The light was cast by candles dotted around on the floor at strategic points although they still only gave off a weak glow. There were four scabby-looking sleeping bags – annoying considering there were five of us – and I could swear it was colder inside than it was out. My gaze swept round, taking in the glum faces. Speck’s teeth were chattering.

‘Wow. Where’s the en suite?’ I asked.

‘For our ablutions,’ Speck said, his words vibrating, ‘we are expected to walk for another ten minutes down that way to an ancient stone house with an outside loo.’

Charming. ‘Well,’ I said, trying to make light of the situation, ‘I’m sure things could be worse.’

Taylor’s shoulders slumped. ‘You had to say it, didn’t you?’

Lexie shook her head and shivered. ‘Now you’ve done it, Tegs.’

I pointed at Speck. ‘He’s meant to be the superstitious one. Don’t be silly.’

Just then, a loud patter came from the corrugated iron roof. Rain: and it took Mother Nature all of five seconds to find a suitable gap. One drop landed directly on the bridge of my nose and rolled down, hanging off the end until I shook it away.

‘That’s your fault,’ Lexie said, barely audible above the racket.

‘What they’re failing to say,’ Brochan rumbled, ‘is how dangerous this is.’ He gestured at the door. ‘No lock. Even if there was one, the walls are so flimsy that anyone could break them down. We can’t afford to take chances like this. It’s not safe.’

The merman had a point. Between us, we could probably make the place more comfortable but making it secure from potential assassins was another matter entirely.

‘A Sidhe, a pixie, a warlock, a human and a merman all walked into a hut,’ I began.

Speck groaned.

‘Don’t forget a genie,’ Taylor said, with raised eyebrows.

I grinned at him and snapped my fingers. ‘You’re right.’ I took out Bob’s letter opener as Brochan hurriedly sought a handkerchief in preparation. ‘Oh, Bob?’ I sang out, in my best casual tone. ‘Are you there?’

There was a pause. That was good, it meant he’d not been paying attention to the outside world. I called again and the blade shimmered. We covered our eyes just in time to avoid being blinded by the flash of light as he appeared. ‘What is it, Uh Integrity?’ he asked eagerly. ‘Do you want to use up that wish? Make it a good one, darling!’

Brochan sneezed violently as I shook my head. ‘The Games haven’t started yet. I promised I’d do it afterwards, remember?’

Bob’s shoulders slumped. ‘Oh yeah. What is it then?’

‘I don’t want to drag you away from whatever TV box set you’re currently enjoying but we thought this would be a great time to have a pre-Games party. Just us as a team.’ I gave him my best smile. ‘And you’re part of that team, Bobster!’

A slow smile spread across his tiny face. ‘Am I? Am I really?’ He bit his bottom lip and held his hands up to his chest. ‘That means so much. Usually I’m left out of things like that. People forget that I’m a person and that I have needs too. I’m a social animal really. But it’s soooo hard to socialise when you’re stuck inside a scimitar all day long. And when you’re the size of a sparrow.’ He bobbed his head from side to side. ‘You lot are considerably below my normal standard and it’s difficult for my superior intellect to maintain polite conversation when your brain capacities are so small but I can cope for now. Where are the jelly shots? Do we have strawberry?’