The Door in the Tree — William Corlett

The Secret of Magic

It's vacation again -- time for William, Mary, and Alice to return to Golden House. They've made a solemn vow not to speak of anything that happened on their last visit to Uncle Jack's home. Was the magic real? It seems like a dream to William and Mary. Only Alice knows the secret of magic: believing. It is alice who discovers the Dark and Dreadful Path, Alice who is irresistibly drawn to the ancient yew tree. And it is Alice who finds the door in the tree -- leading to the secret hiding place of the Magician. It wasn't a dream!

Soon they've become the Magician's students, led by the kestel, the badgers, and the dog into the most perilous assignment of all....