They kept going like that for what felt like ages and soon Ella was tired and bored and fed up. She started grumbling at Scarface, but he just ignored her. He was a dog with a scent and nothing was going to stop him.

Ella stared at the Nike bag on Scarface’s back. Something was dripping from it. She looked closer and saw little grey things wriggling, like tiny slugs or worms. She was going to say something, that Scarface had maggots in his bag, but didn’t. It was his problem. If he wasn’t going to speak to her she really didn’t need to speak to him. Grumpy old grown-up.

After a time – maybe an hour Ella thought, but she couldn’t be sure, her aching legs thought they’d walked a hundred miles – they came to a big broken-down wire fence. A tree had fallen on it and squashed it half to the ground. Scarface inspected the wire where it was torn and snaggly. He found a scrap of clothing stuck on it. He sniffed it, nodded to himself and climbed over the flattened bit of fence, holding on to the tree trunk for balance. Ella followed, picking her way and trying not to fall over. There were more trees on the other side, and then a wooden fence that was broken in a couple of places. When they went through it, Ella found that they were in some sort of park with paths winding among jungly trees and bushes. There were benches and bins, odd-shaped things she didn’t quite understand, funny-looking statues, giant toadstools …

Then she stopped suddenly and tugged at Scarface’s jacket, pointing up. There was a man in a tree. She instantly saw that it wasn’t a real man, it was a plastic model, and she felt embarrassed. Thought Scarface would laugh at her, tease her, silly little girl, but then she remembered that he never laughed. Grumpy old man. Ugly, grumpy old man. Face-Ache.

The man in the tree looked old-fashioned, from the time of knights, and he was carrying a horn. And then Ella saw a tree with the words the Enchanted Forest written on it. The more she looked around, the madder this place was. There was a castle just showing above the bushes. Up ahead a walkway through the trees with a sign saying The Rat Trap, and a shield with a wolf’s head on it. Memories were coming back to her. She’d been here before, she was sure of it, but she was confused; she hadn’t been expecting any of this and everything was all overgrown and broken.

Scarface set off towards the castle, and when they got there Ella saw that it seemed to be made of giant plastic bricks.

She finally realized where they were.

‘This is Legoland!’

Chapter 7

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