

"I told you who I am," he said.

"My knight in shining armour. Right. Except you forgot your horse and all."

For a while, he didn't say a word. She could hear the sound of his breathing, feel the slight movement of his shoulder against hers.

She turned away, and pulled her hand back from his.

“Justin, I can't do it. I can't believe in all this like you want me to. This is crazy, and it don't matter how much I try to tell myself it isn't, because I know, I just know...”

She felt the platform wobble as he stepped off. His feet crunched against the wood chips as he walked around to stand in front of her. Slowly, almost solemnly, he knelt in front of her and reached out to take her hand again, pressing it between his own. He leaned in close, his wide brown eyes locked on hers, and she found herself becoming all too aware of the sound of her heartbeat, thundering against her chest.

“Everyone believes in something, Rachael. This is what they taught you to believe in; this ugly, grey world that they called 'Normal.' Tell me, is it better there?”

A grey door filled her mind, still part-way open. A glimpse of a beige carpet, streaked with cigarette burns. The world they had made her live in.

She shook her head.

“No. No, it's not.”

“Then come live in mine. If we're wrong, at least we're happy. And if we're right, we'll fly above them all.”