‘And anyway what’s wrong with talking?’ Jibber-jabber went on. ‘It’s what separates man from the animals, we’re not like these chickens, they just cluck, yeah? Which is why we can take their eggs, you see that movie, Chicken Run, where the chickens gang up together and escape from the farm? I don’t know, I think they were going to be made into this, like, super pie, or something, and they get together and make an escape plan like prisoners of war, and they all fly out of there, well, you see, that would never happen in real life, because chickens can’t talk to each other, they just cluck, like I said, and without being able to talk you can’t get organized, see this place, this museum? It would never have been built by chickens, the only way it could ever get done was by people talking to each other, I don’t know exactly, but, you know, like, the architect and the builders and the labourers, the people who made the bricks and the scaffolders, that’s why we’ll beat the adults in the end, because they’ve lost the power to communicate with each other.’

‘Will we?’ said Ella. ‘Beat them, I mean. Will we really?’

‘Of course we will,’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘They’re just dumb animals, like big stupid chickens.’ And he strutted around, impersonating a chicken, which made Ella laugh.

‘So they’re dinosaurs?’ said Monkey-Boy. ‘That’s pretty scary, like in Jurassic Park.’

‘They’re not chickens and they’re not dinosaurs,’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘They’re just sick, sickos, crazies, zomboids …’

‘See what I mean?’ Wiki interrupted before Jibber-jabber went off on another one. ‘He never stops.’

‘Well, you like to talk as well, Wiki,’ Jibber-jabber protested.

‘I talk sense,’ said Wiki.

‘Why do they call you Wiki?’ asked Monkey-Boy.

‘Cos he’s like Wikipedia,’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘Ask him anything and he knows the answer, or thinks he does, it’s quite annoying sometimes.’

‘The difference between you and me,’ said Wiki, ‘is that I only speak when I’m sure I know something. You do all your thinking out loud.’

‘Yeah, whatever.’

‘So anyway,’ said Wiki, turning to Ella, ‘what are you lot good at? I know about him, old Blu-Tack Bill, he’s good at counting.’

‘Counting?’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘Oh yeah, I can see how that’s going to be a really useful skill! I hope the rest of you can offer a little more.’ He looked at Ella. ‘What about you? What are you good at?’

‘I don’t know,’ said Ella. ‘Nothing really.’

‘That can’t be true,’ said Jibber-jabber. ‘You’ve lived more than a year since it all went opera-shaped, so you must have some skills, otherwise you’d be like most other kids, pushing up the daisies, knocking on heaven’s door, sicko food …’