‘How many bowls of ShobbleChoc did you guys have?’ asked Sean.

‘There was only one bowl there!’ said Greta.

‘I called on the phone and asked them to bring another one,’ said Sean. ‘It was great. Someone was knocking at my door exactly 4.5763 seconds after I put down the phone. I wonder how they do that.’

‘Oh, Sean,’ said Shimlara.

‘What?’ Sean shrugged. ‘They’re servants. That’s their job. So they must like serving.’

‘And how do you know that?’

‘Why else would they choose that as a job?’

‘Maybe that’s the only job they could get!’

‘They could get a job in the marshmallow mines. That’s what I’d do.’

‘Come on,’ interrupted Nicola. ‘We don’t want to be late.’

Joy was waiting for them at the bottom of the stairs.

‘You all look absolutely lovely,’ she said generously. Then she turned to Katie and held out a small, worn-looking book. ‘Please say no if you think I’m rude, but would you mind signing my granddaughter’s signograph book? I wouldn’t bother you, it’s just that she’d be so thrilled and you seem – well, you seem to have a much kinder face than most hairities.’

Katie blushed. ‘Of course I don’t mind.’ She took Joy’s pen and then paused. ‘What is your granddaughter’s name?’

Joy looked confused and a little scared. ‘It’s Polly.’

Nicola watched over Katie’s shoulder as she wrote:

Dear Polly,
with love from Katie Hobbs xx
PS You have a very nice grandmother!

‘Oh!’ Joy’s face was ecstatic. ‘Oh! She’ll think that is just out of this galaxy!’

She stood there for a few seconds looking at Katie’s message and shaking her head in wonder, before collecting herself.

‘Please follow me and I’ll take you to the dining room.’

She led them briskly through what seemed like a maze of endless marble corridors. Shimlara, with her longer legs, kept up easily, but the others had to jog along.

Finally they got to a pair of imposing doors. Joy opened them then stood to one side to let the Space Brigade pass. ‘Enjoy your dinner,’ she said quietly.

They walked into a room with a long dining table set with flickering candles, silver goblets and huge gold dinner plates.