The room was warm, thanks to a crackling fire. (Imagine that – her very own fireplace!) Nicola put her old rucksack down on the soft white carpet; it looked completely out of place in such plush surroundings. There was a huge four-poster bed with a gold satin bedspread and about twelve fat pillows. She opened a door leading to a marble bathroom with gold taps and a bath that seemed as big as a small swimming pool. She’d never had her own bathroom either. This was starting to seem more like a luxurious holiday than a scary mission.

As Nicola came out of the bathroom, she saw a crystal bowl on a low coffee table. It was filled with chunky chocolate squares. ShobbleChoc! She took a piece and walked over to the window. She wanted to savour her first taste of ‘real’ chocolate rather than just cramming it straight in her mouth, which she was one hundred per cent sure was exactly what Sean was doing right at this moment.

Even though the room was warm, the window was cold to touch. Outside, it was snowing more heavily than before. It had grown so dark she couldn’t see the permanent rainbows anymore.

Nicola watched the snowflakes drift softly by the window and wondered just how ‘challenging’ Enrico’s ‘little task’ was going to be. She put the piece of ShobbleChoc in her mouth and slowly bit down.

The taste of the chocolate exploded through her mouth, while marshmallow dissolved tenderly on her tongue.

The word ‘delicious’ wasn’t good enough.

The word ‘divine’ wasn’t good enough.

The word ‘scrumptious’ wasn’t good enough.

ShobbleChoc deserved a whole new word made up especially to describe it.

It was simply . . . divinascrumptiolicious.

10

A musical sound like church bells filled the entire mansion. Nicola took a last nervous look at herself in the full-length mirror. She had followed Joy’s advice and chosen one of the dresses she’d discovered hanging in the wardrobe in her room.

The dress was like something Nicola could imagine seeing in a history book. It was made of heavy red velvet, soft and smooth to touch, with long flowing sleeves and a full-length skirt. Looking at herself, Nicola couldn’t decide if she looked extremely beautiful or extremely silly.

Before dressing, she’d taken a hot bath using a frothy bubble bath that smelled like raspberries.

The only thing about taking a bath was that the steam had made Nicola’s hair even wilder and curlier than usual. Oh well. The bells were getting louder. It was time to go.

Nicola stepped out into the corridor and saw the others coming out of their rooms. The boys had changed into high-collared shirts and long jackets. The other girls were wearing long dresses like Nicola, and they all spent ages twirling around, paying each other compliments and adjusting sashes and sleeves. Meanwhile, Sean and Tyler fiddled uncomfortably with their collars and sighed impatiently.