‘If he was never heard of again,’ Lexie pointed out, tossing her hair, ‘how did anyone ever hear the story of the wish? Although there was that woman who wished to be younger and ended up trapped in the body of a baby. That was real.’

Speck scowled at her. ‘Why is your story real and mine isn’t?’

Brochan rolled his eyes. ‘Enough. Either way, wishes always go wrong. This is a bad idea, Tegs. You can’t trust genies.’

‘I can still hear you, you know,’ Bob piped up from behind. ‘I’m not deaf. I’m not evil either.’

‘I know all that,’ I told them, ignoring Bob. ‘It’s why I’ve not asked for anything yet, despite what’s happened.’ I didn’t bother mentioning that I would have tried when the stoor worm attacked if I’d had the chance. Under that kind of pressure, I could really have messed things up. It was better not to dwell on it.

‘So why now?’

‘Because I’m going to wish for knowledge. If I phrase it properly, it won’t screw things up.’

‘Tegs,’ Speck said seriously, ‘if you wish to know who wants you dead, you might end up with a long list of people. It’ll drive you insane.’

Brochan nodded in agreement. ‘Any time anyone’s thought they’d like to kill you might count. You’ll never trust anyone again.’

I tilted my head. ‘Are you three saying that you’ve thought in the past that you wanted to kill me?’

Lexie wouldn’t quite meet my eyes. ‘Not seriously.’

‘Yeah,’ Speck added, ‘not like we’d actually kill you. Just more the fleeting thought that we’d like to rip your head off and flay your skin.’

‘I thought you liked me!’

Brochan tutted. ‘We do like you. We love you. But sometimes…’

‘Sometimes what?’

Speck shifted his weight. ‘Those jokes are really annoying.’ He looked relieved to have said it.

‘Yeah,’ Lexie bobbed her head. ‘They’re so cheesy.’

‘And you tell them all the time,’ Brochan added.

I looked at him. ‘You too? You feel this way?’

He shrugged. ‘The thought might have crossed my mind once or twice. It’s not any different to the way I’ve wanted to kill Lexie for singing all the time.’

She glared at him.

‘I can’t believe this,’ I said, shaking my head. ‘You could have mentioned before that you didn’t like my jokes.’

‘Would you have stopped telling them?’ Speck asked hopefully.

I frowned. ‘Don’t be silly. I’d have told more so that you could get a wider range of them. What do you call it when you tell a joke in the shower?’

Speck stared at Brochan. ‘Please make her stop.’

‘A clean joke!’

Lexie groaned. ‘That’s the worst one I’ve heard in a long time.’