‘You left me no choice,’ said Enrico. ‘Desperate times call for desperate measures. People are actually listening to this dreadful Topaz. There could be a revolution. I could be overthrown! Can you imagine anything more dreadful or wrong?’

‘No, darling, I couldn’t.’ Carmelita pressed a trembling hand to her throat, overcome by the thought.

Enrico continued, ‘If the people ever suspected that I had anything to do with Topaz’s elimination it could be the end of me. That’s why I was so delighted when I read about the services offered by the Space Brigade.’ He seemed to have forgotten – or was pretending to forget – that he had been wrong about the services they offered.

‘Now, I assume you’ll want to be off first thing in the morning,’ said Enrico cheerfully. ‘The sooner you’re done, the sooner I can return your valuable friend. I have arranged for five of our finest, fastest ShobGobbles to be taken from the stables. They will be ready for you at the mansion steps at six in the morning. I have also organised plenty of provisions for your journey. No, no, don’t thank me! I’m only too happy to help.’

Nicola, who had certainly not been about to thank him, said nothing.

‘Well!’ Enrico rubbed his hands together and glanced at his watch. ‘I think that’s everything you need. You must excuse us. My family’s favourite television program is about to start.’

‘It’s called An Inside Look at Shobble’s Most Amazing and Beautiful Family,’ said Joseph.

‘It’s a reality TV show about us,’ preened Josie. ‘We let the TV cameras into our house for a week to film how we lived. You should have seen how hungry the TV crew looked when they filmed us eating our dinner and they hadn’t eaten all day. Oh, how we laughed!’

‘Sounds hilarious,’ said Nicola sourly.

‘I prefer to breakfast in bed, so I won’t be able to see you off in the morning.’ Enrico stood up and smiled his charming smile. ‘I’ll take this opportunity to wish you the best of luck. I’ll call for Joy to take you back to your rooms. Oh and please don’t worry about your hairity friend – we’ll take very good care of her.’

His family followed as he flounced towards the door, but then he stopped, his hand on the doorknob. ‘Unless, of course, you fail in your mission. In that case, we might become a little forgetful when it comes to delivering her food and water.’

He laughed and the rest of his family threw back their heads and laughed loudly with him.

It was the most frightening sound Nicola had ever heard.

14

‘What are we going to do?’ said Tyler when Enrico and his family had gone and the Space Brigade were sitting alone around the long table.

‘Okay, I think I’ve got one idea,’ said Greta. ‘What we do –’