But there’s something odd about them all. They look wet. Well, not actually wet, but like they have recently been soaked to the skin and are now almost dry again. Jenny even has a piece of seaweed in her crinkly red hair.

I must look a bit confused, because Violet answers my question before I can ask it.

“They came to get us,” she explains. “Mrs Fossil sounded the alarm after we left her on the beach last night, and all three of them came. Jenny swam like a fish, Herbie, it was amazing. She got your ankle free and, well, here we are.”

I swing my feet to the ground. I notice my Lost-and-Founder’s cap is hooked on the log scuttle near the fire, but I leave it where it is for now.

“Eels?” I manage to say.

Dr Thalassi makes a grunting sound in his throat.

“No sign of him. And after some of the things Violet has told us, that’s probably just as well.”

“We went to see him yesterday morning,” says Jenny. “The doctor and I. We were worried he was planning something for last night, but we never thought he’d go this far.”

“Herbie, that’s who we heard talking with Eels!” says Violet. “While we were hiding in his study.” And the three adults gasp.

“It seems there’s a lot more you haven’t told us yet,” says Jenny, folding her arms.

Violet gives a shrug and winks at me.

I say nothing. Sebastian Eels is a slippery character, but surely he couldn’t have escaped that final malamander attack, not even in full scuba gear and armour. I shake my head. I don’t want to think about that man ever again.

Violet coughs. The adults all seem to understand something from that cough, and move away to the front of the shop to talk amongst themselves.

So now it’s just Violet and me.

She passes me a cup of hot chocolate, and it feels like heaven as it slides down my half-drowned throat.

“I’m sorry,” she says, as I wipe my mouth. “I wasn’t exactly honest about what I wanted.”

“You mean about using the egg yourself?” I say, feeling like Violet hasn’t really got anything to apologize for. I should have expected it.

“I thought it could answer my questions once and for all,” she says. “About what happened to my parents. But I should have told you first.”

“If you had,” I say, taking another sip, “would I have been able to talk you out of it?”

Violet grins. “Probably not.”

“Either way, you know what happened to your mum and dad now, Vi,” I say. “For better or worse, the magic showed it to you.”