Inkwell Manor

Ten-year-old Hazel inherits a crumbling old house from her great-aunt Cordelia and discovers a bottle of magical ink that makes anything she writes become real. But the ink is almost gone, and her great-aunt left behind an unfinished story that is leaking dangerous creatures into the world.

Hazel Finch was ten years old, fond of puzzles, and not at all sure why a lawyer was handing her a rusty iron key.

'This is for me?' Hazel turned the key over in her fingers. It was heavy and cold, with teeth shaped like tiny mountains.

The key belonged to Inkwell Manor, a house she had never visited, left to her by Great-Aunt Cordelia, a woman she had met exactly once at a family picnic when she was five. Hazel barely remembered her -- just a tall woman with ink-stained fingers and a laugh like a bell.

'Your great-aunt specified you by name,' the lawyer said, peering over his glasses. 'She said you would know what to do with the place.'

Hazel did not know what to do with the place. But she was very curious to find out.