Theo, Scarlett and James were all in Mr Wiggins’ class at Bluesky school in Marbleglow - the main town in the Skylands, far to the north of Horsmarlonerpool.
One Tuesday morning, Mr Wiggins had a special announcement to make - tomorrow, the whole of their year were going on a special school trip to the White Tunnels.
The class looked at each other with a mixture of excitement and nervousness. The White Tunnels were mysterious places that began in a large cave in the rocks on the outskirts of town. But nobody knew where they went, or how far they went. Nobody had ever been brave enough to explore them fully.
Well that night, Theo, Scarlett and James used their computers to look up as much as they could about the White Tunnels. They were called the White Tunnels because they went through marble which meant that if you shone a torch in them the walls appeared to be white.
But, the computer told them, marble is so hard to tunnel through that nobody knew how the tunnels were dug in the first place - or who had invented the machinery to do it. For that matter, whoever did have the machinery for such hard work; where was it now? Where did it go?
And so when Mr Wiggins’ class joined Miss Bexhill’s class for their outing the following morning, Theo, Scarlett and James walked to the entrance of the White Tunnels with as many new questions as they did answers. But they were determined to use this trip as an opportunity to discover as much as they could.
Waiting for them at the cave was Mrs Chicago, the local historian.
“Welcome everyone,” she said. “Welcome to one of Marbleglow’s greatest curiosities and mysteries - The White Tunnels.”
“Excuse me,” said Theo. Everybody turned to him. “But will we be trying to find the end of the tunnels today?”
Mrs Chicago looked at Theo and gave a quick laugh. “Oh, no! There IS no end to the tunnels as far as we know. And it would be far too dangerous to go so far in - we might get lost and never come out!”
Some of the pupils looked at each other apprehensively.
This time, Scarlett spoke. “But Mrs Chicago. Every tunnel must either have an end, or come out somewhere. No tunnels just go on forever.”
Mr Wiggins, her teacher, gave Scarlett a weary but kind look. “Perhaps just listen to Mrs Chicago, Scarlett,” he said. “She’s giving us the tour. Let’s just see where it takes us.”
The whole group were given special hats with torches on them, and together with Mr Wiggings, Miss Bexhill and Mrs Chicago they entered the cave where they saw a huge entrance hall with three enormous tunnels, each big enough for a train and its carriages to run through, leading off from it.
One to the left, one in the middle, and one to the right.
They began exploring the tunnel to the left, which also had lights strung from the roof so everybody could see a little better.
“Look at the sides of the tunnels,” said Mrs Chicago. “Look how smooth they are. Of course, we don’t know what sort of machine made it.”
They explored a little further until they turned into a small passage to the right which entered into another huge tunnel like the one they first entered. This must be the middle tunnel. This one hadn’t been lit, and the only light came from the torches on their hats.
Then, they heard a strange noise. At first they thought it might be the rumble of a train overhead, but then it turned into a kind of groan.
“Come on,” said Mrs Chicago, turning a little bit pale under the lights of the hat torches, “let’s go back to the entrance.”
At the opening of the caves, Mrs Chicago suggested that everyone should go back to Bluesky school and draw their very best pictures of the tunnels. Most people seemed very pleased to be leaving, but Theo, James and Scarlett weren’t satisfied at all.
“But what was that noise we heard?” asked James.
“Oh, there are plenty of noises in the White Tunnels,” said Mrs Chicago. “Perhaps try and draw them into your pictures. Goodbye!”
Draw sounds into a picture? Scarlett didn’t think that made sense, and back at school she couldn’t stop thinking about the tunnels and where they might lead. And for that matter, what they were for?
James and Theo felt the same, and decided that the following weekend they should all return to the White Tunnels and discover the truth for themselves.
So on Saturday morning, Theo Scarlett and James set off for the cave entrance with three of the brightest torches they could find.
Inside, there was the left tunnel, there was the middle one and there was the right one. The noises had come from the middle one.
“So let’s go down that one,” said Scarlett. “As far as it goes, even if it takes all day. If we don’t turn left or right, then how can we get lost? We’ll just turn around at the end and walk back.”
They walked down the middle tunnel where they had been with their school friends. Soon, the light from the cave entrance behind them had faded, and they had to rely entirely on their torches.
On and on they walked in the darkness.
“We must have gone nearly a mile,” said Theo eventually.
“I bet nobody has ever explored this far,” agreed Scarlett.
Then… There was the sound again! The rumble and groaning!
“It’s up ahead!” said James.
Bravely, they ventured on until the they saw other little lights up ahead. And in those lights, which they now saw as they got closer were large lanterns, were the remarkable figures of three huge creatures. They were blue and furry, but covered in white marble dust. They had bright orange eyes, and they were scraping away at the tunnels with the claws on their huge paws. And then polishing the fresh tunnel with those paws. Polishing it to a fine, smooth finish.
“Who are you?” asked Theo.
The three huge creatures were startled and hid their eyes against the torchlight. They were each the size of a car stood up on its end.
“Don’t worry, we’re friends,” said Scarlett. “Our names are Theo, James and I’m Scarlett. What are you called?”
Slowly, one of the three blue creatures blinked at them and said, in a very strange voice, “We are, the Toilers.”
For the next hour, the three Toilers and the three friends sat and talked. The Toilers told them that they had always dug the tunnels. This one was the newest one. The other two, which must have been the left and right ones, went on for far further.
“But why? asked James. “What are they for?”
The Toilers looked at each other.
“For? Toilers just tunnel. For that is what Toilers do.”
“But, have you ever left the tunnels?” asked Scarlett.
The Toilers looked at each other again, even more confused. Why would they leave when there was tunneling to be done?
After a little persuasion, Scarlett, James and Theo led the three creatures back down the middle tunnel to the cave entrance. The toilers looked up at the blue sky through squinted eyes - they weren’t used to so much light. And then they looked back to their tunnels. “But we must work,” and they began to walk back inside.
“But there’s so much work to do out here!” shouted Scarlett.
The Toilers stopped, and looked around.
Over the next few days, the Toilers happily got to work all around Marbleglow, and everyone made them their friends.
They dug down into the lake to take all the mud from the bottom. They dug away at the banks of the river to widen it so large ships could sail in from the Albion Sea right up into the middle of town.
“But when do they ever stop working?” asked Theo. “I mean, everyone needs to play.”
“I think I have an idea,” said Scarlett.
That afternoon, the three Toilers and everyone from Marbleglow gathered at the beach. The creatures dug a huge hole in the sand, so wide that everyone could sit inside it. And then they dug a channel connecting the hole to the sea, and the water flooded in.
The town had a brand new swimming pool that they could all play in!
The Toilers were the most popular new members of the town, and they had never been happier. But during the week, they always returned to the White Tunnels underneath the town to do what they liked best. But now, not only did the school came to visit, the whole town did. And they didn’t just walk a short way in, Mrs Chicago proudly showed them all the way down the middle tunnel, where the toilers would dig, and polish, and dig and polish whilst everyone took photos, and clapped.
And it was all thanks to the bravery of Theo, Scarlett and James.