Chapter 1

“One lump or two, Smoochie?” Susie asked brightly. She deepened her voice, grabbed her toy gorilla police officer round his fuzzy tummy and wobbled his head so wildly it looked as though his smart blue police hat might fly off at any moment.

“Just one, Chief. Watching my sugar intake, ma'am.” Smoochie's voice, courtesy of Susie, sounded like a friendly but cranky old grandpa who hadn't had his morning banana yet.

Across the table, Freddie Koala was slouched in his small plastic chair like he was tired out from a night on the eucalyptus. Susie squeaked, tipping Freddie upright, "Make mine all sugar! I like it SUPER sweet!"

Snuggles the Wolf let out a dramatic growl — “Lots for me too please Susie!”.

Sitting next to Snuggles was Old Yellow Ted, who was looking decidedly unimpressed. He had the expression of a bear who had seen it all over his many years, and wasn't impressed by very much of it. Susie folded his arms crossly.

“Too much sugar will make your teeth fall out, young Snuggles.” Ted warned, sounding like he knew best (and to be fair, he often did).

Susie giggled. “Don't worry everyone, you can have as much pretend sugar as you like”.

She made her way round her pink plastic table scooping imaginary sugar into her beloved pals' plastic mugs, giving them all as much sugar as they wanted, which was a lot. If their teeth were real and not made of various types of wool or polyester, they would have fallen out quicker than cheerios in an upside down breakfast bowl. (Apart from Ted, who obviously had no sugar at all).

Feeling rather pleased with her hosting skills, Susie made Sergeant Smoochie raise his cup in a toast.

“To friendship, tea and biscuits!” he declared.

“Mostly biscuits!” Freddie added from across the table, before slouching back down in his chair for a doze.

The playhouse filled with Susie's giggles. She was in her favourite place in the entire universe, and she was surrounded by her best friends—even if they were all slightly scruffy and moth-eaten in places.

Her little garden playhouse was where all her biggest, wildest, most cuckoo-crazy-bonkers adventures happened. The sort of adventures that would make even a superhero need a sit-down and a pair of slippers. Crayon pictures covered all four walls - taped, pinned, and occasionally glued on with suspicious sticky green substances that only Susie and the gang knew the origins of. These masterpieces displayed some of the craziest and most exciting moments the band of buddies had spent together.

One picture showed the time Sergeant Smooch had saved the day during The Great Fruit Shortage. Baron von Daddypants (better known as Dad) had tried to eat the last banana in the house. Sergeant Smooch immediately had him placed under arrest and dragged him to the slammer. (The slammer was the sofa. Dad didn't mind at all. The football was on.)

Another showed the day Freddie Koala insisted on trying extreme sports. Susie strapped him to a skateboard, taped an empty plant pot to his head for safety, and rolled him down the garden slide. He zoomed off, flew into a bush and vanished into thin air. He may have been lost forever, had it not been for brave young Snuggles sniffing him out just in time for lunch.

“Susie!” Mum's voice floated from the kitchen window. “It'll be lunchtime soon, what do you fancy?”

Susie turned to her pals, “Hmm, scrambled eggs? Haven't had those for a while, does that sound good?” She got no protests from her fuzzy friends, so she called back to Mum and the lunchtime order was in.

Then she heard another voice. A different voice. Not Mum's voice. This voice was low and slightly muffled, but just clear enough to make Susie freeze in place. She looked as if she had just been discovered in a block of ice at the north pole.

The voice sounded like it was talking through a megaphone full of socks. Distant but close at the same time. Despite the muffle, she could clearly hear what the voice was saying.

“Susie! I've got an order of scrambled eggs here for Susie?”

“That… was fast,” she whispered to Smoochie, feeling a slight tightening in her chest. She couldn't work out if it was from fear or excitement. Maybe it was both.

The voice was raised slightly like trying to be heard over some other noises that were nearby. Like when your mum tries to shout across a busy swimming pool, telling your dad not to do another cannonball next to your Granny.

But it wasn't Mum's voice, and this was way too quick for lunch to be ready. Who could it be?

The voice called out again, “Susie? Scrambled eggs for Susie?”

Susie scanned the playhouse. Then she saw it.

In the corner of the room there was a door. It was a small door—so small she would have to squat down to fit through it. The door had never been there before, Susie was certain of that.

“Uhhh guys… have you EVER seen that door before?”, Susie turned Sergeant Smooch's head left, and then right. It was a no from the crime-fighting gorilla, too.

There was a warm glow of light coming from under the doorframe.

“I… I think I want to open it. But I'm not sure if I'm brave enough.”

Sergeant Smooch's deep voice growled bravely “Attention, Officer Susie! It's time to be brave.”

Susie looked at Smoochie and smiled. It always helped when Smoochie believed in her—even if she was the one doing his voice. “You'll never know what's waiting for you behind that door unless you take a deep breath and go for it.”

“You're right,” she whispered. “Let's do it together.”

She grabbed hold of the handle, turned it, took a deep breath… and pushed. The door swung open…