Twins are special and identical twins even more so. Little do identical twins Arlo and Stefan know they contain powerful magic. When they discover a girl (Alice) hiding out in their neighbourhood ‘haunted’ house one night, she asks for their help.

They agree to meet her the following Saturday night, when a full moon will be high in the sky. Never would they believe in a tunnel that takes them to an alternate version of their town. This place has magic in the air, and in all who live there. The animals in this land talk, and there are pixies living deep in the forest.

Alice has lost her identical twin Jackie to this world. They were tricked into coming and Jackie was snatched up by the Royal Guard. Now Alice wants one of the boys to join the guards to help her release Jackie. There’s only one problem, well actually many, standing in their way. A long list of tests to complete and challenges to win. There are 50 Royal Guard hopefuls and only 5 places.

Join a group of guards? Compete with children who’ve trained their entire lives? Use magic? Ridiculous!

Little do the boys know, they have more powerful magic than all of the other recruits put together. They just have to find it, save Jackie and flee back down the tunnel home with Alice. Sounds straight forward but is far from the quest that awaits them.

This story of a small kiwi town, tunnels that can only be opened by the powerful magic of identical twins, and the power of friendship, is gripping and imaginative.

The motivations of power and greed and a banished malevolent force are slowly revealed, with the help of talking native NZ birds, sibling courage and growing loyalty.

Harry Potter fans will love this tale of twins, magic, competition and clever thinking, to defeat an evil entity bent on controlling the world.

Author – Bernard Beckett

Age – 9+

(2020, Text Publishing, Alternate Universe, Tunnels, Secrets, Identical Twins, Magic, Competition, Flying, Native NZ Birds, Pukeko, Ruru, Pixies, Rescue Mission, Trickery, Allies, New Zealand, Siblings)