I follow his trembling finger. He’s right. Someone is standing in the shadows watching us! My legs start to shake. I’m about to wriggle out of my T-shirt when there is an explosion of movement and a black shape leaps out of the trees and hurtles toward us.

Chapter 11

Win and I scream and start to twist wildly from side to side, but we stop when we hear laughter.

Orion is standing in the clearing, and sitting on his back with a massive grin on her face is Rose. She’s wearing a black fluffy jacket and has a satchel slung over her shoulder.

Orion trots toward us and I eye him cautiously. I’ve had enough of hooved creatures for one day. Orion might not have a horn, but he has a huge amount of muscles and great big teeth that look particularly bitey right now.

“Rose, how come you’re wearing some sort of Crowky disguise?” I say.

“What, this?” She plucks at the jacket. “I borrowed some of Mitch’s things. What happened to you two?”

“A unicorn is what happened to us,” I say.

“Arthur massively disrespected it,” adds Win.

After Win has told the story—slowly, and in detail—and Rose has laughed for quite a long time, she helps us down from the tree.

Orion agrees to let us climb onto his back, but his generosity doesn’t last long. The second we’re away from the splinters of wood he shakes us to the ground with a toss of his large sparkly bottom. The tip of his tail catches me on the arm and a jolt of pain shoots through me.

“Watch it,” says Rose. “His tail stings boys, remember?”

I nod as waves of pain radiate through my body. Win helps me stagger to my feet and I realize that if Rose is here, then she can’t have found Mitch.

“No sign of her, then?” I say.

Rose shakes her head, then rubs Orion’s neck. He begins a slow walk through the camp. “But I know she’s back,” she calls over her shoulder. “I can feel it.”

I watch as Orion and Rose blend into the darkness and then reappear again. Shadows stretch all around us and the air is cool. I shiver. It must be getting late. “Perhaps we should get out of here,” I say.

The others quickly agree and together we walk out of the Tangled Forest. Orion trots ahead of us with Rose still on his back, but there’s no hope of him giving me and Win a ride. He makes this clear by accidentally on purpose flicking his tail in our direction and giving us the odd sting.

“Rose, can’t you keep your horse under control?” I say after a particularly painful whip across the nose.

Flick goes Orion’s tail, catching me on my ear.

“Don’t be rude, Arthur,” says Rose, “he’s a stallion, not a horse.”