“It looks cozier than I remember,” says Rose, staring up at the tall towers of the Crow’s Nest with their twinkling windows. We’re close to the end of the bridge now. The fog has overtaken us and, up ahead, the Crow’s Nest looks like it’s floating on a cloud. The hundreds of windows dotted across the walls used to give me the creeps—it felt like Crowky could have been peering out of any one of them—but knowing the Lost Girls are inside makes the castle look almost welcoming.

The fog thins and we see a small figure sitting cross-legged at the end of the bridge.

“Who’s that?” I say

“The lookout,” says Win. “She’ll have a knife and if she doesn’t like the look of us”—he pauses here to mime slashing the ropes—“down we go.” Win cups his hands around his mouth and bellows, “It’s me, Wininja, and I’ve got Rose and Arthur Trout with me!”

The girl jumps to her feet and squints into the fog. “What?” she shouts.

“I said, it’s me, WININJA, and I’ve got ARTHUR and ROSE TROUT with me!”

“I CAN’T HEAR YOU!” she yells back. Then she pulls something out of her pocket—a penknife—and her hands become a blur of movement.

Panic rises inside me. “What’s she doing?”

“I don’t know,” says Win, “but we need to get off this bridge!”

We start running, the planks bouncing up and down beneath our feet, and we don’t stop until we tumble off the bridge and onto the safety of solid land.

The Lost Girl stares at us from under a messy fringe. It’s Hansini, one of the older girls. “Hello,” she says, then she holds up a long, curling apple peel. “Look. I did it all in one piece!”

Rose does a shaky laugh. “We thought you were going to cut the ropes!”

She bites down on the apple and jams her penknife into her belt. “Thought about it,” she says.

We follow Hansini up a twisting path to the castle entrance. It’s Stella herself who throws open the castle’s huge doors. She puts her hands on her hips and stands with her legs astride. “Welcome!” she says with a grand air.

The rest of the Lost Girls are gathered behind her, peering at us curiously. We get some waves and a few excited cries of “Hi, Rose! Hi, Arthur!” before Stella silences them with a look—they’re ruining her dramatic moment.