“Yeah,” I say, fighting back the enormous grin that’s threatening to burst across my face. Mum and Dad are pretty cool, but there’s no way they would agree to me and Rose having a mini-break in a fantasy world. They think that while they’re walking in Scotland, Rose and I will be having a relaxing week at Grandad’s. To keep Mum believing this, I start telling her all the things we’re planning to do. “Grandad’s promised to take us fishing,” I say, “and out on our bikes, oh, and he’s finished the den in the attic so Rose and I don’t have to share a room anymore.”

“Speaking of Rose, where is she?” Mum rubs a circle in the condensation on the window. “If she doesn’t get here soon, your dad and I will miss our train.”

“I’ll go and find her,” I say, unclipping my seat belt and jumping out of the car. I can’t believe Rose would rather give out cupcakes than get to Roar!

I’m running across the playground when a dark shape flies past my face. I gasp and hold my breath until I realize that the shape is just a crow swooping down on a half-eaten panini. My heart continues to thud as I walk into school. I have a lot of moments like this: I catch sight of someone wearing a black coat or I hear the flutter of wings, and a flash of fear rushes through me. A few days ago I actually yelled in history when a seagull tapped on the window.

There’s a good reason why I’m so jumpy.

The last time I saw Crowky—burnt and broken on the deck of the Raven—he was wearing my grandad’s “NO PROB-LLAMA!” T-shirt. Although Crowky doesn’t know it, objects from this world let people out of Roar, and that T-shirt is all he needs to escape. The thought of Crowky crawling into the tunnel in Roar wearing the T-shirt and then appearing in Grandad’s attic is horrible. What would he do first? Stuff Grandad or come looking for me and Rose?

At first I didn’t mention the T-shirt to Rose and Grandad. To be honest, I wanted to forget all about it, but then one Saturday a rook landed on Grandad’s bird table and I was so freaked out I dropped my hot chocolate. Rose asked what was wrong, and I blurted out that Crowky still had Grandad’s T-shirt. Unlike me, they weren’t bothered by it. Rose said it was falling apart when we last saw Crowky, and that it would be at the bottom of the Bottomless Ocean by now, and Grandad agreed with her. But I’m not so sure . . .

I turn a corner and almost run into Harriet and the rest of Rose’s friends. Their arms are linked and Harriet’s laughing. “Where’s Rose?” I say.