Title Page

Dedication

For wild and wonderful Mara

Map

Chapter 1

The work on the interactive whiteboard suggests Miss Kimble isn’t taking this lesson very seriously. Who can blame her? We’re about to go on break for half-term and there’s a very relaxed atmosphere in the room.

Music is playing, pens and erasers are flying around, and everyone is chatting. Miss Kimble is frantically tidying her desk because—as she keeps telling us—she has a plane to catch, and my sister is braiding Harriet Scott’s hair. No one is doing any work.

Except me.

I pick up my pen and start to write. Miss Kimble isn’t the only one going somewhere exciting this break.

This half-term I am going to visit the Land of Roar with my twin sister, Rose. We’re not sure exactly where Roar is, but to get there we have to crawl through an ancient, rusty, folding cot in our grandad’s attic. The cot isn’t a glamorous portal to a fantasy world, but it works and that’s what matters.

Once we’ve arrived in Roar we’ll hang out with my best friend: Wininja. Win is as stealthy as a fox, as flexible as a rubber band, and as magical as a wand because he is half ninja and half wizard.

After we’ve explored Roar we will fly a dragon. Flying a dragon is cooler than a slushy although their bodies feel as hot as an oven. At some point we will visit the Crow’s Nest, which is this terrifying castle in the middle of the sea. A gang of wild girls live there, but it used to belong to our nemesis, Crowky.

Crowky is a total villain. He is also as clever as a crow and as creepy as a scarecrow. This is because he’s a scarecrow with crow wings (although his wings might not be working right now because last time we were in Roar a dragon set fire to them—long story).

I’m also looking forward to swimming with some heavily tattooed merfolk. The only reason I’m doing this work is to distract me because I’m DESPERATE for the bell to ring. When it does I’m going to zoom over to Grandad’s (as fast as a cheetah) and then the adventure will begin!

“Arthur, what are you doing?” I look up to see my sister standing over me.

“What?” I say, covering my work. “Miss Kimble’s never going to grade it, is she? She’s going skiing.”

Rose slips into the seat next to me and puts a cake tin on the desk. “Yes, but what if someone else reads it? They’ll think you’re crazy!”

I grin. “But I’m not, am I, Rose? We’re actually going back to Roar. Today!”

“Shhh!” She looks around, to make sure no one’s listening.