“Thank you,” she says, grinning, “but, Arthur, you’re focusing on the wrong thing.”

“What do you mean?”

“We’re here, in Roar!” she says. “And I’ve got the best feeling about Mitch.” Rose’s voice is bursting with excitement. “She’s back. I know she is!” Her last words are drowned out by water from the On-Off Waterfall crashing past the opening of the tunnel. The leaves tremble and a fine mist drifts over us.

I smile. Rose is right. We’re here, in Roar, and I’m not going to waste a second worrying about Crowky. “Then let’s go and find Mitch,” I say, and together we crawl out onto the ledge.

“That has got to be the best view in the world,” says Rose.

Late-afternoon light floods the valley and the Rainbow River slips between forests and lakes. It glows from the crystals that line its bed and leads all the way to the Bottomless Ocean, which, right now, is a band of dark blue. My eyes jump greedily from the sea to the trees that hide Win’s cave to the Tangled Forest where the Lost Girls used to live.

“Look at the Archie Playgo!” says Rose, pointing at the horizon. Light is gleaming on the hundreds of islands making them glow pink and orange. Rose can’t take her eyes off them, and I know why. That’s where Mitch lives.

“Shall we go and find Win?” I say. Rose might be desperate to go looking for Mitch, but Win lives closest to the waterfall and he’d never forgive us if we didn’t see him straight away.

Rose nods, tearing her eyes away from the Archie Playgo.

“Can you remember how we climb down?” I say, looking at the rocks sticking out from the side of the cliff. They lead to the ground, only I don’t know which ones are safe to step on.

“I say we jump,” says Rose, getting to her feet. “It’s the quickest way.”

“Really?” I inch forward, eyeing the drop. “Or you could call a dragon?”

“No,” she says. “We made this world and we put that pool there for a reason: so we could jump into it. Let’s go!” Then she takes a deep breath, pinches her nose, and steps calmly off the ledge.

I watch as she drops through the air, her hair flying out behind her. Rose might be moody and bossy and occasionally mean, but she’s very brave. She shoots into the water, barely making a ripple, then bursts back up to the surface. She waves and shouts, “Come on, Arthur. It’s easy!” Then she swims to the side and pulls herself out.

“Rose!” I call. “Wait for me!” But she’s already wandered off into the trees.