We lie back on our leaky raft. The canopy of leaves is high above us, blocking out the sun, and the only light comes from buds that burst from vines. These buds glow and flicker all around us as our raft drifts deeper into the dark forest.

“I’m glad you’re back, mate,” says Win, punching me on the arm.

“Me too,” I say, punching him back, but only gently because our raft is very unstable.

When we get caught in a root we get out and start to walk.

We wander between the thick trunks. It’s so hot that our clothes dry quickly, and we keep ourselves going by munching on the biggest blueberries I’ve ever seen. At least, I think they’re blueberries . . . they’re more purple than blue and they taste like doughnuts.

“We need to be quiet now,” whispers Win. “This is where the unicorns hang out.”

He stops in front of a line of tree trunks. At first I think they’ve grown close together, like the ones at the edge of the forest, but then I realize that these trees have been deliberately tied together with vines. I push a knot of ivy to one side and see words scratched into one of the trunks:

“Is this the Lost Girls camp?” I say.

Win nods and puts a finger to his lips, and I follow him to the entrance of Treetops. At least, it was the entrance to Treetops. Once a huge wooden door stood here, but now it’s lying smashed on the ground with plants growing through the cracked wood.

It was Crowky who did this. Last time we were here Stella told us that he’d set fire to their camp and forced them to abandon it. It’s only now that I’m standing here that I understand how total the destruction was.

“Horrible, isn’t it?” says Win.

I nod, a painful lump forming in my chest. I can’t believe we stopped visiting Roar for so long. We didn’t come for three whole years, and that’s why Crowky was able to take over and do this to Treetops. We can never let him do something like this again.

Treetops used to be amazing. A higgledy-piggledy collection of tree houses linked by rope bridges and ladders, it was a playground in the sky. Stella’s hut was best of all, of course. It was built so high in the canopy that I never went up there, but I remember watching as Rose climbed the wobbling ladder and disappeared into the leaves.

Now all that’s left are the burnt skeletons of tree houses.

“It’s all gone,” I say.

“Not completely,” says Win. “I’ll show you.”