I get to my feet and inch forward until I’m standing on the very edge. I take a nice deep breath and . . . I stay exactly where I am. I’ve never been good with heights, and this is a whopping big height. Dizziness sweeps through me, and I remind myself of Grandad’s words: that the best adventures start with feeling scared. My heart thuds as I hold my breath. If he’s right, I’m about to have the biggest adventure of my life.

I jump.

I don’t land with a neat plop like Rose. I land with an almighty splash that gives me a colossal wedgie and a stinging slap to my entire body. I tumble around and around under the water, then bob to the surface.

Rose has reappeared and watches as I clamber out. “That was one seriously big scream,” she says. “I thought Crowky had gotten you!”

“It was more a yell,” I say, shaking my head to clear the water from my ears. “You know, from the adrenaline rush.”

“Well, get ready for another one,” she says, turning and walking into the forest. “There’s something you’ve got to see.”

I follow her until we reach a shadowy clearing. For a moment I can’t see anything, but then my eyes adjust, and, like magic, the forest bursts into life.

Fuzzies drop from the trees, then whiz between us, their tiny voices crying out, “Arthur, Arthur, Rose, Rose!” Then birds start singing. Well, they shriek and squawk, and when I look up I see that the trees are full of them. There are some yellow ones with silver beaks, but most are bright red with black feathers around their eyes. They look like they’re wearing masks.

“Superbirds!” I say.

Rose laughs as butterflies settle on her arm. They’re bigger than the butterflies at home and covered in velvety fur. She strokes one with her fingertip. “These were mine,” she says.

So were the fuzzies, I think as one of them dive-bombs toward me and starts to burrow into my hair. Everything in Roar began as something Rose or I loved or hated when we were little. Usually the things we loved appeared in the Good Side of Roar—where we are now—while the things we hated went to the Bad Side.

I shake the fuzzy from my hair, and Rose lifts her arms and the butterflies take off. “Come on,” she says, “let’s find Win.” And we set off for Win’s cave, a chattering group of fuzzies zooming alongside us.

Chapter 7

It turns out that since we were last in Roar, Win has booby-trapped his cave. Luckily for us, he’s done it really badly.