Coraline nodded. There was a strange aching feeling in her chest. She had never expected to speak to anyone who knew more about the other world than she did, other than the cat, and he couldn't talk back, now.

"The cat showed me where they were," she went on. "I haven't told you about the cat yet. He lives in the garden of our house, and probably other places too, and he hasn't got a name because he says cats don't need them. And he knows how to go between worlds. I saw him when I went to the other world the first time. Anyway, he came and found me - he can't talk in the normal world, but he took me to the mirror in our hall, and my parents were there, trapped inside. So I had to go back to rescue them."