Looking out of the window, Lauren reflected on all the things she and Twilight had been up to since she had last seen Mrs Fontana. They hadn’t had any really big adventures, just a few small ones. A few weeks ago, Mel’s cat, Sparkle, had gone missing. Lauren and Twilight had used his seeing magic to look into a rock of rose quartz and had discovered that Sparkle was stuck in a tree in the woods. They had flown to rescue her and returned her safely. Then another night they had used Twilight’s ability to untangle things with his horn and had freed a young terrier dog they had found trapped in a bramble thicket with an injured leg. Twilight had used his magic to heal the dog’s leg and he had run home. Then, only the other night, they had helped Max by flying to fetch a school book that he’d left in his friend’s garden. They hadn’t needed to ask Mrs Fontana’s advice for any of those things.

Mrs Foster turned off the road and drove into a parking space in front of a row of shops. Mrs Fontana’s shop had a bow window with a brown and gold wooden sign above it that read: MRS FONTANA’S NEW AND SECOND-HAND BOOKS.

‘You go on ahead of me. I need to get some dog food and call in at the chemist,’ Mrs Foster said. ‘I’ll come and find you at Mrs Fontana’s when I’m done.’

‘OK.’ Lauren ran over to the bookshop.

As she pushed open the door, a bell tinkled and Mrs Fontana’s black-and-white

dog scampered across the faded rose-patterned carpet to meet her.

‘Hi, Walter,’ Lauren said, leaning down to tickle him under the chin. She straightened up and looked around. There were the usual piles of books everywhere and comfy chairs to sit on, but there was no sign of Mrs Fontana. Breathing in the familiar smell of blackcurrants that always seemed to hang in the air of the bookshop, Lauren made her way down to the children and young adult section.

As she reached it, she heard the sound of coughing. Mrs Fontana came out from the storeroom at the back of the shop. Not noticing Lauren, she leaned on a bookshelf and drew in a painful breath before coughing again. Lauren felt very worried. The old lady’s face was very pale and her wrinkles looked much deeper than normal. She had lost weight and her hand, holding on to the bookshelf, trembled.

‘Mrs Fontana?’ Lauren said.

Mrs Fontana looked round. Seeing Lauren, she quickly straightened up and smiled. ‘Lauren! I didn’t realize you were here. I didn’t hear the shop bell go. What a lovely surprise.’

‘I came to buy a book for my cousin,’ Lauren said. She frowned. ‘Mum told me you haven’t been well.’

‘I’m fine, my dear,’ Mrs Fontana replied, stifling a cough. ‘Just feeling my age a bit.’

‘If you’re ill, why don’t we get Twilight to heal you?’ Lauren said. Twilight’s horn had magical healing properties. ‘Or we could get some water from the Waterfall of Stars?’ she asked. ‘Maybe if you had some of that you might feel better?’ A little while ago, she and Twilight had collected some precious magical water from a waterfall just outside Arcadia. They had used it to make Shadow better when he’d been ill.