“We could try,” I say as the dragon dives low over the sea and turns toward the Alisha. I’m keeping one eye on the Box. Win waves his hands around when he talks and right now his fingers must be numb. I really want to keep hold of that box now that we’ve finally got it back.

We race toward the Alisha. All the ice has melted and the ship is rolling free in the water.

“Look, Win. There they are!”

Mitch is in her hot tub and Rose is standing next to her. The orangutans are lolloping about on the deck, free from wherever Hati trapped them. Rose and Mitch see us and start waving and calling out to us. We’re flying over them and I can see the orangutans gazing up at us.

“Do you reckon they’re staring because I’m in my underpants?” asks Win.

“No,” I say. “They’re definitely looking at the ice dragon.”

Win glances at the talons that are gripped tightly around us. “Arthur, how do you think we’re going to get down from here?”

We don’t need to worry. The dragon has a plan. It waits until it’s directly over the hot tub, then opens its claws. We hit the water with an almighty splash. The Box sinks under the surface then bobs up again. For a moment Mitch pretends she’s mad at us, and starts yelling about boys contaminating her water, but then she throws her arms around us and pulls us into a hug. “You crazy idiots,” she says. “Where did that dragon come from?”

“We magicked it!” says Win. “Arthur and Rose are actually pretty good magicians, Mitch. They’re almost as powerful as us.”

“Give me that thing,” says Rose, reaching for the Box. Mitch passes it to her and then, with the help of an orangutan, Rose wraps a rope around it, tying complicated knots as she goes. The glowing letters haven’t appeared on the side of it yet, which is strange, but I tell myself that when they do, it doesn’t matter. Crowky’s not here. No one will open it.

“Room for one more?” asks Rose, then she jumps into the tub with us.

We hug in our wet onesies like two bedraggled polar bears. “Thanks, Arthur,” she says, squeezing me. “You know, for saving my life and everything.”

“I didn’t save you,” I say. “You did that by yourself.”

Then we stop hugging and try to dunk each other instead. Obviously Mitch and Win have to join in too, and it turns into a water fight that Mitch wins. Soon we’re all warmed up and utterly exhausted, and we float around the hot tub while Win tells everyone what happened after we were swept out to sea.