“Greetings and blessings, young hero,” said Dr. Wiseacre.

“Greetings and blessings returned,” said Effie, remembering how to politely greet people in the Otherworld.

Dr. Wiseacre picked up the test Effie had completed and looked at it hard, nodding here and there, and then frowning before smiling and then frowning again.

“Right,” she said. “I just have a few more questions. First of all, can you tell me about your trip to Frog Hole today? What happened before you came here? Did you speak to anyone or do any shopping, for example?”

Effie told Dr. Wiseacre all about her morning.

“You came here on a flying carpet?” said Dr. Wiseacre, smiling.

“Yes,” said Effie. “Our maid, Bertie, made it.”

“Your maid?” Dr. Wiseacre looked confused, as if she’d never heard the word before. “Oh,” she said eventually, “do you mean like a servant?”

“Yes,” said Effie. “And she made me this cloak as well.”

“Very nice,” said Dr. Wiseacre, looking Effie up and down. “Now tell me something of your life on the island. It sounds like a very fascinating place. I’ve never been. I am not a traveler, sadly, so it would kill me.”

Effie told Dr. Wiseacre about her life back home. She couldn’t help making it sound a bit miserable, though, what with her stepmother, Cait, and her constant diets, and her father, Orwell, with his long days working at the university. The family virtually lived on takeaway because Cait was always throwing out all the real food. Effie far preferred the Otherworld, and started talking about that, but Dr. Wiseacre steered her back to her life on the island.

Effie told Dr. Wiseacre about the Tusitala School for the Gifted, Troubled and Strange, with its leaking roof and strange, cruel-but-kind teachers. She talked about how she was captain of the Under 13 tennis team, and her friend Wolf was captain of the Under 13 rugby team. As they were both only eleven, this was quite an achievement; but then they did have quite a lot of magical strength to draw on, since Wolf was a warrior and Effie was a hero. Effie told Dr. Wiseacre about her other friends—Lexy the healer, Raven the witch and Maximilian the mage scholar.

“We’re all going to help out next week at the university,” said Effie. “Actually, I’ve got to go in this weekend to help my dad set up for the Winter Fair. But he’s giving me some pocket money for that, which is good. Then next week I’m going to be in the Creative Writing Department with my friends. Which is better than the rest of my class, who are stuck helping children from the Mrs. Joyful School do papier mâché or learn to knit and cook and develop ‘life skills.’ ”

“Tell me more about this Mrs. Joyful School,” said Dr. Wiseacre. “It sounds delightful.” She raised a pink eyebrow.