‘Yeah, this Enrico is such a nice person,’ said Tyler sarcastically.

‘Will they treat her badly?’ said Nicola. Her heart plummeted at the thought of Katie alone and terrified.

‘Only if you fail to complete your mission,’ said Joy. ‘At the moment she’s perfectly comfortable. There are books and a television and all her meals will be provided. She’s a hairity so she’ll get five-star service. But I can assure you, it is physically impossible to rescue her.’

Nicola sat back on her heels and watched the steam rising from the rapidly filling bath.

‘I just don’t know what we can do. It seems – hopeless,’ she said.

Greta lifted her chin. ‘You shouldn’t give up like that, Nicola. It’s not very good leadership. Oh, and just a little suggestion – maybe next time you could do a bit more research before you accept a mission from a psychopath.’

Nicola’s cheeks burned and it wasn’t because the bathroom was heating up. Greta was right. It wasn’t good leadership to give up. Maybe she should step down and let Greta take over as leader of the mission.

She opened her mouth to speak but Shimlara spoke first. Her face was clenched, as if she had a toothache. ‘I was reading Enrico’s mind before. Even if we do achieve the mission he doesn’t intend to let us off Shobble. He knows that more and more people are supporting Topaz and they’ll be upset if anything happens to her, so he wants to make examples of us all. He’s planning a huge public trial. We’ll all be found guilty of murdering Topaz and then he’ll put us in something called a mobile jail for the rest of our lives. We’ll be taken around from village to village in a glass cage so the people can throw rocks and spit at us. He thinks the meaner he is to us, the more the people of Shobble will love him. He wants to give the people someone to hate – and that will be us.’

Nicola, Sean, Tyler and Greta all stared at Shimlara with open mouths. Even Joy looked shocked. This nightmare was getting worse and worse.

‘Oh!’ said Shimlara. ‘One more thing. To ensure we can never tell anyone the truth, he’s going to do to us what he did to Silent Fred. He was so pleased with himself for thinking of it. He kept saying to himself, My extraordinary intelligence never ceases to amaze me.’ She looked at Joy questioningly. ‘What does that mean? What did he do to Silent Fred?’