I’ve been thinking about the ice dragon and how it formed from the ice that poured from Rose when she screamed. “You made it back at Grandad’s, didn’t you?”

Rose nods. “I think so. I found that dragon toy when you went downstairs and just for a moment I imagined it was huge and sculpted from ice . . .”

“And then when you screamed it came to life,” I say.

Rose smiles. “Maybe at the End I have to scream for dragons instead of whistling for them.”

“Shame you didn’t know you could scream for a dragon earlier,” I say. “Like back at the Vampire when Hati climbed out of the Box.”

Rose grins. “But then we wouldn’t have had our adventure, Arthur, and I wouldn’t have missed this for the world.”

Neither would I, I think as the Alisha swings around and begins to cut through the waves. Then, standing together, Rose and I watch the ice dragon as it loops through the sky.

Chapter 54

I sleep for most of the journey home. And eat. Mitch and Rose use the time to catch up, and whenever I come on deck for some fresh air I find them whispering in the hot tub as if they’re plotting something. They hang out in Mitch’s cabin too. Occasionally puffs of colored smoke seep out from under the door, accompanied by wild laughter.

Thanks to Mitch’s M.O.O.N. magic we cross the Bottomless Ocean in record time and on Saturday, just as the sun is beginning to set, we reach land.

The Lost Girls must have seen us coming because they’re waiting for us on the beach. When Mitch spots Stella she mutters, “Urgh, Stella the mushroom thief.” Then she gasps. “I think my memory’s come back!”

We decide this is a good reason to celebrate; well, this and having found the Box and gotten rid of Hati and Crowky. The orangutans fetch the Lost Girls in rowboats and then provide the music. Orangutans, we discover, are excellent fiddle players. While their wild music plays, the Lost Girls rampage over the boat. They climb the rigging, swing in the hammocks, and generally drive Mitch mad.

“Oi! The hot tub is BANNED!” she shouts on more than one occasion.

Still, even a couple of Lost Girls in the hot tub isn’t enough to ruin Mitch’s good mood. She’s nearly home and she knows it. We decide that tonight Rose and Mitch will sleep at Mitch’s hut while Win and I go back to his cave. Then we will have one whole day to explore Roar.

As the stars come out, the Lost Girls start having races to the top of the rigging and the “grown-ups”—Win, Mitch, Stella, Rose, and me—sit around the hot tub. Mitch is in it, of course.